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1. Bobbin thread keeps breaking. Normally I would suspect over-tight bobbin tension, but the stitches look great. This happens mostly when stopping and/or starting to stitch, but CAN happen anytime. It happens nearly every time I stop the machine.

2. Bumping into the side clamps, throwing my rhythm off. Adding the Hartley base extension makes this 4X worse. Seems like the bar holding the bottom of the quilt top is much lower than the pick-up bar, contributing to the problem by causing the clamps to drag way low. Is this correct?

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Take your bobbin case out and clean the hook area really well. Be on the look out for a piece of thread or fuzz caught in the hook. I think sometimes I get a little bit of backlash and when that happens I get a piece of thread stuck in the hook. Then it gives me problems until I get under the machine and get that piece of thread out.

Rulers or curtain rods placed over the rollers and and under the straps will help with the clamps getting in the way. However, sometimes that isn\'t enough when you are using the base extender. I have made side leaders that I use with the base extender. Take a piece of muslin nine inches wide by eighteen long. Finish the ends with a quarter inch hem. Then fold the fabric in half so you have a piece of fabric 4.5 inches by 17.5 inches. Sew a quarter inch seam along the long edge. Turn it right side out and sew a casing seam about an inch and a half or two inches away from the edge. Slip a ruler or a 3/4 inch dowel in casing. Pin the fabric edge of the leader to the side of your fabric and attach the clamps to the dowel/ruler inside the casing. I almost always use the leaders when I\'m doing custom work because it keeps the clamps away from the extended base and I think it gives more even tension on the sides.

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Catherine,

You didn\'t mention what kind of thread you were using...You did mention that you had adusted the bobbin and were still having a hassle with breaking threads.

Some threads do have a shelf life and as they get older they do break down and as that happend they start to literally break, and no matter how much you adjust your bobbin it just isn\'t enough.

Take a piece about 18 to 24 inches long...wrap a bit around each hand and give it a sharp tug. If it snaps....well its pretty much done for and the next step is to throw it away.

Cotton threads will break down with time....and this could be 3 years to 15...it all depends on how they are taken care of. Poly and Rayons....seem to never break down and I have some that are over 10 years old....and lastly your Poly/Cottons...they do but not as easy as the 100% cotton ones. Do a snap test and if it snaps really easy pull of several more and see if it continues...if it does its just not worth the hassle of the continuous fight to keep it from breaking while sewing.

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Good information Bonnie. I am going to try that with some black thread this morning. No matter what I did, it just kept breaking. I put it away, but now I have a quilt I want to use black on so here comes the test. It is King Tut and maybe two years old. I\'ll let you know.

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If you are having a hard time moving the machine around, the leveler bar may be too low. You should be able to fit your fingers between the leveler bar and the flat part of the throat up to the 2nd joint of your fingers. If you cannot, then you may want to consider raising that bar.

On my Ultimate I, my DH used about 6 washers on each end of the leveler bar to raise it up. If you use a high loft batting, the bar may need to go higher as you quilt and roll.

The thread breaking...can you bounce a quarter off your quilt top? If you can, it is TOO tight. The tendency is to tighten it up as much as you can. Ease up and you will probably fix some of that thread breakage.I think somebody said that it whould be loose enough so that your machibe head looks like a mole moving under the quilt.

The clamp bumping is a giant-size PITA. Grrrr. Hartley makes a fabulous set of clamp lifters for about $20 I think. You can get the same result from K-Mart curtain rods for $1.98 each. You just need to place them pretty close to the quilt edge so the clamps get lifted up before they get to the expanded base.

Good luck and let us know how you did.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.:)

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Thanks for all that expert advice. I will try the muslin leaders AND curtain rods/yardstick thingies ASAP (meaning: as soon as I can drag myself away from the machine & get to KMart).

RE: the thread breakage, all the threads are brand new. I have been practicing with pre-wound bobbins that came as samples with the machine, but recognized this was crummy thread, so switched to a brand-new spool of SewFine, had exactly the same problem. I will check for thread bits again, but cleaning the bobbin area does not help. Can the whole bobbin casing be removed for cleaning?

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Well rats, I had a lengthy and hopefully informative reply, and it disappeared.

2nd try.

My machine does not like pre-wound bobbins, so try winding one of your own. Here\'s hoping that will make a difference.

Be sure to blow out the bobbin case and hook area with canned air, or even better from the air compressor. It\'s got much more "oomph" to it.

Try loosening both top and bobbin tension until the thread stops breaking. Yes, ugly stitches, but then start re-tightening until they are pretty again.

Last, I make a scrap sandwich out of muslin to practice my tension on before I start quilting. Just slip that under your hopping foot, and with the machine in manual, do some meandering stitches or whatever. Just enough that you can see the underside and know if things need to be adjusted. This was some of the best info I ever heard, and many thanks to the person who told me.

Good luck,

Beth

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Cathy,

The freezer or Sew Ease on the thread are also good ideas, and also just spraying the spool with a bit of plain water will also help with the problem if you are looking for humidity.

However, there is a time when the thread is just so rotten that even those don\'t help.....if the thread is breaking really easy with a sharp tug, then its pretty much gone.

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Thanks to all. I have tried all those things, including the spare bobbin case already. The threads are brand new & very strong. The pre-wound actually works better than the bobbin I would myself, but neither are right. By this time I have messed with the tension so much I am having trouble getting it back. With the exact same threads, I had NONE of these tension problems yesterday. My only problem then was that the bobbin thread was breaking, I thought a slight tension adjustment would help. Little did I know! I tried to adjust the timing, but am unable to loosen the screws on the throat plate. It is time for a break. It is only 2 o\'clock in the afternoon here, but I am feeling minutes away from the wine-and-chocolate cure!

