War Against Sewing Machine, Help!

[jtbo]

It has never made a seam properly, maybe 3ft during 2 years or so that I have owned the machine, most of the time it does randomly either thread escaping from needle or machine gets stuck, because upper thread gets tangled with metal part underside section of machine, see video and photos, maybe helps to understand.

Adjusting tension can make one or another issue to be more common, but it is either one or another that happens and it is quite random which happens. Machine is threaded correctly, at least if instructions in manual are correct, Singer's tutorial video about threading machine is not correct, they thread it wrong way, in their video they have machine threaded correct way later, but they do show it wrong, at least according to manual and other guides.

So I have tension set to 4, I have had it set to 3 and there is bit less machine getting stuck issue (issue 2) then, but lot more of thread escaping needle issue (issue 1). Bobbing tension is set so that it barely holds it's own weight as was instructed in some tutorial.

This is thread escaping needle issue, which results me trying to thread a needle for 10 minutes or so as I can't really see and I'm rather clumsy:

This is machine getting stuck issue:

I wanted to attach that plastic thing to battery holder of my bike light as it had become loose, but that 1/2" was too much to ask from this machine.

I thought being clever, thinking it would be easier to learn sewing than getting married, I start to feel being cheated

 

[neely]

No sewing advice here as I still sew by hand. If it's a big job or I need to fix something I can't do myself I take it to a tailor. I tried to sew on a machine several times but it was a disaster. I'm sure someone will be able to help you. Good luck!

 

[dahli6]

My sewing machine expert only knows about treadles.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

The fabric makes a difference. My machine does that when I'm trying something too thick. I'm not knowledgeable enough to advise on changing tensions and all that. I have a pretty general machine as far as I know. I'm going to need one designed for quilting if I keep that up.

 

[verna davies]

Its hard to tell from videos and photos. When you put the bobbin in and pull some thread the bobbin should be turning clockwise but as MoochNNoodles said, the fabric thickness makes a difference. Its all down to trial and error. Just keep altering upper and lower tensions. I hope you sort it out.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Is there a nearby store that services the kind of machine you have? If so, I would ask them if I could bring it to them and get some help there.

 

[jtbo]

Its hard to tell from videos and photos. When you put the bobbin in and pull some thread the bobbin should be turning clockwise but as MoochNNoodles said, the fabric thickness makes a difference. Its all down to trial and error. Just keep altering upper and lower tensions. I hope you sort it out.

This is basically what I did, but I'm not 100% sure which did the trick as often just taking bobbin out and putting it back in changed behavior of the machine.

However I did watch one tutorial video about setting bobbing tension, where person making video turned tension screw all the way in, then backing it out of 1 full turn, then turning back in a little bit, I did that and it was close to setting which I had, but also I had bobbing rotating wrong way, it should be clockwise when looking backside of bobbing holder, that is side where you can see bobbing, so that did add to issues of course, I fixed that issue too.

Then I ended up with this mess:

Also got this weird loop of thread while machine did jam:

Then I got this kind of mess:

All those mean that threading of machine has an issue, without me knowing, part that moves up and down, had somehow lost the thread so even that I had pulled thread trough that hook thing, it was not there anymore, it might had something to do with thread spool not being tightly secured, it was able to move which probably messed up tension of upper thread.

So I swapped plastic part other way around that holds the spool and got spool of thread to be more securely on place, then I threaded machine once again.

Also I did adjust upper tension to tiny bit more than 3, maybe 3.2 or so as that is what I have seen in few photos of same model machines being sold used and also in some videos they seem to set it around 3, instead of 4 that is default.

Then I ended up with this, hard to see sewing in first pic, I just put patch to thin fabric, some useless old rags for practicing sewing, I think settings are quite well?:

Hard to see anything as it is black on black, but managed to repair bicycle light battery pouch too, that tiny thing took many days to fix, but at least machine now is ready for other tasks that might come by, I'm just scared to touch any setting of the machine, it might stop working again!

So machine is some kind balance of chaos, any additional or missing resistance in either upper or lower thread is setting chaos off balance and demons are loose, even tiniest of things can be bit off even looks like being okay, thread that comes from spool or bobbin has to have constantly stable resistance.

For example if upper thread spool is loose, thread is sometimes more loose, sometimes less loose and that will cause machine not to work.

If I would design such machine, I would place electric motors that feed thread and sensors to make sure tension is right as well as speed of thread, but it would probably be quite expensive and unreliable Anyway, maybe some day someone will find information useful.

 

[verna davies]

Well done to you for your persistence. It may take a while but the more you use it the more comfortable you will be. It took me a lot of mistakes ( and swear words) to get used to mine. Hope you enjoy using it.

 

[Mother Dragon]

My husband took his excellent Brother in for repairs. They said it was working perfectly. Then, when he threaded it, the problem recurred. He was at his sewing group and the teacher, who is excellent at diagnosing problems, asked him to make sure he had the right type of bobbin. As it turned out, he didn't. When he got the right bobbin, the machine sewed perfectly.

You might also open it up and see if it needs cleaning. A lot of thread and lint can accumulate under the presser foot and other places. A professional cleaning may be necessary.

If you bought your machine at Walmart, it was made especially for them and those machines have historically have had lots of problems. If you did, I'd get rid of it some way and get a low end Brother. You won't regret it and you won't have all those problems. If you didn't buy at Walmart, take it to a good repair shop.

Once you get a machine that works well, you'll enjoy sewing.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[jtbo]

My husband took his excellent Brother in for repairs. They said it was working perfectly. Then, when he threaded it, the problem recurred. He was at his sewing group and the teacher, who is excellent at diagnosing problems, asked him to make sure he had the right type of bobbin. As it turned out, he didn't. When he got the right bobbin, the machine sewed perfectly.

You might also open it up and see if it needs cleaning. A lot of thread and lint can accumulate under the presser foot and other places. A professional cleaning may be necessary.

If you bought your machine at Walmart, it was made especially for them and those machines have historically have had lots of problems. If you did, I'd get rid of it some way and get a low end Brother. You won't regret it and you won't have all those problems. If you didn't buy at Walmart, take it to a good repair shop.

Once you get a machine that works well, you'll enjoy sewing.

Let us know what you find out.

I actually managed to get it working, but yeah, this is model that was probably made for chain of shops to stock, which was actually exact phrase Salomon used in their reply about my complaint of their shoes I bought, it seems shoes, sewing machines and whatnot are made for shops using quality brand name and those products are quite poor in comparison to real stuff.

Bobbin is one which came with the machine, should be genuine Singer, but who knows what it is really, however it is very important to have exactly right type as even slightest difference in dimensions will cause resistance being different, which again set off all kinds of devils and gremlins inside the machine.

We learn every day, next machine will be something else than cheap Singer and next shoes won't be Salomon from chain store, almost cracked my skull today, those have so hard soles that there is no any kind of grip!