Guest Smile&nod Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 Hi folks TinaC and I have been working a tradeshow the past few days...coming on day 5 of 5. Today though we've been having some issues though, and are in the middle of troubleshooting. My main question is whether or not The past couple of years, her Milli has been operating in a relative temperature controlled climate (ie cool and dry). We were told earlier that the tradshow portion would be in an air-conditioned facility, but due to the weather and thousands of people coming and going throughout the fair, our space is actually quite warm and humid. Thread breakages are the main problem, and today, skipped stitches were starting to turn up. We've brought in a fan to help keep some airflow going, and have also used Sewer's Aid. Both have helped somewhat, but we're still getting more breakages than normal. Situation is currently that the machine is on and being used from about noon until 10pm (not continuous, but longer days than normal at the studio). Heat and humidity as discussed. We've tried the gamut of troubleshooting tips as discussed in our manual (adjusting the tension, retiming the machine, adjusting the plate to the thickness of a business card, etc etc). Any thoughts? I skimmed through a few of the tips and threads here previously, but to be honest, I'm running on about 6 hours of sleep so I'm sure I'm missing some of the answers that may have been posted...I just can't seem to find any hehehe. Any tips would be appreciated. If it IS a humidity issue, then we may have to consider a different option for next year. If its machine related though, we should hopefully be able to fix it after our tradeshow. Of course, Murphy's Law said that things had to go wrong on a weekend with no one around at the factory Thanks all. Sorry for the rambling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigletaz Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 What brand of thread are you using? If it's Superior, call them and they will be able to troubleshoot, if not, call the manufacturer of that thread and see what they might do. Superior is always willing to make things right! I've seen other posts about them and they are super. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 I don't have a suggestion to stop the problem, but I have been having the same problem here at home. I've actually been conducting experiments. I bought one of those little thermometers with the humidity gauge at the bottom. I put it in the sewing room. When the humidity is way up I get terrible tension, skipped stitches, etc. When the humidity is way down I get thread breaking like crazy. When the humidity is between 50 and 65 I get a nice running machine. Is that crazy or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigPineQuilting Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Like "chickenscratch", my Millie does not like to perform when humid. Have lots of tension problems. And you guessed it, do not have ac. Carol Hillary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 I'm so glad to see this...I thought it was me and my weird way of thinking...but I have a terrible time with stitching when the humidy changes in my studio. I keep my dehumidifyer going all the time that I am not in the room...it's too hot when I'm in the room so I turn it off. When the humidity is high, and in Missouri that is always, I cannot keep my #8 screw adjusted. If the humidity in under control, I have no problems. In my opinion - and you know what they say about that - humidity affects these machines 100 percent!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtreusch Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 I used to have the same problems until I installed a humidifier on my furnace. It only runs when the furnace or AC is running, but definitely helps to keep things at a more constant humidity. It was fairly inexpensive to do also. Debbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltaholi_518 Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Interesting, I usually have many more thread issues when it is dry due to static. I love when it gets hot and humid, even though I do keep the temp a comfy 74, no problems for me!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgene Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 At the MidAtlantic quilt show (it's always humid in Va.), I recall that the APQS sellers had a piece of batting on one of the thread guides and the thread had to travel through that wad of batting. I don't remember if it was cotton or poly. I asked why the wad of batting? They said where the booth was located was near the A/C or something and that humidity was a problem. Lots of people were test driving the machine -- using Superior King Tut variegated as I recall, with no problem. I don't know if this will work for you or not, but it seemed to work for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlittle1 Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Humidity about drove me to drink last winter! I tried everything before I realized that it was the humidity. Now, I have a little box attached to my machine that has sponges on each side. I put liquid silicone in it and my thread runs through it. The second thing that I realized is that my machine sits directly under an air vent. It was pouring heated air directly down on my machine. When I had DH close that air vent and started using the liquid silicone (aka Sewers Aid) it worked wonders. So be sure that there isn't a fan blowing directly on the machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltaholi_518 Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 I put a piece of fluffy poly in the thread guide directly above the cone. It keeps the thread from getting slack, causing a whiplash effect. You don't want it to add any tension though...