820/830 tension upgrade

[Barbara L.]

Friends
I told you about the problem that I was having with my bobbin bunching problem; After all of your help & thank you so much for your tips. They helped to some extent but I finally e-mailed my dealer on Friday & made the long trip in to see her. My dealer is great & likes us all to be happy customers, which I am. Much to my surprise when I showed her the problem that I was having she said a few machines had been coming in for some tension adjustments. She also told me that Bernina was having all the technicians make a tension upgrade to the 820s & 830s when they came into the shop. The difference was going to be tiny but I should see a real difference. So you may want to contact your dealer & ask about the tension upgrade. I believe that we cannot do it ourselves but I may be wrong about that! Just thought that I would let you know.

We talked about the attitude this baby has & she told me that she has shut her top & bottom thread sensors as she kept getting the error messages all the time. Do the rest of you do this or not? I still keep mine on as I don't want to really mess up the inner workings.

I look forward to getting Big Bertha back on Tuesday.

[Liberata T.]

There appears to be a variety of tension problems with the 820/830. My dealer came to my home with his set of "balance" tools to adjust the tension. It appeared to work for a bit but now I have to keep the bobbin tension tighter than the factory setting for all sewing projects, especially embroidery. The bobbin thread kept coming to the top no matter how loose I set the top tension. But I needed to get through my Christmas projects and tested the tension for each project.

I will live with this until February when he takes my 830 to Steckborn with him for his technician training course. He will have factory technicians with him at all times and I will get all the new bells and whistles. I am a good customer and bring other customers to him so he treats me well.

It also appears that the factory in Aurora works independently from Steckborn. I understand that 830/820 owners in the USA are getting free accessory kits through their dealers. From what I can find out, Steckborn knows nothing about this. Another indication of this is that the Bernina Quilt Frame is not available here. It comes from a German manufacturer and I would have to purchase it from them.

PS: How was your trip to Italy? Did you find some gorgeous stuff as well as view some gorgeous scenery?

[Barbara L.]

Libby
Our trip to Italy was fabulous. The week in Rome was visually stimulating as you are well aware. However, Umbria was our favourite. The rustic villa, set on a olive grove & vinegard made my heart sing each morning. Truly none of us wanted to leave at the end of the week.

After hearing no word from anyone else about the tension problems on BB I thought that perhaps it was just me. So thank you! A friend of mine in the US has just told me about the kits. Like you we have not hear anything about them. I need to go to my dealer this week so I will be asking her to investigate when, if ever, we will get them in Canada.

[Anne B.]

Barbara, did your techie manage to fix your machine? Please keep us posted about this. I haven't yet bought an 830, but I have it on my to-do list, and I'd like to stay on top of any problems the machines have.

Many thanks!

[Barbara L.]

Anne
I love my 830 & have no regrets buying it for what it can do it truly amazing.
Libby this is a message from my USA pal about the new tenson kit.
The Bernina kit contains
Thread guide and lubricating Unit
A package of New Embroidery needle range
Thread eye- (a piece of metal with a hole in it to attach for metallic threads, parallel
wound threads etc. Sort of like the wonder thread guide we already have
Hook cleaning tool- to get snarls out of the hook/bobbin area
Oiler. Really neat and sooooooo much better than what we had.
I have contacted my dealer & she tells me that we should be getting our kits in Canada by the end of the month. Hope this helps you

[Liberata T.]

Bunny,
I got this accessory kit from my dealer last Friday. This is not the tension upgrade with replacement parts I was talking about in the first paragraph of my reply. This kit really deals with problems with specialty threads and additionally gives us a new nifty oiler and tool to get out threads stuck in the bobbin area.

Yesterday I did a comparison test bwteen this kit and the Wonder Thread Guide. They both work, at least for me. However the foam rotary disk doesn't allow large thread spools (including Superior 1000 yd spools) to spin freely. So you have to put them on the supplemental spool holder. The thread still comes off the spool overhead but the thread now travels through 2 additional "eyelets" before entering the 830. This appears to get the kinks out. I sewed out the same design on the same fabric, stabilizer, speed, tension, and with the new needle using my most troublesome metallic thread. I used the lubricator with the Bernina setup but not the WTG. With the Bernina setup, the thread broke twice which was a VAST improvement. The WTG did not break. I have both setups on my 830 standard spool holder now, so I guess it depends on which works the best for the particular project.

My dealer is still taking my 830 with him to Steckborn next month. The tension on my machine is still wacky since I have to tighten the bobbin tension significantly and loosen the top tension to get a good stitch and good embroidery. In general, I love my 830 but there are still times I have to give it a little verbal encouragement to get it to behave properly!

[Barbara L.]

