yup - made it home this morning - and after severe TQS withdrawals am busy busy busy catching up on everything that was posted in the forum during the past week.
no access to the TQS website in china - can you imagine - TQS is blocked - we must be dangerous folk - spreading fun, hope, inspiration and friendship.
knowing the friendly folk i work with in shenzhen, beijing, shanghai and the other places, they would fit right in - and are all such a positive, friendly and caring lot!
friday night we went on a fabric and sticker odyssey... one of our chinese colleagues took us into a chinese shopping mall - i.e. long street with lots of different shops on all levels - lots of friendly smiles - lots of good food - lots of helpful people - but real chinese - not like the malls attached to the international hotels. purchased a few fabrics - unfortunately we did not really have time to go and search properly - hopefully i'll be in beijing next time - and get at some silks and things. the little shop we found friday night was more into fabrics for bedding and curtains... next time i'll bring samples (just a hexie or two didn't do a lot to make them understand) and the chinese names for "silk" "cotton" "batik" and "fabric to sew with" - they are much more into selling finished clothing or making clothing to measure - and that's not what i'm looking for
it might also be a good idea to find a fabric-minded guide to go with me - the colleague who went with me (the head of our chinese subsidiary) is not really the ideal person for that - he does help - but he has no understanding of what i want - so it's a bit difficult to get him to find the right shops... will prepare better the next time around and as i should be going to melbourne in may 2014 - maybe i can work in a visit to our office in kuala lumpur - they have access to batiks - and with preparation i should get the right guiide for a personal fabric excursion

Does this mean, welcome back from Shenzhen, Lotti? Good to see you back on the Forum!

thanks - good to know - and great idea renata - have just started my own quilt dictionary with this information.

Oh I'm glad to know how to do that if it ever happens to me. Thanks!

Thank you, Ridgehill. I've just copied your instructions into my electronic sewing diary.

I have been using my 820QE tonight and it is working perfectly, so refitting the spring into the bobbin case has been succesful. I was concerned when it came out due to it being on the weekend (always the case!) when everywhere is shut and me living a long distance from any store doesn't help. (I live on a farming property east of Perth in Western Australia.)

Regards,
Ridgehill

Wow! Your information now makes me question my experience... glad you were able to learn how to put the spring back in and thank you for passing the information along. I only knocked that spring out once and have been super-careful not to touch it since...

Thank you ladies for your imput, I appreciated you taking the time to respond. I went to town today and dropped into my Bernina shop and luckily there was someone able to show me what to do. Here is the answer, for anyone who needs to know in the future.
Place the flat round spring flat on a table. There is a horse shoe shape cut out of the centre that sits up. Pick the spring up and with the sticking out shape towards you and with the bottom of the horse shoe shape to your right. Pop into the bobbin case. There is a small lug on the left hand outer side. Pop this lug into position first and then carefully pop the rest in place. It is quite simple to do. I hope that I have explained it well enough.


Regards,
Ridgehill

I would take your 820 to the technician to put the spring back in. I'm sorry I don't remember the technical details but I can tell you my Bernina dealer is very proficient, with 15 years of experience with Bernina as a dealer and even longer as a user--she has bailed me out many times on things I did wrong until I became proficient with my 830. At my guide class, she warned us never to touch the spring because the technician has other adjustments to make once the spring is reinserted. I took very good care not to get near the spring in my regular cleanings of the bobbin area, yet, one rogue strand of my brush got in that area and pulled the spring right off! Took the machine to my dealer because I was too new to sewing machines to want to try it myself (the 830 is my first sewing machine LOL). She put the spring back in but called technician for further guidance and it turned out the additional adjustment was something he had to do. I was lucky, he did not charge me for adjusting it, but I was told that it would probably cost about $100 (if I remember correctly) to replace it. You will find instructions online for how to put it back in but you still won't be able to make the adjustments required (I think they are timing adjustments, but not 100 percent sure).

Hope this helps.

I had the same flat spring in my longarm bobbin case and replaced it with a bobbin genie. Mine kept popping out and spent too much time trying to line up those really tiny tabs and notches. If I remember right the slightly curved part was towards the opening in the case.

Hi, I have been told that there is a simple way to put the flat 'spring' back inside the bobbin case, but am not sure which way in it goes.
It popped out while I was brushing the case clean. The 'spring' sits behind the bobbin when the bobbin is in place.
Any suggestions please?

Regards,
Ridgehill