Longarm Service (lubrication) interval - NEVER is not an option!

A longarmer with a sit-down Sweet Sixteen recently called me noting that after removing the needle plate she had confirmed the machine was out-of-time and that it also needed to be serviced.

Upon arrival the pre-service check confirmed it indeed was out-of-time, about 20 degrees too-far-advanced and with a hook-to-scarf gap of more than 1mm (there should be no hook-to-scarf gap) - clearly something had “happened” to knock the machine out of time.

In going through the checks required before opening the machine - cleaning the clamshell with a vacuum, checking the handwheel-to-housing gap, etc., in cycling the machine with the handwheel it would not rotate - it stopped after about 3/4 of a cycle and normal human effort could not budge it - I did not want to go super-human or put a lever on the handwheel for fear of damaging something internally.

I then opened up the longarm, expecting to find a thread-wrap around the lifting lever or somewhere else that was stopping the rotation but the inside was clean.

Too…clean….

There was NO existing lubricant on the needle or hopping foot shafts, what little lubricant remained on the bearings had dried out and discolored, the grease in the needle bearings had dried and hardened, and the lube on the slides was sticky and gummy. Egads!

I asked the longarmer when the machine was last serviced, and she did not think it had been - she had owned it - take a seat please - EIGHT years!

I was worried some of the components may have been damaged from the additional friction, but after a thorough lubrication process the machine spun as smoothly as a new one - and the customer could not believe how quiet it was, how little it vibrated, and how consistent the stitch quality was after the lubrication and the corrected timing.

Asking again how the timing may have been knocked out, the longarmer noted she had been working on a project with very thick and dense seams - that friction from the seams on top of the rotational friction from lack of lubrication could have easily allowed to the needle to hang a little and bump the hook and knock timing off - and when discussing with the customer she noted that a needle had in fact broken.

Bottom line - if you don’t know what the service interval for your longarm is, please look it up in your owners manual and get the lubrication and adjustment done when required.

The machines OEM’d by Handi Quilter, including the Handi Quilter brand, the Baby Lock brand, the Janome brand, and some others have recommended service intervals of every 10 Million stitches or 24 months, whichever comes first.

Keep your baby smoothly stitching, and….

Quilt on!