What the heck?? Thread nests....
 

Using my avatar, a German Kenmore.

I am sewing along, just fine. Stitches look good. Then I hear a click and there is a thread nest underneath. I can just keep on sewing though, I don't need to stop and fix anything. This seems to happen every few feet.

What the heck? Can a tension problem "build up" and do like a release thing every few feet? I can't understand this.

Some background. I've just begun using large spools of thread and have rigged up a contraption (thanks to hints from QB members) where the large spool sits to the right of my machine. I am guessing somehow that had changed things but I'm not sure what to try and fix first.

Thanks for all help.

Is the large spool a cone of thread? Does it sit still while the thread unravels off the top?
Cones of thread need an appropriate thread stand. There's a pic of one here.
A lot of twisting would probably cause problems.

Thanks.

Call me stubborn or annoying or whatever but I'd still like to mess around with my creation a bit longer and see if I can make it work.

So...do I want the cone of thread to sit still while the thread unravels off the top? Is that my goal?

I believe the way I had it set up, the cone was spinning around as the thread unraveled.

One issue I can see is because I have an old machine, my motor is mounted externally on the back. When I put the thread cone in the back of my machine, it was getting caught on the motor. I had to move it to the side and now I see it touches the belt. I need to get the thread up higher as it comes off the cone.

I may end up buying the store bought gizmo in the end....

I agree with Mike. Cones are made to pull the thread off the top. You don't want them to spin. If yours is spinning there's a strong chance that's the source of your nests.
You can probably make a workable cone stand out of a piece of wood for the base and an old wire clothes hanger with a small loop in one end. It doesn't take much.
Don't make it too tall. I did on mine and the thread likes to jump out of the open thread guide on top of my 15 cone.
Just tall enough to clear the top of the machine will work fine.
Rodney

Thanks Rodney. So I want no spinning of the cone. Got it.

I may bite the bullet and just buy a ready made thread stand. I will be driving right by JoAnn's in about 2 hours.

I have this happen with some large spools. I've gone to winding the thread around the loop to keep some tension on it between that and the machine. Some thread just seems to like to twist no matter what.

I'm using a cone that is meant to pull from the top - most are meant to pull that way. I use the sideways holder for regular spools that are meant to unwind.

What was happening, the thread was hanging a bit between the machine and holder, and would loop, then the whole loop would get pulled through the tension, and as soon as it was on the other side - BANG - Thread nest and if it wasn't huge, it would just keep on sewing.

I've also had problems with it popping under the tension spring between the tension and thread uptake. No idea how that happens, but when that happens it will sew bad until I stop and rethread. It's not been jumping that since I added the extra loop around the hook.

You should see the thread path I need for my longarm - to keep the thread from whipping around and going where it should not - but that machine can go quite fast.

Here is a picture of what I'm doing. As I experiment with more threads - I'm finding that I need to keep a good tension on the thread before it goes to the tensioner, so it will feed into it properly and not pull loops or even pop out of it. This spool is relatively new - Coats and Clarks made in Mexico. And it really isn't that nice of thread . . .

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps7x0w1txd.jpg

This is what my longarm has to keep the thread taut before it feeds into the tensioner.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psmzpulzou.jpg

Thanks for the advice. Thanks esp Macybaby for explaining the mechanics of what was happening. What you describe sounds exactly like what was happening to me.

Headed out the door but think I hit on a solution! I'll test it and post pics later. It involves a household item that I didn't quite know what to do with anyway. So I will NOT be stopping at JoAnn's today.

Epic Fail!!! My new "solution" was even worse than before. I even had to do your "looping" thing too Macybaby, same thing was happening to me with droopy thread. It helped slightly, but still didn't fix it.

Plus I didn't go to JoAnn's even though I was close because I thought my solution would work. Oh well....

I'll re-read all the ideas in my thread from a week or so ago about using these big cones. Perhaps there is something in there that will work for me after all. Otherwise, I'll hit JoAnn's next time I'm near and just use my plain old spools of thread until then.

