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Yesterday I oiled each of the needle shafts, top and bottom. With the magnetic plate still off, I used can air to blow out the dust and lint that I saw.
Continuing to clean the machine up, I noticed a small metal filing laying in the needle guard. It was a very flat sliver formed like a half circle with sharp ends with the circular shape being about 3/16 diameter. Reminded me a bit of a tiny metal lathe chip piece. Since I never had blown out that area before, I suspected that it had been there since manufacture.
Because of that I inspected that area thoroughly. I wanted to test each needle for play and did this by placing my finger on the screw that locks the needle in place on that shaft and applied pressure forward and back, and left and right. Every needle was rock solid with no detectable play in those directions.
In doing so, I discovered a tiny but noticable amount of play in the rotation of the needle. It took no effort to "wiggle" each needle back and forth a tiny amount on every needle except needle 6. Despite a fairly large abount of rotational force it was rock solid and would not "wiggle" back and forth - not even a tiny amount.
I assume that the tiny amount of rotational play is a design feature and am concerned about one needle being clearly different from the others. The machine is operating well, but for now I will not use needle 6 until I find out if this is acceptable. Even though the small metal filing may just be a coincidence, it just as well may not be and would be a typical clue that something was in the process of failing.
Any idea what would cause the described symptoms?
Continuing to clean the machine up, I noticed a small metal filing laying in the needle guard. It was a very flat sliver formed like a half circle with sharp ends with the circular shape being about 3/16 diameter. Reminded me a bit of a tiny metal lathe chip piece. Since I never had blown out that area before, I suspected that it had been there since manufacture.
Because of that I inspected that area thoroughly. I wanted to test each needle for play and did this by placing my finger on the screw that locks the needle in place on that shaft and applied pressure forward and back, and left and right. Every needle was rock solid with no detectable play in those directions.
In doing so, I discovered a tiny but noticable amount of play in the rotation of the needle. It took no effort to "wiggle" each needle back and forth a tiny amount on every needle except needle 6. Despite a fairly large abount of rotational force it was rock solid and would not "wiggle" back and forth - not even a tiny amount.
I assume that the tiny amount of rotational play is a design feature and am concerned about one needle being clearly different from the others. The machine is operating well, but for now I will not use needle 6 until I find out if this is acceptable. Even though the small metal filing may just be a coincidence, it just as well may not be and would be a typical clue that something was in the process of failing.
Any idea what would cause the described symptoms?
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