Sigh, I am so frustrated with my long arm right now,

I have been struggling with the tension that evil little monster. I finally get the tension right and the darned thread breaks. sigh, I am not sure what I am doing wrong here.

I have an innova 22in long arm.
am using Superiors Rainbows in top, and Connecting threads Essential Cotton in the bottom.
am using a new size 18 needle.

I started out with eyelashes in the bottom, so I tightened up the top, saw eyelashes on top, so loosened a little on top and tightened bobbin, saw eyelashes on bottom, so tightened top...now thread breaks...

Am doing a simple pantograph. along with beating my head against the wall.......tension is an evil little monster!

I'm not surprised you have CT thread in the bobbin which is a 3 ply 50 wt cotton and you are trying to quilt with a trilobal 40 wt poly in the top that is a weak thread to begin with. Rainbows (as well as it's sister solid, Highlights which has been discontinued) want very loose tension in the top as per Superior:

http://www.superiorthreads.com/reference-guides/ Click the hyperlink for Longarm thread reference guide. Notes for both these threads state: [TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Loosen tension settings as necessary
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]



I recommend changing bobbin thread. Either wind your own bobbin with the Rainbows or go for a lighter thread in the bobbin (ie a 40 wt poly or lighter) So Fine or Bottom line would be good choices if you don't want the same thread in the bobbin. Additionally, if you run Essential cotton a lot you may have a blob of lint caught in the tension spring of your bobbin. Take a fine pin and run it under the spring to dislodge any blobs of lint.

Essential cotton is ok to run in the top but I would not run it in my bobbin at all. It is just way to linty which leads to tension woes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1mRhcquZTM

This is FABULOUS about tension on any long arm machine. I do not have a bobbin winder so I use Bottomline pre wound bobbins. I use mainly Connecting Threads Poly longarm quilting thread (forget the name) on the top as it is really cheap.

I was using serger thread on top and having too much breakage. It is just not strong enough.

I gave up on the one cone of Rainbow that I had. That was a while ago, and I have a bit more experience and knowledge now, so I might give it another try with felinefanatic's suggestions.

Feline:
Oh nuts, I thought the essential cotton was 40wt, which i generally run all the time. I like the backing to show off the quilting as well as the top just a drama queen here. Wait...I just loaded a So fine 50wt in the top and it is considerably thinner than the CT, did you mean that CT is 30wt? it isnt as big as my 30wt YLI but not nearly as thin as my So Fine 50wt....that is why I thought it was 40wt. I need a new cabinet for threads sorted by weight so I remember.

I did notice that the rainbows break very easily and frequently. They have replaced the highlights line with the Magnifico, which really does better. Guess I should start getting the fantastico (the variegated) instead of rainbows.

I generally wind my own bobbins, took forever to get that little machine working where it winds the bobbins with the right tension, but finally have bobbins wound at right tension (i think )

Every time I clean bobbin area (whenever change bobbin) I clean out that spring area, never found anything there, but figured it was a good habit to get into.


I have see Jamie Wallen's video often thanks though it really is helpful. However the Innova's light a slightly tighter tension than what he does. I spoke with the manufacturer about it a while ago, my machine likes to be somewhere between the innova recommendation and jamie wallens tension. temperamental machine that it is.

I finished that quilt, and am on one now with very different threads, I wanted a thick line on the back and a very thin one on top. So using both black, the CT in bobbin and So Fine 50wt in the top. But not doing pantographs. Perhaps my speed is too much for the rainbows thread. When I free hand stuff, I tend to move much slower, and am not having trouble now with the threads....or perhaps she is just being contrary for fun my cat must have told her how to irritate me

Thanks ladies for your help

It sounds like you've been tweaking the tension so much you should take it back down to factory settings and start from there. Remember - with Innova, help is just a telephone call away. Don't let yourself get frustrated, call for help!

Eyelashes aren't caused by the tension anyway. Eyelashes are caused by pulling the machine faster than the needle is stitching.

Not true. Eyelashing on a LA can definitely be a tension issue. If your bobbin is too tight (or top too loose or both) and you make a curve, even slowly, it can cause eyelashing on the top and vice-versa.

The only time I ever got eyelashing with my LA was if I was trying to go too fast or "swooping" around the curves. But then I had my bobbin tension set fairly loose to start with.

Well since I am a newbie on this am guessing it probably a little of both. I do move very fast through pantographs, and the eyelashing I see are on the point of the curves. I know when the points get lashes then it is a tension issue definitely. So I watch both things. Sigh, I did finally get that quilt done and a new one loaded. So we will see how it goes this time.