Uneven stitches with Juki
 

What causes uneven stitches with Juki HZL? I’ve tried adjusting tension every way I know how.

Which HZL version? I have the F600 and the DX7, I keep the tension set to auto. On the rare occasion I have tension issues I rethread, change my needle, double check the bobbin and clean the bobbin area. Sometimes the smallest piece of thread can create issues.

Uneven stitches
 

I have the HZL 600. I have done all the things you mentioned. Many times. Most of the time the uneven stitches occur while using the walking foot. I have replaced the walking foot twice. I just hate taking the machine in to technician as I’m afraid it will come back worse than ever.

Clean the bobbin area immaculately and often! Brush it out before you start to sew and then every few hours. The smallest bit of thread lint can cause tension problems. Jukis really like to be kept clean.

Is it skipping stitches? Some are short and some are long?

Uneven stitches
 

Some stitches are long and some short. Also the tension will vary. Sometimes stitches are loose and sometimes they are ok. I can’t figure it out.

So it's skipping stitches, suggesting that a timing setting is off. Usually it's just the needle/hook distance. You can check that by removing the needle plate, set the machine to the widest zig-zag, turn the handwheel until the needle is on it's way up on the left side. Is the space between the hook and the needle wider than 1 thread? Check by pressing the needle toward the hook. If so, we need to move the needle bar towards the hook.

While you've got the needle in that same position, is the hook coming across the needle, just above the eye? That's where it should be. If not, you may need to raise or lower the needle bar.

Let me know what you figure out.

I went through this once and finally saw that my Feed Dogs were full of lint. They were almost flat/even across; nothing to grip with. Be sure to clean this area as well.