Originally Posted by
JoeJr
Welcome to the Board! There are two springs, the upper thread tension spring, the spring with the loop, and the bee hive spring which puts tension on the discs via the thumb nut and controls how easily thread is pulled through. My experience has been that not enough tension on the discs lets too much thread through creating the bird's nest on the underside of the fabric. I have also run into problems having the upper thread tension spring either too tight in the housing, where the loop won't pull beneath the thread guide to the left, or too loose and it won't pull back on the thread properly.
You should be able to move, with your finger, the upper thread tension spring loop freely through the arc and it should bounce right back to the top of the arc, and the loop should be positioned above the thread guide to the left, at least that's how I get them to work.
Thank you, for both the welcome and the quick reply.
I have the tension tightly enough that the needle deflects slightly when I pull the thread. And it does stitch perfectly if I'm turning the wheel by hand. The tension spring loop bounces freely when I move it by hand. Just everything goes haywire when I use the motor to turn the wheel. It's like it loses tension entirely, until the spool goes crazy and gets thread wrapped around the spool pin.
I also just realized that raising the presser bar does not release the tension. So something seems to be rather messed up with it.