Help! Reverse stitch too long or forward too short??

[kwalk20]

Hi all! I'm needing your help again  I have a Seiko STH 8BLD 3, which looks exactly like a Consew 206rb5. So here is my issue and I have no idea if this has anything to do with it or not, but I put a speed reducer on it and that is when the problem began. I don't know if it got off track just from being handled while putting the reducer on or what. But my reverse stitch length is too long and doesn't go into the holes, it veers off a little bit and seems like when the needle is coming up, it sort of pulls as the stitching is looser and you can hear it. I have searched the forums and can't find anything that addresses this, and followed the instruction is my manual, but it doesn't help. I watched Uwe's awesome video and used his template, but it was on a Juki and looks totally different from mine underneath. But I found what I thought was it, but after trying the procedure and it didn't help, I found out from my manual that I was adjusting the wrong thing. So I put it back it it's normal place. These are the two dots that my manual says to make even and it should fix it, but it didn't. Can anyone help me? Thanks in advance!

Also this is what mine looks like underneath.

[RockyAussie]

Hi Kwalk20, The speed reducer should not have done anything to affect this. My first thing here would be to 1 check that my bobbin is smooth and the tension is not over tight for whatever material you are using and 2 My top tension is not to tight for this weight of material. Check that the top thread start to finish is not caught up anywhere.I am sorry if you have already done all this but most often a problem comes down to some silly little catch up in the thread line.

[brmax]

If I'm not mistaken this is adjusted from the top and under that plate on the right.

It maybe at some point together like the photo there and say at a certain stitch setting? when adjusting.  

None the less it can be moved to correction either way, I would say for myself the best method has been to run through all checks in sequence. I believe towards back lengthens reverse and then forward for the opposite.

keep us posted and good day

Floyd

[kwalk20]

Thank you guys for answering. I really appreciate it. I figured that adding a speed reducer shouldn't have caused an issue. That's just when it started happening so I didn't know if maybe we handled the machine in a way that something happened.

So going over both of your checks, what I can see after carefully watching, as you said RockyAussie, I now am able to see a small burr on the bobbin case. What I noticed is that as long as the presser foot is up it rotates smooth. But when I put the presser foot down and turn the hand wheel, I keep getting a thump, I get hung up at a certain point. I noticed that at that point there are tiny burrs on the bobbing case and the needle where they are hitting. I adjusted the position of the needle and the needle hole of the feed dog back to dead center. That helped ever so slightly, but upon testing, when turning the hand wheel with the presser foot down, I still get a slight bump. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I need to adjust as I am fairly new to these machines and I don't want to mess anything up. And I must say they give me a good work out and I am getting more familiar with it. Any help would be soo appreciated. For now I'm going to smooth out the markings on the bobbin case and pray. LOL. Don't really know what to do as my manual is limited. I think I know what needs to be done, but not sure how to go about it.

Edited June 26, 2016 by kwalk20

[RockyAussie]

Kwalk I don't know this machine but You mentioned adjusting the position of the needle. What did you do when you did that? There is in my experience no way that the needle should be touching the bobbin unless perhaps your needle is too long (wrong needle) or not pushed up all the way. If you are on very thin leather or material the bump may be just your feed dog needing to be lowered down a bit. Sorry if I am not much help, I hope someone familiar with this machine will jump in soon. Best of luck Brian

[dikman]

Rocky's right, if the needle (which is very hard steel) has been hitting the bobbin case then that's why you've got burrs. Sounds like the timing needs resetting. You should be able to find a manual to download on the 'net if yours doesn't explain how to do it.

[kwalk20]

I need to rephrase that. It's not the actual bobbin, but the bobbin case. The thing you place the bobbin in. When the needle goes down, only when the pressser foot is engaged,  it is barely touching it. So I positioned the needle to be dead center of the needle hole and feed dog, but it still touches. Should I reassemble the bobbin case?

Let me ask so I am clear: If I have my stitch length set at 8 forward, it should be 8 in reverae also correct? I'm so green.

[dikman]

I'm assuming this is the manual that you have - http://www.keysew.com/Webpages/DemoImages/206RB-5 SEIKO.pdf. I'd suggest that you work through the adjustments to make sure that everything is set correctly. I did this with every machine I bought to try and understand how they work and to have some idea what to do when things go wrong!!

[mikesc]

@dikman..that link is a ..404..

[mikesc]

Hah..I realised ( way after the "edit window" had expired ), that the link that you posted was merely truncated..

http://www.keysew.com/Webpages/DemoImages/206RB-5 SEIKO.pdf

[dikman]

Thanks mike, I don't know how that happened (oops).

[kwalk20]

I have taken it back to Campbell Randall because I've tried suggestions by the manual and didn't want to risk making things worse. I will pick it up tomorrow and hopefully all will be fine. There were a couple of other things that I hadn't even thought of. I will pick it up tomorrow and update in case this occurs to someone else. By then I can say what actually did happen. I am going to go through the book when I get him back. Thank you for your assistance guys.