HQ Sixteen: Needle Bar Re-Reorientation

Unfortunately, orienting the HQ Sixteen’s Needle Bar to put the needle locking setscrew at the back resulted in excessive thread breakage:

The thread passes through the guide hole just below the hex driver in that photo, then through the hole in the needle from the front of the machine. Apparently the 45°-ish angle between those two was large enough to prevent the thread from sliding smoothly along the needle.

Proceeding much as before, but without dismantling the machine cover because I know where the clamp screw will be with the machine shaft at Bottom Dead Center …

The Ruler Foot is now 0.5 mm off the Needle Plate:

Stacking gauge blocks shows the Needle Bar now sits 0.355 inch above the Plate at BDC:

That is viewed from the right side of the machine, with the button-head screw sticking out of the Presser Bar hidden behind the Needle Bar.

The gauge block set confirming what’s in the stack:

Then:

• Stick a screwdriver through the bottom access hole into the Needle Bar clamp screw
• Loosen the Needle Bar clamp screw
• Rotate the Needle Bar to put the guide hole exactly in front
• Tighten the clamp screw
• Verify the shaft is still at Bottom Dead Center
• Remove the block stack
• Install the Ruler Foot at 0.5 mm

Which looked like this with the shaft at Top Dead Center:

There’s a quilt in progress on the left, so we’ll know if this solved the problem very shortly.