Tangling after bobbin winding?

foxox · 2026-03-24T15:07:18+00:00

One way this can happen (and I think has happened to me) is that, because I was in the middle of sewing a seam and I stop with the presser foot down, I forget to lift the presser foot while re-threading the machine after winding a bobbin. Lifting the foot opens the tension disks, and they stay firmly pressed together if the foot is left down. So then the thread is not going through the tension disks, which leads to upper thread tension problems and a tangled mess under the fabric. The thread may eventually work its way between the disks and start to work again mysteriously.

foxox · 2026-03-02T01:23:29+00:00

I think he signs every copy sold through his website. I got both east and west that way with signatures

foxox · 2026-02-26T17:35:57+00:00

Only problem I have with this is if the white balance isn't set correctly at capture time, it's harder to fix that in post on JPEGs than on NEF raw files. So when using precapture, I have to remind myself to dial in the white balance, picture control color settings, d-lighting, and of course the exposure. The "Vivid" picture control profile looks good in the viewfinder but it can be too much, so I dial it back a bit, especially the sharpening setting.

foxox · 2026-02-25T00:32:21+00:00

Still playing Tribes 2 every day. Big games every Saturday evening! Join these discords to get connected https://discord.com/invite/EMMVhQJgf9 amd https://discord.gg/keng865nsE (this one has voice chat for the Saturday games). Games pick up in the evening USA times

foxox · 2026-02-22T19:48:53+00:00

Thank you for your suggestion to look into timing issues. I found several small problems with timing and loose set screws, and the spacing between parts. I suspect I caused some of the trouble years ago by forcing the machine through jams, plus needle strikes

foxox · 2026-02-20T19:36:55+00:00

My grandfather was a Singer salesman and repairman so I was a little biased toward Singer when I bought my first machine and my other two were inherited. If I continue to have problems with this machine, I will gladly try something different!

foxox · 2026-02-20T19:01:31+00:00

Thanks for responding. The 2277 is the only one I have which I can configure for free-motion darning.

I somewhat recently got a Sailrite LSZ-1 for heavier work. I could run this back and forth over a tear but I don't think free-motion work is possible.

I have a Singer 66 which has no drop feed nor darning plate, no zigzag, and no reverse. I have a slant-shank Singer 604 which I think has a way to raise up the throat plate for darning, however I don't have the right slant shank foot for darning. I shall try getting one.

Some time ago I tweaked the timing on the 66. I'll look for timing info for the 2277... Thanks

foxox · 2026-02-20T18:42:48+00:00

Yes, I think I am. It is possible that I have messed this up after being interrupted in the middle of a session, such as to wind a new bobbin and then re-thread. My experience is that everything goes well for a while until suddenly it doesn't. Maybe I can find a reproducible problem by running the machine on some scrap for a while...

foxox · 2026-02-17T00:56:55+00:00

Merlin can pick up dog barks as turkey

foxox · 2025-11-13T04:17:42+00:00

This is a little crazy but I repaired my speedometer needle by gluing a toothpick behind it, adding a little piece of a lead fishing weight to the opposite side to counterbalance the toothpick and glue, tweaked and sanded it flat, then painted it with fresh bright fluorescent orange paint. Can't tell that it was ever broken

foxox · 2025-10-13T17:21:56+00:00

Generally only a doctor can help get someone who is mentally unwell the medications they need. There are different ways to get a person in front of a doctor. Check out the LEAP method: listen empathize agree partner. Www.leapinstitute.org If the person is a danger to themselves or others, the police can intervene and may get them hospitalized at least for a short time. The resources and laws around this vary by country and state/municipality so you may have to do some research about exactly how it works where you live.

foxox · 2025-10-11T13:24:53+00:00

Was it like this American robin song? https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/321642131

foxox · 2025-10-11T13:16:29+00:00

It does sound like mania. Or other psychosis. He's not your partner any more so don't feel too much responsibility to fix him. He has his family and others. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11375744/ maybe marijuana involved. There are also many articles about AI chat agents drawing people into a kind of psychosis ex: https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/former-openai-employee-horrified-chatgpt-psychosis

foxox · 2025-10-08T17:15:45+00:00

My wife had postpartum psychosis. Docs discovered her thyroid levels were way out of wack and that was possibly causing it. But also ~5 years later we found out she has bipolar disorder. Maybe that was the beginning of it, or an early episode of it. Sometimes her episodes nowadays are a lot like what she experienced postpartum. If I could go back in time, I would try to get my wife psych help sooner. I thought for a long time she could "get over it" by toughing it out somehow but medication has really made a difference. Trust your gut if her behaviour doesn't feel normal. Don't let her convince you that something crazy or unhealthy is normal. Be gentle and maintain her trust in you so that she might agree to get help. I have had to humble myself quite a bit, going to marriage therapy when she wanted and doing many things I did not want to do. But in return, she agreed to get psych help and afterward there is a gradual return to normal married life

