njquiltergirl Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 I know this sounds odd but I am working on a customer quilt made with heavy-duty weight interfacing on the back of each T-shirt. It is for her son and she thought it needed to be strong to hold up to the washing machines at college. At least she warned me. I have had to oil my Liberty four times on this 90" square quilt. The wicks started to look dry, and once I heard a disturbing clacking noise in the bobbin area. A good brushing and oiling did the trick. Thread is King Tut on top and So Fine in the bobbin. I'm up to 8 bobbins. I have one row to rip out and one more to quilt. Amy at the factory and Dawn provided great help in assuring me there was nothing terribly wrong going on elsewhere. I really apreciate them!! But it is so odd: I have to ask...has this ever happened to any of you?? Before quilting I did not inspect the interfacing, so I wonder if she left in a paper lining or something. Is the cotton King Tut that much more linty than my usual So Fine on top? Are T-shirts that linty?? Yikes! Thanks for any info!!! Lisa Burghart APQS Liberty NW NJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 Originally posted by njquiltergirl I know this sounds odd but I am working on a customer quilt made with heavy-duty weight interfacing on the back of each T-shirt. It is for her son and she thought it needed to be strong to hold up to the washing machines at college. At least she warned me. I have had to oil my Liberty four times on this 90" square quilt. The wicks started to look dry, and once I heard a disturbing clacking noise in the bobbin area. A good brushing and oiling did the trick. Thread is King Tut on top and So Fine in the bobbin. I'm up to 8 bobbins. I have one row to rip out and one more to quilt. Amy at the factory and Dawn provided great help in assuring me there was nothing terribly wrong going on elsewhere. I really apreciate them!! But it is so odd: I have to ask...has this ever happened to any of you?? Before quilting I did not inspect the interfacing, so I wonder if she left in a paper lining or something. Is the cotton King Tut that much more linty than my usual So Fine on top? Are T-shirts that linty?? Yikes! Thanks for any info!!! Lisa Burghart APQS Liberty NW NJ Yes King Tut will be a bit more linty than So Fine, but that's just the beast it is... Now why your wicks are getting dry so fast is beyond me....there isn't anything touching your wicks except the needle bar joints that are way up inside your head...there isn't any way the fabric could be drawing that much oil to make the wicks become dry. Did you brush your hand over the wicks before you actually oiled them (just cuz the looked dry maybe they weren't)....did you have a oily shine on your fingers? If you had the oily shine you maybe didn't need to oil the wicks as often as you did...just because you needed to oil and clean the bobbin area, doesn't always mean that you need to oil the wicks. If you have a quilt on the frame tonight, I would make sure the head is off the quilt itself, and put a bit of fabric or batting under the foot tonight...you will see if you have oiled the wicks to much, because in the morning you will have a very oily bit of fabric. Gravity works and the oil will travel down the needle bar if you have oiled it to much.... I hate it when I go that myself. Now the bobbin needing to be cleaned and oiled more often with linty threads is something we need to pay more attention to...I even get lazy and try to finish that last row before I break it down and clean or blow it clean and re-oil the bobbin area... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Originally posted by njquiltergirl Yikes! Thanks for any info!!! NW NJ Lisa, before you oil your bobbin assembly, are you doing a good cleaning of the bobbin area with WD 40? If you have linty threads (cottons) you should blow out your bobbin area and oil it at every bobbin change. I suggest also giving it a real good bubble bath in WD 40 and then oil it to get it purring nice and happy. That should help eliminate the clacking noises and will lube the metal pieces moving around in there. Oh, and put a new, sharp needle in. That will help too. I'd love to see this quilt when you are finished could you post a pic?