Originally Posted by
Mickey2
On my machine I have to turn up tension quite high on heavier threads like top stitch and extra strength. I even have it high up when free motion quilting, and I hear others have much lighter tension then. If you have a medium weight thread, sew-it-all type, you can set top tension to 4 or 4.5, then adjust bobbin tension for an even stitch. If you can turn the dial from 1 to 9 with ease and you can feel the tension gradually increase as you turn the dial it's likely fine (fully threaded machine and just pulling the tread through the needle, presser foot has to be down). If the machien was very grimy and dirty when you got it, the tensioner might benefit from a disassembly and cleaning of the parts; it's often enought to floss between the two plates in the tensioner with a thin rag or cotton yarn.
There is a neat way to set bobbin tension, by using a 1 oz. weight. I've just ordered one, I'm not quite trusting my kitchen scale filling a bag with beans, peas or rice.
Ha! Someone learned a lot last week!
I'm glad to see that.
Personally, with a machine that was not properly maintained (no signs of oil), I would rebuilt the tensioners so you're starting with a known good. I'm biased though because I do that as a matter of course with any machine that hits my bench.
Originally Posted by
sewblessed5
I removed the presser foot and reinserted the needle even though I had changed the needle multiple times in the last month.[ATTACH=CONFIG]541786[/ATTACH] So here is a picture, not sure how well it will show up, I can try again tomorrow with better light if needed. The illustration you shared steighy is really interesting. I have to assume that dead center is the desired position, and yes, I went around and checked other machines we have
, but it is sewing correctly, and catching the bobbin thread which surprises me.
Can we see the needle/needlebar without the foot in place? Right now, the foot is definitely in the wrong spot if it's obscuring any part of the needle hole. What brand and size of needle is this?
Dead center almost never happens - only with the smallest needles. What the illustration steighy showed is saying is that as the needle gets larger, the offset from center grows as well. This is because the scarf of the needle has to stay in the same spot for timing and clearance issues. As a needle gets larger though, the circumference of the needle also gets larger, and that extra is on the side away from the hook tip. Because this picture is from a slant model, it shows the needle sizes increasing toward the front of the machine. On a 201, the needle sizes should increase toward the right.
The thing is, if the needle was actually too far to the left, it should be scarring or hitting the hook.