I am new to sewing and quilting. Was in a hurry today and am not sure what went wrong but I broke a needle. I have never changed a needle before but will read my manual. I have been sewing for about a year have made about 5 lap size quilts. Should I have changed needle? I have never cleaned my machine. How do you do this and how often? Thanks in advance for the info

Your manual should help you with these problems. Your machine may need a cleaning (to get fuzzies out of the bobbin area) and depending upon your machine you may need to oil it as well. If you needle gets dull or blunt it can catch on fabric and/or the plate/bobbin area and and cause it to break. Good luck.

Ditto, and welcome from the snow belt of N.E.Ohio. Glad to have you join us. I usually clean mine after each project and put in a fresh needle.

You are supposed to change the needle every 6-8hours of sewing or every new project, i usually just change it with every new project and have never had a problem. 6-8 hours of sewing doesn't seem that long to me. Also, i usually clean out the bobbin area after each project, because lint build up can create problems with skipped stitches and stitch quality

You should clean and oil your machine every few bobbinfuls. I do mine every 3 bobbins. You clean and oil in the area where your bobbin is. The manual should tell you where on the bobbin race you should apply a few drops of sewing machine oil which you can pick up anywhere, even walmart. Cleaning involves taking a stiff bristled brush and brushing any lint that has built up out of the bobbin race area. I also remove the plate that sits over the feed dogs, it usually unscrews or snaps up and get all the lint out of the feed dog area too.

Here is just one link of many I found. If you put "How to clean and oil a sewing machine" in the seach engine it will bring back loads of stuff

http://www.ehow.com/how_5064_clean-sewing-machine.html

I clean mine every bobbin change. And probably do not change the needle enough - kind of like my blades in the rotary cutter.

Ditto what some of the others have said. I change my needle after a project and clean my machine too. All those little fuzzy things get in there and clog things up. Also, make sure you are using the right needle for your project. Lots of articles on the web about needle selection. Nice job of your lap top production - 5! Way to go!

I clean my bobbin area after every 3-4 bobbins. I stack the empties in one area as a reminder.

Changing the needle? Yes, but not as often as I probably should. Find a cheap source and it is less painful to toss what appears to be a good needle when in reality it is probably past it's prime LOL

Check your manual for oiling or not... my machines are self lubricating :D:D:D

I sure do wish that Janome would have gave good directions in their manual for the 6600P. I clean lint from mine after every project and needle fairly often but don't know if I am doing enough.

I clean the bobbin area with each bobbin, so it is clean when I oil the hook. I don't change needles as often as I should, but the machine lets me know when it is time.