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewlinzi Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Could it be weather/atmospheric conditions? The wicks on my machine never seem to dry out but then maybe I just over-oiled them at some point? Do you have a/c or hetaters that could do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Linzi I thought about that as well the AC or other things, and that wouldn't be it either or at least I don't think go.... as Oil doesn't evaporate...and will stay oily for an infinitive time.... I thouhgt about this over night, and came to the thought that maybe Lisa just hasn't oiled enough at one time and that's what it causing the wicks to dry out... Lisa...how much oil do you actually put on the wicks...when I oil I drop drops of oil onto the wicks till they stop absorbing at a fast rate...each of the wicks.... Yes, I have actually over oiled, and that doesn't hurt anything, except I need to make sure the head is off the quilt so it doesn't get an oil stain...and then not oil so much the next time. It maybe several weeks between oiling the wicks as they shouldn't dry out if you are getting enough on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 My machine seems to go through phases of this. I can't relate it to any particular threads, wadding or atmospheric conditions. I've just accepted it does it and I oil more when it is thirsty. I'd love to hear a good explanation though, and it is very scary the first time it happens. Ferret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted May 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 You ladies are great! Thanks for all the thought...I've been stumped by it too! OK...the recent history. Put a small quilt on and used a very dusty chalk to mark the borders. Finished it up and, knowing it was so dusty, decided to do a very thorough cleaning as per the manual. (I keep the page from the manual in a plastic cover right on my table.) Brush-air-WD-40, oil, wipe, etc. Loaded the 90" square T-shirt quilt. Knowing the customer used a heavy-duty interfacing I was going slowly and carefully as I went over the shirts , corner-stones and sashing seams. No problems, no broken needle, no thread breaking. Beautiful stitches (thank you APQS!). Then the clanking noise and bad bobbin stitches. I called the factory; Amy called back - she thought I was under oiling a bit. We talked about the # of drops per wick (should be 1-2) and bobbin race area (should be 2-3) and yes, I was one drop under in both places. But really, three good oilings so far for this quilt seem like too much to me. So I posted here. This morning, I oiled it again and think I have found the problem... I watched carefully wondering why the heck it is drying out so fast, was I missing the spots, where the heck is it going??? I have a fine-tip oiler with a metal needle-like point. I have used it for a while now and it is half-full. Well, very little oil came out of my needle-fine point!! Although the oiler looks like it is dispensing a full drop of oil, it is not, air is bubbling out with it. So I think I am oiling but NOT! So, back I go to using the big, messy one with the pull out spout that came with my machine. We've heard "drill, baby, drill"... well this one oils, baby, oils! No more dry machine for me. I better go hide! Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted May 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Ferret - Maybe it is a growth spurt, like what our kids go through! Funny, my son will eat and eat...stretch up really tall, then not be as hungry for a while. Maybe macines go on a drunken (oil) binge! It will be interesting to see if it happens again, now that I am back to the big oiler. Thanks, Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcck00 Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 I think this is a very interesting topic. I have always been concerned with keeping the machine well-oiled (burned out the engine in my first car.... no one told me I needed to put oil in it!). So, everytime I start quilting I check the wicks. The one on the side is always wet. I've had the machine for 1 1/2 years, and only oiled it twice (and that was only because I'm paranoid... the wick was already wet!) Strange. A case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it?' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 Cathy, That wick gets oil that drips down from the topside wicks, so it rarely (if ever) needs additional oiling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcck00 Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 Thanks Barb!! That puts my mind at ease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted May 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 You have all been very proper ladies! I fully expected to hear..."you dummy!" "How could you be so stupid!" Maybe that was just me speaking to myself...boy, did I feel like a dope when I saw what was happening. Thought I'd have to run away and hide!! Thanks again, Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neher-in-law5 Posted May 22, 2009 Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 Lisa, I have yet to read the words dummy or stupid on these threads, including statement about customers or non-quilting neighbors, and never toward a questioning quilter. We all need to learn new things sometime and they always are at a different rate and time from others. Now change your chant to: You are so smart to have asked that question!! Afterall, some of the rest of us haven't figured out that we needed to ask it yet. Have a good day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.