Needle went down and stayed down, breaking on the tip

Osman Bayrak

I bought a SWF 601C. I've had it for a couple of months and it has worked great. yesterday i replaced a needle on #6.... nothing felt out of the ordinary. it was shredding the thread so I replaced it and finished the design no problem.



The next jacket, same design, when it got to #6 the 1st stitch the needle went down and stayed down, breaking on the tip

now the #6 arm won't raise up. the wheel in the back is not at 100 degrees and won't turn, like everything is in a bind.

The tip of the needle that broke off is jammed in the narrow gap between the inner basket of the rotary hook and the rotary hook itself.
 
The rotary hook assembly is made up of two components. It is also where the bobbin holder sits into when on the machine. The two components that make up the rotary hook assembly are the inner basket and the rotary hook. If you think of it like this, it will help you understand, the bobbin thread spool sits into the bobbin holder, the bobbin holder gets placed into the inner basket, and the inner basket is sitting inside of the rotary hook itself. The inner basket is the shinny portion of the rotary hook assembly and is stationary as the rotary hook spins around it. Since the inner basket sits inside of the rotary hook assembly and as you embroider, the rotary hook spins around the inner basket, it is possible that when the needle breaks during embroidery, it is possible that the broken tip will get lodged between the narrow gap between the inner basket and the rotary hook assembly.
 
Once something stops the rotary hook from rotating around the inner basket, it also stops the main shaft wheel from spinning as well, since they work together. The main motor of your machine has a black belt around a pulley that is affixed to its shaft, this belt then goes around the timing wheel (the dial on the rear of the machine usually set at 100 degrees) and the other end is attached to the lower shaft which your rotary hook is mounted to by 3 set screws. If the rotary hook is jammed, then the motor cannot spin the lower shaft which will lock up your main shaft wheel dial on the back of the machine. This is why your take up lever is stuck down because the machine jammed up before it could get to the 100 degree mark. At the 100 degree mark the take up lever would be all the way up even with the other take up levers and the needle itself would be about half way down to the needle plate. To fix this try the following.
 
Pull the bobbin out of the rotary hook assembly, Then see if you can locate the broken tip of the needle lodged in between the narrow gap between the inner basket and the rotary hook. You should be familiar with this area since it is the gap where you are suppose to oil every 4 to 6 hours. Inspect all the way around this small gap and see if you can find the broken needle that is jamming it up. Once you find it or if you cannot find it do this next step anyway.
 
Put a good amount of oil in the gap between the inner basket and the rotary hook, just like you would normally do, and I would over oil it as it will help us dislodge the broken needle tip. Next go to the back of the machine and I want you to gently rock the dial on the back left and right a few times then cautiously and with some slight force turn the dial clockwise as you are looking at it from the back. Then left right rocking motion then forcefully Clockwise again, until you are able to turn that wheel all the way around without fail.
 
By doing this we are trying to force that broken tip out of its narrow gap, If forcing it clockwise does not work out the needle tip, then rock left and right and try going counter clockwise a few trims, This procedure usually works, If you can locate the needle debris before rocking the wheel in the back, then you can pretty much figure out which way to force that dial on the back to be more advantageous to you to loosen and dislodge that needle tip. Just force it out towards the closest opening, If it is clockwise then rock left and right and with some fore spin clockwise to dislodge it,  Same thing is you have to spin it counter clockwise to dislodge it.
 

If this does not work, then you will have to remove the rotary hook assembly and dislodge the needle with it off of the machine, then remount it and set your hook timing after the needle is removed. There are videos for this here .