So - my husband is a hero - again. He fixed my machine! We've been working with an expert in Utah and via email, Rick has been replacing parts and narrowing down the problem. We finally had it down to either the mother board or the motor. I had purchased a motor several years ago, so we swapped it out and my machine is running and sounds better than she has in years! I'll be returning to work next week and from then on out, I'll be working only on Tuesday through Thursdays.
Today it was semi-annual maintenance day for my longarm. Rick and I re-greased the grease pots, oiled and cleaned everything. It took about 3 hours, but now she's ready to go for the rest of my busy season before Christmas!
Machine maintenace today! My Tin Lizzie Ansley 26 longarm quilting machine is now almost 13 years old. I've noticed that things are starting to wear down and wear out. I'm having to replace more parts and oil and grease more often than I used to. Lately I've had a chirp and squeak in the machine that I couldn't resolve without taking the machine apart. So today was the day! In this process, guess what we found! The belt (which is the original) was broken in 4 different places and only held together by the outside covering. Yikes! I'm so very very glad we found it today!
Well, more maintenance on my longarm this weekend. First we cleaned out and re-greased the grease pots. Then we did more maintenance on the front of the machine and more levelling on the frame. Then today, we had the heating people here to put in ductwork and registers in my studio. (The previous owners neglected to do this when they finished the basement). Rick's my hero... again!
So I was happily quilting along yesterday, and all of a sudden, my machine starts skipping stitches while quilting vertically. My machine never skips (unless a quilt has really thick seams) and so I knew this was an encoder issue. Encoders detect the motion of the machine and controls the stitch regulation. I keep extra parts on hand and had an extra encoder. So Rick to the rescue again. He put the new encoder on for me in 10 minutes and I was up and running again.... with perfect stitches.
So my machine was down for half a day today. We had to put a new check spring in. First time we've had to change it out in 12 years. It seemed so easy and took a little longer than we expected, but in the end, Rick did it! How can one little piece of metal cause so many problems!
Hello My Friends -
An update on our family. My husband is doing absolutely amazing and back to work. But in the meantime, we decided that we needed a different house, all on one level for him. So we closed on our new house this week! Which meant having to move my quilting machine and frame to the new house. With the help of 4 engineers, we spent 7 hours today and accomplished our mission! We move the rest of our house this Friday.