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Smile&nod Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Thanks for the tips everyone. Much appreciated. Phyllis, you mentioned liquid silicone...do you know if this is the same as silicon shock oil? Or the silicon spray that auto shops sell? Methinks I should do some research on that We used Sewer's Aid and it did help a bit the past few days, but looking at the label, I had no idea what it was. The instructions said that if ingested, it should be treated as silicone. IF its the same stuff that I believe it is, then as a return favor for all the tips here, I suggest you locate your local RC (remote control) hobby shop, and look for their silicon shock oil. I believe you'll get it there cheaper than for an equivalent amount of sewer's aid. It comes in different weights from the thick viscous stuff (>50 weight) to some very thin stuff (15 or 10 weight). I'll have to experiment a bit to see what matches. Thanks again everyone. I was worried that the machine had been damaged in transit, but now that its back home with our beloved a/c, all seems fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennan100 Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Toady, It's not the lube you are thinking of! Here's the link to Sharon Schambers site where she gives the address to order the silicone in quantity which is what it takes to do this right. Sewers Aid is more for DSM and small spools of thread uses. The longarms need it in a larger size to do it right. This stuff won't hurt the fabrics, or the machines, doesn't stain, or gunk up, etc. It stops the breakage, and helps with the friction that builds up static that causes backlash and messes up tension, and stiches. I took her calls at Houston last year. She says to dunk the whole cone in the lube, wait till it stops bubbling, take it out and let it sit on a paper towel for the excess to drain off ( I have a friend who sets a strainer across the top of the container she uses and lets the excess drip back into the container). Then just thread as usual, but put a piece of batting in teh top thread guide above the cone to take off any excess. After awhile you can see on the cone that the thread as it is used up will appear dry, that's because you need to dunk it again. The silicone only soaks through about 1/3 of the way thru a new cone when it stops bubbling, so it has to be dunked again,or more depending on how big a cone it is. She owned and operated a place where they did couture gowns and stuff and says this is the standard practice for threads on high speed machines in the factories for the reasons given. Anyway, I'm sure if you contact her she can explain it all better. Here's the link! http://purpledaisiesllc.com/catalog.php?category=27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Smile&nod Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Intriguing! Thanks for that link. I didn't know it was actually safe to do a complete dunk like that. Much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Sharon taught at our longarm guild meeting a few months ago. She uses silicon by the bucket load to dunk her thread spool in. My mom worked in a garmet factory the whole time I was growing up and they did the same thing. Since Sharon comes from the same type of industry, using the same type of machines my mom did, I think the machine had a lot to do with the amount of silicon used. Does that make sense?? Anyway, I don't think the APQS machine need that type of dunking for their thread...I may be wrong. And hopefully Mark or Dawn or someone will jump in here, but I don't think we need to use that process. Oh, and just to set the record straight, I know Sharon uses a quilting machine and maybe the type she uses needs to have the thread drowned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlittle1 Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 I started out using Sewer's Aid, but realized that I needed to buy it in a larger quantity than those little bottles. I bought a quart size bottle from a place I found on the internet called South Star Supply Company (www.southstarsupply.com). They sell it by the gallon if you want that much! The only problem was that if you bought less than $50.00 worth of products you had to pay a handling fee. However, they have a lot of great products for professional quilters, so you may find it easy to get that handling fee down. I picked up some great spring loaded scissors and a cutting mat (without that horrible odor) that I really like. There are other sources on the internet, too. Just google "liquid silicone sewing" and you'll get lots of sources. Oh, one of the main reasons I wanted to get away from Sewers Aid--the bottle is very similar to Fray Check's bottle. I went to the fabric store for SA and bought two bottles; or so I thought. The first time I used one of the new bottles I noticed that the thread felt stiffer than before. I'd been using it for two days before I realized that it was Fray Check instead of SA. Boy, did I feel like an idiot!, but you know, I didn't have any thread breakage when I used it. Phyllis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinaC Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Like I had said initially, this isn't something we need on a regular basis. I would hope that having some climate controls in place would eliminate most of the issues. This past week, the tradeshow was exceptionally humid which is something we hadn't initially counted on. But now that we're back at the home studio, things are working well. We'll have to check out that other link too Phyllis. I've already opened Pandora's box, so there's no way I can hide a potential source of more quilt related items from the wifey. May as well go with the flow...less chance of a black eye that way Still though, knowing that we can safely use that much silicon on thread is a good thing to know if the next tradeshow gets that humid. Or our AC breaks down (/sacrifices chicken to the thread gods to ensure AC doesn't break down) --edit doh...wife's profile was still logged on when I responded. I'm not a split personality yet...honest S&N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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