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winding own bobbins


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I have been using prewound bobbins with Bottom Line and love them, however, the time has come to finally wind my first bobbin! The thread I need for a quilt is not available prewound!

For some reason, I am intimidated by the thought of this. I have had my Millie since March and have had very few tension problems with prewounds, so I am scared at this new venture. Any wise words out there? I am planning on practicing before I tackle the customer's quilt, what kind of problems should I be aware of?

Thanks for all the valuable help I get from this site. I may not post often, but I read religiously!

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Lori, the main difference is the amount of thread you'll get on the bobbins you wind yourself. Wind lots more than you think you'll need! You will have to make some adjustment to the bobbin tension because you'll probably be using thicker thread than the Bottom Line that is on the BOBs. Just follow the threading instructions in the manual and you'll do fine.

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I wind bobbins all the time on my Mille and it works great. Just keep an eye on it as now and then the thread will "jump" off and wind on the little rubber spindle. If I use bottom line or a 60 wt thread I wind it around the little tension disc an extra time and it seems to wind more smootly. jeri

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I agree with Norece....When my bobbin winder broke its little rubber spacer....which I haven't replaced yet I turned to which ever DSM I had set up at the time.

I have used machines from the tiny Singer 221's to the larger Janome's to wind bobbins for my Longarm, and can't say I have ever had any trouble with them. I don't use just one type of thread for my bobbins, I use what ever color matches my quilt at the time or whatever thread my customer wants me to use.

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Here is how I solved the not so nice feature of the rubber tube on the attached bobbin winder. Take black electrical tape and put enough wraps on the bobbin winding spindle to allow the bobbin to easily slip on the shaft, two wraps should do it. Then I took heat shrinkable tubing place it over the taped spindle and use heat to shrink it in place. If you have a supper hot hair dryer this will do. I used indirect heat from a small propane candle lighter.

The bobbin should fit tightly but nut have to be forced on. The way I did this it allowed the bobbin to go over the "step" in the shaft and with just a slight adjustment to the switch lever I have been able to wind bobbins with a lot less fear of having the thread come off the bobbin and wind on the shaft.

Slightly complicated but it works. I did this about two months ago and it is working fine.

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I have a stand alone bobbin winder and love it. I usually wind 2-3 bobbins at a time. If I run out of those, I figure winding a few more just gives me a break away from the quilt for a few mintues. I have 3 bobbin cases, one for each type of thread I currently use; and then I don't have to mess with tension every time. It works great for me.;)

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I use my bobbin winder on my Millie. However I love the pre wounds. About the tubing - I just read a while back where Mark said you can get the tubing at a hobby shop in the model plane area - I think he said it was the fuel line. I purchased some tubing from a hardware store, but it was very difficult to find the right size.

Winding the bobbin on your Millie is not difficult, just watch it, my thread jumps off when the bobbin in full and would keep going around the little thing you put the bobbin on. That probably doesn't happen to everyone...

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