tin lizzie machine maintenance

Machine Update

| Cindy Anderson

Anytime a mechanical device breaks or malfunctions it can be frustrating. Having my longarm quilt machine out of commission is downright heartbreaking. This industrial built machine is supposed to be my workhorse. How can I practice my craft if my machine doesn’t stitch?

I struggle to stay in harmony with my Tin Lizzie. There are so many opportunities for things to go wrong. I recently shared two posts discussing some of my issues. The first one called A Bump In The Road revealed the challenge I experienced with breaking/shredding thread as well as a timing issue. Those items, for the most part, had been tackled.

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My second post named Not Again talked about a machine failure. When I signed off, at the end of my post, I was waiting for the Tin Lizzie corporate office to call. Several days later I did receive a call. After asking a series of questions I was told that my issue would be forwarded to a repairperson. This repairperson would then call to discuss my issue. As of today the repairperson has never called.

After my machine sat idle for days I thought I would try turning on the machine to see if for some reason it would mysteriously work. Much to my surprise the machine successfully completed its start-up routine. With hesitation I pressed the stitch button and away she went. Bingo!

I was so happy to get back to quilting! Who knows what was wrong. All that counts is that my machine is working.

I wonder if the repairperson will ever call? 🙂

Thank you for stopping by!

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P.S. My machine did mysteriously stop working again giving me the same error message as last time. I decided to turn it off and restart just like I did before. This particular time it worked right away. I hope this doesn’t become a regular occurrence because my machine’s warranty expires midway through 2018. ;(

Not Again!

| Cindy Anderson

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Have you ever a screen like this? I have and it wasn’t for a good reason. This lovely display of colors meant I had an issue with my Tin Lizzie quilt machine. If you recall my recent post then you remember that I had struggled with a timing issue on my machine. Thankfully I successfully overcame that. Unfortunately I have run into another road block.

I recently had the privilege of working with a new quilting customer. She asked me to do the stitching on a quilt she was planning to give as a gift. I’ll share more about her quilt in a future post. After finishing her quilt I decided to get busy on some of my own. I had seven that were waiting to be quilted. I breezed through two of them then loaded on the third. After working on it for about six hours I decided to call it a day.

The very next morning I went down into my studio to pickup where I left off. I went through the usual routine of turning on my machine then pressed the button to begin stitching. The machine paused for a moment then displayed this message on the screen.

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I have gotten messages similar to this when my machine has had a thread jam. Naturally I made the assumption that was the case this time as well. The first thing I did was to check the fly wheel to see if it would move. The fly wheel moved freely so I figured that meant a thread jam was not the issue. While I am thankful that I didn’t have to clear the jam and time my machine all over again I was totally baffled as to the cause of the error message.

Since I don’t have a local repairman my only option is to leave a message on Tin Lizzie’s telephone or send a request for service through their website. I chose to send an electronic message. When I didn’t hear anything for 24 hours I sent a message to the person that I bought my machine from to ask for their assistance. I received a reply that indicated they would contact the corporate office to initiate a service request.

Having my longarm quilting machine broken is very upsetting to me. I am totally at the mercy of the corporate office in Utah for service. In the meantime here I sit with a partially quilted project, four more waiting to be quilted and requests from customers for others.

I certainly hope this issue can be solved real soon because I am very sad. ;(

Thank you for listening to me vent again.

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A Bump In The Road

| Cindy Anderson

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As you may know I own a longarm quilt machine. I use it to quilt projects for customers, family and myself. Keeping the machine in proper running order often gives me fits. The air inside my studio can at times be filled with rather colorful words.

I am not mechanically inclined. I usually defer those tasks to my hubby. He can turn a job that would take me hours into a simple task. Unfortunately he is not always home when I need him which means I have had to learn how to make repairs on my machine by myself. The distributor of my machine has an online library of helpful how-to videos. I used those videos to help me with my most recent dilemma.

I have been struggling, and I mean struggling, with a capital S with thread issues for months! Slowly I have been moving through the list of possible causes eliminating them one by one. The journey has been a long and trying experience; testing my patience to the limit.

The problem I have been trying to solve is breaking or fraying thread. So far I had crossed off thread quality, batting and fabric as contributors. I even replaced a couple of parts thinking that they might have had burrs that were damaging my thread. Left on my list were machine timing and the needle. Since I like to tackle the most difficult issue first I decided to address the timing of my machine.

I called up the videos on adjusting the machine timing and watched them over and over again. With each viewing I tweaked the timing ever so slightly. By the time I had finished I had lost count of the number of times I put my machine back together and the number of screwdriver bits I used during the my process.

After getting oil all over my hands and my extension table I finally managed to get the timing properly adjusted. Hopefully I will remember the proper settings for next time because you know there will be a next time.

After conquering that hurdle, cleaning up my hands and my extension table I was so eager to get back to quilting. I rethreaded my machine and started stitching. In no time my patience was once again tested by breaking thread. Argh!!

The only thing left to change was my needle. Thankfully I keep a huge supply on hand. Before selecting the new needle I checked the reference table I have to make certain I was using the correct size. I loaded in my brand new needle, rethreaded my machine and started stitching again. Presto! No more breaking thread! I was back in business! Thank GOODNESS!

I have learned so many valuable lessons. Hopefully my senior mind will remember them for next time. 🙂 Until then I will be stitching along.

Thank you for visiting today! I’m so glad we had this opportunity!

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