upper thread jumping left of pinch wheel

[MJ]

I'm doing satin stitched letters and the upper thread seems to be "flailing" around more than usual. And then jumping out to the left out of the red pinch roller. What would be possible reasons and fixes for this? The red pinch wheel seems to be moving around fine.

[MJ]

I'm responding to my own question -- I did the next job on the same needle that was slipping out of the pinch roller, and it worked just fine.
What I was doing when the problem was happening was a wide satin stitch. Would a too-wide satin stitch cause this problem?

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Are you lubricating your pinch rollers every once in a while?

[MJ]

Is there a schedule for when to lubricate the pinch rollers? How often should I do it?

[gcannon]

You need to clean & lubricate at least every 4 million stitches. That being said- when I have the problem you have described, it usually means one of the little prongs on the red roller is badly worn, about ready to break off, or has already broken off. Check this first. I have 5 Amayas, and I usually order the little red rollers in quantities of about 50, as they are really cheap- usually cheaper than the shipping.

[MJ]

Great, thanks for the advice!

[gcannon]

And yes, satin stitces that are too wide (say, more than 65-70 points) are going to be problematic. It is hard for the sensor to sense and feed that much thread that quickly. Plus the stitches are easily pulled out, especially if they get caught on something. If I decide to use satins longer than this (only for art-related pieces), I slow the machine way down to allow time for the sensor to do it's job. You can always run in manual thread-feed mode, but that's a bit more complicated. What's important is that you got your problem resolved.