Liberty jamming

[annb]

I was basting a customer quilt yesterday in manual mode on a slow speed so that I could get the stitch length that I wanted. When I was doing the stitches that required me to move the machine towards me or away from me, from back to front or front to back (standing on the free motion side of the machine) i experienced jamming. The motor would hum loudly and the needle would be jammed. I would have to stop and manually roll the needle up or down and it was very hard to do, it was that jammed. It happened more than a dozen times. Why would this happen? Is there something that I should check to see if there is a jam of thread somewhere? Please help

Ann

[John Mitchell]

Ann:

It is possible that you have thread inside your machine. If you do not have a flywheel cover some times when the thread breaks it sucks thread in the machine. To check remove the left cover (when standing at the freehand or front of your machine). Look inside and you will probably see thread wrapped around the shaft. Remove this thread using whatever works for you. (exacto knife, tweezers, hemostats, etc.). If this is an ongoing problem you might want to install a Hartley Flywheel cover or make one of you own with some plastic. We used to use 2 strips of Velcro along the flywheel on the left side, but the Hartley works best and looks good.

Good Luck,

John

[annb]

Thanks for the information. I did open up the front cover and found was no thread wrapped around the shaft or in the compartment . Its weird that it only seemed to happen when i was stitching either towards or away in a straight line. It didnt happen at all in the side to side motion.

Ann

[John Mitchell]

Ann:

Interesting problem. I talked to Mary and Janet and they suggested a few things to check. If you are running at a slow speed it is very easy to over run the machine. If you do this it sometimes will bend the needle. Check your speed (maybe slow down) and check the needle.

Does the machine run ok at standard speeds and with the stitch regulator engaged?

Keep me posted I'm interested in the outcome of your issue.

John

[annb]

John

I changed the needle and have run the machine in regulated speed and it hasn;t jammed again. I wonder if it was the speed that caused the problem? Anyway I intend to load a practice piece later today and I will try the slow speed manual speed again and see if it still jams

Thanks for all of the help and I will keep you posted after my experiment

Ann

[quiltaholi_518]

I hate basting quilts for that very reason, every time I try in a very slow speed, the needle bends eough to not go back in the hole. So, if I baste say at the bottom of my quilt so I can unpin, I use the manual needle up/down. What a pain!

[connie hurst]

Hi All,

One thing that people get confused about..... when you have your meter set for s.r., it gives you that many stitches, however, when you set it for manuel, that is how fast the motor will go, it doesn't have anything to do with the stitches per in.. So, as John said, you basically are outrunning the motor and causing the needle to jam! When basting, use the needle up/down button and move it, it may take a little longer but you don't have to risk jamming and breaking needle and thowing it out of timing!

Good luck