I have gotten in the habit of cleaning the machine before each new quilt is quilted. Saves a lot of problems with tension....It's amazing how quickly lint collects!

Ditter

I wind about 5-7 bobbins at a time. Each time I wind bobbins, I clean the machine and change the needle. Works wonders.

i use a pipe cleaner to get into the deep sections when cleaning( after taking out the bobbin case.) take my machine to the dealer every yr ,especially after he gave me the devil for not taking it regularly. the touch panel on my machine was getting hard to work.turns out lint can get into the back of your computer panel and mess it up.

oh yeah! been there also. Now my hubby laughs everytime he sees me drag the vacumm cleaner into my sewing room. I attach the mini attachments and give my machine a good cleaning, at least once a month.

Not so stupid! Mine was skipping stitches so I took it apart and was astounded by all of the lint in the feed dogs. I, however, had to take it to be serviced because somehow, the timing mechanism was thrown out of wack. When I got it back, it purred and, like you, my world was back on its axis!

I have a Janome 6600 memory craft pro and I clean out the dust and thread every time i sew,almost everydayBUT I have never oiled it . Am I supposed to?!! If so then how?

You really shouldn't use the canned air becasue it blows the dust, threads and lint back INTO the machine instead of getting rid of it. Use a vacuum with a small attachment to suck the stuff out. You can use the canned air on the needle bar, on the bobbin case if it's in your hand - anything that won't force lint into the guts of the machine. And yeah, even blowing with your breath is not a good idea.

I have my DH blow my machine with his air compressor. It's amazing how much stuff comes out. The repairman uses one when he cleans. Now I have a small one in my sewing room and I clean out lint after each heavy use. Not hard to use!

Thread breaking........have the same problem and I just cleaned the bobbin case, but I have been working with flannel lately..........

I clean mine, after every top is pieced, and then after quilting.