bkay

I'm working on a "quilt as you go" Christmas Tree skirt (my first time at QAYG). The presser foot pressure is so firm (for lack of a better word) that it pulls the top layer of fabric. So, I switched to the walking foot. It makes no difference. The screw that raises the foot is all the way out, but still no change. This may be my imagination, but it seems as if the pressure is so firm, that the stitch length is affected. If I try to assist it (as in giving a little tug), it's skipping stitches.

Any suggestions?

bkay

JoeJr

Unscrew the pressure screw all the way and remove it. Does the presser foot bar move freely? There is a guide with piece that runs in a channel to keep the bar straight, is that sticking? Or where the bar goes through the shaft in the machine?

bkay

I just checked. One thing, the screw had a lot further to go to get to the top. Yes, the "tube" is kind of sticky, not stuck, but sticky. I'm cooking this morning. I will work on this in the afternoon. I'll clean, lubricate and get back with you.

Thanks, Joe.

bkay

1.41

If it were me, I would open up the nose of the machine so that I could see the presser bar, I would then unscrew the pressure knob at the top of the machine completely and try to move the presser bar up and down using the lever on the back of the machine to see if it's binding and to see if the tension on the spring is actually released when the knob is off. If you remove the knob completely, you should be able to remove the pressor bar shaft and the spring completely by sliding it up. It could be that the spring is somehow stuck pressing the pressor foot with too much pressure. This can happen if there's too much old oil gunking up the spring.

bkay

I ran out of "get-up-and-go" yesterday. I cleaned the tube well and lubricated it. It seems to be working fine. The mechanism is moving easily. I didn't try it on the actual tree skirt to see if I could reduce the pressure on the fabric. I will do that today.

How do you get the spring out to clean it if the problem is not solved?

Thanks for your advice.

bkay

JoeJr

The presser foot pressure system on the 301 is designed for some weight savings. On other machines, e.g. 66, 27, etc, there is a solid bar top to bottom for the presser foot, with a large spring around the bar which is compressed via the pressure screw.

On the 301, similar to the 99, there is a partial bar, from the foot itself up to the guide clamp (held on by a set screw). This bar is hollow at the top, the spring drops down into this bar and then there is a hollow metal tube, closed at the top end, which drops over the spring. The pressure adjuster screw goes over the top of the tube and when screwed down pushes the tube and the spring downward, putting more pressure on the foot.

The spring itself is not actually exposed to oiling. With the adjuster screw fully removed, the spring is either fully extended or it isn't. If it is not fully extended this would actually result in there being less pressure on the presser foot, possibly, unless you adjust the screw all the way down; theoretically the screw could be all the way down and bottom out without putting full pressure on the spring, but this is highly unlikely.

With the adjuster screw fully removed, you can remove the tube over the spring just by lifting up on it. The tube may lift off separately to reveal the spring which should lift out.

There are two contact points for cleaning/oiling: 1. where the bar goes through the shaft in the machine body, 2: which the guide piece, which has a polished arm, rides in the machined channel on the back side of the machine, near the presser foot lift lever.

With the adjuster screw fully removed, you should be able to lift the presser foot, by the foot, and release it and it should freely drop back down. If not, then you have some cleaning/oiling to do.

bkay

Thanks, Joe. With the adjuster screw removed, the presser foot mechanism moves up and down freely. I just haven't gotten back to sewing yet (always something going on to distract from sewing).

Hopefully, I'll finish most of the Christmas tree skirt today or tomorrow.

Thanks again, Joe

bk

bkay

I finally got back to sewing today. The machine is working perfectly on a test piece. I'm not sure what I did, as I just cleaned the tube with 91% alcohol, squirted it with a little Tri-Flow and figured out that there was more "backing off" for the screw to go.

Whatever, it's working well today. Thanks, guys.

bkay