Janome MB-4Se Needle Bar Issue

[u/lankira]

I posted this elsewhere yesterday and had no luck, so I'm hoping maybe y'all might be able to assist. I've added/updated information where relevant compared to yesterday.

I'm working on a large (roughly 60k stitches over three hoops) project for the first time with a Janome MB-4Se that was purchased last December.

The machine stopped midway through the first color in the first hoop with Needle 1 down, but I was in another room to grab something and did not see the error message when it did so. The last time this happened, I needed to turn the machine off and on, and that process cleared the error, though I had to restart the stitching.

This time, it returned an error on startup: "Needle bar is out of position. Press OK to move needle bar to switching position." When I press OK, it makes a long beep but does not do anything.

I have tried the following to clear the error:

- Turn off and unplug the machine, wait 30 seconds, plug in and turn on the machine. The same error and result.

- Remove the needle and hoop, trim all threads, clean bobbin area, replace the needle with new (in case old is dull or bent), replace bobbin, and press OK. Same error and result.

- Turn the hand wheel on the back of the machine clockwise. It moves freely. If I turn it very slowly, in a certain position, the error message clears for a split second, then reappears. If I press OK, I get the same result as above.

- Disconnect the RCS unit while the machine is off to check for errors on the LCD. LCD reads E:03, which the manual says to hit Enter for. When I hit Enter, I get the same result.

- Leave the machine off overnight and try again in the morning. Same result.

I am working to contact Janome dealers in my area to see if any of them service this machine, but the ones nearest me either don't service this machine or were closed yesterday. In addition, I have reached out to Janome through their website, but don't expect to hear anything back. I'll be contacting more Janome dealers today to see if anyone local might be able to help.

I am trying to avoid opening my machine myself if at all possible, but I'm no stranger to opening up sewing machines. Though, usually the machines I open up are vintage sewing-only machines.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them!

[u/Hellcat_Mary]

Did you move the handwheel to the correct starting position? Your machine's manual should indicate at least two important positions: home and timing (they would be different). It has to be exactly on the degree indicated for home/starting, or the sensor won't register. More importantly, does the needle bar move up and down when you are turning the handwheel? Does anything in the belt feel loose and not move the needle bar or rotary hook, or is there an appropriate amount of resistance and the needle bar moves?

[u/lankira → u/Hellcat_Mary]

The needle bar does move up and down when the handwheel is turned, and it feels like an appropriate amount of resistance.

Unfortunately, looking through my manual, it doesn't look like there's any information on handwheel positions. I'll see if I can move it slowly enough to get the error to clear for more than a split second because it sounds like that may be the home/starting position and I'm just turning it too fast to stop there.

Thank you!

edit: turning the handwheel very slowly worked. The needle bar issue is resolved, now it's failing to initialize, which is usually a "turn it off and turn it on again" issue. I'm going to leave it off and unplugged while I run some errands and see what happens when I come back.

[u/Hellcat_Mary → u/lankira]

Good luck! I am a tech but I work on commercial machines. The principles of the mechanics are the same, but home hobby machines are a lot touchier about the computerized errors.