[Sewing] Update on the Serger (it's Silvana) 6-21-2012

[Chris Murphy]

Thank you so much for doing this and providing the write up. 

When I maintained the machine 10 months ago, I found people were using the wrong needle size in it. 

Has anyone put silicone lubricant into the front reservoir? It hasn't had any for a year. I'm not talking about the sewing machine oil on the top cap. The fabric store next to noisebridge doesn't sell it, I checked.  

Chris 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 22, 2012, at 11:30, Silvana Lopez <bravestarforlife at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Greetings everyone.  Last night I spent 4 hours working on the serger and now it works good!   Here's what was "wrong" with the serger
>  
> The machine was really dirty! Dirt and Dust don't agree with this machine.  I cleaned the serger including between the tension disks.  The thread doesn't  pull well when it's battling againt all the grim within the disks and the tension disks don't deliver the correct tension to the thread.
>  
> The threads were not placed correctly on the thread posts, nor were there any cone stabilizers underneath the thread cones.  Really big issue here.  The threads need to come off the cone in a balanced order.  Without cone stabilizers, the spools wabble and don't delliver the threads into the machine properly - causing irratic stitching, bunching, and irregular stitches.
>  
> The thread tensions were way off!  Depending on what type of fabric you're using, the tensions will need to be adjusted - very carefully - and in very small increments. Since there are size 14 needles installed,  I adjusted the thread tensions for medium weight to slightly heavier weight fabrics.  All this was done after 3 hours of stitch evaluation! Yes, it took a long time to get it right since the tensions were soooo off.
>  
> There was a note on serger about dull knives.  NO WAY is this possible. Between myself and Rachel H. we spent over $80 for the upper and lower blades.  They were installed about 2 weeks ago.  They cut perfectly.
>  
> There was also a note about needles breaking.  You are not using the machine properly if this is happening.
>  
> I left the serger in good, working condition.  PLEASE, if you don't know how to use and maintain the serger, PLEASE don't use it.
>  
> I'm thinking about putting on a serger workshop sometime in August covering basic serging (stitch evaluation, working with different fabrics, tension adjustments, basic stitch, curved stitch, hem stitch, flatlocking) as well as maintenance.  The machine is powerful, you just got to know how to work it. 
>  
> Would love to meet for July meeting, but I'll be out of town :(  See you all in August.
>  
> Silvana
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