AHuffman Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 I'm hoping you all can help me think through something on my table. I'm not sure if the problem is my table or my wheels. When my machine travels on certain portions of my table it is difficult to move the machine. It doesn't glide. I'm guessing that since this only happens on one area of my table it is not a wheel issue. I'm assuming it is a problem with the level of the table. It glides on the far right side but not the far left side. I have leveled the table using a level on the "short" ends. When I put the level on the table the long way, the bubble is level on both sides. Not exactly the same on both ends but still level. How can I fix the table so that the machine will glide on all parts of it and not just one section? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Check for level from end to end and tightness of nuts on trusses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnCavanaugh Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Hi, You\'re doing a good job of diagnosing your troubles. Here are a couple more things to check out: [*] Stand at one end of the table and squat down. "Sight" along the table\'s entire length, right along one of the aluminum rails. You should not see a "hill" or "valley" in the center of the table. If you do, adjust the truss bolt under that rail to eliminate the hill or valley. Repeat this process for the other aluminum rail. After you\'re done, check the "level" again. [*] Measure the table across its width where each cross tube is attached to the frame. The measurement should be exactly the same in each spot. If it isn\'t, loosen the nuts on the cross tubes along one side of the table only. Then re-tighten them, making sure to not over-do it. Re-check the measurements. If your table is on carpeting, and you consistently park your machine on the same side of the table when not quilting, the carpet pad may have broken down and created a slightly unlevel area at one end of the table. You might want to test your table\'s "level" status by using ordinary wood shims under a leg or two, then testing the machine\'s ease of movement. It can be amazing how much just a smidgen of difference in leg height can impact how well the machine moves. Hope you can figure it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHuffman Posted January 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Okay, I checked out the bolts on the table and all the bolts holding the cross tubes are tight. However, one bolt holding the table to the truss onto the table had fallen out and it\'s mate was extremely loose. I put those back on and tightened accordingly. If I pull the Millie forward towards me in the front working position, it glides perfectly from side to side. However, if I move the Millie towards the back of the machine and try to push it from side to side, it is super sluggish. I\'ve checked the power cord and it isn\'t catching on anything. The table is in the basement on the concrete floor. The table is perfectly level side to side and front to back. I\'ve "sighted" the rails and they appear flat as can be. Why would the Millie be sluggish only when the head of the machine is closer to the pantograph side and not when it is close to the freehand working side? Thanks for the help! -Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHuffman Posted January 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 And I\'ve measured the width of the table above each cross tube and they are exactly the same above each. It sounds like the machine head is dragging on something when it is closer to the pantograph side and I try to move it from left to right. I\'ve gone over the wheels with a magnifying glass and I can\'t see any threads caught. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnQuilts Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Check the gold bolts on the bottom of the wheels. Maybe one has worked its way loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smorris Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Hi check the levelling bar (the one that doesn\'t have canvas on it) is the roller sagging a little in the middle and are the bolts at either end of the table equally high/ good luck Sue in Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 If everything checks out and it is still sluggish in the way you say. You may have a bad carriage wheel on the back of your carriage (lower wheels). As you move the machine head closer to the back and then move the machine side to side, you have more weight on those lower back wheels, same is true when you have the machine closer to you in the front, the weight distribution is on the front wheels more than the back ones. Hope that helps! Later, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHuffman Posted January 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 The leveling bar is fine. The gold bolts are tight. Just before this sluggishness happened I noticed that a couple of times the SR became irregular and unresponsive. I\'d have to turn it off and turn it back on then it would "fix" itself. It is only sluggish when the carriage is more towards the panto side and is moving left to right not front to back. I have extra wheels. The current wheels on the machine are the brown ones. Is changing the wheels a huge thing? How do I know which wheels to switch out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 I guess I would start off by changing both of the back lower wheels. Those are the ones being effected by the weight of the machine closer to the panto side causing the machine to be sluggish. