Beth Dunkelberger

Thank you so much for the detailed information. I'll be calling APQS tomorrow and see what they have to offer as well.

Hi, I'm a fairly new Millie owner and have encountered several rather frightening events with my baby. While working on the last 3 customer projects the needle randomly stopped in the downward position, while the carriage kept moving to follow the pattern. Hitting "stop" wasn't as quick as it could have been in this situation. Fortunately, the first few times it happened the machine was stitching just below the last row of the quilt top. But, two days ago it happened in the middle of the quilt. I'm so afraid of tearing through the quilt that I've stopped using my Millie till this issue is resolved. Yesterday I talked with Angela who suggested the machine is reacting to an electrical static discharge (ESD) and telling Quilt Path to stop while the carriage is still in motion. I looked at older posts from 2011-2016 regarding ESD, but nothing that seemed to be identical to what I'm experiencing. Has anyone else had this happen to them? I live/work in UT which has a very dry climate. My longarm sits in my retail shop (approx 1600 sq ft) on vinyl composite tile (VCT). Angela mentioned that APQS longarms need at least 35% humidity to operate properly and I should invest in a humidity gauge to track the numbers as well as a humidifier to bring up the humidity level. Also, wiping down the frame, etc with dryer sheets and spraying Staticide on the floor around the machine might help. What other recommendations do you have to eliminate the problem? Would anti-static mats under the casters help? Is there a brand/model # of portable humidifier that has worked for you? I looked at some product reviews on other websites and am not totally sold on any particular brand. My building's HVAC is mounted on the roof so I'm not sure installing a humidifier up there is even a possibility. Thanks in advance, Beth