I'm Going To Scrap My Machine Soon

[Wizcrafts]

Lengthen the travel on your check spring. It is letting go to soon.

[gottaknow]

Wiz is right. After watching your video, your check spring is hardly doing anything. It should be moving about 3 times the distance it is and you probably need to put more tension on it, in other words, when it's pulling against your thread, it should be pulling harder. It's entirely possible your check spring has come loose inside the tension unit and not only decreased it's travel distance, but also it's strength. That would explain why the machine was working good when you got it and now it's not. The manual should explain the exact adjustment for the check spring. If you can figure out how to readjust that, you'll have to re-balance your tensions.

Regards, Eric

[venator]

I can't adjust the travel on the spring, there's a stopper and I can't seem to move it or remove it. I took the whole assembly apart but the stopper is very firmly attached so the distance that spring moves seems immutable.

I put different feet on it to see if that would help (in case of a burr) and it seemed to but it is still breaking sometimes once I get the tension high enough to not pull through. . .

[venator]

Besides which that was where tehy had the spring set when they reconditioned the machine and sent it to me.

[TinkerTailor]

There is alot of very good advice here from very knowledgeable people. Add up your time not making things, and working on your machine. All of us have things we choose not to learn and pay people to do, because its cheaper than wasting time figuring out things we aren't interested in. While i have never had an industrial machine serviced, i imagine the repairman will make housecalls. Think about a garment factory, are they going to bring them all in for service? It may cost a few bucks to get him there, but you are back working again at something you enjoy, not fighting something you want to smash. If you are in the sticks like Vegreville or Edson or something, the pick-up to person quotient goes way up.....Put up an ad at the local grocery store, and at UFA if they have a board, looking for a truck haul it in. With the price of oil putting guys out of work and such, i imagine there are a few guys odd jobbing it to get by.

I grew up in northern Alberta, and i know for sure that there are quite a few people around with a pickup that can be bribed to haul a machine in for a little fermented barley and hops.......If i still lived there i would help ya out..I bet the repair guy would be able to fix it right away in one trip if you bring it to him with a timmies card.

When your car breaks, you have a choice to either fix it yourself or take it in. Sometimes you have to get somebody to take it in for you.

[gottaknow]

That's some good advice there TinkerTailor. I get frustrated for folks trying to solve their issues on the internet when I know if I had 15 minutes in person with the machine it'd be purring in no time. Even though I make a really good living as a head mechanic in a factory, I still travel to upholstery shops, drapery shops, a mattress factory, and even a guy who makes hot air balloons. I charge a modest amount for travel, and just a fraction of what most repair places charge. I do it to help folks out, plus I'm a people person. I've even had people ship me the heads and I put it in one of my tables to fix. I'm convinced if you're going to have an industrial machine, you either need to learn yourself, or think outside the box a bit and find someone to make a house call. If you can find a sewing factory nearby, call and talk to their mechanic. You'd be surprised that most of us are willing to make house calls. I wish you the best of luck.

Regards, Eric

[venator]

I appreciate the advice unfortunately I have no friends who can be convinced to loan me a truck as i have no friends with trucks.

I'm just insanely frustrated because I dropped $2k on a machine, it was working great, then suddenly it no longer works. This has forced me to refund a number of customer orders for which I'd already purchased all the materials as well as stop taking any future orders so I'm already a lot of money there now I have to drop another $500-$600 to bring a mechanic out to fix it, assuming there's a mechanic in Edmonton who makes house calls.

I'm moving to Toronto at the end of the summer and so i'm supposed to be saving for that not losing thousands of $$ due to my machine. Its been a bad week.

[SantaFeMarie]

If you seriously are at the end of your tether, can't find anyone to make house calls, but can find someone who will service it at their location, I can think of three options.

One, box up the machine and get UPS to pick it up from your home. I think you may have to open an account with them first. And you'll have to make a pretty good estimate of the weight as well before arranging the pick-up.

Two, see if there is a Canadian version of Uship. If so, you maybe able to find someone who will come to your home and pick-up the machine and get it to the repair shop. They may even be able to box it or blanket-wrap it for you. And I think you can arrange to get insurance as well.

Three, Craig's List>Services>Labor/Move. My local list always has listings from men with trucks who would love to haul things for a bit of beer money. Totally uninsured, of course.

Edited April 12, 2015 by SantaFeMarie

[gottaknow]

Calculate the freight to Post Falls, ID 83854 for the head only. No charge for the repair. Seriously.

Regards, Eric

[venator]

Well first I'll see if anyone in town makes housecalls, I'd rather pay the $500 to get them to come out than have to try and drag the thing down to a shop in a stranger's truck. It's just frustrating to pay so much then lose a ton of money because it randomly decided to stop working.