The Tension Dance
 

Climax Kate, a New Home series L treadle, is finally up and sewing. My struggle is with the tension. Between the upper tension and the VS it is a struggle to find a happy medium. I've even adjusted the presser foot tension to try to remediate puckered stitches.

Are there any strategies that I can try to reduce the amount of puckering? I can get the interlock to meet in the middle but the stitches still pucker!

Tension is my biggest problem too. My wife has it down pat. If your thread interlock is in the center of the material, but it's still puckering, try reducing the tension just a wee bit on both the shuttle and top tension.

Joe

Oh, one thing to check; take the shuttle tension spring off and clean under it. I had one that wouldn't sew worth a hoot. Took it apart and cleaned a lot of lint and crud out from under the spring. Also cleaned out the insides where the bobbin rides. Worked pretty good after I cleaned it.

Joe

Not only is Kate up and sewing, she's in the house! Alvah has been usurped and resides in the "wreckroom". I took apart the shuttle prior to installing to check for crud. You have me thinking though. What if the bobbin's ends are a bit rough? Hmmm...

I am loosening here, stitch a while, loosen there, stitch a while. The VS is amazingly noisey compared to all the other VS machines I've worked on. Perhaps it is traveling too much?

:thumbup: Find your camera and take some pics. Glad to hear Kate is now in the house. Perhaps she is just being a bit testy because she was "on restriction" in the workshop too long.

Wouldn't surprise me! The more she stitches, the better she gets. Now if only I could get MY timing right to keep her starting the right direction. The treadle is so smooth that a slight nudge to start results in several stitches. Yeah, except when it goes backwards and breaks the thread!

I had a guy at the antiques restoration place tell me that you should always give the hand wheel a little turn towards you as you start treadling. This prevents you from going backwards and breaking threads. I tried it when I got home, sure enough he was right. :) It's how I start almost all of my machines these days, electric or human powered.

I have four functional treadles right now. My #2 Singer 66 is for the lack of a better word, balanced, so well I can start it with the treadle. All I do is glance at the wheel to see if it's turning the right direction and if so continue treadling. If not I reverse the pedal and go.

My Franklin and #1 Singer 66 are more obstinate. My 9W-7 is azz backwards from the start and drives me nuts till I'm able to reverse myself to match the machine.
For those three I have to turn the wheel by hand until I get them going.

Joe

Joe, like you I pay attention to the wheel at start up. My Alvah is so stiff to start I turn the treadle wheel!

On recommendation, I took apart the shuttle again. This time I closely checked the bobbin. Looked good. Put a couple of drops of SM oil on a swab and shoved it in. OMS!!! The black crud that was in the bottom was thick. It took a soak with oil for 10 minutes and a small screwdriver scratching about to get it cleaned out. Much better results now! Still rather noisy but the stitches are acceptable.

I am finding that the stitch length is off. Even at the longest throw of the feeddogs I get 12 stitches per inch. Right now I am hoping more oil time (soaking it in) will improve its function. Everything on the underside moves freely. Suggestions anyone?