Nylon thread quality issues

[thingsbuilt]

Hello-

I have been sewing off-and-on for small shops (and myself) for the last twenty years or so, and lately I am coming upon this particular problem: 

The thread (I use #69 Nylon thread for medium and heavy leather) is un-winding from the spool at an irregular rate as I sew. It's hard to describe, but the results definitely show. When I begin stitching together backpack pieces I have the tension set just right (Singer 111W walking-foot or Juki 555 with wheel-foot), and things are ok until I reach the middle of the spool. Then, it starts to unwind unevenly.

As in-- it 'hangs'

slightly as it is being unraveled (probably due to the mass-production of the spools) .... I cannot describe this very well to the thread vendors around here ("Huh?") but i just finished a complete upholstery 

replacement on my car and I can see the uneven thread tension in the stitch. I can even pull slightly the thread from the spool (up through the tree) and see how it is sometimes free, and sometimes 

not-so-free.  Is it my brand of thread? Sometimes I see "U-line" labelled on the underside of the spool, other times I see only "Ace Sewing Machine" (a local place)...   I am beginning to think that some thread is wound more cheaply, or something... I have doused the spool in oil to get it to unravel in a normal way.. but when you are assembling products to sell, the uneven tension shows up after the fact, and it does not look good. Has anyone else had uneven unraveling of the thread spool ?  I am assuming a brand problem, but I get this blank look when I try to explain it to the thread dealer..  

Meanwhile my stitching ends up looking really bad.

 

thanks,

steve in downtown Los ANgeles

[MADMAX22]

Yep, old or poor quality or left in the sun too long or ....... 

Common issue unfortunately. 

[soccerdad]

How old is too old? For instance, if somebody sold me a spool that had 2014 or 2013 on it, would that be bad form? Thanks for any rule of thumb you can pass along. 

[MADMAX22]

Doubt it is think but could be off when it gets to 8 or 9 years but that can be affected by sitting in direct sunlight and what not. Maybe Wiz or Bob could chime in.

Pretty sure the bonding agent can migrate a little causing tension issues.

[teresamwong]

I agree its probably old thread. You could try putting a net on the spool. I have a Bernina (not for leather) and it came with several nets that slide over thread spools to keep it unwinding at an even pace. The top is open to allow the thread to pull up. They look a lot like the ones used on wine bottles at the store that are designed to keep the glass bottles safe.

I recently had a shredding issue with nylon thread I purchased from my leather sewing store and I think it was an old batch of thread. I switched to Superior Threads - bonded nylon and am really impressed with it. 

Teresa

 

[brmax]

Kinda reluctant to say!

With the on n off sewing its one of them unknowns, but with the experience its probably like mentioned a winding issue. I say that because it sounds like more than one spool, yet maybe the same winder/spooler whatever!

The spool I had some issue with earlier this year was at a half point though I picked up the machine used and cannot say how the first half performed, but what I can say is I was told the machine sat for a good while. Though it was covered when I picked it up

Surely there cannot be two different stickers being applied on the same assembly, wha!   I have wondered that seriously last year looking around for big thread. This I suppose is the normal procedure when interested to supply, and so request a hefty minimum number of spools. Probably need quite a few spools to get the big dogs to take interest in your thread sales.

This area here is where I thought there must be small winders/spoolers taking over last runs, and or re-spooling to smaller spools in some quantity for custom orders. I just look at them factories doing this and can only imagine the giant spools that get put into a re-spool bin, then to get sorted and put up for bid to other companies. ( can see it now: ok folks Thursday we change to green, all car size spools get put in gigantic bbarrell, and don't poke around, getr done!)

I'm not yet understanding the spraying or dunking of spools in any solution methods as yet, but realize a bit more now how thread lube is used sometimes in heavier sole type construction. So now listen up more with some mentioning the use of it for lighter work and or tough leather projects, never to late to learn they say.  

good day

Floyd

[thingsbuilt]

Thanks for all the suggestions..  I was away for a few days. Yesterday I noticed the same ol' problem while completing a leather backpack. Roll of "U-bond" B-69 nylon thread, which pulls unevenly from the spool (as if it were wound while still hot in the factory, or something..)  This plays havoc with my thread tension which I want to set and forget. On a top-stitch it looks fine until it becomes very tight-looking (pulling up the bobbin-stitch too much), and then it goes back to "ok."  Used to loosen the tension when it was too tight, but then when the spool normalized itself-  the tension would become too loose. I have car upholstery which I made last week and I can see a very loose inside stitch right from where I sit, while driving. It drives me insane.

I'll try to find the brand mentioned in one of the suggestions here..  "Superior?"... however, as to my thread being 'old' I am not sure it is old.. I get these rolls from a large, busy supply house in downtown LA, (perhaps they have a lot of old stock?), and I learned years ago to NEVER buy thread in bins outside, because they are usually rotting. 

