Matching game Class 15, Style 22, M and L
 

TL:DR actual question is at the bottom.

I would love to use prewound bobbins, if I could figure out how the prewound people's system fits into my world. Really, you people are to blame for this. No, seriously, you are. Right here on this forum, too. Life was so simple when I was married to my Necchi Supernova Ultra Mark II. (Well, except for the length of the name, I will concede that.) Only one kind of bobbin to buy, none even looked close to it, and I turned my nose up at Singers and snubbed their flimsy little funky plastic bobbins. Even the metal ones- they clearly hold less thread, why would I even bother to lower my standards and down grade? It's unAmerican- we only go up, and there is clearly no up from my beloved Necchi. I was the poster Necchi Girl.

Then, somehow, you sang your siren song and lured me over to the dark side. (Although in my Necchi's left-handed defense, there was a transformer blowout involved here.) But, at least I had some scruples left. I mean who in their right mind would sew on a slant shank machine? Seriously, engineering, power transfer, physics, blah, blah, no thanks! Another clearly lower standard. There must be some pheromone in PB Blaster (it does have a strange smell, right?) because here I sit at my now everday machine, and it's a 401a. Everything I loathe(d.) A slant shank, weird model 22 bobbin machine.

So, I need a little support here, people. I need a translation device from my old reality to my new one. We have model 15 and style 22 bobbins. Prewounds come in 15s and L and M. (And I have a random Clark's paper sided bobbin marked Style "H" size 60/36 which is too big for the 401a. I checked.) So, which matches the style 22, the L? It's unbelievable that the bobbin sellers do not seem to have this information anywhere on their sites.

Yet another step down; I don't think there are prewound class 66 bobbins. The plastic version is called Apollo, they generally work well in a 401, but some prefer the metal version. The 401 is not a bad choice at all, but you handed your Necchi in for repair? Supernova Ultra, is that the one with double layer cams?

You could always try a style L bobbin, they are suppose to be universal, at least to a degree, but they have their limits. They are the correct width for a class 66 bobbin case, but they have flat sides and can you find a version that has the right hight for a class 66 bobbin case (same as Apollo). A 15 bobbin will act up on the 401. Again, you might have to wind your own bobbins.

An L style won't work. L bobbins are the flat rotary bobbins for industrials, some rotary machines, some long arm quilters and commercial embroidery machines.

As Yoda would say, there is no repair, only transplanting. If the transformer goes out on a Necchi, the only cure is a transplant. Or you can rewire it so there's no slow/ fast speed, and a new light, or a transformer only for the 12volt light. As you said, another step down. Sob! And yes, this is the one with the cool cams.

It's really hard to believe with all the Singers that take the 66 bobbins, the biggest pack of prewpunds you can get is 6 white and 6 black.

That's because pre wounds in large quantities were originally for commercial machines. Domestic use machines didn't have pre wounds at all until several years ago, and even then, they were made for embroidery machines. You'll find that the pre wounds are a much thinner thread, 60wt or 90wt thread. Janome pre wounds also come in a 12 pack but you can get white, black, or a combo pack.

Cari

Is it winding a few bobbins a big deal?

Winding a bobbin is one of life's little pleasures surely?

I bought a couple of containers of class 66 prewound bobbins. I have an adaptor so I can use them in my Babylock, which uses a different size bobbin than the rest of my machines. Not sure what it is . . .

Most of the large quantity prewounds come for machines that do embroidery, since you can really go through them fast that way. But then if you have a seperate winder, you can wind bobbins while the machine is doing it's thing.

I'm going to be purchasing a seperate bobbin winder, as I had to disable the electronics for my Juki 2010 and now I have no bobbin winder on it. It was either that or pay $400 to get the electronics fixed.