Help me diagnose my ferdco?

[JerseyFirefighter]

So I have a 5 month old ferdco pro 2000 that has been working great. Today.. I was sewing a bunch of projects and all of a sudden, the machine hangs up on the downward motion of the needle. I tried backing it off and moving forward and had a small success rate. Once I got the machine running again it would sew, but every 30 or so stitches I would hear a loud click. When trying to release the brake and handwheel the machine it gets caught up in the same spot. A side note that I had been sewing for the past 20 minutes and had not changed the thread or the material. I'd like to diagnose it before having to drop back at keystone so If anyone has any experience in such an anomaly id love to hear your input. Thanks!

 

 

[Northmount]

Have you tried replacing the needle since the jamb?  May be bent or point damaged.

Tom

 

[JerseyFirefighter]

I'll give that a go now. Hadn't done anything to trouble shoot. because i couldnt narrow down the hangup . This is the second needle I've used in the machine since the purchase. I put maybe an hour of straight sewing time a week into it. Ill report back if that fixes the issue. 

[JerseyFirefighter]

Didnt improve the issue. As I was replacing the needle (which was definitely a little more blunted than the new needle) i'd realized that the sharpness of the needle would not matter. The rotation of the cylinder put the needle at the top end and as it gets about 25% downwards (nowhere near the material) it hangs up. It's hard to describe, however the machine itself feels like it's running gritty. it feels like as if cycles the smoothness that I had 20 mins ago was lacking, and it refuses to move after that stopping point unless I back the stitch up and muscle through it with the pedal. 

Edited August 20, 2016 by JerseyFirefighter

[Uwe]

Some screw has probably worked itself loose over the past five months of regular use. Something is now slightly out of place and occasionally catching something else. You have to find out what it is and put it back in place and tighten it down. "Muscling through" is almost never a good idea if it's the machine itself that's causing the hang-up, as opposed to the material. Disconnect the motor belt and turn it over by hand (don't reconnect the motor until you have this figured out.) It's the only way in my experience to really feel the machine and find tight spots. When you find a tight spot or a hang-up, wiggle the handwheel while looking at every moving part to see if anything is out of place. There will likely be rub marks or scratches evident as well. Remove covers to see what's going on. Remove throat plate, take out the hook and see if it still happens. That'll take considerable time, but MUCH less time than shipping it off to Gregg to have him do essentially the same thing, or repair something once something actually breaks.

Edited August 20, 2016 by Uwe

[JerseyFirefighter]

Thank you Uwe.. The whole muscling through thing was to confirm the stoppage issue. It broke my heart to continue on but I wanted to record it to give a more accurate description. I will do just that over the coming day or two. If I cannot narrow down the issue, it'll have to head off to gregg. Good news it's an hour or so drive so Ill drop it off personally. Perhaps even a phone call to him on monday may save me the trip to help walk me through troubleshooting. 

[MADMAX22]

I would add to check your thread spool as well. I was having repeated issues with my 4500 and found that the spool of bonded nylon I was using had somehow started sticking at the bottom (all the thread was stuck together at the bottom of the spool like a bonding agent had collected there and slightly hardened). It would stitch fine until the thread coming off the spool got to that point and it would hang every time.

[JerseyFirefighter]

The hang up is definitely on the machine somewhere. The needle hits a hard stop in the same spot. It will sew at speed but as I slowed down it halts and you can hear the motor trying to continue to push. I havent gone any further because I dont want to cause any damage. Trying to diagnose it by hang cranking it while troubleshooting. 

[Wizcrafts]

Unless you know what you are doing, I'd stop right there and take it to Gregg. You've never seen this happen before, but I'm sure he has and knows where to start looking. It is possible that a C clamp has popped off one of the crank shaft mounts inside the head, or a screw has worked itself loose inside the body.

[JerseyFirefighter]

 

Unless you know what you are doing, I'd stop right there and take it to Gregg. You've never seen this happen before, but I'm sure he has and knows where to start looking. It is possible that a C clamp has popped off one of the crank shaft mounts inside the head, or a screw has worked itself loose inside the body.

Its hard to argue with that logic. I haven't been able to look at it since last night, but come tuesday Keystone is where I very well may be. It's pretty nice and terrifying to realize youre at the point that you simply cannot afford machine downtime.