daily start up routine

[Catherine P.]

Inquiring minds what to know?

Do you have a daily start up routine for you machine? Do you always oil the bobbin race or do you let your machine ?warm up?? What makes your machine work best for the days? quilting?

[JudyL]

Catherine:

I always clean and oil my machine at the end of the day. Then the next morning, I wipe it down, run it a few seconds with no thread or bobbin and then wipe everything down again.

I also wipe my rails before starting each day. I think I generate more than my fair share of dust! Every few days, I'll clean the wheels with a Q-tip and alcohol.

[LindaB]

Catherine:

When starting my quilting day, I run my machine for at least 15 minutes, I set the dial at about 9 and then wipe down the rails, check if he needs any oil. While he's warming up I'll get on the computer. So I guess sometimes the warmup time runs longer, (imagine that)....ha ha! these computers take up so much time.....:cool::cool:

Happy Quilting!!!

[AnuGram]

Interesting question. Guess we all have different routines.

I start by checking the wicks on top of my Millie. THey rarely need oiling but I always check. I wipe out the bobbin case area and use compressed air in there, then put a drop of oil in it, put a fabric/batting sandwich under the needle, and run the machine (usually at 9 or 10)without thread for around 10 minutes, or however long it takes me to clean all the rails and wheels with alcohol. Sometimes I use this warming up time to load a bobbin or 2 on the bobbin winder.

Sara

[JudyL]

I guess I don't understand about the warming up time. What's different about when the machine is warming up or when you're using it?

I know with my car, it's one thing to let it warm up before you actually but the transmission and everything into motion (heck, I don't even know why I let the car warm up . . I was told to do it and I do it!) but with the longarm, if it's sitting in one spot warming up or if you're moving it, what difference does it really make? It's just the wheels that are moving and they're not warming up.

I run mine just a few seconds to get everything moving so I can wipe it clean again but I don't "warm it up". It resides in the house so it never gets really cold as if it were out in the garage or something.

[thequiltqueen]

I have had to start "warming up" my machine too. At first I didn't have to.

After about 3 months of owning my millie I had a problem where the needle would continue to go up and down after I had stopped stitching. I could not even stop it by putting pressure on the fly wheel. I would have to UNPLUG the machine to get it to stop! APQS advised me to adjust a screw inside which fixed this problem. BUT, in the winter time (even though we are in my climate controlled house) she is sluggish until she is warmed up. What I mean is, it is an effort for her to plunge the needle through the fabric. I COULD reverse my "fix" in the winter time, but I find it easier to just run her for about 5 minutes without thread when she is "cold". After this warm up, she thinks it is summer again and we zip right along.

[ramona-quilter]

No warm up....

I don't warm my machine either. Is there a reason for the warm-up?

As far as routine, I brush the bobbin case, blast it with air and then

put a drop of oil in there everytime I change the bobbin.

When I am finished quilting for the day, I do the same routine but I add

the WD-40 clean up in the bobbin area to the bobbin change routine. I

leave a piece of batting under the needle to tell myself that the machine

is clean and ready to go. I push-broom the carpet to get the thread

and then vacuum.

Before I start quilting the next time, I wipe down the machine and table

top with a piece of batting to get the dust and then I rub down the rails

with warm & natural batting with alcohol to get the black stuff off. I check

for thread caught in the wheels.

Once a week, I q-tip and alcohol the wheels.

I do not wax.

So far so good

[Cheryl]

Sounds like I need to get out the Q-tips. I've never cleaned my wheels, just wiped down the rails before I begin stitching. I usually oil and clean my Liberty throughly after each quilt, and the bobbin area gets swiped for lint during each bobbin change...and oiled about every 5.

I do warm my machine, as she resides in a sun room that gets cold at night. So in the morning I turn up the heat and wait till it hits 50 before I even turn it on. I usually run Annabelle about 5 mnutes while I get my stuff together. But I've never cleaned my wheels...guess I'm in for a treat!!

Cheryl in Iowa

[Sue Patten]

Hay Cherly and fellow longarmers,

I really have to pull my socks up... I simply put on a pot of Tim Hortins Coffee, walk the dog while I take the kids to school and then turn my machine on and go ... oh wait I finish that first cup of coffee first while I am winding my bobbins. No really I clean my rails only when they need it, oil my machines after each quilt;) and blow the thread bunnys out with canned air. (if using cotton thread after each bobbin, if not when it looks like it needs it) I have never warmed my machine up and I am in Canada so unlike Cherly, my studio is only that warm for two weeks in July LOL

[Grammie]

I always clean at the end of my day like Judy so I'm ready to go the next day. This works best for me since I still work full time. If I get home and only have 1 hour or two to quilt I can get right on it. After all day at work I'm usually thinking about where I left off and ideas are sturring in my head by the time I am able to begin again.

