# Help with Brother PE770 - Upper thread looping on bottom, almost no bobbin thread showing



## calvin2376 (Feb 23, 2019)

My wife and I have had a Brother PE770 for a year or so and have been able to resolve most issues by running down the checklist (e.g. rethread, reset bobbin, clean bobbin area, etc), but this one has us stumped. All of a sudden the upper thread is stitching out very loose, with big open loose loops on the bottom and virtually no bobbin thread on the bottom at all.

See pictures of what's happening here: https://imgur.com/a/dj7lmVD

We've made no changes in how we embroider at all - standard upper and bobbin thread we always use, same fabric, same fonts, etc. This just started happening out of nowhere. It even "fixed" itself at one point in the middle of a pattern where it had been stitching out loose, only to go back to stitching loosely.

We've seen some posts online saying the upper thread tension is loose and we should increase the tension through the digital settings, but (i) we've tried that and it didn't work and (ii) we've never fiddled with those settings so it shouldn't all of a sudden need that digital adjustment.

We are a bit desperate and would love any help or tips!


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## AlisonB (Sep 26, 2010)

Something is forcing the bobbin tension to be too tight. I am sure you have the bobbin the right way in, but have you checked for lint under the tension spring on the bobbin? Run the edge of a business card under the tension spring and see if anything was stuck in there.


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## calvin2376 (Feb 23, 2019)

Thanks so much! I'm a bit embarrassed to ask but are you able to point me at all to where the tension spring is and where I should be running the business card through? Is there a diagram or picture that would show me? I'm looking online now and will continue to but any tips you can give would be great! When I look for tension spring / bobbin case pictures online they don't really look like what I'm seeing on the PE770.


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## AlisonB (Sep 26, 2010)

Ooops. 
I am so used to people using the multi-needle machines that I made a wrong assumption. But if I have managed to get the photo attached correctly I think your bobbin holder and spring may look more like this. I have the card pushed in it.
Not sure what else to suggest.


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## ScreamingMimi (Oct 2, 2018)

It sounds like your bobbin thread isn't engaging with the top thread. At the start of sewing, the top thread should catch the bobbin thread and bring it up through the hole in the throat plate.

To do thid manually before the start of sewing (before you load the hooped fabric), turn the hand wheel toward you to lower the threaded needle. Keep turning to raise the needle. You should see the bobbinn thread come up through the hole in the throat plate, and the top thread looped around it.

Hold the top thread against the needle just so it doesn't move, and take a seam ripper or something like that, an just pass across the throat plate to pull the threads away/through to free them.

I think I made a video or tutorial about the 100 or so years ago..if I can find it I'll let you know.


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## ElitePromo (Aug 21, 2018)

Sounds like upper thread is wrapped around something extra on its way down. Would check extra wrap on any tension disks, nearby check springs, or wrapped around presser foot before entering the eye and such. We have this happen on our Barudans and I tell my operators to look closely at the thread path once they notice looping. Occasionally a mis-thread through the threadlocks on the Barudan, not sure if the brother has one?


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