Brother 1034D serger: threading order, tension, oiling and knives

Is this your machine?

The Brother 1034D is a two-needle serger that sews a three- or four-thread overlock, trims the edge with a lower-driven knife, and has differential feed on a lever at the left side. Its manual is Brother's handbook for the compact overlock machine (document 884-345), which also mentions the 1134DW, 1134D, DZ1234 and 1634D and covers one-needle versions too. This page follows the two-needle 1034D.

When a serger will not chain, skips or breaks thread, the first thing Brother's handbook sends you back to is the threading order. On a serger the order matters because the looper threads have to lie under the needle threads.

Needles

Brother's handbook says the 1034D uses a standard home sewing machine needle and recommends SCHMETZ 130/705H. The accessory needle set is Brother part X75917001 (two each of 80/12 and 90/14).

• Light fabrics, and narrow or rolled hems: #70 or #80.
• Medium fabrics: #80 or #90.
• Heavy fabrics: #90.

1. Turn the main power switch off.
2. Turn the handwheel toward you until the needles are at their highest point.
3. Loosen the needle set screw with the hexagonal (Allen) wrench from the accessory bag (Brother part X77128001). One screw holds both needles.
4. Insert the new needle with the flat side away from you, toward the back, pushed all the way up. Tighten the screw. Put in correctly, the right needle sits slightly lower than the left.

There is no bobbin on a serger. The two loopers do that job.

Threading order: loopers first, then needles

Brother's order is fixed: upper looper, lower looper, right needle, left needle. Each path is color-coded on the machine, and the tension dials sit left to right as yellow, pink, green and blue.

Before you start

1. Raise the telescoping thread tree fully and line up its guides above the spool pins. Put the spool caps on household spools, notch down, and a thread net on slippery nylon.
2. Turn the main power off. Raise the presser foot with its lever. Turn the handwheel toward you to bring the needle bar to its highest point.
3. At each tension dial, hold the tension release button to the right, slip the thread into the tension disc in the channel beside the dial, then let go. Brother stresses that the thread must be seated in the discs this way.

1. Upper looper (green)

1. Open the front cover: slide it right and tip the top toward you.
2. Take the thread up through the thread tree guide from back to front and pull out about 15 cm (6 inches) extra. Pass it through the top guide.
3. Seat it in the green tension disc with the release button held.
4. Follow the green marks down the channel in numbered order to the eye of the upper looper.

2. Lower looper (blue)

1. Start the same way: thread tree guide, top guide, blue tension disc.
2. Follow the blue marks in order down to the lower looper threading lever.
3. Slide the lower looper threading lever to the right. Lay the thread under the hook at the left end of the lever and pass it through the lower looper eye.
4. Hold the thread end and slide the lever back left to its normal position. Check that the two pink triangle marks line up. Move the lever only in the directions of its arrows; forcing it can break it.

3. Right needle (pink) and 4. left needle (yellow)

1. Thread tree guide from back to front, about 15 cm extra, top guide, then the pink tension disc.
2. Follow the pink marks in order, down through the guide just above the needles.
3. Thread the right needle from front to back. The tweezers from the accessory bag (part XB1618001) help.
4. Repeat with the yellow disc and yellow marks for the left needle, and thread its eye front to back.

Test and chain off

Put a scrap under the raised foot and lower it. Hold the needle threads and turn the handwheel toward you a few times to see the threads lock, then press the foot control lightly and run off a chain about 10 cm (4 inches) long. An uneven chain means the tensions are not balanced: pull the threads lightly, check the order, and adjust.

Tension dials and differential feed

Each dial runs 0 to 9, and Brother says 4 works in most circumstances with standard serger thread. Higher numbers give more tension: Brother's ranges are 4 to 7 for heavy tension, 5 to 3 for medium and 4 to 2 for light. Brother's four-thread mock safety stitch sample sets all four dials at 4.0 with a stitch length of 3.0 to 4.0.

Adjust in Brother's order. Four-thread: left needle, right needle, upper looper, lower looper. Three-thread: needle, upper looper, lower looper. Read where the loops fall: if the upper looper thread is being pulled to the underside, the upper looper is too tight or the lower looper too loose.

Differential feed is the lever on the left side. Normal is 1.0; the range is 0.7 to 2.0. Below 1.0 it stretches the fabric slightly to stop thin fabric puckering; above 1.0 it gathers, which stops stretch fabric from waving. Brother says not to use differential feed on thick non-stretch fabric such as denim.

Stitch length runs 2 to 4 mm, normally 2.5 to 3 mm. Stitch width on two-needle machines is set with the width lever, normally 5 mm for a regular overlock.

Cleaning, oiling and knives

Unlike Brother's sewing machines, the 1034D is meant to be oiled by its owner. Brother's handbook says to oil it once or twice a month in normal use, or once a week if you serge more often, and always to clear the lint out first.

1. Unplug the machine and open the front cover.
2. Brush out the lint from around the loopers, the knives and the feed area with the supplied cleaning brush (part X75906001). A serger makes far more lint than a sewing machine.
3. Put a drop of sewing machine oil on each of the two points marked in the handbook's oiling diagram, on the moving looper drive joints inside the front cover. The handbook does not name an oil, so use a clear sewing machine oil.
4. Run the machine on a scrap to work the oil in and catch any excess before it reaches your fabric.

Knives

Dull knives leave a ragged edge, puckering or uneven stitches. A sharp knife cuts a single strand of thread at the front or the back of the blade. Brother's handbook lets the owner replace both:

1. Unplug the machine. Never handle the knives with it plugged in.
2. Upper knife: loosen its set screw, pull the knife up and out, and fit the new one. Turn the handwheel by hand until the upper knife is down, check it sits in front of the lower knife about 0.5 to 1.0 mm from the lower knife's edge, and tighten the screw.
3. Lower knife: loosen its set screw, pull the knife down and out, fit the new one with its edge flush with the needle plate, and tighten.

Brother does not print knife part numbers in the handbook. Mulqueen Sewing lists the upper knife as Brother XB0563-001 and the lower knife as X77683-001, with the 1034D in the fit list. Never sew over pins; they damage the needles and the knives.

Troubleshooting by symptom

If a thread breaks partway along a seam, take the work out, rethread in the full order, then put the fabric back and serge over the last 3 to 5 cm of stitching.

Leave these to a technician

Looper timing and needle bar adjustments are not in Brother's handbook, which refers anything damaged or not working properly after the steps above to an authorized dealer or service center. This site does not cover timing a serger, the motor, the foot control or the wiring.

Brother's manual and support pages

• 1034D handbook (scanned PDF, Brother)
• Serger Techniques quick guide (PDF, Brother)
• Brother's 1034D manuals page
• Brother's 1034D answers