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I have an APQS Lenni that is a year old. Right after I bought it last year my life sort of imploded and I ended up moving from Texas back to California. While moving back is a good thing, I’ve been having trouble off and on with my machine since. I had to put the machine in storage for about 4 months while I worked everything out. It was in storage in Texas from the end of July to early November, so still fairly hot for most of that time. When I first got it set up I was breaking my top thread a lot but I was sewing on a couple of sheets from Walmart to practice. Going back to regular fabric seems to have improved that. I’m breaking thread again on my current quilt but that might be related to the fact that I’m trying to quilt with Aurifil thread which can be finicky in my regular machine. However when sewing today I noticed my machine seems really noisy. Now I’m not sure what’s wrong. The frustrating thing is that when stuff like this happens instead of working on figuring out what is wrong I tend to walk away and then not touch it for a month or so. 

 

I have to admit that I sort of wish I hadn’t bought my machine. I’m living in an apartment I don’t love as it’s the only place that had a room big enough for it. Also I really have no desire to repair or work on it but taking it nearly 100 miles to have it worked on is also a problem. I had went back and forth between a Lenni and a George and sort of wish I had just went with a George or another sit down model. I did list my machine to sell but didn’t get much interest in it. Any advice? 

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NO shame in deciding you are not interested in longarming …..I feel the same way sometimes....in fact...if there was a tech were I live willing to come to my house and do the maintenance on it....I would sure pay the price....but....that being said....I do try and problem solve any issues and have talked with some sales reps and the tech support.....once when my machine was idle for months.....It was making noise....but the wicks were still wet.....I decided to put 1-2 drops on each wick everyday until I was getting some oil coming down the needle....the noise quieted down....I also let it run 5-10 minutes on manual at a slower speed before using it...also seemed to help it run smoother and quieter.....as I have had her now for a several years, I am think maybe I need to repack the gear box with greese....you could also give APQS a call....Lin

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Thanks Sewingpup. I went back down this morning and played around again and have determined that the excess noise seems to be coming from the hook assembly. Some of it is due to movement of the black part in the silver part but it seems more than that. I need to call APQS or watch the timing video again or something to see if I can figure out what is going on.

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Gear box grease.  They can develop an air pocket in the grease in the gear box.   makes it sound kind of growly.  Nohing to be concerned about as the grease is just there as a noise dampener.  You can repack the grease to take care of the noise.

 

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Thank you everyone. Angie helped me via email and I think it’s good again. I kind of did what Nigel said after moving the needle plate for a better angle at the top of the hook assembly. Seems better now. I’m going to put some practice fabric on and give it a whirl. 

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Regarding re-packing the gear box - this is a chore I always put off because it requires taking the machine off the frame and turning it upside down to get to the gearbox.  Or so I thought until my sewing machine repair guy insisted that it could be repacked without turning the machine over.  Sure enough - he sat on the floor under the machine, took off the cover, re-packed it, replaced the cover and my machine is so, so much quieter.  The only difference in doing it this way is that you can't stir or poke at the grease to get air bubbles out - if you do the grease starts to fall out of the gear box.  

 

Carol

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Cee K 

Take the bobbin out and put one drop of oil right where the grey and chrome pieces meet at the bottom and then run the machine for a few seconds to distribute the oil.  If you are looking from the top you will see the groove in the chrome that the grey basket sits in and that is where you are trying to get oil at the bottom.  We always used good quality threads and I only took the needle plate off once or twice per year when doing a real good service, same time as I check motor brushes and have the side cover off to lube the hopping foot.  

 

Nigel

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There is no need to remove the needle plate to oil the hook.  Snap out the bobbin case, bend over and look at the hook, and put a drop of oil in the hook race.  Manually turn the machine back and forth a couple of times to better distribute the oil, snap the bobbin case back in place and you're ready to go.  I do this for every sewing session before I begin quilting each day.  Jim

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