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindy Skinner Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I have had the same problem with sluggish movement in the center back area of my table for some time. I have tried EVERYTHING I read and was told but nothing fixed it. Yesterday DH and I spent the entire day starting from square one and got it solved. Here are the results. First thing we did was remove the lexan and make sure everything was level, sid to side and front to back. It was, no adjustments were needed at all and we checked and double checked everything. Next we measured the distance between the rails down the entire machine. Looked exactly the same all the way along, not adjustments needed. Next we cleaned the rails and wheels with "denatured" alcohol. I don\'t know why I needed denatured because it was very expensive and the pharmacist said the only difference was that it went through a process making it undrinkable. Great, now I can\'t drink my alcohol when quilting! Anyway, everything was absolutely clean, clean, clean. Last thing to do was "adjust the wheels". We tried everything and couldn\'t get it to move easily when the head was in the center of the machine towards the back. At the front it moved fine all the way down the rails. A the back it moved fine on both ends but was actually noisy, like a scraping sound, through the middle. Here are the two things that solved it, and they are related. First of all, when the machine was in the center of the rails (I have a 14\' table) , moving the head from front to back you could actually see the rails torque. When we put the level across the rails and then moved the head, the bubble moved quite a bit, from level to way off. Basically, when the head got to the very back position, the weight was pulling down on the back rail. No amount of adjusting the leveling bars can solve this. It wasn\'t happening on the ends because of the stability of the sides. DH cut two pieces of oak to prop up the center of the machine. We jammed them under the black rails in the center of the machine and now the rails stay level no matter where the machine is, front, back, side to side. This helped but did not eliminate the dragging of the noticable scratching sound. Second, we actually put our ear on the rails when we moved the machine side to side. There was definitely something scratching, or dragging, when the head was at the back of the carriage. Absolutely nothing visable, no cords or threads or anything. We decided to take the back left wheel off and inspect it. There was some black stuff between the bottom of the wheel and the top of the metal encoder box. I cleaned it but this was not the problem. The wheel itself would spin quite easily. It was very clean as I had just cleaned it. My DH kept saying that he thought he saw a white line, and Ihave the black wheels. I thought maybe this was just the way the alcohol had dried or something. Well, under the scrutiny of a powerful light we found it. The "white line" was a groove worn in the "C" of the wheel. The heavy weight of the machine riding on the back of the rails had caused both back wheels to wear flat spots. I could actually feel the cut groove with my fingernail. We turned the wheel over, put it back on and it was way better. We took off the right back wheel and as luck would have it, my DH had just the right tool to remove the gear attached to it, turn the wheel over, reattach the gear and put the wheel back on. Whalah, no adjustments needed to the wheels, like magic it moves like a hot knife through butter. Now I\'m hoping that having the oak poles in the center will prevent this from happening again. I was told by someone who has a Gammil that she actually had a similar problem (on a 12\' table) and bought the poles that are used to prevent sliding glass doors from being opened and used those to prop the center of her rails up. I\'m going to get a couple. I have already kicked one of these poles out of place just by standing too close and not paying attention. Now for the bowed poles. I thought what the heck, as long as he is helping me maybe he can solve this one too. My second from the front pole, that I attach the quilt top to, is noticably bowed. I\'ve read through the posts and the only thing I could find was to "hang" on it, which I\'ve tried. I thought my husband might be able to bend it back since he weighs more or even both of us hanging on it might be able to bend it back. Absolutely no way that two normal sized people can bend these poles. How the heck did it get bent to begin with. Anyway, My DH has to understand everything before he tries to fix anything, one of the things I love and hate about him. We took the pole off so he could inspect it. What we found is that the pins sticking in to both ends of the pole were not in straight. He was afraid to do much torquing on them for fear the pins would actually break out of the ends. But, we had to straighten the pins or the pole would never spin evenly. We kept trying different things but in the end it took a sledge hammer to get them to move. Now I guarantee you that no matter how much I pull, lean, jump or anything else on a rail, I do not have the force of my DH using a sledge hammer. Again, he had just the right tools to remove all the gears and stuff on the crank end. We protected the poles with old pot holders before he took a swing at them. More than one pole had a pin in crooked. I decided that only that pole was bad enough to bother with removing it and straightening it. Well, for now I\'m happy again:). I\'ve had my machine 5 years, bought it used (it\'s an 01 model) and have adjusted and realigned it more than once. I don\'t know why because it has NEVER been moved by even 1". I will be swapping out my wheels for the edge riders very soon. I have made the decision to purchase the Intelliquilter computerized system and they require you to use the edge rider wheels. Hope my experience helps other who are having trouble getting their machine to move smoothly. Mindy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 Wow Mindy, you two did go thru the mill.. Congrats on solving the problem and Many Thanks for posting that info here... Am sure it will help others.. RitaR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarieBrewer Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I put edgerider wheels on my table and consistantly had problems in one area. I still need to call Amy about this but this is what I did. When at the back of the machine the back rail from the left to the center always leveled about 1/4 inch too low in the center. From the center to the right it was perfect and it was perfect all the way across the front rail. I ended up unscrewing the bolts hold the table to the rail on the left read end,and the bolt between the center and left end aluminum tube. Things are much better now. I\'m wondering if my rail is slightly warped or something. Any ideas from anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrammaJoy Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 Mindy, THANK YOU for that very descriptive and helpful information. My machine is a bit sluggish on the back also, but I haven\'t wanted to do the investigation. I will print out your post and show it to my hubby. Hope he has the right tools! Hugs, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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