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I have had my Tin Lizzie for a year and a half. It is skipping stitches. I have cleaned the rods, changed the needle, cleaned the bobbin. I have a customer quilt loaded on it and it just won't do right.
I have called the company. They have been helpful in the past but now they tell me to talk to the place that sold it. He has gone out of the longarm business. I really don't think it is the encoders because it will do some stitches just not all of them.
I even dreamed about selling it last night. Help!!! Does anyone have any ideas of something else I can try?

I would try to find another dealer in the area and talk to them. If they want your future business they will help you. Anyone who helps me even if I did not buy from will get some of my business in the future.

Have you re-threaded to make sure the thread is passing through the discs snugly? Maybe it is the thread? Have you tried changing it? Have you taken a flashlight and looked really closely in the bobbin area to make sure there isn't a stray thread stuck anywhere? I know how frustrating it can be! Maybe call it a night and look with fresh eyes tomorrow? Good luck!!

Send Seeing Stars a PM. She has a Tin Lizzie and might have some ideas for you. Besides, she's a nice lady and will help you gladly.

Since I don't have a longarm I can't give you any advice. But I'm having similar problems with my serger so I can sympathize with you.

I don't have a TinLizzy, but have you checked for threads on the wheels? Do you have wheels? I have an APQS and had thread on one wheel and it messed up the whole shooting match. Hope you get a solution. It is really aggrevating when this happens.

I'm hoping these quilty friends can help you out

So sorry you're having problems with your machine. It's not just this brand - they all have their moments. I just wasted a couple of days while a customer quilt was impatiently tapping its toes. I didn't want to do so, but ended up removing lots of pieces and the fix was actually pretty simple. (Needle bar slipped down too low, so the hook was hitting below the scarf on the needle and made a clacking sound. I watched the TL timing videos on their website about 6 times, then finally the light bulb blinked on and I was ready to do the repair.)

Skipped stitches - try horizontal only, then vertical. If only in 1 direction, switch the encoder cables and try again. If the direction for skipped stitches switches, it's the cables. Also, try in manual mode. If there are no skipped stitches, it's probably something with the stitch regulator and the cables still might be to blame.

Other culprits - old needle, improper threading, needle scarf not facing exactly to the back, needle not inserted high enough in the needle bar, timing is a little off.

When in doubt, I remove the thread and bobbin, clean and oil everything - removing the metal plate which is shaped like an arched doorway (or part of the basketball court) so I can see all the fuzz. Then I walk thru slowly re-threading and making sure the bobbin is in correctly, etc... I seems to fix a lot of the issues.

I'll check back later today and see if you are still having problems.

Kim / SeeingStars
(giggle - who agrees with FFG that I am indeed a nice lady, a modest too)

1 more culprit - the hopping foot could be too high. When the foot is down, it should be a dime's width above the plate. (I prefer a little higher)

I have the pfaff grandquilter 18.8 and when I skip stitches it almost always the threading. I stop and re-thread it and put a new needle in and 99% of the time, that is want it needed.

Also make sure you are on the tracks, and no lint on your tracks.

Hope you get it working ok again!!

Sometimes having the material pulled too tight on the rollers will make it do funny things also.

Seeing Stars,
You were right. I finally got someone to talk to me at Tin Lizzie. They suggested lowering the hopping foot and finally it looks like it is working. I have done 2 more rows on the quilt and no skipped stitches yet. I had moved up the foot to quilt an old hand sewn quilt with big seams and never lowered it.
Thanks for all of the help and advice all of you.

So glad you fixed the problem. We'd love to see the customer quilt when you get it finished.

I switched thread colors last night and missed the tension disk while threading the machine. Not a pretty sight! Of course I forgot to check the tension until after I'd quilted for awhile. Eyeroll! I know better, but just forgot.