I stopped by the goodwill yesterday, and ran across a sewing machine. Free-Westinghouse cabinet type. It's ALB129929. It has the manual and attachments that I've never seen before. Two problems that I have found so far. It does not have any needles and the manual says that only CC1221 can be used . The company no longer exists. Will I be able to buy these needles?
Second when we plugged it up it took off sewing without a foot petal or knee petal. I turned it off and it still was sewing. I'm guessing that I need a new switch. Also will I be able to buy these? I only paid $23.56 for the machine and $2.00 for a pecan cabinet that needs refinishing. I'll try to take pictures tomorrow. Little under the weather today and nite.
I sent Billy a PM asking him about this. I'm sure he's busy , but haven't heard from him as of yet.
I'm also curious as to the value of this machine. If anyone has any answers I would really appreciate it. I tried to look this up on the internet, but had no luck. Thanks so much for any help that you may give me.

I can't help you out on the foot pedal question. Did you try the needles you are using in your current machine? To my knowledge there are only two types. The round ones and the ones that have a flat back.

Don't panic yet!! sounds like it has a short and that can be fixed. It could be as simple as a bare wire in a cord thats touching each other so when you plug it in it just runs. Billy will get back to you!! 8-)

How to get upper thread to pick up bobbin thread on my Free Westinghouse sewing machi
 

I inherited a Free Westinghouse sewing machine that is in "excellent" condition. still have the paperwork etc with it. Anyway I decided to try it out before I sell it but I can't get the upper thread to pick up the bobbin thread. I've tried everything I could think of. I know it has special size needles but I have that & it seems like the bobbin isn't lined up with the take up needle if that is possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Did the paperwork include a manual? Is the flat side of the needle in the correct position? Did you follow the directions (if you have the manual) for threading both the upper thread and the bobbin. If you have an ALB, I believe the flat is on the right and threads from left to right. The upper thread may be a little tricky to get it through the tension discs and check spring. Also the bobbin can be a little fiddly to get threaded correctly. Just a thought - are you turning the hand wheel the correct direction? If it is an ALB, the hand wheel turns away from you - clockwise if you are looking straight at the hand wheel.

We like pictures. In order to post pictures on Quilting Board, you will probably need to reduce or compress the picture to a file size that is smaller than 2MB. How to post images can be found at https://www.quiltingboard.com/attach...020-01-17-.pdf
Don't forget to scroll over to the far right to find and click on the "Upload" button.

I have found that only the big red "Reply" button or "Quote" work to give me the paper clip icon to work for adding pictures.
https://www.quiltingboard.com/attach...p-location.jpg

Some additional info regarding reducing images at post #4 and images for the scroll and upload button can be found at #5 of https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f...d-t312607.html

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Usually when a vintage machine takes off sewing when plugged in, it's because it's plugged in wrong. If there's a double plug that looks like this. https://www.sewingpartsonline.com/po...RoCVb8QAvD_BwE One plug is for the motor and one plug is for the light. Just unplug them and re-plug them in the opposite positions.

Sorry, I didn't see that this thread started in 2011, and missed the second question.