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Machine Hints
Oiling
Schedule
Needles
Installed
How do you remember when to oil a single-head machine
without a built-in reminder?
1.
Use a notions box with 20 sections (large enough to hold 2 bobbins in
each section; small enough to place under or next to machine without being in
the way.
2.
Place 2 bobbins in each section. (We also color code the sections. One color for the first 10 sections and another color for the
next 10 sections.)
3.
We’ve discovered that 2 bobbins = approximately 4 hours of sewing time.
Thus, when you are reaching for a new bobbin and it’s the first of the
2 in a section, it’s time to do your 4 hour oiling.
4.
When you reach for the first bobbin of an entire 10-section, it’s time
for 40 hour oiling. The first
bobbin of an entire box = 80 hour oiling.
It’s that simple! No
need to watch the clock, or ask another employee when/if they oiled the machine!
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How do you know (in a quick glance)
what thread you have in inventory?
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We chose one thread manufacturer and bought one mini spool
of every color. We display the
spools on the front wall in the same order as the thread chart.
Behind each spool of thread, on the dowel, we place a rubber band.
A large white rubber band indicates an additional large spool in
inventory and a small red rubber band indicates a mini spool in inventory. When we take a spool out of inventory, we remove the rubber
band. When we purchase new thread
and place it in inventory, we place rubber bands around the appropriate dowel.
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How do you keep track of what needles are on your
machine?
We use a variety of needles in our shop and change them
often, so we needed a system for knowing what type of needle is on each needle
bar and how old it is. We assigned
a “colored dot” for every needle size (for example, 70/10 ball needle is
always a green dot). We created a
“color key” showing which colored dot is assigned to which needle type.
Below the key, we place the actual coding for the machine.
On each “dot” we write the needle number (1-10) and a date (when it
was put on). At a quick glance, we
can easily see what type of needle is on each needle bar and how long it’s
been there.
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