coloradosky

I recently purchased a Singer 27-4 treadle SN D905121. I used the machine a few days ago to make a fly cover out of fine netting for my sister's horse. The stitches were uniform and the tension was good. The following day I sat down and stitched a piece of cotton. When I examined the stitches the top thread looked beautiful however when looking on the underside the top thread just hung in huge loops and the bobbin thread could be pulled out with no effort. I readjusted the tension several times, changed the needle, took the tension apart and cleaned it for the second time, took the shuttle apart and cleaned it completely inside and out. There was only a very small amount of lint removed from the inside of the shuttle. I downloaded Miriam's "Has Anybody Got Tension Problems" and Thepolyparrot's "Getting Perfect Tensions" along with others. I have worked on this problem most of the afternoon today and finally examined the needle plate and felt a very small burr. I removed it by using a small fine file and used a pointed file and went inside the hole to remove any burr from this area. Reassembled the plate and pulled the bobbin thread up thru with the needle thread before closing the cover over the shuttle. Did a sample and the stitches were beautiful. Thinking I had found the problem I did the happy dance. Played around with the machine and this time I pulled the bobbin thread up thru the normal way. Sewed again and the stiches were back to the loops. I removed the round needle plate thinking I might not have gotten the burrs smooth enough in the area around the needle hole. I used a soft sanding stick and very gently smoothed some more, checked the hole again for burrs and reassembled the needle plate pulling the thread up before closing the cover over the shuttle - stitches were perfect. Later I ran out of bobbin thread, filled it and stitches were bad. This time I removed the screw from the needle plate and just lifted it and tightened it back down without acturally removing it, pulled up the bobbin thread and closed the cover - stitches were perfect again. I have tried leaving the cover open over the shuttle and bringing up the bobbin thread this way and then closing it and the stitches will be bad. Does it make any sense that I get good stitches after merely removing the screw from the needle plate, lifting it slightly, tightening it back down, bringing up the thread and then closing the shuttle cover? Any ideas would certainly be appreciated.

jlhmnj

Wow, pretty strange. If the needle plate and shuttle slide plate is definitely affecting the stitch, then I would bend the shuttle carrier down to give it just a little more clearance from the plates. Good Luck.

Jon

coloradosky

Thanks, Jon, I will try this as the problem does appear to be in this area, however, it worked perfect a week ago. Last night when I got up from the machine it was stitching perfectly. Absolutely no one touched the machine after unless there is a ghost that sews at night. I sat down this morning, put the material under the needle, put the presser foot down and tightened the knob on the hand wheel and sewed a straight line which again was all loops on the underside. I tried bringing up the bobbin thread the normal way which resulted in loops again. I then removed the needle plate, and returned it to its slot, tightened it, brought the thread up, closed the shuttle door and it produced a good stitch. I did use a long thin brush and went down inside the needle pathway beside the feed dogs and was able to remove a little dust but it was so minute that I'm confident it was not causing the problem. I certainly appreciate your help and will let you know the outcome.

ThayerRags

It sounds possible that your machine has a manual upper tension release, and the upper thread is not getting set into the tension properly when being threaded at times, or the upper thread is somehow getting out of the tension disks in the upper tension during use. See if there’s a problem getting and keeping the upper thread in the tension disks.

CD in Oklahoma

coloradosky

Thank you both for your help. As stated above I put a small brush down the needle channel and was able to remove a very small amount of dust. I sewed several more lines of stitching without looping on the bottom. Let the machine sit overnight and tried it again without changing any settings and it sewed a beautiful stitch. Rethreaded the machine, removed the shuttle and replaced it in the normal fashion, brought up the bobbin thread as per the proper way and it never skipped a stitch. I will wait for several more test runs before I will believe that just that small amount of "fly thru the air" lint in the channel was causing such bad stitching. Again thank you - I love this board!

miriam

I am ignorant of the 27s. Usually when there are loops on the bottom it is the upper tension causing the problem. CD could be right since it is on and off again - I doubt if it is an adjustment.

jlhmnj

Think it's the sewing machine Gremlins that come out at night.

miriam

NAH they hover in my shop, they hide tools, essential screws, oil cans and use up my Q-tips. Then they trash the place and leave behind old junk sewing machines. I swear I didn't buy that many.