Deb watkins

My Janome has been an excellent machine for me. However, the past few quilts are not feeding as smoothly as before. The machine has been cleaned, serviced, oiled. Batting is the same, good quality fabric, well pressed. It seems that it doesn't 'grab' the fabric when it goes over seams (such as the HST seams). When I am using the Walking foot, it is even more of an issue. I have lengthened the stitch, slowed down and pulled my hair out. Is there a way to raise the feed dogs in the machine? Second, is it possible that I have wore out the feed dogs on the bottom of the walking foot?

quiltedsunshine

I don't know if your machine has adjustable feed dog tension, but if it does, you could tighten the pressure there. I wouldn't recommend attempting to raise the feed dogs yourself, but yes, your tech. can adjust the feed dog height.

Peckish

What about increasing the presser foot pressure?

Prism99

Parts can wear out, but that should have been caught when the machine was serviced. Service is typically guaranteed for a number of days (60 or so?) so, if it was recently serviced and you still have this problem, I would take the machine back under the service warranty and tell them exactly what the problem is. Provide a sample sandwich that shows the problem (and that they can also test on).

You shouldn't need to raise the feed dogs. You can try lowering the presser foot pressure if your machine offers a way to do this (not all machines do).

Walking feet can wear out too. It is usually the spring inside the walking foot that finally doesn't "spring" back as much as it should. If you want to try replacing the walking foot, it usually helps to buy a foot made especially for your machine. Generic walking feet often don't work as well. I doubt that you would have worn out the feed dogs on the walking foot; however, you could have worn out the spring inside the walking foot.

I assume you are talking about the quilt sandwich not feeding the way it used to? Does the machine still feed correctly for piecing? If so, I am thinking it's likely to be a worn-out spring or worn-out machine part that is not working at 100% anymore. If the problem is worse with the walking foot, I would think you have both problems -- a worn out part in the feed dogs and a worn out walking foot.

Try Googling your Janome model and see if you can find any Youtube videos, diagrams, repair manuals, and/or troubleshooting websites that address feed dog issues. It's possible to do feed dog adjustments on many vintage machines, but newer machines often don't have an easy way to do it yourself.

Tartan

Yes you can wear out your feed dogs. On my old Singer the feed dogs were not feeding. Mine were fastened in with a little screw and I took them out, cut a little cardboard gasket for underneath them and screwed them back in. That raised them up enough to do the trick but in newer machines try to see if they can be readjusted by your machine tech.

Bree123

Did you bring your walking foot in for service with the rest of your machine? If so, it should have been tuned up with everything else. If not, I'd bring it in for service or if need be try replacing it.

There are replacement parts for the machine's feed dogs & I know on my old Singer the authorized repair center added something to raise them up a tad since I'm not as mechanically inclined as Tartan.

Lady Diana

What Janome machine do you have? All my Janome machines have foot pressure tension adjustment. How many years of use? And is the use heavy or moderate? If lots of use, you can wear out feed dogs. BTW, most techs do not use a quilt sandwich or pieces with seams to test machines during cleaning or check up. If you are having the problem without the walking foot, then it is not the walking foot. Check your foot pressure knob and increase your pressure. Hope there is an easy fix.

ManiacQuilter2

I never have worn out my bottom feed dogs embedded in my machine but I did wear out the Bernina walking foot (quilted over 500 quilts). It took me some time to finally be able to win a bid on a brand new one for my older Bernina on eBay.

Onebyone

Could be the pressure foot lever not lowering the foot enough? There should be an adjustment inside if you know how to take that part of the housing off.

Deb watkins

Thanks to all of you for the input. I have made over 200 quilts with this walking foot. The piecing is just fine. It is the sandwich that is having trouble being digested! I do have a new walking foot. test would be to use the new one and see if there is a difference. The pressure knob is on 3 - which is the most pressure I can use - the little dial on top of the Janome Memory Craft 4900