Issues with Brother Charger 441
 

Hi guys! I'm new here, so I'm sorry if I messed up and posted this in the wrong place, but I'm desperate. (Sorry for the long post, I just want to make sure I detail all of the steps we took).

I am hoping to get into quilting as there are a few projects I'd rather tackle myself than pay someone else to complete, but I need to get my sewing machine in order first.

A few years ago, my best friend's mom (basically my second mom) gave me a vintage Brother Charger 441. It's a cute little machine and is in pristine condition given its age (it actually came with the manual, thank goodness). Unfortunately, whenever I attempt to use it, everything goes perfectly for a few minutes and then it jams up. The first time this happened, I chalked it up to user error (it'd been several years since I'd used a sewing machine at the time), so I unjammed the machine, threaded a different bobbin, and continued with the project. A few minutes later, it jammed up again. Still chalking it up to user error, I untangled the threaded mess and reset everything and called my friend into the room to have her look at it. She assured me everything was threaded correctly, and gave it a go herself. Everything seemed fine, so I figured I'd just done slightly different before and had correct the error. I continued working on the project, making sure I went slowly in case I had been going too quickly before for the old machine, but it jammed up again anyway.

At this point, I was feeling better about my sewing skills, but worse about the fact that the machine was broken. The next time my friend's parents came to visit, her mom took it home to have it fixed. She took it to a local shop and they assured her it was fine (I can't remember if they actually replaced anything or not that time), so she took it home to try it out for herself. Now, this woman has an entire room of her house for her sewing projects, so she's no novice. She tested the machine out and ran into the same issue I had (thread explosion). She tried troubleshooting it herself to no avail. She found another shop to look at it, but they once again tested it and assured her there was nothing wrong.

There is one more shop here in town that could service the machine, but I was hoping some of you might have some insight on what might be wrong, since I know from experience that it's easier to get experts and repairmen to take a problem they can't see seriously if you can nudge them towards the solution. We think the cover plate might need replacement, which would be easy enough, but I'd like to know if there is anything I can look for to confirm or rule out that diagnosis before I hunt down a replacement and spend money on one.

It's frustrating, to say the least, because my second mom checked that everything worked before she bought it (I have the sample stitching), and the machine will work for a few minutes before jamming up, which is why I think they aren't finding a problem when we take it in for service. The needle or thread is catching on something creating a tangled mess that has to be taken out and dealt with before moving on, which is obviously not conducive for anything more complicated (or fun) than hemming pants.

tl;dr dastardly sewing machine only screws up when no one else is watching and makes me look crazy. HELP!

Cari is our resident Brother expert. If it's anything like a Dodge Charger I'd expect great things :thumbup:

Hahaha love it!

I'm also wondering if there's a place to post manuals on this site? My search for other Charger 441 threads lead to two threads about needing a manual, and I have one.

There is, but QB doesn't host them, so you'd have to upload to, say, Google drive or something. There's a sticky post you can post the URL to.

Thinking, thinking, give me a few minutes.

Cari

I just tried to edit my first post and had a whole long message typed . Guess where it went? Anyway, I'm not too awake yet but here's what I'm thinking.
Brother machines don't normally jam up, they just don't, so something is going on. The fact that it's intermittent is why the repairmen haven't caught it. Check every part of the hook/race assembly for a scratch or burr, anything that would catch the thread. Make sure that you're loading the bobbin into the bobbin case the right way. The only other thing I can think of right now is maybe the upper tension check spring is not working properly, either worn out or not assembled right.

Cari

Could she be loading the bobbin too full?

I don't think that would cause it. It's a typical class 15. I've not had a bobbin winder on any of my vintage Brothers that would wind a bobbin so full that it wouldn't turn in the case.

Cari

The only times my Brother machines have jammed like that is when the little felt thingy behind the bobbin somehow came loose and got tangled up in the thread causing a jam. I had to glue it back down and let it dry before I could sew anymore on that machine. By the way, I have 3 Brother machines, and I had this happen on 2 of them. But if you're able to sew at all before it jams, I don't have a clue as to what could cause it.....hope you get it repaired soon, so you can enjoy your machine! I guess you can see I love mine!

Oh, I'm in no way an expert on any machine, but I am a satisfied customer.....:)

Debbie, I'm curious. Are your machines newer ones with drop in bobbins? The only Brother I own with a drop in bobbin is an old embroidery machine(PE200 Snoopy version) and it doesn't have any felt behind the bobbin that I can remember.(I haven't used it since I got it almost a year ago). The Charger machine being asked about is an end loading zig zag machine that uses a regular bobbin case, not a drop in bobbin.
I'm not an expert by any means either, just a big fan of the vintage Brothers and have several.

Cari

Cari, yes my machines are the newer ones with the drop in bobbins.....I just knew I was answering for an older machine, but brain fog made me answer anyway! One of my machines is a 2002 model, then a 2004, and a 2011. Both the 2002 and 2004 are embroidery/sewing machines, but the 2011 is sewing only.

Please forgive me jennabobbena, but maybe I helped someone else with a problem somewhere down the line.

I would first service the machine - clean and oil, put in a brand spanking NEW never before used needle and new spool felt. Also be sure the spool of thread is feeding nice and smooth. In this machine, be sure the flat side of the needle goes toward the shaft. Thread goes through the groove side of the needle. As I clean a machine I check for burrs and dried oil deposits in any thread path. I would clean and adjust the tension and the bobbin case tension including the center pin. It that pin has drag from old oil or the fork thingy is bent, the tension won't work right. When I adjust the tension, I would make sure the machine is threaded with new thread and strung up according to the manual. I would test the pressure on the presser foot according to manual. If it works fine for somebody else it is likely a user problem but I would want to compare swatches with the buggared and the one pronounced good.

All good ideas Miriam. Now I have a confession to make. The other day I had one of my beloved Brothers jam up on me. There's a first time for everything, right? it was my 160 Cambridge, an end loading straight stitcher.
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I was putting the binding on a baby quilt when the needle jammed and the bobbin thread broke. I unjammed it, pulled up the bobbin thread and started again. Same thing happened right away. So I took out the bobbin and oh, man, it was possibly the worst wound bobbin I've ever seen. I know I didn't wind a bobbin like this so I must have grabbed it out of my box of older bobbins.(Hey, it's white thread, just what I need). It was wound so sloppy right in the center it wrapped back on itself, essentially causing a snarl right on the bobbin. So, my lesson learned is never say never and check older bobbins a little more carefully.

Cari

My first thought is to change the bobbin. It may be bent or damaged in some way. Which would explain why the machine acts fine in the shop -- they would use their own bobbin to sew-off. Or like Cari-in-oli says, maybe the bobbin is wound sloppy. Second thought is the bobbin case. You can get a new replacement for less than $3.00 -- part #JOJO13.

I just bought this Brother zigzag model 441 Charger. It needed oil but all freed up and works well. It came with photo copy of manual.