Finding an External Bobbin Winder for Viking Sewing Machines
Not all bobbins are made the same. That means when you go to wind them, your external bobbin winder may not work. Not that the device is broken but simply, it was not made for the class of bobbin you are trying to wind.
According to our research, this may not be that hard to find. Even though Husqvarna Viking uses different classes of bobbins in their machines, it is still possible to wind them on an external bobbin winder. Sometimes the bobbin needs to be placed upside down or the sensors need adjusting.
To learn more about finding an external bobbin winder for your Husqvarna Viking sewing machine, just continue to read our article. The task is easier than you may think.
Bobbin Winder for Viking Sewing Machine
Most Viking sewing machines have one of two bobbin winding mechanisms. The older machines usually have their device on the side of the sewing machine while the newer ones, Designer series, have theirs on the top of the machine.
How they work is described in the owner’s manual. However, these devices can break, be a bit slow in winding or you have to stop what you are doing unthread your machine to wind the bobbin, and so on.
A good external bobbin winder comes in handy as you can save on the work and avoid re-threading your sewing machine. But as many sewers have found out, not all external sewing machines will wind Husqvarna Viking bobbins.
One sewer had to turn hers upside down to get the extern bobbin winder to work and another had to make sure she snapped the bobbing into place correctly. The reason for these difficulties is that Viking uses at least 2 different types of bobbins in their sewing machine.
One list has them using a L style, M style, and a class 15 universal bobbin. That list provides a comprehensive guide to bobbins in all sewing machine brands. There are external bobbin winders that will work with those styles of bobbins.
External Bobbin Winder
Many recommended external bobbin winders should work for a Husqvarna Viking bobbin. One of those is the Fancy Quilt K Kraft Super winder and it now has 2 spindles so it is adaptable to many different sewing machine brands. The instructions are at this link.
You will have to contact them for a price. Then there is the Hand Quilter external model but you may balk when you see the over $300 price tag and that is when it is on sale. Take a look at it by clicking this link.
Then over at Amazon, we found several models that work with L, M styles and Class 15 bobbins. The Sidewinder is there but the company clearly stated that it was not made for Singer Centaur II, or Husqvarna Viking machines. You can find those different models at this link.
Finally, at this link you will find the Corgi Electric Bobbin Winder for the Viking Green bobbins and it is said to work with both the version A & B styles. There are enough external bobbin winders that work with the Viking sewing machine that make your sewing life a little easier.
The key is to find them at a price you can live with.
Viking Sewing Machine Bobbin Winding Problems
Two basic winding problems are the most common. The first is a very loose wind and the second is a too tight of a wind and both problems can cause tension problems.
The loosely wound bobbin will feel spongy. When the thread feels this way to your touch, it means you may end up with a lot of tangles as you sew. If the thread feels hard or the sides of the bobbin bulge out a little, you will end up needing to adjust your tension to compensate or re-wind the bobbin.
One source for any bobbing winding task is that the area may be full of lint. This will not be the case if you use an external bobbin winder. But if you think your built-in device is broken, give it a quick clean and see if that doesn’t solve the problem.
Cleaning can save you from spending extra money you may not have at the moment.
Viking Bobbin Winder Stuck
There may be times when you may not be able to remove the bobbin from the built-in or external bobbin winder after the bobbin is wound. That issue is telling you that you may have wound the thread too tightly and the sides of the bobbin have bulged or the core has compressed so far that it is too small to pull off the spindle.
The bad news here is not that the bobbin is broken, which it usually isn’t, but that you have to manually unwind the bobbin to get it off the spindle. Then you have to wind the bobbin all over again.
All you have to do is slow the winding speed down a little and you should be able to avoid this problem. This problem will occur more now than it used to because most bobbins are made from plastic instead of metal.
Plastic can be very flexible and the thread is strong enough to manipulate it to a point where it bends out of shape. With metal bobbins, the metal was stronger than the thread and usually did not have this issue.
Some Final Words
For business reasons, Husqvarna Viking makes their bobbins specific to their machines. It may be a little tougher to find an external bobbin winder that is compatible with those bobbin designs.
The different styles and classes of bobbins this company uses in its sewing machines will make it a little easier to solve this issue. You just need to know the type of bobbin the company uses. The chart above will help.
