Need help ladies! Did any of you ever experience that the machine isnt embroidering straight??

Hurrah for you!! Makes me happy to know you got it straightened out!!
These machines can be a bit intimidating at times, but I have mustered up enough courage to do a few "fixes" on mine throughout the years. It has never been to a shop for repairs since I purchased it many years ago. Just did general cleaning of dust on occasion from the bobbin area and machine surface. The worst scare I got was about four years ago when it made a gosh awful noise and the needle would not go up or down! What dreadful panic!! I carefully unscrewed the cover above the needle shaft that revealed the gears. I saw a stray thread had wound around the gears tightly, so they wouldn't move. With tweezers and small scissors, I gently cut and pulled each piece of thread out until clear. Replaced the cover and screw. Thank goodness, it has kept on stitching beautifully for me, since! Can't rave enough about the durability of the Brother brand.
Again, I am so glad all is well with your machine!
Hugs, Angel

1 comment

by tfk 03 Mar 2015

Thank you so much :)
yes even I am very happy that I didnt need to take it for repair and I love doing these little fixes myself (gives a good feeling of achievement )
Good to know about your machines happy journey and wish the same for mine :)
Have a great day!

I am so relieved to say that I kind of manipulated the arm and fixed the problem!!! :)
Thanks a lot all of you for being there when I was worried so much about my machine!
Thank you so much jenni because of your comment I gathered courage to kind of play around with the arm with the hope of fixing it.....and it worked!!!
Tried a word too and glad to see it embroider in a straight line...:)

1 images:[1]

3 comments

by pennifold 02 Mar 2015

So glad to see you got it all worked out Therese. The writing looks so much better. Love Chris, Newcastle, Australia.

by tfk 03 Mar 2015

Thanks Chris :)

by jenni 03 Mar 2015

glad you had the courage to fix your machine arm, I love my 300e as it is so portable to take to groups and classes, not as heavy as my larger Pfaffs. cheers Jenni on the beautiful Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

I have the 300e which is really the same machine just a bit older. Do you have plenty of room behind the machine? I damaged a hoop arm once by not having enough space for the hoop to go right back. I thought there was plenty of room but apparently not. I was sewing on a table facing the wall now I have it facing a different way with nothing behind it. Expensive lesson learned.

2 comments

by tfk 02 Mar 2015

Yes I do have sufficient space behind the machine....did it get fixed then for you??

by babash 03 Mar 2015

Yes had to replace the whole arm. Still going strong .

As angel suggested I checked the centering of the machine....and it is off!!
Oh I am so worried now :(
Here is a pic ....the blue lines are the ideal x and y axis....the green dots are where my machine is moving....the circled dot was the centre it just registered! !!

1 images:[1]

Good morning Therese, I always look at the design on my computer first and see if it is straight there. Sometimes I need to twerk it a bit to get designs straight. Some designs are on purpose not exactly perfectly placed too, so it depends on your view. Have you tried doing this design again? As "anangel" has said sometimes the hoop can be knocked (I've done that myself) and it only needs a little movement to alter your design. Other than that if it still isn't right I'd ring my dealer as Caroline has suggested.

Where do you live Therese? Love Chris

3 comments

by tfk 02 Mar 2015

Hey Chris....thanks for responding!
I guess I should just call my dealer and check with them!
Well I feel there is something wrong. ...and its just not a hooping error or the design!
Hope I find out soon....in the meantime if any 350e owner can give me a pic of the arm closed in its primary position I would appreciate it!

by pennifold 02 Mar 2015

Where do you live? Love Chris

by tfk 02 Mar 2015

Sorry...forgot to mention. ..I live in saudi arabia :)

Do you have a dealer? If this was happening with me I would phone them and get advice as what to do from them. (I live far from them and get great phone help)

1 comment

by tfk 02 Mar 2015

I too live far off dear...but I guess that will be best for me to give them a call and ask!!
Thanks :)

tfk,
Did the hoop get jerked, during stitching, or did you try to adjust the fabric within the hoop, possibly, after you began stitching? Fabric not hooped tightly can cause a design to become misaligned as it stitches. It's possible, but I doubt anything is wrong with the embroidery arm. Was the hoop fastened properly onto the arm to hold firmly?
I like to print a paper template of a design, especially if I am placing several designs within a hooped area, so I can cut out the template, place it exactly where I want the design to stitch. Center the template lines, according to the center points on the hoop itself, and also lower my unthreaded needle to see that it falls directly into the center of the template, before I thread and begin stitching. If the needle falls dead center, remove the template, stitch the design.
Hope this helps.
Hugs, Angel

2 comments

by tfk 02 Mar 2015

well this is not the only 1 design which seems to be this way...afew others too which I did recently dont seem right! :(
Including just a name written in a line!
So are you sure there cant be anything wrong with the arm??
I thought this because its happening with both my hoops:(

by anangel 02 Mar 2015

tfk,
As I am not, by any means, an expert on embroidery machines, I can't be certain it's not something with the
arm. If something on the arm, or where the hoop fastens to the arm, is bent, then, yes, I can see unaligned stitching. If bent, the hoop would not be squared to the stitching area. If it is happening with both hoops, and different designs, it may well be the arm.
If you hoop a fabric, then draw a straight horizontal and vertical line from the centering points on each side of your hoop onto the fabric, see if the needle is centered over the exact spot the lines cross, when you have a design set to stitch. The machine should automatically center, when set to stitch, so if it would most likely be the arm out of whack, if the needle does not go directly into the center.
If the machine is not setting the design to automatically center, then something is off with the computer of the machine. That is usually an expensive fix, and would be better to probably get another machine. The arm may be a much less expensive fix.
Maybe someone more knowledgeable will come along to help you. (Just a thought; be sure you are using the correct stabilizer for the fabric. This can cause a misaligned design, too!)
Hugs, Angel

This image would explain better my problem. ...I put the template in the hoop over the design I embroidered and you can see it tilted towards the left in the upper part .....the petals which should be pointing east n west are totally off the mark .....how do I fix this!!!

1 images:[1]

2 comments

by jenni 02 Mar 2015

Hi usually a lurker but this happened to me with my 300e when something got caught behind the hoop. A friend who is a machine tech had a look and just pulled the embroidery arm back into place (it sort of clicked like it did when it was caught) and it has been perfect ever since. If you look at the emb arm you will see it is off at a slight angle. hope this helps Jenni

by tfk 02 Mar 2015

Thanks it sounds pretty simple but worried to try it.....what if things get worse! :(