# Brother PR600 - Help please.



## jamez (Jan 22, 2016)

Hello,
I recently bought a used PR600 and had it serviced by a local company (Im in Japan for the record), thinking it would be a good little thing for the other half to use for a little income as she is at home most of the time.

I have read the manual cover to cover, searched youtube and watched a number of videos, and tried my best, however I am experiencing a problem probably related to tension that I need advice on.

The machine was set up with some very fine #90 ranking polyester, which it did fonts with ok.
I bought some thicker #60 Polyester which I understand is still a bit thin.

The machine stitches about 10 stiches, before the yarn breaks, in the bobbin case the red yarn is would round and round, and creates a big mess.... Im guessing its this thats breaking the yarn.

The top tension dial tension is almost on nothing, and it feels a slight tension on the yarn when pulled down.
I have checked the path, rethreaded, checked the bobbin, googled my fingers off... 
Can anyone help?

Would this be an upper thread tension problem, or bobbin?
My better half has lost almost all confidence in this until I can fix it.

Is it as simple as getting some proper embroidery yarn?


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## 539162 (Jun 12, 2015)

jamez said:


> Hello,
> I recently bought a used PR600 and had it serviced by a local company (Im in Japan for the record), thinking it would be a good little thing for the other half to use for a little income as she is at home most of the time.
> 
> I have read the manual cover to cover, searched youtube and watched a number of videos, and tried my best, however I am experiencing a problem probably related to tension that I need advice on.
> ...


I hope you are using thread not yarn....If the top tension is too loose the thread will birdnest which is what you are seeing on the hook. You want it loose but still have tension on it. Try rethreading anfd checking you thread paths and put some tension on the knob. If the machine keeps birdnesting then your hook timing is off.


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## jamez (Jan 22, 2016)

Thank you for your help.

Sorry, although I am British, living in Japan speaking Japanese all day makes me forget my mother tongue.
Yarn = Polyester Thread
Sorry for my dodgy English 

The thread paths were 100% correct, I checked it a million times. 
How much tension is correct, is there any way to describe how much is correct?

Even with the thread tensioners set to very low, it seems to be quite "tight" for want of another expression.


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## 539162 (Jun 12, 2015)

jamez said:


> Thank you for your help.
> 
> Sorry, although I am British, living in Japan speaking Japanese all day makes me forget my mother tongue.
> Yarn = Polyester Thread
> ...


As the British people that I know would say "No worries mate"  You simply picked up Chingrish nvm you said Japan so that would mean Japrish haha

Anyways sometimes when I adjust tension you can do it by feel which is what I do. I want it to feel smooth as I am pulling it with no snags. If you have a gauge you could use that. One thing that I sometimes do on a machine is I back the tension off to where it is completely loose. I then turn it back down to where I start to hear some clicking coming from the spring/knob and as soon as I hear it I leave it there. I adjust to where it has a little resistance.


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## 539162 (Jun 12, 2015)

@tfalk would be a good person to chime in here as well. He runs Brothers and is around them more then I am so I am sure he would be a good person to give some Brother pointers to you. As he would say we may not agree on some things since we have different brand tastes and I like working on what I work on but he has a good bit of Brother knowledge on these little PR Machines. I am more familiar with the 415 and 416 models.


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## tfalk (Apr 3, 2008)

Did the machine come with a small plastic box with tools? If so, there should be a small metal 'donut' which is used for setting the bobbin tension - you should be able to find that in the manual. In the pre-loaded files on the machine, you should see a file that looks like 6 vertical rows - this is the file Brother provides for testing the stitch tension. Once you set the bobbin tension using the donut, then run the 6 needles using the 6 vertical stitch sections - again, the process should be in the manual. I have a pdf copy of the manual if you need one.

Also, join the PR600 yahoo group - they have the Babylock service manual in their file section. The Babylock 6 needle and the PR600 are the same machine.


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## PrismGraphx015 (Nov 8, 2015)

If I'm reading this correctly it sounds as if your using embroidery thread in the bobbin case. I recently left brother and starting my own business. I've sold PRs for a number of years, in fact from their inception. Please clarify whether or not your using poly thread and not embroidery bobbin thread the machines are pretty sensitive to the thread type


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## jamez (Jan 22, 2016)

Hi, sorry I couldn't come back to this thread, lost heart and nearly threw the machine out the window more than once.
I'm guessing brother will have a service center somewhere in Tokyo, does anyone know if they would hold my hand and explain what I'm doing wrong?

Someone above explained EXACTLY what is happening, it sew maybe 5 stitches and there's a big birds best on the lower bobbin.

I have tried adjusting the upper tensioners one line at a time and it still happens.

