leather sewing machine, an Artisan 618-1SC.

[Hoyden]

I finally got my leather sewing machine, an Artisan 618-1SC. YAY! We got it all set up and I've been sewing every piece of scrap leather and webbing in sight.

I have a question about the weight of the bobbin thread. When I use the 138# thread on top and the 138# thread in the bobbin, I end up with loops on the bottom side. I have probably spent the better part of 3 hours adjusting the upper tension to make it tighter and loosening the lower tension in tiny steps and doing test stitching and no matter what combo I used, I can't get the loops out on the lower side.

I tried gradually increasing the upper tension (with the presser foot down as directed) then gradually decreased the bobbin tension, nothing has been worked to get rid of the loops. I pulled out the bobbin and tried it with the thread coming from over before being threaded through the tension bit, then with the thread coming from under before going through the tension bit. I even pulled the thread off and re-wound the bobbins to make sure they were wound correctly.

BUT, when I put the 69# thread on the bobbin, and sew with 138# on the top, no more loose tension on the underside.

Now the machine came with 138# thread on the bobbins, so I know that it was used.

So, is this normal or did I miss something?

Any suggestions??

[esantoro]

I finally got my leather sewing machine, an Artisan 618-1SC. YAY! We got it all set up and I've been sewing every piece of scrap leather and webbing in sight.

I have a question about the weight of the bobbin thread. When I use the 138# thread on top and the 138# thread in the bobbin, I end up with loops on the bottom side. I have probably spent the better part of 3 hours adjusting the upper tension to make it tighter and loosening the lower tension in tiny steps and doing test stitching and no matter what combo I used, I can't get the loops out on the lower side.

I tried gradually increasing the upper tension (with the presser foot down as directed) then gradually decreased the bobbin tension, nothing has been worked to get rid of the loops. I pulled out the bobbin and tried it with the thread coming from over before being threaded through the tension bit, then with the thread coming from under before going through the tension bit. I even pulled the thread off and re-wound the bobbins to make sure they were wound correctly.

BUT, when I put the 69# thread on the bobbin, and sew with 138# on the top, no more loose tension on the underside.

Now the machine came with 138# thread on the bobbins, so I know that it was used.

So, is this normal or did I miss something?

Any suggestions??

I don't have the Artisan 618-1SC but I do have a machine very similar to the pro 4000 and a machine similar to the mach1 and baby bull.

Usually these machines come with the bobbin tension set so you don't have to do much readjusting. However, it seems obvious that if the bobbin tension works well with 69 thread but is tto tight and pulling the top 138 thread down when you have 138 thread in the bobbin, than originally the bobbin tension was set too tight for the 1387 thread. There should be two top tension adjustments you can make to the top thread. have you tried both?

Ed

[Hoyden]

I don't have the Artisan 618-1SC but I do have a machine very similar to the pro 4000 and a machine similar to the mach1 and baby bull.

Usually these machines come with the bobbin tension set so you don't have to do much readjusting. However, it seems obvious that if the bobbin tension works well with 69 thread but is tto tight and pulling the top 138 thread down when you have 138 thread in the bobbin, than originally the bobbin tension was set too tight for the 1387 thread. There should be two top tension adjustments you can make to the top thread. have you tried both?

Ed

I found only one tension adjustment for the top thread. Maybe I missed it.

I'll go have another look in the manual.

[K-Man]

I have the same machine. I use 207 on top and 138 in the bottom. A common practice, at least what's been told to me by many folks, is to use one thread weight on top (i.e., 207) and the next lighter weight in the bobbin (i.e., 138). I do that with my two other Artisan 3000's (heavier thread) and it has always worked well. Hope this info helps.

[whinewine]

I finally got my leather sewing machine, an Artisan 618-1SC. YAY! We got it all set up and I've been sewing every piece of scrap leather and webbing in sight.

I have a question about the weight of the bobbin thread. When I use the 138# thread on top and the 138# thread in the bobbin, I end up with loops on the bottom side. I have probably spent the better part of 3 hours adjusting the upper tension to make it tighter and loosening the lower tension in tiny steps and doing test stitching and no matter what combo I used, I can't get the loops out on the lower side.

I tried gradually increasing the upper tension (with the presser foot down as directed) then gradually decreased the bobbin tension, nothing has been worked to get rid of the loops. I pulled out the bobbin and tried it with the thread coming from over before being threaded through the tension bit, then with the thread coming from under before going through the tension bit. I even pulled the thread off and re-wound the bobbins to make sure they were wound correctly.

