What (wizcraft said ) .. slow down the rpm on moving through the thicker thicker materials and trying small adjustments like recommended .
( i no expert ) and It really hard to diagnose stitch problems without actually having hands-on and sitting in front of machine . So I will throw my guess in the mix .
unless I missed it somewhere ? . your saying it just a 'Bottom-feed' Consew ? , but what model is it ? , and the needle 135x5 or a 135x17 or bigger ?
You saying with 4 loose pieces of material, the top thread breaking, but how thick of a stack is it with 4 pieces ?
this--> Assuming you already have proper Pressure-foot tension and thread tensions on Top and Bobbin thread ? , and also using the proper Needle size/length for your material ?
I think your statement ..." I can rotate the machine by hand and all is fine ". is the giveaway . Your just asking your Machine to do to much .
You may just be pushing the machine and needle to it's design limit, Plus . If just Bottom-feed model and not Needle-feed or Walk . with stacking the 4th piece of material on ? . And Nothing wrong with Bottom-feed and I still run 2 of them daily .
Sometimes it is just plain hard for a Bottom-feed with keeping good tension and stitching on thick multi-layers . that is where a needle-feed or walk shines . hold multi layer materials firmer with stitching motion for no deflection and holding proper presser and thread tensions .
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