I am still a newbie, have not tried working on a "real" quilt yet, I am practicing on some muslin that has a lot of sizing in it, and polyester batt that I am trying to get rid of. Are these contributing to the problem? Gut says yes, I did not have the tension problems yesterday using a cotton batt and fabric that had been washed, however I am using products that you encounter in the real world of amateur quilting, this machine should be able to handle it.

Oh, and I have broken a couple of needles. Always when going to the very back of the piece, close to the leveler bar (but not necessarily touching it, and there seemed to be plenty of room). The manual does not deal with this problem, & does not tell you to stay away from the leveler bar at all. I know that is where the quilt is the tightest, but it is not drum-tight, it is just as instructed, loose enough to be hand-quilted. What\'s up with that?

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An occasional lurker with her two cents worth about bumping into the side clamps. I pin. I just pin the elastic to the side of the quilt where you would otherwise use the clamps with the long corsage pins. The other problem I have with the clamps is they are soooo tight, my weak hands have a bear of a problem with them. Pinning solves both those problems.

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Yes, I agree, there might be some thread caught (way up in there somewhere) and maybe you can\'t see it, clean out the bottom with some canned air really good, you\'ll continue to have the problem if you don\'t find it.

You can buy a silicone or something to place within your bobbin, someone can tell her the actual name of what I\'m thinking about, I\'ve seen in Keepsake Quilting books for sewing machine bobbin cases.

Also, thread can get old, and continue to break, it seems to want to break more using the machine on the backward motion. You can try spraying the thread slightly (away from the machine) and I\'ve also heard you can put old thread in the freezer to put some moisture back into the thread.

But if you suspect its old, I would buy new. You don\'t want it to come apart when you wash the quilt the first time. I had that happen once with an outfit I made ==

weird but true. That\'s all I could attributed it to.

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If you broke a couple of needles, carefully and closely check the hook for burrs. The manual will have pictures and illustrations on where to look. When the thread breaks, leave the needle up and take the thread (without pulling any more out) and hold it down by the needle. If the thread break goes past the eye of the needle, it is breaking under the needle plate. If it is before or right at the needle, the problem area will be above the needle plate. Then you look for bad thread, a bad needle, tension too tight, or maybe a burr or groove on a pigtail thread guide. As you might be able to tell, this is a BTDT issue for me!!!

If you think there may be thread caught in the bobbin assembly, spray liberally with WD-40 which will dampen the piece of thread. Then have a towel handy (kept close to the bobbin area but don\'t get close enough to catch it!!) and set the SR fairly high before you start it. The solvent and high speed will hopefully fling that thread out. Canned or compressed air will help too---turn on the machine and aim the air at the tiny hole at the 3 o\'clock position at the bobbin assembly. Watch out for flying gunk!!! Be sure to wipe down and re-oil after using the WD-40.

Hope this helps!

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Catherine, are you using the machine in stitch regulated mode? If so, it\'s pretty hard to break a needle unless you hit a difficult part of fabric or batting. Are you running the fabric under the leveler roller? We want to make sure the fabric is level. If you still have problems, call in and speak to me or Amy at 800-426-7233, don\'t wait until you are completely frustrated. :)

Good luck!

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Thanks Mark; I believe that this piece was loaded incorrectly. Feels dumb, but it is only my second one. I was gone all day yesterday & have not had a chance to get back to it but we\'ll soon find out. If it is something else I will call. You\'re GREAT; are you SURE you don\'t want to move to Hawaii?

PS: I understand that the reason people put thread in the freezer is to rehydrate it if it has dried out, right? Be assured that is NOT my problem. Around here, you have to hurry to get the quilt off the frame before the pins rust! Seriously.

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Yea, I\'ve bought thread from Bob. Seriously. (He & Mother Superior come every year for the Quilt Hawaii show, bringing tons of stuff we can\'t get elsewhere.)

Mark, Bonnie & anyone else who\'s serious about it, I have a nice little guest room, it\'s s great place for a family vacation, just let me know when you\'re coming. Anyone who can repair sewing machines & wants to move here, there\'s a great business opportunity. Our closest repair technician works for Singer & is a 2-hour drive from here. That\'s why I will be bugging you guys a lot.

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Get out Mark, you know they need you in Iowa. But, I on the other hand am free;););):D;););)

On a serious note Catherine, are you stitching in regular or stitch regulated mode. Just a thought if you are stitching in manual and do not move you machine you will "cut" your thread with your needle. So you may think it is breaking and it actually isn\'t. Just wondering as you said it is happening when you start and stop.

You want your leveler bar just high enough to get your fingertips under it when you rest your hand on the throat of the machine( from the back of course). You don\'t want you quilt sandwich too tight as that will cause thread to break and tension problems.

Other notes:

Clamp supports are a must.

You do not want stress on the sides of your backing from the clamps. Only put them on the backing.

The quilt top roller should be much lower than the pick-up bar. My base does just slip under the quilt top bar though.

Myrna

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Thanks, Myrna, I think that is the problem with the thread. How do I pervent it?

If you can repair a sewing machine, you could find a pretty good job here. Come check it out!

Other than that, the tension problems were pretty much resolved by loading the quilt correctly, and getting rid of that junk batting. The stitches still are not perfect, so if I have not figured out how to make them so by Monday, you guys will be getting a call. For now, it is getting better all the time as I am learning more about how to handle the machine. You guys are all SOOOO wonderful with your advice & encouragement. I am SO glad I bought this machine & not the "other" brand!!! Many thanks!!

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