No warm up. Didn't know I needed one. I do however usually turn on the machine as soon as I enter the room.

My honey got me a nice air compressor and this is so helpful and better than canned air. I use it almost every day. It really helps to keep the thread away from my wheels. I blow them down routinely to keep them moving smoothly and to keep threads from becoming tightened around them.

[Mary Beth]

I guess I am pretty normal :cool: I turn on my machine, start winding bobbins, if needed. Check the "chat" on the APQS web site;) . Get carried away looking at all of my Longarm quilting "store" web sites to see what is new. If my husband is home, and I hear him walking up the stairs to my quilting studio, I run to the machine and start quilting like I have been doing it all along . When I finish a quilt, I clean the machine and oil, clean the rails, clean the wheels with a q-tip and alcohol, vacuume the floor put everything away that I brought out while quilting. Then start all over the next day.

[9patch]

I don't do a warmup. I have no routine. I'm a mess.

I do use canned air and a drop of oil in the bobbin case with each new bobbin, use my finger to spread it around a bit and get up any extra. (I wonder if I will hear that this is a no-no?) I do need to regularly oil my wicks. I have asked Connie about this....she thinks that my room must be dry. I also check around the machine for excess oil...just to make sure I am not going to get oil on a quilt.

Because I'm a hobby quilter I tend to do the full cleaning, WD and rails and wheels and bobbin cutter, just before I start each quilt....mostly.

Each and every time, before I unpin a quilt, I wipe the rails. Then I don't need to care if the quilt touches them. I want that black stuff on my rag, not on the back of a quilt.

Looking forward to spring.

Linda/9patch

[LindaB]

WARMING UP MACHINE ...

Connie @ APQS advised me to warm up my machine before going to work. Not sure as I think I'm getting senile, the reason was to warm up all the electronics......

CONNIE.......share your advice pleeeeezzzzzzz!!! :P

Happy Quilting...

[Idahoquilter]

Hey let me tell you that warming up your machine is important. Right now I have my machine in an unfinished room, kind of cold out there but warming up your machine makes a big difference especially in colder climates.

[JudyL]

For those who warm up your longarms, do you also warm up your sewing machines before using them? Would you just unthread it and sit there with your foot on the pedal? Is it something different about the longarms that they should be warmed up but not the sewing machines?

I've never heard of this but I'm thinking if it's something that should be done for the longarms, then it should be done for sewing machines too??

Thanks!

[lee]

Well,,, quilters... I have never warmed up my machine either... I have always heard if you run your machine without material under it ,,,, it can cause damage to your gears... I have sewed in a factory,,, and we never warmed up our machine,,, without material under them... or sewing on something,,,,

I have 2 quilting machine from APQS,,,, and I have never had nothing wrong with any of them.... and I have never broken a needle since I have had them....they both purrrrrrr like babies,,,, this running them warming them up is just more wear and tear on them they don't need I think,,,,

but I do keep mind oil and cleaned good,,,, and they are kept in a 80% or more degree house,,, maybe that why I have had good luck,,,::

[Guest Linda S]

I don't warm up my machine either, and sometimes it's fairly cold in the studio until I get warmed up myself! I usually oil the night before, but blow out the bobbin area and apply a drop of oil in the morning. I let the machine run for about 5 seconds to distribute the drop of oil, but once that's done -- away we go! I'll have to admit - I don't even let my car warm up much before I go, and she's 12 years old and still running like new.

Linda

[thequiltqueen]

Judy,

No, I don't warm up my sewing machine before I use it, just my millie, and her only in non summer months. I don't know why she needs "warming up" because I live in FL where it is pretty warm for all but 2 weeks of the year. All I know is that if it is not over 85 degrees outside she won't poke the needle through the fabric unless she has ran for a while.

As I said in my previous post, I know I can adjust the #8 screw and avoid the warm up, but I am too lazy to open up the hood for adjustments every time the season/humidity/or whatever changes. It is just easier for ME to let her run. If yours is not so temperamental, just consider yourself lucky and get right to the quilting!!