If your sewing machine has a jam, in the bobbin area, most machines manufactured from the 1960's on, have a quick and easy setup to remove the SHUTTLE RACE COVER, or BOBBIN RACE COVER (I sometimes forget, and call it a bobbin hook gate, or bobbin gate, lol) and the HOOK, which the bobbin case and bobbin are snapped into.
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| The 2 black plastic levers, being pointed at by colored pencils, hold the SHUTTLE RACE COVER in place. Flip the tops of the levers away from the bobbin, to release the shuttle race cover, and bobbin hook, to clean, or clear a jam. |
My favorite setup on vertical bobbin systems, involves flipping the 2 shuttle race cover retainers, out, away from the bobbin, which then allows you to pull out the shuttle race cover, the hook, and bobbin case, with the bobbin in it.
Turn the handwheel to raise the needle to the highest position, before removing the bobbin hook, if possible. If you have already jammed the bobbin, by sewing without fabric under the needle, you may need to cut the threads, and may not be able to turn the handwheel.
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This is a bobbin jam, the needle was threaded, and the machine run, without fabric. This literally sews the bobbin and hook to the machine. Here, I flipped the retainer levers out to the sides, pulling off the bobbin race cover,
allowing the hook to be removed. |
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Left to right 1. Bobbin race cover
2. Bobbin hook
3. Bobbin case
4. Bobbin |
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| Bobbin race cover retainers flipped away from bobbin to release hook, to clean hook, or fix a jam. |
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| Removing race cover |
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| Bobbin hook driver in this position, on the left, is easiest to put hook back in, on the right side |
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| Bobbin hook correctly placed on the right, now replace the bobbin race cover, and flip the bobbin hook retainers back into position. |
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| Bobbin race cover with retainers flipped back into place |
