The dreaded loops on the back

[kathyb]

Well, I think I've tried everything and am asking for help. I do customer quilts on the weekends so when I have trouble it's almost always on a Sunday where I know I have to troubleshoot without my buddies Connie or Mark, who have saved my hiney a couple of times already.

I'm quilting along and suddenly there's something similiar to a 'pull' on the machine. At that time I stop the machine and check underneath to discover the bird's nest with loops. it could run for awhile with no problems, but inevitably I get loops or the very least, railroad tracks on the bottom. It seems to happen mostly on curves. Right and left.

I have read every fix on this site and other longarm sites and tried them all, including the obvious tension adjustments, the check spring, the hook assembly and have even re-timed my machine twice! (It's only 2 years old). It doesn't seem to matter what threads I use, although the Star and Leader's Best seem to be the worst culprits. This problem occurs on almost every quilt.

I'm currently on a customer quilt and not quite 1/2 way thru it and finally got so frustrated with the constant frogging that I just shut the machine off and went away. This was after I throughly cleaned the bobbin area, the left side of the 'guts' AND retimed it, again!

Please help!

signed,

Desperate and no longer enjoying myself...

[Darlene Epp]

Hi Kathy,

Have you tried a new bobbin case? Sometimes the "fix" to the problem is more simple than we think. Re-timing on APQS machines should be a last resort as it takes a LOT to put them out of time.

You can write me privately if you wish, as I probably won't check this forum for a couple of days. I'll be leaving in a couple of hours to help my DIL deliver our 5th grandchild. Daddy is "on the road" today and probably won't get back in time for the birth.