Libbi
OK now I understand. The kit is fun stuff & not tension related. I use the Wonder Guide that you suggested I buy all the time & have been really happy with it. How does the new Bernina device compare with it?

As for the tension problems. Since I took BB in to the dealer my machine is behaving much better. It is still very sensitive. I do agree with you & have a love hate relationship with her at times.

One wonders how many regular folks tested this baby before it went to market. We could have told them a few things!

[Liberata T.]

Bunny,
Paragraph 2 of my reply is my test of the WTG and the items in the Bernina accessory kit.

[Barbara L.]

Thanks Libbi
I too will compare but really find the WTG fabulous as it has solved so many problems that I was having. I usually put my threads on the large Bernina multi thread holder or on a heavy duty table thread holder before threading them through the various eyes. But you are so correct some of the nasty metallics just make you want to cry.

This morning I was in a hurry & had cotton on top & poly in the bobbin-BB was not happy.

I am looking forward to getting the tool for getting the threads out of the bobbin area when it jams. By the way does your machine ever skip picking up the upper thread. I just keep the upper throat plate off so I can see if the uptake hook has performed it's job or not. This has saved me hours of frustration!

[Liberata T.]

Hi Barbara (not Bunny, since you sign Barbara!),

You and I use the same thread spool holder set up. The WTG has worked brilliantly for me but I did have one spool of Superior varigated metallic thread that just gave me fits. I figured that it was the spool because all my other Superior metallics worked very well. Anyway that is the spool I used for my tests and for the first time I was able to embroider an entire design with this thread. And I did it 3 TIMES!

The only thing I do not understand is the logic behind is the pack of needles sent for stitching metallics in the kit. They're SUK which is ball point! This is not the first time I have been told to use this type of needle. The recommendation has always been an embroidery sharp with large eye and deep groove along the shank. I may write to Bob at Superior thread for some insight.

My pet peeve is that the bobbin thread is not picked up by the stitch action. In general it is not because the bobbin is threaded incorrectly but that the bobbin thread cutter appears to cut the thread a bit too short--not the automatic cutter but the cutter to trim the thread when loading the bobbin. So when I change the bobbin, I pull the thread tail just a bit longer and cut it off manually.
I also sew without the cover. My dealer says that unless one has little children that will put their fingers in the mechanism, it's probably a good idea. I also had to shut off the "upper thread broken" alarm because it lies to me too often. With the cover off I can see it and generally can hear a difference in the sound it makes.

[Pamela O.]

The only thing I do not understand is the logic behind is the pack of needles sent for stitching metallics in the kit. They're SUK which is ball point! This is not the first time I have been told to use this type of needle. The recommendation has always been an embroidery sharp with large eye and deep groove along the shank.

According to Diane Gaudynski an SUK or Jersey needle sometimes keeps the metallic from shredding.http://dianegaudynski.blogspot.com/2...nd-fabric.html

[Liberata T.]

Hi Pam,

Thanks for the link with the answer. Diane is associated with Bernina so maybe her input spurred Bernina to test this out. I usually source Diane for quilting advice but I was focused on embroidery. I have to mention that using the ball point needle makes an awful sound as it punches through the fabric and stabilizer. Or at least a sound to which I am not accustomed.

[Barbara L.]

Libbi
Thanks for giving me insight into why the bobbin thread never comes up-that is also frustrating. In the future I will try your manual trick. I like your idea about turning off the alarm, my dealer also does this. She says that they drive her nuts. Like you, I listen for differences in the sounds that BB makes & I am getting to know when someting is amiss.
As for the needles I am at a loss. I went to the 3 day Superior Threadology course in Utah & that just seems to go against all BoB had to say.

[Liberata T.]

Barbara,
Glad to be of help whenever possible. Did you take a look at Diane Gaudynski's blog post on the use of the ball point needle referenced by Pam? I read it, discussed it with my DH, and we decided it was a plausible explanation. I just know that using this type of needle has worked for me so far--go figure. Also Bernina has put a pad on the new eyelet attachment on which to put thread lubricant before the thread enters the 830. I was told that this was a NoNo because of the potential damage it might cause to the automatic thread mechanism within the 830 threading system. Obviously not now--another Go figure! :roll:

[Barbara L.]

Libbi
Sorry it took so long to reply. We just returned from a 2 week trip in the Bahamas visiting our kids. From glorious 25 to -29 in a day!
Now to answer your query. I read Dianne's blog. Very interesting & I am going to play with my metallics today. As for the pad on the eyelet we don't have our kits yet so you have me there too. I did see that Bernina has a special Anniversary addition coming out in February. Hopefully it will address all the upgrades they are making to our machines. 8)