Hi! I really hope that one of you sewing machine gurus out there can help me... I bought a 'barely used' Janome Jem 660 from Craig's list. Remember when you used to hear about cars that 'were only driven by an old lady to church on Sundays?'-- well, that's what I bought-- a Jem 660 that Mom barely used and took great care of till she died. It was only $90.00, so I thought I should give it a try. I got it in the mail today (long story why it was mailed...) and it was packed very well, in its soft carrying case, surrounded by air-packs both inside and outside of the carrying case. It didn't seem to be shifting at all. BUT...When I got it out, and started threading it, I saw the needle was broken. The broken-off piece was in there with it, too. I placed a new needle, but upon trying to sew, the needle ran into the needle plate. I took off the needle plate and spun the wheel again. This time, the needle ran into the bobbin case. Clearly, the problem was in the needle's direction, not the throat plate placement. Okay. So now, I took apart the needle housing-- the place where you place the needle and s***w it in. I've never done that before... but as I looked at it, I can't find anything in the removeable part of the housing to cause the problem. I watched the machine run (with the needle out), and the motor is fine. The motion *looks* fine to me. But when I place a needle, the needle just points about 2 mm too far back, so it bumps right into the throat plate, at that metal area between the feed dogs and the appropriate needle hole (the rectangular hole the needle is *supposed* to go through to get to the bobbin thread).The needle bar itself does not appear bent to me. When I look at it from the side with the plastic side-covering off, it looks straight. And when I first put a needle into it, I can sort-of point the needle in the right direction, frontwards, and into the proper hole. When I then turn the wheel, The needle will pick up the bobbin thread. So I don't think anything is wrong with the timing. I also don't think anything is wrong with the side-to-side positioning of the needle bar; the needle strikes just at the midpoint in this direction, and if I raise the needle, the built-in needle threader hits the needle in just the right place. But the needle will only go into the right place if I 'lean' on it with my finger while it's loose. When I tighten the needle s***w, it tightens the flat side of the needle against that flat part of the needle bar, and as it does so the needle point gradually moves about 2 mm back.I've tried all these steps with 4 different (new) needles, and set on multiple different stitches. The needles are facing the right direction (flat side tothe back).Do I have a needle bar misalignment? Is this a big deal? Is it hard to fix? Thank you, pro's! I can't wait to hear what you all think--:)Cindy
Tags: