The Upholstery Forum

I'm running a Juki DU-1181N machine. I've sewn a few different vinyl's with it and got along fairly good. I got a little bit different material in and for some reason when I put my seams in it's "bunching" the vinyl. I've tried adjusting thread tension and played with the pressure foot and needle foot tension but can't seem to get everything to lay flat once I'm done. These are some big panels too and I hate to mess up any more material until I get this figured out.

All ideas and help appreciated

Hey @SmokinSCustoms can you post a picture of the problem your having? Ill do what I can to help.

Can you post a picture of the foot you are using too? Could this be contributing?

@John @BigRig

Seems like the larger the piece the worse it gets. Building panels for these old trucks is kind of tricky when they are this large.

Hi SmokinCustoms, I've been practicing with vinyl and foam and what I can by your pics is what happens when your material is trying to turn underneath the foot as you sew. I have to hold the piece with both hands sometimes and push along with the walking foot to ensure it goes strait. Maybe look at the feed dogs at make sure they are level. Just a guess, I'm no pro.

Ps, that's a nice 359 you have there! Or is that a needle nose?

could it be the backing of the vinyl turned a different orientation not allowing it to flow the same ? I noticed i have some vinyl that stretches easily only one direction where i have a few pieces from a different supplier that stretches easily both directions and they have different backings

@Bondo497 I appreciate the input. Yeah keeping these big pieces straight is a trick. I'm just wondering why I'm having more trouble with this vinyl than other vinyl's I've used.
You are correct its a 72' 359. Its the test subject for just about everything around here.

I know most of my replies are probably not the best answer Smokinscustoms but I try to lend some problems I had and maybe it will help a little. Yeah I know what you mean about test subject truck..... I'm learning this on a 352 Pete. You can buy pretty much anything you want for a conventional but zilch on a cabover so I'm here learning how make it myself.

@SmokinSCustoms you may also try a lubricant on that particular vinyl that is safe for vinyl and see if it helps glide through. Also powder may help if the problem is stickiness.

Smokin, if you are having trouble with this vinyl over other you have used perhaps it is the vinyl that maybe causing difficulties. Is it a heavier gauge vinyl?

@SmokinSCustoms , I know you said you tried already but to me it looks like either your presser foot pressure is too much pressure or you thread tension is to tight.
If your presser feet are smashing the vinyl down when you sew the stitch will lock it in place and you will have the vinyl fighting agents the stitch to return to its relaxed state creating the wrinkles.
If your overall thread tension is to tight it will cause this as well. It is possible to have the top tension and bottom tension set evenly while having them set too tight.

Try backing off both the pressure feet adjustments on top of the machine quite a bit and sew some tests to see if that fixes it. If not, try unscrewing the bobbin tension a half turn to one full turn and unscrewing the top tension a couple turns.

Hopefully one of those fixes it. Let us know.

@John
How do you know when you have the right pressure set on the foot for a particular thickness ?

@John ,10-4 I appreciate the info, I'll keep backing them off. I haven't really done a lot of adjusting on this machine and I hated to get it too far out of wack, but I recon I need to learn how to set it for different materials. Can't get good if you don't try haha.

Bondo497 wrote: ↑Fri May 04, 2018 8:34 pm I know most of my replies are probably not the best answer Smokinscustoms but I try to lend some problems I had and maybe it will help a little. Yeah I know what you mean about test subject truck..... I'm learning this on a 352 Pete. You can buy pretty much anything you want for a conventional but zilch on a cabover so I'm here learning how make it myself.

Yeah trying to find some cabover parts is kind of tricky. Luckily a lot of the "hard parts" can cross over to some conventionals. The panels I'm currently working on are for a 362 big cab.

This 78' 352 is on the waiting list for getting built.

WOW!

I can visualize this and really excited for the transformation.

Bondo497 wrote:@John
How do you know when you have the right pressure set on the foot for a particular thickness ?

The presser foot setting isn't super critical in my opinion. You just want enough pressure to where its grabbing the material and pulling it through but not so much that its smashing the material. Honestly I almost never touch mine. The reason i thought it might be the case here was because it was causing the problem with one material an not the other. So maybe the pressure was set right in the middle where it was fin on on fabric but not the other. Once you get it set you shouldn't have to adjust it much. I have noticed too that on new machines the pressure setting can be all over the place.

SmokinSCustoms wrote:@John ,10-4 I appreciate the info, I'll keep backing them off. I haven't really done a lot of adjusting on this machine and I hated to get it too far out of wack, but I recon I need to learn how to set it for different materials. Can't get good if you don't try haha.

Dont worry to much about messing up the pressure setting. Just make sure its enough to grab the material.
Here is a video on setting thread tension.


Oh!! I also forgot check your manual and make %10000 sure you have your bobbin threaded and installed the correct direction and your top thread is threaded correctly. Thats useally the cause of %90 of sewing problems. Its really easy to miss. Ive made that mistake lots.

I really hope this helps! Those are some cool trucks you have there!

Well basically backed everything off to bare minimum and it improved. Still has slight bunching, however this stuff is so stretchy that once it was glued onto the panel it smoothed out fairly nice. Luckily they are wanting a really clean look so not a great amount of stitching with this stretchy stuff required.

Lookin nice!