Ok, well this is odd. I went back to a thread I started a week or so ago about using cones of thread in DSMs.

I re-read all the suggestions and ended up trying to stick a smaller empty spool inside the cone and put it on my machine the traditional way. That seems to have worked.

So far I've run 4 pretty long rows of stitches and not one nest. (knock wood....)

What I think is odd is that the cone is still spinning, just like a regular spool of thread would, and yet now I am getting no nests.

Also - One person on one of the threads said having that much weight of the big cone will wear out the machine. Could that be - especially on an old all metal machine like mine?

Here's my most simple solution, which is extremely crude compared with Rodney's elegant wire stand:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]519642[/ATTACH]
Spool is sitting on a paper spike, which has a weight underneath (1, which could be anything) to angle it toward the spool pin (2) which it wraps around and goes on its regular path. The cone doesn't spin (or it would obviously fall over) and thread must slip straight over the top.
Before I did this, I got a lot of twisted thread, which isn't good at all.

I have my cone hanging upside down from the chandalier. The cone is held by a binder clip that has a rubber band attached to one side of the binder clip "handle". The rubber band is attached to a large paper clip which is on the chandalier.

When I want to switch cones I just unclip the old one and clip a new one on.

I have three DSM and one of them has a little thread guide on top but the two others don't have athread guide so I tape a metal key ring or a paper clip near the spoolpin to use as a thread guide

There is another poster here who has theirs hanging from a curtain rod

I use one of my doll stands. Works great for me and it's adjustable. LOL

A long time ago, I had my machine set up in front of a window and used a wire coat hanger hung on the curtain rod and looped large spool thread through the hanger down to the machine. Then I purchased a thread stand which worked for a while but it had a plastic base which eventually broke (my nickname is Calamity John). Now I have a thread stand with a cast iron base I purchased at the local Sew & Vac. I recommend spending the few extra bucks for the cast iron base. On my Necchi BU, I do use a large safety pin on the extra spool pin held down by a magnetic seam guide as an extra thread guide so the thread doesn't pop out of the first thread guide on that machine.

I have 2 of the metal thread stands with the cast iron base, one stays at home, the other goes with me for sewing in the charity group. I tried all sorts of the homemade thread stands, mostly just lessons in frustration.
When I'm using the cone thread stands with my treadle machines, I use an empty bobbin on the thread pin; thread it through one of the holes in the class 15 bobbin.
Sharon in Texas

I to run an empty bobbin on the the thread pin when running large thread cones .... works great for my 306. I should also note that my thread stand was a dowel rod binder clipped to a book case near my treadle stand .

I wouldn't worry about wearing out an older all-metal machine like yours. It should be fine. I am still sewing on a 57 year-old Singer 401 A that only seems to increase in value. I just keep her cleaned and oiled and she keeps on sewing.

I put the cone of thread on the floor to the right of my machine. The thread comes up to the edge of the desk/cabinet and up to the spool pin. I was afraid of catching the thread on something, (I once dragged thread from the sewing room all the way to the ironing board in the laundry room. Oh, no!) so I rigged up a half a plastic bottle to hold the spool, and put a wire on that to hold it near the top of the desk. The wire is around the right arm (?) of the machine. Works well.

Sounds like to me that the cone is to large for the holder. Try stuffing tissue in it till it quits spinning. I've done it with mine and it works fine. No more spinning. No more nests. Good luck.

http://www.superiorthreads.com/video...livery-system/

Bob Purcell does a great job explaining cross wound spools on vertical pins. the only thing I like to mention is that THEIR thread is all stack wound on a spool and cross wound on cones, but a lot of thread from other companies comes on spools and is cross wound. So bear that in mind when trying to apply this to your own machines.

I have been using a thread stand like the one that Superior sells for a couple of years. All of my thread goes on it, except for the Pfaff and the long arm. agree with MacyBaby as to what's likely happening. I've seen that loop she spoke of on the embroidery machine. Saw it, couldn't get to it in time.