Help with skipping stitches
 

I have a Janome Pro stitcher 18 long arm and have tried everything but it is still skipping stitches. I have called the place I bought it from I and asked them also. I have cleaned lint out of bobbin case, oiled it, changed needle, made sure it was threaded correctly, have only been using Superior thread and adjusted tension. I have also made sure quilt is not to tight on the rollers. I am extremely frustrated with it and hate having to stop machine every 100 stitches or so because of an inch or 2 of skipped stitches. I have slowed my Pro stitcher computer down to a snails pace so it stitches slow and i can keep track when it skips.
Sometimes it will be sewing along and all of a sudden the thread will be wrapped around the needle and there will be 2 threads coming out of the quilt and i have to stop it and re-thread the needle. I like the machine but NEVER thought i would have this many issues with it. My husband quilts with me and he is also frustrated. please help me with suggestions. Thank you. skmorsdorf

Is anything different about the fabric? Some people have problems particularly with the thread counts of batiks. Sometimes a coating like a chintz has given me issues, heavy "paint" tone on tone ones sometimes too. I like the Microtex Sharps for that.

The other thing is to check the rails and your encoders. I've had a little bit of fluff that would roll around and only give problems periodically. You might think if it particularly happens in any direction and look specifically in those area, like if you are ok going back and forth its not as likely to be the rails as it would be the encoders.

Check the height of the quilt top in relation to the belly bar. If there is a difference there it can cause skipped stitches. The only other thing I can suggest is the orientation of the needle - the 5:30 position of the eye vs straight at 6:00 may make a difference too.

not familiar with your machine ,but on my Gammill, if there is skipped stitching the first thing I check is whether it leaves needle holes or if there aren't any--if no holes that tells me to check the encoders--are the wheel rings needing replacement (even just a little crack in them can have impact) or is a thread wound around preventing them from reading the SR? If there are holes, then I usually check height of take-up bar, needle placement, tension, etc. since you mentioned that it appears that 2 threads are coming through and needle unthreaded, check the check spring--I was told by my tech that if you use your machine frequently, the check spring needs to be changed about once every 12-18 months as it loses it's springiness. Good luck!

skipped st
 

Do you have enough pressure on your pressure bar [foot]?

I find with skipped stitches a larger sized needle helps.. gives the thread an easier path.