Archive of Thread: singer 560 electronic knitting machine Back

4 years ago
Hi All - 
hoping someone will be able to help me - i had a 560 electronice gifted to me. works great except when i try to use the lace carriage! if you are familair with the machine the lace carriage has a stockinette selection which works great - but as soon as i switch to the "L" for lace the needs jam -badly. I am in B position I have followed everything in the manual step by step WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!! I want the lace so bad - its summer time and i have some friends who are having babies. lace is so nice for babie clothes. help help help

jen malia 

4 years ago
Jen I’m not a great lace knitter, BUT, there are several important considerations:  

• make sure you’ve cleaned & oiled your carriage & needle bed
• check to see if you need a new sponge bar
• make sure you have no damaged or bent needles or latches & replace any that are 
• don’t use too much weight
• make it easy for your self by staring out with yarns that have more stretch 

4 years ago
I second all of Mary's suggestions.

Also ... how is your sponge bar?  

Can you move the carriage successfully without any yarn?

4 years ago
THANK YOU -
yes I check all the basics, and its brand new sponge bar. works great in stockinette (it has a stockinette function on the lace carriage) as soon as i switch to L for Lace jams. 
I don't get it...... Jen 

4 years ago
THANK YOU MARY - for you input - i wish i knew what i was doing wrong. 

4 years ago
I have a singer midgauge SK 860 but no lace carriage . I had a similar problem with the ribber but ok with stockinette.I have solved the problem.Under a magnifiying glass i discovered one needle where the latchet was jammed closed as it had been bent, and another needle slightly bent on the shank.. , both my fault as i am learning and make lots of mistakes. But  I have replaced the needles and now  the ribber runs smoothly.

4 years ago
Does your carriage jam in both directions when set for lace, Jennifer?  I don't really know anything about Singer machines so I can't tell you exactly what to look for, but I would turn the carriage over and look at what moves when you change the settings for different types of knitting.  Run your finger along the channels and make sure all the little "flippers" are moving - do this in both directions..

Jenny  

4 years ago
Jennifer,
This is Sandee from Washington State, USA.  Here's another tip that may help you and, in fact, can possibly help anyone with knitting problems similar to what you've described.  I've attached a photo to help illustrate my tip.  On the underside of the sinker plate (of a regular carriage, not a lace carriage) (see photo), you'll see that I've drawn arrows towards two small Phillips screwheads.  These screws move the little plate that the screwheads are on.  I know you can't see it in my photo, but this little plate is not exactly parallel with the edge of the metal sinker plate.  But it used to be.  The right side has been adjusted by unscrewing the screwhead just enough to slide the little plate backwards such that the right side of the little Phillips plate is now 5 cm from the sinker plate edge and the left side is still in its original position of about 3.5 cm.  You wouldn't think that such a tiny, weeny adjustment could do so much, but it certainly can. In my case, I wasn't having a problem with the lace carriage, but on a BRAND NEW MACHINE, a Studio Electronic 840, the  carriage was almost feeling like it wanted to jam when I moved it from left to right -- and also had a tendency to form loops on that edge, but I had no such problems when moving the carriage from the right to the left. So I adjusted this Phillips plate to it's current position of the 5 cm and 3.5 cm. I've used this same adjustment on other carriages over the years since then when I've had any kind of problem that the normal remedies didn't fix.  BEFORE I move the plate, tho, I always mark its original position with a very fine felt tip pen so I can put it back in the exact same position it was before I moved it, just in case I need to.  Another silly quirk is that, with the Phillips little plate adjusted, this particular sinker plate works better on my Studio Punchcard 280 now than it does on the original Studio 840 that it came with!  When I put the Studio 280 sinker plate on my new Studio 840 carriage, BOTH MACHINES WORKED FANTASTIC AND STILL DO!  So, go figure. Good luck.    

4 years ago
Oh!  Jennifer, I forgot to mention that the lace carriage (for Studios, anyhow) has a similar Phillips plate on the underside, but it's frequently "hidden" by a horizontal brush.  If you gently move the horizontal brush aside, you'll see the plate with its two tiny Phillips-head screws.  Again, I would apply the same precautions, i.e. marking the plate's original position carefully with the felt tip marker aforementioned, and only move the plate a tiny, tiny amount for your first adjustment, try it out on your machine, then maybe move it another tiny, tiny amount, etc.  Did I say to only move the plate a TINY, TINY amount each time?  I didn't?  Oh!  I certainly MEANT to.  So only move it a TINY, TINY amount each time!  As in my previous posting, I got the setting right by only moving that right side plate 1.5 cm after the second adjustment.  Look up 1.5 cm.  It's a TINY, TINY amount!  Also, you may have to experiment by first trying to adjust, say, the right side of the plate, and then if that doesn't work, putting the right side of the plate back into its original position and then try experimenting with the left side of the plate.  Thus far, I've never had to adjust BOTH sides of these Phillips plates, but you never know.

4 years ago
   

4 years ago
Sandee, I think you are maybe getting your units confused.  Do you mean millimetres (mm) not centrimetres (cm)?   1.5 cm is NOT a tiny amount, it's a little bit more than half an inch.

Jenny.

4 years ago
Can you see on the sinker were it is fetching up?

4 years ago
This is the lace carriage 

4 years ago
Jenny -- YES!!!!   I meant mm, NOT cm. 

4 years ago
Probably a dumb question at this point, Jenny, but you ARE using a lace card/pattern, right?  And you know that there is a difference with lace knitting between "regular" lace and "fully-fashioned" lace ??

4 years ago
Yes. Lace card one pattern one 

4 years ago
Jennifer,
I just had a thought ... if you are still struggling .. why not try Thread (punch) lace?
I just re-discovered this.  It gives the look of lace, without any stitch transfers and no floats!

Some knitters will use fine nylon filament, but I just used a cone of serger thread in a matching color

With the correct setting on your machine, the thread is knit together with the knit stitches and it's knit alone for the holes.
No muss or fuss lace!

4 years ago
Jennifer, you are using the wrong carriage for lace you have to use the lace carriage and a lace card. You are using the regular carriage and with that you can do punch lace, that is what the L is for on that carriage. You can do a lot of breaking of needles if you try actually lace with a lace card and the wrong carriage. You will recognize if you have a lace carriage for on it, it has P, L, N
Here are two pictures , first is the regular carriage, second is the lace carriage.
hope this helps

Maurie Hiscock