Ka Chung

[Mr. Sew & Sew]

Hi folks - yesterday I was catching up on some orders and about 20,000 stitches in on one of my XTs, about every 75-100 stitches I noticed a "Ka Chung" sound and all of the needle bars or whatever you call the black thingies that protrude out from the front of the needle case would jump a bit when the sound was made.

I stopped the machine and switched from needle 15 to needle 9 but it continued to do the same thing. To me this rules out a particular needle bar problem. It seems to be getting a bit more frequent and now does it about every 50 stitches or so, although sometimes it will go a few hundred before Ka Chunging. I put a few drops of oil in the top reservoir and also one on the needle bars but to no avail.

Can someone give me some guidance on what I can check out to solve this? Is it a simple lack of lubrication issue? I don't think so becuase I had a full PMI about 6 million sititches ago.

thanks in advance
Tom

[Hugo Torbidoni]

Tom,

Check your needle centering.Remove the bobbin case, in your Head Timing menu go to Bottom center and verify that the tip of the needle is centered to the post of the rotary hook. It needs to be directly over the center.

In some cases,if the needle is way off center from the rotary hook post the Take up levers( black thingies )can bind or catch on the edge the Take up lever guide rail.

If the needles appear to be centered check/ verify that you auto feed lower limit setting isn't to high, check the feeder rollers and verify that there is no grease on the out side surface of the rollers which can cause the thread to slip over the rollers.

Hugo Torbidoni
Melco Tech
301-471-3157

[sewsew7]

Hi Tom, my machine was "ka chunging" about a month and a half ago as well. It's was a real loud alarming noise to hear. My problem turned out to be that the thread feed gears( sorry my book isn't in front of me, but I think this is what they are called) were out of mesh with each other. My black thingies were jumping with this problem as well, but the noise only happened during a needle change. Look behind your needle case at the top, and there is a white gear back there. Change needles and see if they are in grinding against the white gears that you service during a 4 million stitch maintenance. If so there is a quick fix for this through the key pad, but unfortunately I can't remember the keys to press. If you phone your tech support they should be able to walk you through this on the phone if this ends up being the problem. Hope this helps.

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Tom, where are you at with your chinese embroidery? I mean the "Ka Chung" sound.
Ed

[Mr. Sew & Sew]

Dr. Ed (and others): First off - thanks for the great response to my question. I had several folks email me both on and off the boards with suggestions and also props to my tech, John Cathers, who called me that evening.

After trying all the ideas you folks gave me, including oiling, centering the needle, lighting candles, etc. I thought I had the problem solved as I sewed a number of t-shirts without incident. Last night I was embroidering on a blanket and the Ka Chung sound and jumping returned.

This leads me to believe it has something to do with either the weight or the thickness of the blanket. The acti-feed runs between 12-18 most of the time on these blankets. I supported the hoop arms with my hands but that didn't make it go away.

After the blanket, I sewed on some scrap materials and all was well. Now I'm really confused.

I sew about 15 blankets a week for one customer so I need to get this resolved although I don't think I'm ready to call in the cavalry (my tech) yet since my other machine handles tha blankets fine. Anyone have ideas on what would cause it only on thicker, heavier items?

thanks
Tom

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Tom,
What kind of hoop are you using with these blankets and what kind of Amaya are you sewing on, original or XT?
Ed

[Mr. Sew & Sew]

Ed - I've got two XTs of the early vintage (late 2005) so they are red and white rather than the more manly silver and grey.

I use the large rectangle plastic hoops - 14.25x11.75 or something like that. I've probably done about 1500 of these blankets in the past two years. Solvey on the top and tear away underneath if that matters.

When I say blankets, they are more like throws or afghans with a fairly loose weave. You can see what I mean at http://www.wovenartmills.com/

thanks for the help and no, I'm not looking for a marriage proposal from you.

Tom