NX400 feed forks seized

Lack of, or improper servicing.


--
Ron Anderson
A1 Sewing Machine
PO Box 60
Sand Lake, NY 12153
518-469-5133
http://www.a1sewingmachine.com
"S R Glickman" wrote in message
...
I recently received my Brother NX400 back from repair. The engineer's
message said that the feed forks had seized and he removed, cleaned
and refitted them.

Does anyone know what this fault means, how it is caused and how I can
prevent it happening again?

TYIA

Susan
--

Please remove the 'x' to reply

S R Glickman wrote:

That's strange as the machine is less than a year old and had already
been back once to have the needle threader replaced. They checked it
over then too but found nothing else wrong with it..

Or do you mean that I'm not cleaning it properly ?

Thanks

Susan

How much, and what, have you sewn this last year? The more you use it,
the closer the service intervals...

This is a fairly light weight domestic machine, and if you have been
using it for more than 10 hours per week actual stitching time, it may
need a service and clean every six months.

Every time you start a project, do you clean out the bobbin case area
(take out the bobbin case and clean round the feed dogs and shuttle),
and oil where needed (see the manual)? Do you give it a new needle for
every project, and after six-8 hours sewing - or when you notice the
machine is taking more effort to get the needle through the fabric (as
sign that it is worn and blunt)?

My Lily gets cleaned thoroughly every day during a big project.
Sometimes I get through 2 or three needles a day, just stitching (more
if I crash into a pin or a zip!). Every time I change the needle, I
dust out the bobbin case area and check for caught threads. Every
thorough clean it gets a drip of oil in one vital place. I get it
serviced every six-twelve months, depending how much (and what sort) of
work it has done for me.

I do the same with the sergers. The mechanical machines I tend to
service myself unless they throw a real problem at me.

And like another interesting activity - suck, don't blow! Vacuum out
the machine: you can get special attachments for the vacuum cleaner.
Canned air can cause problems by chilling the machinery and attracting
condensation, and by blowing lint into inaccessible but vital areas...

--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Kate Dicey wrote:

And like another interesting activity - suck, don't blow! Vacuum out
the machine: you can get special attachments for the vacuum cleaner.
Canned air can cause problems by chilling the machinery and attracting
condensation, and by blowing lint into inaccessible but vital areas...


Also, never spit into your machine! You wouldn't think of doing that,
would you? But if you blow, rather than using canned air, you are
spitting into the machine whether you intend to or not. But, as Kate
noted, canned air is likely to create more problems than it solves.
--
Joanne
stitches @ singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth

Not knowing anything about feed forks, (from a serger I guess) the first
thing that came to mind was that you had taken the feed forks on an airplane
and they had seized them as deadly weapons. LOL

Dixie Sugar
"S R Glickman" wrote in message
...
I recently received my Brother NX400 back from repair. The engineer's
message said that the feed forks had seized and he removed, cleaned
and refitted them.

Does anyone know what this fault means, how it is caused and how I can
prevent it happening again?

TYIA

Susan
--

Please remove the 'x' to reply

S R Glickman wrote:

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 21:50:06 +0100, Kate Dicey
wrote:



How much, and what, have you sewn this last year? The more you use it,
the closer the service intervals...


I have been using it quite a lot - usually in spurts of sewing every
day for a few hours and then doing nothing for a week or two.


This is a fairly light weight domestic machine, and if you have been
using it for more than 10 hours per week actual stitching time, it may
need a service and clean every six months.


Really? I didn't realise it might need such frequent servicing

Every time you start a project, do you clean out the bobbin case area
(take out the bobbin case and clean round the feed dogs and shuttle),


Um, no. But I do do that from time to time.


and oil where needed (see the manual)?


It says no oil needed anywhere.



Do you give it a new needle for every project,


Gulp, not always - depends on whether I need a different type of
needle.

and after six-8 hours sewing - or when you notice the

machine is taking more effort to get the needle through the fabric (as
sign that it is worn and blunt)?


Err, no..


Vacuum out
the machine: you can get special attachments for the vacuum cleaner.
Canned air can cause problems by chilling the machinery and attracting
condensation, and by blowing lint into inaccessible but vital areas...


Oh, I see.

But seriously though -

Thanks very much Kate - I'm very much a teach yourself sewer (although
I did have lessons at school many moons ago) - and your advice is very
useful.

I still don't know what seized feed forks are ! )


Susan

You're welcome. Do as I told you (insert big friendly but teachery
grin!) and you should get many years of happy sewing from this and all
your future machines. Sometimes my poor Lily does 10 hours of sewing in
a day!

Seized forks means a combination of too much lint build-up in the feed
dog area and insufficient lubrication. If you let the lint build up, it
cal wick the lubrication out of the moving parts. Then eventually it
will jam! UGH! EXPENSIVE! ALL machines need oil or grease to help
them. Many that say not to oil them get s squirt here and there when
they get serviced. It's just that with some modern domestic machines
the bits that need oiling or greasing are close to electronic bits that
MUST NOT get oily, so it is generally safer for you to take it in
annually (or more often if heavily used!) and get it cleaned and oiled.

Another lesson: NEVER put the machine away without cleaning it! That
lint you leave in the machine will be busy wicking away the oil and
soaking it up while you are off doing something else... When you get
back to it a month later, it's completed its evil trick, and then the
resulting crud has fossilised in place... NOT A GOOD SCENARIO!