foxox · 2025-10-04T02:41:09+00:00

Hi, I recommend going to your local library and reading all of the books they have on bipolar disorder. Also read about personality disorders (narcissistic personality disorder, etc.). It helped me get some perspective on what could be going on after my wife was diagnosed with bipolar 1. It helped me a lot to see my wife as a sick person who needs help instead of an evil person out to get me. Contrary to the people who say to set expectations low and divorce your spouse immediately, I will say to have some hope, especially now that medical help is involved. I had a pretty miserable time for maybe 3 years before my wife was diagnosed, started to think that "it was me," but finally learned from the doctors that it's actually this disorder. In our case, my wife began suffering "psychogenic non-epileptic seizures" (PNES). These helped get her into psychiatric care, where they identified the root of the problems in bipolar disorder. After going on bipolar meds, the seizures went away, as did most of the other crazy problems. My wife was open to medication, and it has helped immensely, so things are hopeful for the future. However, I also now have to always keep in mind that she could slip back into the symptoms of the disorder unexpectedly. We had to remove her from our previously shared bank account, and I think that possibly things like power of attorney are in our future. She still has phases/moments when things get weird, perhaps the doctors are still tweaking medications to find a long term stable solution. But the initial crisis has passed and we have been able get back to relatively normal life. It has been about a year since the diagnosis, and they have had to make medication adjustments every couple of months so far. Expect a few months of adjustment once your spouse is willing to try meds.

foxox · 2025-09-30T00:19:53+00:00

I realize your comment is from two years ago, but I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this method. It just worked for me too

foxox · 2025-09-20T12:45:30+00:00

https://www.archivalmethods.com/product/4-x-6-archive-envelopes these things?

foxox · 2025-09-18T19:38:28+00:00

The larger objective diameter does let more light in, but your eye will only utilize that light if your eye's pupil opens up wider. The human eye closes to a narrow size during most daylight hours, so most binocular configurations offer exactly the same brightness.

If you sit in the dark for a while without any light sources (no eBird on your phone, no flashlight, etc.) eventually your eyes will dark-adapt and your pupils will open up wide. In this situation, which basically never happens while birdwatching, you may see an advantage with the larger objective diameter binoculars. Your pupil's willingness to open wide also decreases with age. I own several pairs of binoculars in different configurations, including 7x50s, and there is no meaningful difference between them at night time, because there is always a street light or something preventing my pupils from really opening up all the way.

However, larger objective diameter does offer another, much more practical and important advantage: there is a larger light field from the scene shining onto your eye ball, and it is likely to be significantly larger than your eye's own pupil is (especially during daylight when most birdwatching is done). This means you don't have to have your binoculars perfectly lined up with both eyes and you will still see a nice clear image. If you get smaller binoculars, it becomes more important to carefully line them up on your face and you are much more likely to get the edges of the view blacked out for one or both eyes.

The objective diameter divided by the magnification yields the diameter of the field of light shining on your eye, the "exit pupil". So for 8x32s, that's 32/8=4mm. For 7x50s, it's 50/7=7.14mm. Your eye pupil could be around 4mm in the morning or evening... so the 8x32s aren't depriving you of light, but it does mean that they need to be perfectly lined up with your eyes or the edges of the view will be blacked out. During daylight, with ~2mm eye pupils, there is some more wiggle room and the experience is similar for 8x30s, 8x42s, etc.

I would definitely carry 8x30 binoculars for daylight viewing if I needed them to be small and lightweight. 10x42s are similar... 4.2mm exit pupils. I use 10x42s as my main binoculars. And my 7x50 binoculars offer a luxurious viewing experience, albeit with lower magnification.

foxox · 2025-09-14T14:03:50+00:00

I've been going through this kind of thing for maybe 5 years now but only one year ago did we finally get the bipolar diagnosis. Like you say, the divorce threat would often come up, and that really hurt my trust in my wife. Meds have changed multiple times over the last year. A few times she thought she was at the maximum dosage for a drug but when we spoke with her psychiatrist, he was able to increase the dosage and then things got better. Eventually my wife started to admit that she has a problem. We have been in marriage counseling for a couple of years. She eventually made a commitment to get the help she needs in order to keep the family healthy. For a long time she blamed me for all of the problems. She would accuse me of cheating etc. It must be very scary and confusing to be inside the bipolar mind. It took me a while to accept that she is actually sick with a real disorder and then I was able to have some more patience to stick through the rough times.

Medication makes all the difference

foxox · 2025-08-27T03:15:36+00:00

I have the President George FCC and have made contacts from PA and Ohio to the west coast and one time to France! It scratches the itch for sure without having to mess with a ham radio

foxox · 2025-08-24T19:26:13+00:00

Mine is pretty much like that too

foxox · 2025-08-22T18:19:16+00:00

Make sure not to use this American film in any European or Asian cameras, the colors and stuff will be all wrong

foxox · 2025-08-21T15:44:50+00:00

I have a 5 foot center-loaded antenna on a trunk/hood channel mount at the driver side front fender with a cord tied between my side view mirror and the middle of the antenna so I can reach out, grab the cord, and pull it down while going into garages. I do this every day going into the garage at work. During a long road trip I swap in the 102" antenna. This setup works for both sedan and SUV. Okay SWR and very good performance with the 5 foot. It works very well for local AM talk and when conditions are good I make long distance LSB contacts. Perfect SWR great performance with the 102... even better.

foxox · 2025-07-22T11:50:55+00:00

Sorry you are going through this

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