You see, for weeks my machine which is a mere year old has been noisy. click-clack, clunk!...It was not back-stitching cleanly. It's FMQ was giving me unreliable tension. Many days, I could not adjust the tension to not see the top thread on the back. It even would loop the top thread around the bobbin casing while sewing, which locks up the fabric so fast so that Ihave to cut it off from within the bobbin or get a hole in the material. I really just figured I needed to stop and rethread my threads.
Stupid ME!
Then yesterday I came across a posting by Kate on the About Forums. It all sounded like my problem too, but I discarded it since I HAD tried to loosen those stupid cover plate screws. They never would loosen so I foolishly reconcilled that I wasn't supposed to go in there. This is just the point where stupid gets critically dumb, as this is NOT my 1st machine or only one. I have 3. And the other ones do get cleaned in there. And I should mention (if you looked at Kate's post), I am an engineer. Lord help my stupidity...
So I tried to turn those ridiculous little screws the other direction, and LOOK what actually happens! The cover plate comes off, revealing an inch of gross gunk!
And when I removed the bobbin casing, yes...even more gunk.Oh, all the light bulbs of NYC are coming on about now.
THAT (above) was under my bobbin case. UGH...
And here's my pile of crap from within that was no doubt affecting the back-stitching, FMQ, and making all kinds of noise. It's a wonder I made anything nice.
But now, she's purring like these kittens, sweet & quiet, and awaiting me to go make something this morning before my 3 wild things (not what's below) awaken.
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5 comments:
Ohhhhh Margaret! I have had the same thing happen to me! Was absolutely HORRIFIED when I realized the amount of fluff and crap under that plate! Its scarey isn't it? Glad your machine is back to its lovely self. :)
Think less, 'I am stupid'and more 'my cosmic purpose in life today was to make someone else feel actually quite competant' :)
I love Helen's comment - especially as I think i'm the one who gets to feel competent in this scenario. What's really astonishing is how well our machines manage to run even when we DON'T clean them regularly...
I had the same thing happen and while at quilt camp a few girlfriends said wow what's up with your machine it sounds like a truck. I said I don't know to which of course they responded when was the last time you cleaned under everything. I said oh you mean I'm supposed to unscrew all this. WELL it was so bad it had become felted fluff and was about an inch thick. SO now at quilt camp I get teased but now I always make sure that my machine has been cleaned before leaving home.
I'm glad that it turned out to be a fairly simple solution. I recently cleaned out quite a bit of fluff from my machine as well. Isn't it amazing how they sound so quiet once their parts can move freely? Next weekend I'm going to a workshop on how to maintain and repair mechanical sewing machines. Hopefully I'll learn some interesting things to keep all my older machines working well. Have a happy 4th!
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