HELP! What's happening

[Claire C.]

Hi All,
I have a Bernina 830 which I absolutely LOVE!!! Today I started having problems.
As I'm piecing smaller pieces together I notices my thread is gathering a bit. Not a big deal, so I thought, I can straighten it out easy enough when I'm pressing the seams open. But then when I have to sew a long strip together the gathering is so bad that when I go to straighten it out the thread is breaking in sections and the threads are just too loose. I 12" piece of fabric and sewed it so I could take a picture and post.
See what it's doing! This is terrible. I haven''t changed anything on my machine, it's always performed like a dream. I tried rethreading the bobbin and my top thread. Turned the machine off and back on, it hasn't helped.
Any suggestions??

Barb

[Claire C.]

Well, I don't have that machine but when any other machine I have used does that it is usually a tension problem. This may sound silly but check and see if your thread is coming off the spindle correctly. I have had this happen where the thread wraps around the spindle and in the process--make the top tension really, really tight. I don't know if this will help but I am sure one of the ladies with this machine will see this and be able to help.

[Renata L.]

Barb, as an 830 owner, I could not agree with Ritzy more--I would follow her suggestion and see what happens. The other thing you might consider doing is cleaning out your machine really well, including using the tool to pull out any bits of thread that could be stuck inside the bobbin case. We had a thread on that topic not too long ago at forum/bernina-corner/6461-bernina-830 because sometimes a machine with lint in just the wrong place can cause a hiccup too. Let us know how it works out for you.

[Renata L.]

Thank you,
I adjusted the top tension. The standard setting is 3.0 and I had to adjust it down to a 1.25 before the gathering diminished.
I reviewed the link you sent but I've never had my thread get all bunched up in the bobbin. I always use a starter piece of fabric, so (knock on wood) I haven't had my thread get all bunched up.
It's just strange that I've had to drop my top tension that much. Hmmm....well, you can see, it's much better.
Thank you!

[E.M. T.]

I have an 820...and can't say I've had that problem (nearly every other darned thing !) I think a
phone call to your dealer might help...as it is certainly peculiar. Let us know .... :?

[E.M. T.]

Thanks Marilyn,
Yah..I tried. I called the dealer and told them what it's doing but they are 2 weeks out in servicing machines so it will be 2 weeks before service can look at it. So I'm on their call list. :cry:
Barb

[E.M. T.]

Ain't that the way?!

[E.M. T.]

I had that happen with my Bernina 440. It was like the thread was super tight. And would break easily after it was sewn.

I ended up getting some scrap fabric for my test victim and adjusted everything I could think of.

Played with the tension
Turned off and on the machine.
Changed my bobbin. (previous bobbin appeared ok)
Rethreaded the machine

Somehow with all those tweaks, something worked out fine. It was sewing like normal again. My gut tells me (my problem) was in the way it was threaded as there was a bit of resistance when I removed the thread. That was a while ago and still no problems.

Good luck with tweaking it out.
Clara

[E.M. T.]

Clara...had similar thing with the 820 just last week. It was turning itself off willy nilly.
I went thru every darn thing 3 times !! :x :x :x
I exhibited extreme stress, language challenges ( not repeatable here) and slammed the
door on the sewing room :evil: :evil: :twisted: . After supper I went back and did it all
over again. Same thread, new needle, new bobbin, cleaned...reset everything I could..
said the proper incantations..not printable ! And it worked ! :shock: She's such a Diva !!
I haven't a clue ! :roll: :roll: But she's still working !

[E.M. T.]

Thanks Clara,
I hope you're right. I tend to think that might be the case. I just need to get through this project for my customer so the last thing I need is my machine (that's never failed me) to start acting up...lol
I also changed the needle, which improved it slightly. I noticed when I reduced the tension down to 1.25 and pulled on the thread, it wasn't curling up like it was earlier. I'll try rethreading and restarting my machine again 3 or 4 times and maybe I'll get lucky.
Thanks everyone for your support and help. That's why I love this site, you can always count on fellow quilters to chime in when you have questions. No matter how simple or difficult the problem may be.
Have a great week!
Barb

[Lorna B.]

I have had that gathering problem on my 830. In addition to checking tension, threading and cleaning, I have found that using the dual feed helps. Also sometimes instead of using the #1 stitch I will use one of the straight stitches in the quilting section. Really the only difference is the tension.

Lorna

[Norma H.]

There is one more thing you can try. There might be a tiny little thread somewhere in the thread path. Try to "thread" it with a dental floss (advice from the Yahoo Group). This will clear the tension disks. If the problem persists I would try to use the hook, that's explained by Renata. There might have fallen a tiny little thread down where you can't see it.

[wendy w.]

Couple of thoughts from me. I had tight top tension when there was a sticky residue from a thread in the top mechanism so cleaning with floss would sort that out. The other was using a needle too small for the thread but you've tried different options.

[wendy w.]

WOW...thank you everyone. Lot's of great ideas and experiences. I'll give these a try.
So the dental floss won't gum up the tension disk? That sounds kind of scary...lol You're probably going to tell me that's what the service guys do anyway...ha.
I shut it down last night so I'll see what happens when I fire it up tonight. I'll keep my figures cross that it just needed a rest and it fixed itself...LOL
Have a great week of quilting!
Barb

[Charae H.]

I'd use unwaxed (non-waxed) dental floss, IMHO as a former dental hygienist!