Hit the URL below to see what I get up to in MY sewing time. And
somewhere in the Learning Zone, there are pix of cleaning the serger:
that attachment is readily available and will be a boon to your sewing
pleasure.

Best of luck with the future sewing! Stay with us. We fix sewing
problems here!

--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Less than a year old to you. It was made somewhere in China or some such far
away place, sat in the hold of a cargo ship for 3 months then who knows how
long in a warehouse until you got it. I service all new machine before they
leave my shop, not everyone does this. it could also simply be defective.

--
Ron Anderson
A1 Sewing Machine
PO Box 60
Sand Lake, NY 12153
518-469-5133
http://www.a1sewingmachine.com
"S R Glickman" wrote in message
...
That's strange as the machine is less than a year old and had already
been back once to have the needle threader replaced. They checked it
over then too but found nothing else wrong with it..

Or do you mean that I'm not cleaning it properly ?

Thanks

Susan

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 19:18:11 GMT, "Ron Anderson"
wrote:

Lack of, or improper servicing.

--

Please remove the 'x' to reply

S R Glickman wrote:


Do you mean the sidecutter? I have one of those for the machine which
I'm still trying to make friends with

No, no! The serger/overlocker is a whole 'nother machine! Mine uses
2/3/4 threads depending on the stitch. It makes the stitch you see in T
shirts and swim wear. Hit the URL in my sig line and look in some of my
projects to see it at work, and then in the Cleaning the Serger section
in my Learning Zone.

Those little side cutter attachments that are supposed to work with some
of your over-edge stitches are all very well, but no good for serious
clothes making: far too slow and clunky, and nothing like robust enough.

I'm using mine to neaten the seams for some bridesmaid skirts at the
moment, but I shall sew the lining seams in them.


--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

S R Glickman wrote:

On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 23:44:00 +0100, Kate Dicey
wrote:



No, no! The serger/overlocker is a whole 'nother machine! Mine uses
2/3/4 threads depending on the stitch. It makes the stitch you see in T
shirts and swim wear. Hit the URL in my sig line and look in some of my
projects to see it at work, and then in the Cleaning the Serger section
in my Learning Zone.


Oh, I know what you mean now, it was the use of the word attachment
which confused me.

Ah... It was the vacuum cleaner attachment I was referring to.

I did try one of these about a year and a half ago - a fairly basic
Janome - but it was very noisy and vibrated a lot so I took it back. I
can't take too much vibration due to carpal tunnel syndrome. I also
had a strange illness at the time which caused tingling in my feet and
was worried that the overlocker had caused it or was making it worse.

Ugh! Sounds nasty! Hope you are all better now...

As a result when I wanted to buy a new sewing machine which could do
more than my 20 year old Toyota and do decent buttonholes I was able
to use the money towards that instead.

Makes a lot of sense to me! What did you get?


Those little side cutter attachments that are supposed to work with some
of your over-edge stitches are all very well, but no good for serious
clothes making: far too slow and clunky, and nothing like robust enough.


I realise that but I don't have the money or space for one. Maybe one
day ....

My second/back-up serger is a Toyota: very good value for money, and a
nice sturdy little machine. It was used, and cost me £160, and came
with a one year guarantee. Yes, sergers *do* vibrate more than ordinary
machines, but that is partly the way they work, with the cutters.

I have never rated Janome sergers since one danced off a table onto my
lap! The big Huskylock doesn't do that, and nor does my little Toyota.
I also put all my machines on a rubber mat to help reduce the
vibration and noise.


--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

S R Glickman wrote:

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 12:04:19 +0100, Kate Dicey
wrote:



Ah... It was the vacuum cleaner attachment I was referring to.


I see.



I did try one of these about a year and a half ago - a fairly basic
Janome - but it was very noisy and vibrated a lot so I took it back. I
can't take too much vibration due to carpal tunnel syndrome. I also
had a strange illness at the time which caused tingling in my feet and
was worried that the overlocker had caused it or was making it worse.

Ugh! Sounds nasty! Hope you are all better now...


Yes - except that when I overdo it the tingling comes back - like
after too many late or disturbed nights.


As a result when I wanted to buy a new sewing machine which could do
more than my 20 year old Toyota and do decent buttonholes I was able
to use the money towards that instead.

Makes a lot of sense to me! What did you get?


The NX400 I've been asking about )

Duh! Silly me! I blame too many scarlet wimmin! (I'm in the throws of
five really RED bridesmaid outfits, and my head is finding new ways to
ache!)

I really am pleased with it - it does so many things and came with
lots of feet - including a walking one. And an extension table. And
it has a knee lifter too.

I cannot use a knee lift: I have fibromyalgia and the pressure on the
side of my knee is severely unpleasant.


My second/back-up serger is a Toyota: very good value for money, and a
nice sturdy little machine. It was used, and cost me 160, and came
with a one year guarantee. Yes, sergers *do* vibrate more than ordinary
machines, but that is partly the way they work, with the cutters.

I have never rated Janome sergers since one danced off a table onto my
lap! The big Huskylock doesn't do that, and nor does my little Toyota.
I also put all my machines on a rubber mat to help reduce the vibration and noise.


I tried the Janome on a sqaure of carpet but it didn't help much. I
wasn't too impressed with the quality of the stitching either.

Anyway, I can always dream that one day a van will draw up with a top
of the range Babylock or Bernina overlocker for me!! )

The Berninas are really good, as good as the Huskylock, and quieter...
But they don't have the free arm! Gotta love that free arm on the serger!

Thanks again

Susan



--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!