This is bad right?

[J&O Enterprises]

Hi All, I wanted to try and post a picture of one of my pincher arms. It clearly shows a red-redidue or red-debris. This stuff is caked into the pincher arm.

This arm was allowing the thread to move out/off the center of the rollers and causeing a lot of bad sews. After cleaning, greasing, and replacing the red-roller, it sews beautifully again. If this debri adds up, then the roller can work smoothly.

How often do you all remove the redrollers and clean this area?
Thanks,

[Steve]

If you want to post a picture, go to http://www.imageshack.us and upload it (it's a free service) then copy and paste the URL that says "Direct link to image" here

[Rod or Sharon]

Jim,
You are ftouching on one of those lubrication subjects that is somewhat elusive. How often you should lubricate the thread feed and pinch rollers as well as other parts of the machine should be dependent on several factors.

1. What are the most used colors/needles? These rollers and needle bars need more attention then the rest of them because logocally they get more wear.

2. We all usually have a favorite spot for red,white,blue,black, etc. Waiting for the timers to pop up and tell you when to lubricate is a mistake.

3. The timers are really set to try to figure out an average of stitches based on all 16 needles, so what happens if only 5 or 6 needles do all the work? They run out of lubrication.

4. The timers are only there to "help" remind you of lubrication issues but ARE NOT THE GOSPEL TO LIVE BY when lubricating the Amaya.

5. One must set their own lubrication schedule based on needle use.

6. To answer your question directly.....I would lubricate the needle bars, pinch rollers and thread feed rollers that are receiving the most wear, "monthly". But, but, but, again this is dependent on how much the machine is being used. There are places where shifts are run and the machines never rest---24 hours and 7 days a week. How could you not have to set your own lubrication schedule for those? For normal use, monthly , would be fine......but then, what is normal for one person, may not be normal for another person.

7. Jim, did the right thing---trouble shot a problem. If a problem occurs with thread break, fraying, etc....look at the needle first, rollers second and then "every thing" the thread touches on it's way to the garment. Don't forget the rotary hook and bobbin case, they must be clean.

8. There just isn't a safe way for one person to tell another person exactly when to lubricate the Amaya. They can only give them guidelines to follow, hence the timers for reminders. Do not always wait for them to tell you or the individual wear on the separate parts will get you for the most used ..........

Rod Springer
Melco Tech & Trainer

[J&O Enterprises]

Guys - Thanks for the reply. A picture is worth a 1000 words! The caked on stuff obviously, could not allow the red roller to roll smoothly against the pincher arm.

http://img296.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1161xd1.jpg

Above is the URL to imageshack. Please look at and let me know if you think this is normal. To my estimation, without proper lube heat could develope making it easy to peal off the red debris from the roller.
THanks,!!

[Rod or Sharon]

Jim,
Yep, that would be a very normal and common look of a roller that is in dire need of a bit of lubrication.......

Rod Springer
Melco tech

[J&O Enterprises]

Guys/Gals
Just and update. Given some time last night I removed all red rollers from each machine. It became obvious which rollers were heavily used, and which were not. Also, by looking at the rollers that were not used much, it was easy to tell how they lubercated it. It appears to me that they simply put a grease nozzle into the black pincher arm and squirted a small blob of white grease. To my thinking, this is obviously a bad technique as many of the rollers never touched the grease. Also, I could tell on the heavily used rollers that the grease was still intact, but that red-residue from friction was present.

I used a Q-Tip cut in 1/2 as the tool to clean these pincher arms. The fuzzy side is good for the "hole", and the cut side fits right into the recess of the black pincher arm. You can pretty easily clean out the grit. Once satisfied I re-greased with lithium grease. However, I applied the greast to the surfaces/points of the red-roller than touch or bare on the black pincher arm. I then put drops of oil on the upper and lower portions of the needle bars, and oiled the rotary hool. Then ran test sews on all 16 needles, both machines. Now, I "know" what the lube status of the machines are and will better be able to keep them up to date. Took about 2 hrs to clean/lube/sew. The machines ran very smooth, but still have a few thread breaks/shreds. Not bad though [img]smile.gif[/img]
Thanks,

[signman]

We just got the 4 million service message...Sue is taking all the rollers out to clean and lube, etc. So far each one has proper lube and no sign of problems-but she has noticed on the wheels we had been running 'black' and 'red' since the rollers were put in-the yellow rollers are definitely 'marked' with the thread color!
When she gets done we will move all 'stock' thread colors to different rollers, and try to do this frequently to spread out the 'wear and tear' on all the moving parts to keep things wearing evenly. Not one sign of the 'red residue' from the pics posted here, that definitely looks like the rollers are disintegrating!

[Rod or Sharon]

The black and red you see on your rollers is from the dye and wax from the thread. We see it in the field all the time. That isn't necessarily wear--just dye. However, moving your thread colors around is not a bad idea because you probably do use black and red more often than other colors.
Sharon