BUT, when I put the 69# thread on the bobbin, and sew with 138# on the top, no more loose tension on the underside.

Now the machine came with 138# thread on the bobbins, so I know that it was used.

So, is this normal or did I miss something?

Any suggestions??

Other than finding what works for you, why don't you call the company & speak to someone who actually knows these machines inside & out (no pun intended)? There certainly should be experts there who can help you with your questions.

[Art]

Hi Hoyden,

If you are using 138 poly thread you can use a #22/140 135-16D or TRI needle. When using nylon, you may have to go up to a 160 needle. If you got it from Artisan, I can't imagine it not being adjusted out of the box, so playing with anything but the top tension would not be my first choice. Normally if EVERYTHING ELSE IS RIGHT, top tension can be the fix. You have to use the right size and type (system) of needle for the material and threadsize to start with for everything to work.

Additionally, you use different needle types and even a littler longer system for webbing than you use for leather. For webbing you would use a 135x17R (round point and a little longer) system needle.

You can use different sizes in the top and bobbin to get a little tighter stitch and a little longer bobbin life, but with smaller thread I have not found this much of an advantage. For leather 138/138 works fine on a freshly wound bobbin, thread can get old and take a "set" if it stays wound tightly on a bobbin for over 6 or more months.

As a general rule though, if you can't correct looping with top tension, go to a new needle and if that doesn't fix it, go to a size larger needle.

Art

I finally got my leather sewing machine, an Artisan 618-1SC. YAY! We got it all set up and I've been sewing every piece of scrap leather and webbing in sight.

I have a question about the weight of the bobbin thread. When I use the 138# thread on top and the 138# thread in the bobbin, I end up with loops on the bottom side. I have probably spent the better part of 3 hours adjusting the upper tension to make it tighter and loosening the lower tension in tiny steps and doing test stitching and no matter what combo I used, I can't get the loops out on the lower side.

I tried gradually increasing the upper tension (with the presser foot down as directed) then gradually decreased the bobbin tension, nothing has been worked to get rid of the loops. I pulled out the bobbin and tried it with the thread coming from over before being threaded through the tension bit, then with the thread coming from under before going through the tension bit. I even pulled the thread off and re-wound the bobbins to make sure they were wound correctly.

BUT, when I put the 69# thread on the bobbin, and sew with 138# on the top, no more loose tension on the underside.

Now the machine came with 138# thread on the bobbins, so I know that it was used.

So, is this normal or did I miss something?

Any suggestions??

[Hoyden]

Hi Hoyden,

If you are using 138 poly thread you can use a #22/140 135-16D or TRI needle. When using nylon, you may have to go up to a 160 needle. If you got it from Artisan, I can't imagine it not being adjusted out of the box, so playing with anything but the top tension would not be my first choice. Normally if EVERYTHING ELSE IS RIGHT, top tension can be the fix. You have to use the right size and type (system) of needle for the material and threadsize to start with for everything to work.

Additionally, you use different needle types and even a littler longer system for webbing than you use for leather. For webbing you would use a 135x17R (round point and a little longer) system needle.

You can use different sizes in the top and bobbin to get a little tighter stitch and a little longer bobbin life, but with smaller thread I have not found this much of an advantage. For leather 138/138 works fine on a freshly wound bobbin, thread can get old and take a "set" if it stays wound tightly on a bobbin for over 6 or more months.

As a general rule though, if you can't correct looping with top tension, go to a new needle and if that doesn't fix it, go to a size larger needle.

Art

Thank you Art. I really appreciate it. I printed this out and put it into the binder that I put my machine manual in next to my work area.

I got the machine used from Zack White leather & it was shipped from North Carolina to Connecticut, so I am not sure if the tension was set there or maybe got mucked up in shipping.

I was finally able to get the tension correct so I could use 138 top and bottom. I have several size needles (I'm at work, so I can go look right now) and had tried them all.

For some reason the bottom tension was really screwy. I wouldn't sew well with 69/69 either. After tightening the top tension quite a ways to the right, I just continued to tighten the lower tension in tiny steps until it was right. Now 138/138 and 69/69 stitch out beautifully.

A friend of ours that is a machinest and has industrial sewing machine repair experience stopped by and looked at all the sample stitching and the way everything was set up and threaded and confirmed that the lower tension was just off for some reason.

So it's fixed and I'm a happy sewer.