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Things are loose under the hood.


shellyf

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I looked in my manual but couldn't find anything to tell me how to tighten things up. And unfortunately, I don't know my machine that well. In the manual it says that it's the hook mechanism and bobbin basket. These are loose and rattles when stitching. I can move it about 1/8" back and forth. I can't see any loose screws but could be looking at the wrong ones.

Would appreciate any help since I have a quilt to get done before Monday. Why do these things happen at the worse time?

I have an APQS Discovery.

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Originally posted by shellyf

I looked in my manual but couldn't find anything to tell me how to tighten things up. And unfortunately, I don't know my machine that well. In the manual it says that it's the hook mechanism and bobbin basket. These are loose and rattles when stitching. I can move it about 1/8" back and forth. I can't see any loose screws but could be looking at the wrong ones.

Would appreciate any help since I have a quilt to get done before Monday. Why do these things happen at the worse time?

I have an APQS Discovery.

Shelly, when you say you can move it back and forth, do you mean front to back? If so, there's an adjustment to tighten that up. If you mean left to right (in a circular motion), that's normal. Are you having stitching issues? If your machine is stitching as normal, then the rattle may simply mean it needs cleaning and oiling.

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OK. Let me get this right. Are the three of you saying that it normal for the hook to move 1/8" in a circular motion from left to right is ok. You've got to be kidding right. If I hold the front wheel of either of my machines and reach down and turn the hook, I get no play at all. And that how it should be. You shouldn't be able to move the hook when your holding the front wheel, if you can, then something is wrong. This means something is coming loose or not tight. I did have one machine about 6 years ago that had the hook move back and forth about an 1/8", but it was more then 17 years old. Now Shelly has a fairly new machine and should call the company for some more indepth info as to why this is happening. I haven't worked on any machines that have 1/8" play in the hook movement, except that old 17 years Gammill. zeke...............

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Zeke, Shelly didn't say anything about holding the flywheel. If you're just touching the hook assembly, you will feel some play in it due to the spacing around the hook retaining finger - this can sometimes confuse newbies. Hopefully, she'll be back on soon to tell us what kind of "play" she's feeling.

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Sometimes my throat plate gets loose, the screws do that is. When this happens, it sounds like it is going to fall completely apart!!! Just tighten the screws and no more rattle!!! Hope that is all it is for you!!! The first time this happened, I was really upset!!! I may have stripped the screws or something but I haven't investigated why it keeps happpening, j

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Sorry I didn't come back sooner. Had to do some Christmas shopping.

It's left to right and back to left that it is loose. The stitching is fine but boy, it sure does make a lot of noise and sounds like it's going to fall apart. I'm sure it didn't start this until the last couple weeks.

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Shelly, give your machine a good cleaning with WD-40, as instructed in the manual, then oil it per instructions. If that doesn't take care of the rattle, it might need to be doused with WD-40 and allowed to drip into a can overnight, then cleaned and oiled again. You may have a loose piece of thread or fluff somewhere in there, gumming up the works.

If all else fails, give APQS a call tomorrow - they'll be in the office through Wednesday, I think.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finally got to changing the assembly and retiming. It went smoother than I thought it would. Only one issue. When doing the one stitch, it doesn't stop at the right spot and the thread is caught and won't come back up with the bobbin thread. Once I rotate back and forth by hand, it will let go of the thread. Stitching looks great. Any ideas?

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The hook retaining finger--that metal piece that keeps the assembly from rotating--if it is too far into the slot it will catch the thread like that. Nudge it out just a bit--but make sure it still stops the rotation. This happened to me last time I replaced the hook assembly and re-timed.

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I just had this problem with one of my machines. My needle would not stop in the upward position high enough to release the bobbin. I retimed the machine, checking the position of the finger, and also adjusted the mag sensor.

I ended up replacing the needle up/down sensor board. Do you have a Blissed table that does NOT have the grounding cable that goes from your machine to the carriage. I blew three needle sensor boards before they/we figured out that the problem was likely the static electricity blowing the board. On Friday I replaced the main board and the needle sensor board AFTER putting the grounding cable on as I have a table that was Blissed before the grounding cable became standard. The machine ran 12 hours Friday, 8 yesterday and has been running for over 2 hours today and has had absolutely NO problems so far.

Feel free to call me if you have questions.

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Lucy, thanks for the email. I really do appreciate the assistance. I don't have a Blissed table. I did happen to think it's been a bit colder and my machine can be a bit 'cold blooded'. I had I/S added this past May. Once warmed up, it no longer is catching.

I also want to say that this is the first time I've done anything 'major' to my machine. I've been scared silly avoiding anything with timing. It really was not nearly as bad as I had pictured in my mind.

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