Toro 3000 Intermittent Skipped Stitches

[Andrew Chee]

Hello all I have an Artisan Toro 3000. I was running it with a 23 needle and sewing 138 thread top and bottom through about 10oz of bridle leather. In that setup, its sewing fine.I wanted to switch to a heavier thread so I used a 207 top and bottom but keeping the 23 needle. I was sewing about 8oz total of the sedgewick English bridle glued together and I noticed that the stitches would skip every once Ina while. I am using the harness plate with no feed dog. Every once in a while the hook just doesn't catch the thread loop for some reason. When it's not skipping stitches the knots look just fine. The skipping is intermittent and may happen every 20-30 stitches. It may skip one stitch or it may skip a few. I don't really know why it's doing this.

Could this simply be a matter of needing to size up the needle? I have some 24 needles on order but I only have 23 and 25 on hand. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Wizcrafts]

I also sew mostly bridle leather. Sometimes, a section seems to be denser than the surrounding areas and the leather lifts off the throat plate with the needle. This causes an instant skipped stitch. Is this happening to you?

Try moving up to a #24 needle, when they arrive, just in case.

Too much check spring motion will keep the top thread under tension too long and might interfere with the formation or continuation of the loop. If your check spring moves more than 90 degrees, shorten it's travel to 90 degrees or less.

A needle, as it is sewing, gets pulled to the left a bit by the trailing top thread (I can see this happening). If the timing is already marginal, this left offset can cause skipped stitches. Move the shuttle to the left a tad to get the hook to almost touch the needle when it's in the scarf area. Larger needles are less affected by the left-pull factor.

Marginal needle's eye to hook timing will lead to occasional skipped stitches. The position of the needlebar can shift upward with continued pounding into leather and a very heavy hold down spring. This changes the position of the eye and scarf of the needle in relation to the point of the hook. Try lowering the needle by 1/16" or 1/8", secure it, and see if this improves the sewing consistency. If it does, you'll need to open the front cover and position the needlebar so that the securing screws are accessible. Loosen it/them, lower the needlebar by the same amount that you manually lowered the needle, then secure the screws. Maintain the horizontal axis position of the needle mount as you lower the bar. Now move the needle back to the top of the mounting hole and reinstall the cover and thread her up. If a shifted needlebar was the problem, it should now be fixed.

Finally, if the thread is black, you may be a victim of the Springy Black Thread Syndrome.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Wizcrafts

[rdb]

With all the switching between threads and leathers that I do, I have become quite proficient at adjusting my 3000's timing. I have never really had to adjust anything else on the machine. Not the check spring, not the needlebar, nothing. It always comes down to the timing. Now that could be just me, so pay attention to others advice, but in your manual, there should be a pretty good description, along with photos and measurements explaining the timing.

[Andrew Chee]

Hi wiz. Thanks for the tip. Indeed it appears that the needle bar was slightly higher than it should have been. Just enough to cause intermittent skipped stitches. It looks like the set screws that lock down the bar loosened over time. I adjusted and tightened, ran a test line of stitches, and everything looks fine now. Thanks.

Andrew

[Wizcrafts]

Glad to help, Andrew.

[Rayban]

I learned (the hard way) that if leather hasn't been properly tanned is can cause skipping stitches.

There may be some real hard spots inside the leather, like actual raw hide that won't let the needle pick up the loop.....

I was getting leather from ABC Co. (when I was in a bind) which they get from S America and had this problem regularly...I decided, no mas...I'm staying with my tanned in USA company and haven't had this problem since...knock on keyboard.

[SooperJake]

Finally, if the thread is black, you may be a victim of the Springy Black Thread Syndrome.

How common is the "springy black thread issue"? I Believe that may be the crux of some of my troubles.

[Wizcrafts]

How common is the "springy black thread issue"? I Believe that may be the crux of some of my troubles.

Common enough that I developed some new, custom swear words! I actually put a funnel over one spool of black thread to keep it from twisting over the thread guide on top of the thread stand.

[SooperJake]

I seem to be having a problem with the black thread shortening the stitch length somewhat. Today, when I finished stitching a holster and cut the top thread it snapped back like a spring. Thinking back on most of the issues I've had stitching in the last few months, I've been using black thread pretty much all the time. I never stopped to consider the thread might be the culprit.