Guest Linda S Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 I generally never have tension troubles. I've been working on a show quilt (which may end up in the scrap bin) and my monolon thread kept snapping. It is very fine, and sometimes breaks, but I've never had trouble like I did yesterday. So, I had loosened and loosened the top tension, but still couldn't get it to stop snapping. I finally decided that perhaps the tension spring was worn out after seven years of owning the machine, and I have a spare, so I decided to replace it. I got out my manual and followed the directions. Two things happened that have me worried. 1) I had a great deal of trouble removing the tension assembly. The instructions say to make sure you loosen the screw at least two full turns, but I just have loosened mine 50 times before I got it to budge. By the time I finally got it out of there, I think because I had the tension set so loosely, it fell onto the quilt and the nut and all the disks fell off. I think I put them back in the right order, but could someone by any chance take a photo of all those disks laid out from left to right, so I can make sure I put them all on in the proper order? 2) the biggest worry for me. When the tension assembly came out, it brought with it a small pile of metal shavings. They look like filings that occur when a screw gets stripped or when one tries to put the wrong size screw into a too small hole. I wiped them off the assembly, got my flashlight and wrapped a shop rag around a Qtip and gently wiped inside the cavity the assembly came out of and got the rest of the shavings, but I cannot see where these would have come from. I cleaned it, put a slight film of oil on it, and then put the new spring in and re-inserted the tension assembly. It's all back together now and seems to be working fine, but I'm waiting for a grinding noise or loud thump to occur that will finally signal where those shavings came from. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyLake Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 I have taken the tension assembly out before, Linda. It sounds to me like you did fine. It is scary, because you aren't sure what goes where, but it would not be working correctly if everything wasn't back in place. I would send what you just wrote to Amy at APQS in the Service Department tomorrow to double check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 Linda, I can't help with the tension assembly, but I'll surely send you "good vibes" that everything works out just fine for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 I'm most freaked out by the metal shavings. Where did they come from? The tension assembly didn't appear to be damaged - it was like the stuff had fallen from above or somewhere else in the machine. I'll call today. Need my coffee first! Thanks so much for the good vibes and support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted August 29, 2011 Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 Good news! Just talked to Dawn and the shavings may have been left over from the original machining of my Liberty when she was built. They were probably the reason I had such trouble getting it out, but there is nothing in that area that could be grinding apart, so I should be good to go. Unfortunately, I'm out of time on getting my own quilt done and now have to fly on a few customer quilts to get them done on time. Oh well, there's always next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted February 16, 2015 Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 I just replaced my tension spring and finger. YAY me. Now my tension sucks. BOO. I have it tightened way down and I'm still getting spots on the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted February 16, 2015 Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 Teresa, Make sure that your tension spring isn't right up against the side of your machine - it needs to be able to move freely to pull the thread back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted February 16, 2015 Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 HI Barb, it can move freely. It just seems as if the spring doesn't move much when I pull the thread. I'm used to the old one moving from 10 o clock to 8 o clock. This one just doesn't seem to have much spring to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted February 16, 2015 Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 You may have tightened it too much before you "set" the screw in the tension assembly. If the spring doesn't have enough spring, take the assembly back out, loosen that set screw at the base of the assembly and "unwind" the assembly just a little bit, reset the screw and try it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 You are now a learned technician on the APQS machines. Glad it worked for you, Sorry it didn't work for chickenscratch Teresa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bevhquilter Posted January 26, 2016 Report Share Posted January 26, 2016 The wire hook on my tension assembly broke this morning. Is it hard to replace? I have a call in to a local repair guy because I don't have a replacement part and I suspect he might. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunningThreads Posted January 26, 2016 Report Share Posted January 26, 2016 Not hard, you can do it yourself. You have to loosen the set screw and remove the assembly from the head and then take it apart. About ten minutes work. Get one from APQS and they will send excellent instructions with it. If you are near me I have a spare. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bevhquilter Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Thanks, Nigel. Barb Mayfield has a spare that she is sending to me and I might try to replace it myself. I don't want to risk messing up the tension, but I think it is probably something I can do without problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimerickson Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Regardless of whomever replaces the take up-spring, your tension will have to be completely re-set. It's not hard to do, and good training. If you do the replacement yourself, make sure when the tension assembly is put back in the machine, that the take-up spring does not rub against the machine head. That will cause it to malfunction. Good luck. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fallenfar Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 Renae Haddadin has a really good youtube video on setting a check spring. It's the factory setting for an Innova but the basic instructions are helpful for any brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bevhquilter Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 I did the replacement myself with instructions that Barb sent me. It wasn't hard and I was very careful to align everything just so. I was having some thread breakage and found that I had a rough spot on my hook assembly, so while I was working on the machine, I smoothed that out with some emery cloth. All is working well now: no thread breakage, good tension. I'm a happy quilter! Really appreciate all of your comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 Glad you're a happy quilter, Bev!! That's our goal!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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