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Member since 2/5/06
Posts: 1374
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Posted on: 9/6/09 2:39 PM ET
I bought my BLCS last year when a dealer a few hours away from me (closest one) had a killer sale, and was willing to ship it to me.

I probably should not have accepted the box when it arrived, as it was beat up pretty badly, however nothing was broken and I decided to keep it.

I've used it very little because I can't seem to get the looper tension on the bottom right. It's always a bit loopy, no matter what I set the tension at.

I know this is a generalization, but for regular cotton (quilters cotton) fabric, Maxilock thread, what tension would you have the needles and looper set at? I need a start point to try and work it out before I decide it did actually get damaged in shipping and haul it all the way to the dealer for servicing.
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Bernina 740, 700, and 430 -- Babylock BLCS, and Ovation -- APQS Millennium -- Vintage Singers 401a, 403, 404, 421g, 301, 15-90, 201-2
  
Member since 9/29/02
Posts: 3237
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Posted on: 9/6/09 2:43 PM ET
In reply to CJ Tinkle
CJ, I hope it isn't damaged but, given the problems, it may need a little trip to the shop. I just checked mine and I have the looper set at 2 and the needles at 4. If I use woolly thread, the looper goes to zero. HTH.
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Patti

R-r-r-ripping my way to fitting success
  
Member since 3/8/04
Posts: 28
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Posted on: 9/6/09 2:45 PM ET
In reply to CJ Tinkle
I always have mine set at 2 for the looper and 4 for all the needles. This setting seems to work for all sorts of threads and I haven't ever had to change it. Hope you can get your sorted!
  
Member since 11/22/07
Posts: 506
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Posted on: 9/6/09 2:58 PM ET
In reply to CJ Tinkle
I had alot of trouble with mine until I realized I needed to put the upper needle threads under that bar at the top of the machine...if I'd paid better attendtion to the threading diagram it would have saved hours of frustration. Also be sure the thread is in the tension discs correctly. I have also botched that part of the process.

The other thing is that as I have looked at blog pictures and tutorials etc., I see some people with nets on their threads, which I have not done, and my settings are different from those others have described above, although they work for me.....

also be sure you have not shifted the lever on the right that controls how the fabric is pulled into the CS...I know on my BL serger I sometimes inadvertently knock that knob up or down, usually when rethreading, and then am stumped about why the serger is so loopy....by now I know the answer to that one

Good luck, I find the CS not as forgiving for threading as my other machines/sergers.
  
Member since 6/23/09
Posts: 250
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Posted on: 9/6/09 5:30 PM ET
When I first got mine, I was having trouble with the looper tension too, and could not get it adjusted. It turned out that the thread wasn't really in the tension disk. I have learned that when I thread it, I need to pull the looper thread up into the disk. I can kinda feel it snap into the tension disk. Now I have not problems. HTH
  
Member since 4/11/02
Posts: 10809
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Posted on: 9/6/09 6:26 PM ET
Needles between 4-5, depending on what I'm sewing. Looper usually at 1.5. I rarely change them anymore, although the machine did seem to need a breaking in period when I first got it - or maybe that was me.

Definitely check the needle threads to be sure they are really in the tension disks. As Ericali said, you'll feel a snap, or a grab. Remember your presser foot has to be up to thread the needles.

Also check that the threads are all being grabbed by the top thread guides. You should not be able to easily lift them out.

Loose looper usually means loose tension on the needles, so my guess is that you've missed a threading step somewhere so that there isn't as much tension on the needle threads as there should be.

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"I base my fashion sense on what doesn't itch." — Gilda Radner
http://stitchesandseams.blogspot.com
  
Member since 8/18/02
Posts: 1578
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Posted on: 9/6/09 8:21 PM ET
My tensions are 4 for the needles. The dealer set the looper at 3 but I turn it down to 2 or 2.5.

I think its your needle threading.

I used to forget to pass the thread through the colored holes in the white bar because I couldn't see the holes from eye level. I marked the bar on the front with magic marker and now I don't forget.

Be sure the presser foot is up when threading and be sure to snap or floss the thread into the tension discs. If I don't do this, I get big loops underneath.

And finally when you are ready to coverstitch, be sure the presser foot is down and that you start on fabric not air.

Please let us know when you have figured this out.

-- Edited on 9/6/09 8:31 PM --
  
Member since 8/18/02
Posts: 1578
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Posted on: 9/6/09 8:29 PM ET
I don't put the needle threads under the 4 inch chrome bar on top of the machine. Does anyone else? The instructions don't tell us to do that or I can't find it. My dealer didn't show me either.
  
Member since 11/22/07
Posts: 506
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Posted on: 9/6/09 10:01 PM ET
In reply to sewsally
I just rechecked my machine and instruction manual (sewing room is upstairs and computer downstairs) to be sure I was not imagining this....about putting the thread under the metal bar on top of the BLCS...

So I first noticed it months ago, on the threading diagram that is inside the front of the machine....and started doing it when I was having trouble with tension. It certainly is not an intuitive thing to do.

Tonight I read the manual (I'm more of a visual learner) and on page 15 where it talks about threading the machine, it says...very laboriously....after running the thread from the cone/spool through the carrier loop on the metal extension pole, to carry the thread under the tension bar on top of the machine and then into the color coded holes on the front of the machine...then to the discs etc.

You may not need to do it, or my model may be different from yours, but my thoughts were, as others have expressed, that the original poster may not be having a problem with the looper, but rather the needle threads and tension/threading issues...hth, ML
  
Member since 8/18/02
Posts: 1578
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Posted on: 9/6/09 10:37 PM ET
Emelle - My machine has a white bar with color coded slots behind the chrome bar. I assume that is what the manual refers to as the thread guide.

Do you have the white bar on your machine?

I bought my BLCS last year.

  
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