I will look into the "net" suggested above,  but I am not sure I have seen one before. I did try to ask the proprietors of the thread supply about this problem by bringing half a roll back to them and showing that it didn't pull off the spool very easily, but they gave me that "I don't know what you are talking about" look.  

BTW I haven't ever had this problem with heavy cotton threads, but I used to prefer nylon because it is "unbreakable", and I sew through a lot of leather and canvas, and padding (I make old-car-themed backpacks) 

[billybopp]

Very cool backpack!   

[CowboyBob]

I have seen this happen too & do not have an answer for it either.I can only guess it was defective from the factory maybe too much bonding makes it stick.I have bought machines & they throw in thread & end up with some like this & have just used this type of thread for the bobbin just to prevent from throwing it away.

[HBAR]

how long would or should  thread be good in your opinon...

kept sealed in ziploc bag and out of any sunlight stored in a cardboard box.  Is it indefinite?  Ten years?  Anyone know?

Edited December 28, 2016 by HBAR

[CowboyBob]

I bought some polyester thread 10 yrs ago that was wrapped in plastic & in a box & it was dated 1987 & we still have a few spools left & it is still strong thread.Nylon thread seems to loose its strength as it gets older.We had some that we've had to throw away that was 12 yrs old,but different manufactures & this could of been in a window .

[Constabulary]

Switch from Nylon to Polyester and maybe this will solve the issue.

Belief it or not - I´m sometimes even using 16/4 cotton thread that is older than me - how do I know it is older - well, its dated 1968! I´m also using a lot of polyester thread from size 40 to 11/3 (metric). Also some Cotton / Poly from different mfg´s. I have polyester thread spools where even the plastic spool broke because of its age or is faded by sunlight BUT all the thread is absolutely perfect working - no matter if I run it in a Singer 111, Singer 29K, Singer 307 zigzag or 45K. It´s not because I´m a Cheap Charley (well, maybe a little bit) but this thread just works great and why throwing it away when its still working well? I do not use nylon thread at all (have some CONSO #69 prewound but I don´t think I ever used it)

Odd Chinese nylon thread from an unknown manufacturer on which an importer puts his own label on may work for work a while but in the end you never know where this thread is coming (which manufacturer) from and if you get the same thread with your next order. Different manufacturer - same label - so how can you (as a consumer) know its always the same quality from the same manufacturer? Of course all sellers / importers claim their thread is top quality thread and they sell them for years and come from a known factory... bla bla bla. Really? Who in the nowadays world is still buying that? In the end the customer has to deal with this stuff.

I don´t know many US Mfg´s brands but I have some COATS Koban (now named Dual Duty) thread and some from Polyester from Synthetic Thread Co. Inc. in PA that is working very well. But most of the other thread I´m using come from German manufacturers mainly Ackermann / Aman (SYTON / SERAFIL & SABA) or some Gruschwitz (GETAFIL) - I have zero issues with this even sometimes quite old thread!

So I really think a lot depends on the manufacturer. Buy thread from known manufacturers (google it) and not thread with just a "sellers label" and I´m sure you will have a constant quality and less thread issues. And I really would try some quality Polyester thread from a well known manufacturer instead of nylon.

Some pictures of my worse thread spools - all this thread is working perfect and all come from known manufacturers.

 

 

 

 

 

[Handstitched]

G'Day,

I'm doing a bit of research on nylon thread and found this post.

I have an issue with a brand  of thread, not nylon, but polyester . While the quality of the thread is  OK,  its so tightly wound on the spool it causes tension issues on my saddle machine, almost as if its caught on something. So what I do before using it,  is I manually unwind a few metres etc.   of thread from the spool by hand , re-wind it back on , and then sew, and it sews fine after that.

I'm wondering if theres a bit too much bonding agent on the thread. 

I only tried it because its a bit cheaper than my regular brand ,and every dollar counts when you're a small operator. 

HS 

[DonInReno]

That's the same issue - the older the thread gets the worse the problem will be.  The bonding waxes all eventually dry out and it really doesn't matter if it's polyester or nylon - if you can find someone with a spool rewinder it takes care of the problem as the thread is transfered to a different spool. 

[Handstitched]

G'Day, thank you so much for your reply.

Unfortunately  , I don't know anyone with a spool rewinder, so I'll just keep doing it by hand. 

I done enough research now to convince me to stick with polyester for its UV properties . I also  use a  M40 poly UV bonded thread on my Seiko,  that I use on horse rug repairs, its super strong and just perfect for my needs.( I can even use it on my  old Pfaff 60 machine)  I thought about using a nylon thread  because it can be a bit cheaper than poly, I have noticed. And while its strength is pretty much the same as poly, its UV property is  not as good. 

HS