Embroidery Troubles!

And things were going so well…..    Yesterday, the Brother PE770 broke.   It has caused a bunch of trouble for us.   Without embroidery,  we have limited the options and reason people will buy our stockings.  Everyone wants a name!   And things have been getting crazy lately!   We sold 26 stockings two days ago,  29 yesterday, and 18 today.   Cheryl became so worried she shut down the shop briefly because we had to figure out our embroidery problem and see if it was fixable, or not.  Add in to the mix that we are heading to Michigan during a snow storm for the next three days.  AND the replacement machine will arrive on Friday…..the day we are traveling back.   Hopefully the UPS guy will leave it so it greets us that evening when we arrive home. 
All of the trouble shooting websites and videos pretty much say the same thing.   “Don’t be stupid!”   Seriously, they are not very helpful.   Ok,  Maybe to stupid people, but they can’t help it.   Example:   Machine is not threaded right.   Solution:   Thread the machine properly.     Example:  Machine is not operating.  Solution:  Turn the machine on.   
This line of trouble shooting does not help me at all.  I don’t want to brag, but I know my way around a machine or two now.   I have taken every single machine we have apart and put them back together….and fixed the problem.   USUALLY it is simply an oiling or cleaning issue.  But sometimes a spring or bobbin will slip out of spec and need adjusting.  With the PE770 past its warranty now,  I cracked it open. ( as a last resort, I assure you)  Because of the electronics, I was very careful and cautious.   I thoroughly cleaned and oiled EVERYTHING!( this usually fixes the problem,)   While avoiding any damage to the green boards and wires. I put it back together and it turns on,   Operates the Pre-Operation movements as usual,  but still gives the error message that the safety mechanism has been activated.  Meaning…the needle will not go up and down for some reason……Usually because there is a thread tangled around the top or the bobbin.
However,   there are no tangles,  no fluffs, no mechanical problems.    My theory that it is the Motor is because when I try to wind a bobbin using the machine.  It disconnects from the drive shaft.   Namely,  there is no resistance from any thread tangled around the shaft.   However,  the motor will not spin the bobbin to wind it.   The Computer thinks it is spinning and operating.  But no sound, no movement.    SO……I ‘m guessing after two years of fairly moderate work.   ( we use it for the Christmas Months.   quite often…then put it away for the year.)  The Brushes on the Motor may have given out OR…and this would be worse….the electronic part shorted out the connection between the motor and the mother board.  So no juice is getting to the motor.   I may know mechanics a bit, but I know very little about electronics. 
Aside from my own vanity and “can do” spirit taking a hit…  The fact remains that there is no embroidery offered at the moment, with a new machine coming and we are going to be out of town when it arrives.    With Black Friday coming up,  I’m sure the orders will be piling up as well.    Cheryl plans on running the Turkey Trott  on Thanksgiving Day…but with all these distractions….it may be a bit of a challenge. 
The weather has warmed a bit.  Things were melting pretty good.   I could not tell you because my BIKE is in the shop with a broken spoke and gear replacement.   I guess riding in the snow takes it’s toll.   Besides that,   it has been a full year since it has been serviced and the chain and gears should be replaced every 2000 miles.  A mile marker that I  probably had passed a while ago.   So Cheryl ran alone….in the slush and melty ice.  While I prepared the Subie for the Trek to Michigan.  ( You know,  air in tires,  clean the interior,  polish the fenders. ) 
On a positive…. ( and there is so little of that in this posting)   I reached 26000 words two days ago.   I have not written since became of the embroidery issues and travel prep time.   I most likely will NOT reach the goal of 50,000 words by Dec 1.  It’s all good because I at least got back to writing.   Cheryl says I can still make it my goal to finish before 2016 arrives.   We will have time off after the Christmas Mayhem. 
So wish us luck!   We need it …as always..   Even our Chinese fortunes have been letting us down….with fortunes like “look on the bright side”  or  “Things are not too awful.”  Maybe they just stopped lying to us….Like when they said I was going to be rich and successful….or we were going to be vacationing along the ocean.  Perhaps the neutral ones like “you are a happy person.” would be more welcome.   But Cheryl and I have to work on keeping our chins up and try not to hide like the cat.  Hiro may look like he is hiding…but he is stalking prey!   Yeah…I like that image.  We shall see how things go.