CarolO Posted July 23, 2011 Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 I have read the threads on the various problems with stitch regulators with interest since I have had problems with my Millie almost from the time I bought her in Feb 2007. I have a CompuQuilter and have not had much time to do free hand, but every time I have the time, I have problems with the stitching. I have contacted APQS, but because of the time constraints, have not got anything resolves. But this weekend I have decided to put something on the forum and see who else has had my type of problem. I have checked the cables, I think. I am not sure I am checking the right ones. I have two small cables coming out the the 2 black boxes that I think are the stitch regulators. They appear to be tight. The encoder wheels may be the problem. We have tried to tighten them but apparently we can't get them tight enough as when the wheels are held so the machine doesn't move, the little black wheel that is on the larger black wheel moves. I read that if they squeack, you can get by. The encoder wheels that go forward and backwards after checking this morning, sometimes in spots, does not even squeak. So I assume this may be some of the problem. So how can you get the wheels tight enough so they don't move? I can see daylight when I look between the encoder wheels, because the little black wheel is flat on the edges and the big black wheel is rounded on the inside where the little wheel fits. Is this they way they are suppose to be? Here is what is happening: Not all the time, but whenever the regular feels like it, it hesitages then finally after jiggling it a little it will move, but goes very fast and makes real small stitches. Or else, when I am stitching and slowing down, like doing stitch in the ditch, it will stop moving and then take large stitches. It is so flustrating. I would appreciate any feedback you all may have. Thanks so much. Carol Osburn Millennium with CQ Amarillo, T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srichardson Posted July 23, 2011 Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 Carol, Is it possible that you need to replace the encoder wheels? Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted July 23, 2011 Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 Carol, Sometimes it takes two people working together to get the encoder wheels tight against the head/carriage wheels: one putting pressure on the outside of the encoder box (so that the bolt through the wheel is flush against the end of the slot in the encoder box plate) and one tightening the gold bolt. If you're not getting proper contact between the wheels, even with the bolt at the end of that slot, you might need to use a small file and extend that slot just the littlest bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolO Posted July 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 Barb, My husband has helped me tighten the wheels, and we tightened as tight as we could, but they still squeaked. Does the bolt need to be completely loose so that you can move the box? I don't know anything about the bolt that goes through the wheel so that it is flush against the end of the slot in the encoder box plate. Do I need to take the encoder box completely off to do all this? We loosened the gold bolt, but maybe we didn't loosen it enough. I dont know where the I'm not very mechanical. I don't know where the end of the slot in the encoder box plate is? Maybe that is because we didn't loosen the bolt enough to see all these parts. Thanks for your help. Carol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolO Posted July 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 Sue, I will check into seeing if I need new encoder wheels or maybe a new stitch regulator. Thanks, Carol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted July 23, 2011 Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 Carol, try loosening the bolt until the various parts can be wiggled around. Then if you look at where the bolt goes through the wheel, then up to the axle, you can see where it goes through a slot in the metal plate on top of the encoder box. If you haven't loosened up the bolt enough in previous adjustments, you may not have been able to move the encoder wheel quite close enough to the machine wheels. If, after taking a look, you're still confused, give me a call and we'll figure it out. (509) 447-3803 And in looking back at your original post, you may have a problem somewhere in the SR path, not just the encoder wheels, although it sounds like they aren't adjusted quite right. Having the encoder wheels out of adjustment shouldn't cause racing and smaller stitches, just looooonger ones. By moving the head just front-to-back or side-to-side, we can figure out whether this is an issue with one of the encoder boxes, or an overall SR issue. You'll want to test that, as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolO Posted July 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 Thanks for explaining this in detail. I now believe I understand how to do this and will try again to adjust the wheels. I may not get this done today, but will let you know how it works out. Then if I still have problems will see if it is in the encoder box or an overall SR issue. I will get back to you most likely tomorrow or Monday. Thanks so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolO Posted July 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2011 Hi Barb, I just typed a reply to my last post to let you know what happened and somehow lost the whole thing, so will try again. Just wanted to let you know that I got my stitch regulator fixed and what we did to fix it. After you suggested that I try to move the machine head with the little black encloder wheels only with my finger, I found that the top encoders were tight and moved the head, but the small encoder wheels on the bottom that moves the head from right to left did not move. So we tightened the wheels again using a large pliers to hold it into place. My hustand then put some "belt conditioner" used for autombile belts on the little black encoder wheels. And guess what? It worked. No more slippage or squeaking. I then put on a sandwich to do some trials and it worked perfectly. No more hesitating and then running real fast making tiny stitches. No more hesitating and then making large stitches. I worked with this sandwich for about 10 minutes or so doing stitch in the ditch etc. working slowly, stopping, starting again, etc. Worked great. I don't know what will happen once I get my quilt back on the frame because sometimes it would take 20 minutes or so before I would start having problems. I have several customer quilts do before I can put my quilt back on the frame, but will let you know once I get this all done. So stay tune in. Again thanks for all your help. I surely do appreciate it. Carol Osburn Millie with CQ Amarillo, TX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted July 28, 2011 Report Share Posted July 28, 2011 Glad it's working for you, Carol! And you're right not to get totally excited until you've done some time on a real quilt - but once that first quilt is done without issues, then you can do your happy dance!!:P:P And don't hesitate to call with any questions you might have - the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolO Posted July 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2011 Thanks Barb so much. I'll let you know if I have any other problems. Caorl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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