Very frustrating this  ???
I'm using Gunold 40 polyester as the thread, and the lower bobbin is filled with whatever the service company had it filled with... I haven't touched that.


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## jamez (Jan 22, 2016)

Regarding the lower bobbin tension, I haven't touched that, and saw a video that said the tension should be about enough for the metal bobbin to fall slowly if you hold the thread, this is how it is.

Would a video help here? I'm sure I can make one...


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## LTPEMB (Jul 10, 2015)

If you are going from #90 to #60 (I didn't even know someone made #90) Your density is probably to high on your files. going from ultra fine thread to a fine thread your density settings for the file would have to be lower than what you normally run. It creates greater frictio and has a higher chance of accidentally running over the same hole causing thread breaks.


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## LTPEMB (Jul 10, 2015)

Okay I went back and read what you wrote. Do you have a lower tension gauge of some kind? if not look for tension guides online to do it without one

Check the tension on the bobbin case and make sure it works. put it back in Pull out the tail of the bobbin thread out the front than shut the bobbin cover and trim till 1 inch is out. 

Tighten the upper thread tensions and run I test tension runs to check for tension. Birds nests only really happens when you have Extreamly high densities where you manage to hook the thread back on itself and there is no bobbin thread unerneath. Failure to catch the bobbin thread, and upper tension is way too loose that the neele basically fires excess thread on top and through the material that it can't pull back up at the end of the stitch.


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## jamez (Jan 22, 2016)

LTPEMB said:


> Okay I went back and read what you wrote. Do you have a lower tension gauge of some kind? if not look for tension guides online to do it without one
> 
> Check the tension on the bobbin case and make sure it works. put it back in Pull out the tail of the bobbin thread out the front than shut the bobbin cover and trim till 1 inch is out.
> 
> Tighten the upper thread tensions and run I test tension runs to check for tension. Birds nests only really happens when you have Extreamly high densities where you manage to hook the thread back on itself and there is no bobbin thread unerneath. Failure to catch the bobbin thread, and upper tension is way too loose that the neele basically fires excess thread on top and through the material that it can't pull back up at the end of the stitch.


Thanks for your help, no I dont have a tension guage of some kind, I will look into getting one.
The tensions tests in the machine are useless as the mo, I cant get that far to sew them out 

The lower bobbin thread is not the issue, its the same as is on many youtube vids. I have also called Brother`s help line here in Japan, and they said "Adjust the upper bobbin thread".... hmmm the learning curve.
I will look to take it to Brother this week, if they have a service center in Tokyo


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## tfalk (Apr 3, 2008)

If you are using the correct bobbin thread and the tension is close, then it should not be bird nesting. If I had to guess, I'd say you do not have the upper thread routed correctly. 

Are you certain you have the bobbin in the holder correctly? When we first got our machine, we had a similar problem, turned out we had the bobbin in backwards... If you hold the bobbin case in your hand with the hole facing up and the slot on the right, the bobbin should spool from the top down to the right into the slot and pull back so the thread is under the tensioner. To a newbie, it's not exactly obvious but the manual should show you the correct way to put the bobbin in the holder.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas but I'm betting on the upper thread not being routed correctly. You could even try going around the tensioner disk twice and see if that helps?


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## jtpipkin (Sep 21, 2015)

Having had these machines for almost a decade now, I highly recommend you seek out a local supplier (whether it be sales, service or supplies) that is familiar with them and make friends quickly. In the beginning those things will make you pull your hair out guessing your way through everything. You'll look back and laugh one day... My supplier used to send me videos of solutions to issues we'd have since he was 4 hours North of me. The good ones will be more than happy to help.


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## Patrick Gaza (Nov 17, 2019)

Hello,
I have had a Brother PR600 for many years that I bought used. I had it serviced by a Brother technician and was really happy the "tune up". Recently I have noticed that one thread seems to have an incredible amount of upper tension (thread 5). I cleaned and checked all of my pathways and they look good. The thread passes easily from spool through all of the upper tensioners. It get tight when it passes through the "U" bend of the thread uptake spring. That is on the face plate. I took that apart and everything looked fine. I even swapped out the number 5 and 6 positions of the uptake springs and my #5 thread is still very tight.
Note: I've adjusted tension and all threads show the 1/3 1/3 1/3 under pattern. I just can't loosen the top knob for thread 5 anymore. Do you have any idea of what could be causing this super tension in the very end of the tread path?

Many thanks
Patrick


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## tfalk (Apr 3, 2008)

Has to be debris stuck somewhere. Try running a piece of cap backing through the channel and see if it comes up with anything. If the problem did not move, it obviously is not the spring, has to be something else in that path.


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