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Member since 12/28/12
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Posted on: 1/13/14 4:42 AM ET
Hi, I am having trouble with the coverstitch on my 4874 (not the topcoverstitch... That is a whole other help topic!).

I am trying to use the 2 needle wide coverstitch to sew waistband elastic on lightweight cotton jersey. The stitch formation starts off fine, then after about 3 or 4 inches the needle threads break or jam - frequently the threads are still in the fabric but no longer through the needle which confuses me utterly!
My guess is that tension is the problem but I don't know which way to adjust it, unless I have just threaded it wrong? I had the same problem last time I tried to use the coverstitch (3 needle), and it is putting me off using it!

Any advice much appreciated...
TIA!
  
Member since 9/30/13
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Posted on: 1/13/14 11:56 AM ET
Make sure you're a) using the correct needles, ELx705 and b) threading through ALL THREE needle thread guides above the needle. I think the manual doesn't picture this but it solved it for me.
  
Member since 5/2/09
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Posted on: 1/13/14 1:04 PM ET
Other than re-threading from scratch, try sewing on a plain piece of doubled over firmly woven cotton for a while/a few meters first. If everything works fine there, and then it only happens with your knit and a piece of elastic on top of it afterwards, then at least you know it has nothing to do with the actual threading and it not being miss threaded, and that you don't have that wrong. That rules out one thing right there, and then you are down to more wrong needles or sewing technique or something else like that instead. I do think most overlockers problems are bad threading up though.
  
Member since 12/28/12
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Posted on: 1/15/14 8:59 AM ET
Thanks, I'll give that a go. As far as I can see it is threaded correctly, my instincts are telling me that it is the tensions that need changing, but I don't know which way to adjust them...?
  
Member since 1/25/09
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Posted on: 1/15/14 12:11 PM ET
In reply to ediebell
Quote: ediebell
Make sure you're a) using the correct needles, ELx705 and b) threading through ALL THREE needle thread guides above the needle. I think the manual doesn't picture this but it solved it for me.

I know what is meant here....
It's not that you're NOT threading correctly -- but I also found just going through one or two vs ALL THREE guides right above the needle which is not what instructions say to do, fixed my problem too when I first got my 4872
------

  
Member since 12/28/12
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Posted on: 1/16/14 4:15 AM ET
Thanks for the tips, I do always use all 3 needle thread guides, so I am pretty sure it isn't that, but I will try fiddling with them and see if it makes a difference!
  
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Posted on: 3/6/14 1:23 PM ET
Cracked it! In case it is useful to anyone else, I resolved the problem by loosening all the screws that hold the needles (not just the screws for the needles I am inserting but the adjacent ones too), then tightening them all again once the needles are inserted. This seems to help in inserting the needles further and hey presto, coverstitch working like a dream for the first time since I got the machine!

Yay!
  
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