NEEDLE CASE LOCKED

[TN Thom]

My needle case is locked at #16 needle and will not move at all. Cutting the machine off and on does not help.

Question: How do I get the needle case unlocked? I cannot find anything in the manual about it. I have a big red machine.

[Mike]

What were you doing before the needle case locked? Need more information.

[gcannon]

Try turning the machine off and manually (gently, gently) try to slide it to the left. These machine are full of quirks- gotta get to know them. Let us know if you can do this. You don't have to turn it off- just hit the e-stop.

[Rod or Sharon]

TN,

Have you tried going into Maintenance, Steppers and left clicking on Home in the color Change column?

Is the # 16 needlebar lined up vertically with the presser foot?

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[TN Thom]

Thanks all - I tried all the above and I got in touch with Clarence (my tech) and we worked over the phone to try and unlock the needle case. He thinks it may be the color change sensors and I have ordered new ones.

I was stitching towels and stitched the first color, when the machine was changing to the next color that was on #9, the machine moved to #16 and then locked up and never stopped at #9. Machine will not move to the right, but will slowly skip pass #16 and get out of line. Hopefully Clarence can get Big Red up and going again when he gets here.

[Rod or Sharon]

TN,

There is no question that it is probably one of the optical laser sensors. They may not be bad but if they are allowed to get dirty from lint, dust, oil or a combination of both then you will definitly have issues on the Big Reds. The XT's do not use optical laser sensors for the Color Change Home or the Color Change Index anymore.

These particular lasers "must" be kept blown out with canned air on a regular basis, far more often than what the maintanence schedule calls for....

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[TN Thom]

Well Clarence just left and had to take the mother board to check it out. There were 3 red lights on on the board that would not go back to green. He is going to test the board at his shop and let me know if I need to replace the MB. If the board is okay, he said my problem was more than likely the color change motor.