So, My Techsew 2700 Has Been Shipped

[Phatdaddy]

I have received confirmation that my 2700 has been shipped and should be here Monday. I have NO experience with a sewing machine.

Aside from fighting myself to go to work Monday rather than sit home and wait for it, can you pros toss some pointers my way, do's and don'ts etc

I also got thread 100 needles, flatbed attachment and roller guide as well as some spare feet. oil and some bobbins etc.

Thank you,

Kevin

[Sylvia]

Do's" (for any sewing machine) Thoroughly read your manual! Understand how the machine works, how to wind a bobbin and install, and how tension is adjusted.

Don't get your fingers or thumbs any where near the needle ever. If you need additional pressure near the foot... use a stilletto, chop stick or something like that.

I'm still Jealous!! *sigh* at this point I would take an old Singer Patch machine on a treadle. lol

Be sure to let us know how you like her....

[Wizcrafts]

Do hold the top and bottom threads back, with your left hand, before you begin a new stitch line. Failure to do so results in the top thread getting pulled hopelessly around the bobbin case and jamming it, or nested on the bottom of the leather. This usually causes the feed to stop in its tracks and can throw the timing out and filigree the leather.

If you are backtacking to start, hold the threads back until you cross back over the first stitch.

Edited April 20, 2012 by Wizcrafts

[McJeep]

What he said - learnt THAT the hard way LOL

Choo gon' love love love having a machine bud - there are some minor limitations to them like not being able to get tight into some spots due to feet etc, but overall, awesomeness :) :0

Congratz!

[Techsew Ron]

Good advice in here so far. Also, memorize the threading process !! Our video should help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytYnOat7m00

Give me a call if you need any assistance at all.

Thanks for your support!

Ron

[Spinner]

Welcome to the club Phatdaddy! I've had my 2700 for 5 months now and love it. First bits of advice:

#1 - Do not attempt to adjust the presser foot or thread tensions until you are fairly confident you have a grasp on the process.

#2 - keep a pad & pen handy and make notes of the adjustments as they are made so you can reverse them if necessary

#3 - make one adjustment at a time and run several test stitches with it to be sure it's what you were trying to do: yes, move to next step - no, refer to #2

Unless of course you want to drive yourself bats**t crazy and like talking to Ron a lot, then by all means just start turning dials thinking you can "figure it out as you go". Not that I did that or anything, just sayin'...

Once you get everything figured out, keep the pad handy. I make notes all the time, what tension adjustments for what needle/thread size, what presser foot adjustments for leather thicknesses, etc. Ron has a good needle/thread size chart on the website too. I can give you help/pointers where I can, just drop me a PM with questions.

Cheers,

Chris

[TTcustom]

If it comes prethreaded take a picture of it threaded and where everything is set. Number one thing... What everybody said above. Don't get wilda$$ crazy and start spinning tension knobs willynilly.

Also take vacation/sick (koff koff) day on tuesday and have fun!

[Andrew Chee]

Welcome to the club Phatdaddy! I've had my 2700 for 5 months now and love it. First bits of advice:

#1 - Do not attempt to adjust the presser foot or thread tensions until you are fairly confident you have a grasp on the process.

#2 - keep a pad & pen handy and make notes of the adjustments as they are made so you can reverse them if necessary

#3 - make one adjustment at a time and run several test stitches with it to be sure it's what you were trying to do: yes, move to next step - no, refer to #2

Unless of course you want to drive yourself bats**t crazy and like talking to Ron a lot, then by all means just start turning dials thinking you can "figure it out as you go". Not that I did that or anything, just sayin'...

Once you get everything figured out, keep the pad handy. I make notes all the time, what tension adjustments for what needle/thread size, what presser foot adjustments for leather thicknesses, etc. Ron has a good needle/thread size chart on the website too. I can give you help/pointers where I can, just drop me a PM with questions.

Cheers,

Chris

Hey Spinner. How do you take notes of tensions? Since tension adjustment is turning the tension knob in or out how do you know when you're at the "right" tension for a particular needle/thread/thickness combination. Is there a particular method you use to keep track of things?

Andrew

[TTcustom]

My method, and I will be interested to hear Spinners, is to make a note of if I turned a knob in or out and how far i turned it. Half turn, one full turn, cw or ccw, that sort of thing. my notes are arranged by needle, thread and then what tension adjustments i made. I took pictures of everything when it arrived too so that I could document it's as received condition and settings. I need to know I can return the machine to it's last known working state, just like a computer, so I need to know where everything was set when it worked fine. I may have measured somethings with a drop mic and calipers but that might be admitting some OCD tendencies... :D

[Spinner]

Hey Spinner. How do you take notes of tensions? Since tension adjustment is turning the tension knob in or out how do you know when you're at the "right" tension for a particular needle/thread/thickness combination. Is there a particular method you use to keep track of things?

Andrew

Hey Andrew,

Just as TT said, I do the same thing. Once I had the machine dialed in to a common & known setting, say for "6oz of leather, XX needle & thread size" that becomes my baseline. From there for the knobs, it would simply be a matter of dialing the knob all the way in, counting the turns and that is the setting number. The reason for going in versus out is that by going in you know the the knob will stop at a given and generally set point. Going out, you may not recognize when the knob reaches the ends of the screw threads thus counting an extra turn, etc. Be sure when you have the tension knob bottomed out to mark the knob & machine to identify "top dead center".

So say for your known setting it is 9 counter-clockwise (ccw) turns to loosen to the correct point from zero and you need to switch to a different needle/thread. Simply change them out and start adjusting, counting the additional or less turns required and record it. To test/confirm, return the knob to zero (bottomed out) and open it back up to the new setting. Make slight adjustments as necessary and note the findings. Note, not all settings are full turns. It's very possible to have 1/2, 1/4, etc. to get the thread to loop exactly mid stack. As with anything, always sew off a test piece of the new materials to ensure the setting is correct.

It seems like a lot of work in the beginning but later on when you need to switch confidently and quickly, one look at the notes and a few turns and you're done.

Cheers,

Chris

P.S. - to make things more frustrating, different leathers of equal thickness may have different settings. Example: 12 oz of veg-tan is stiffer than 12 oz of lamb and will require a slight adjustment to the tension.

Edited April 20, 2012 by Spinner