novicequiltergrandma

I had a 401, but before I ever sewed on it I gave it to my DIL. I found a great 403 rewired, cleaned, etc. for a good price. I don't have cams for it yet (except the basic one in the machine) so I haven't been able to play with the stitches yet, but it seems to me the 401 had a lot more possibilities for fancy stitches. Now there is a 401 at Goodwill (please don't bid against me ) and I'm thinking I'll get it if the price stays under $50. From what I've read, the 403 is simpler to use, but I kind of like the options on the 401 for more variety of stitches. For those who have used both, which did you prefer......and why? Thanks in advance for your answers.

Cari-in-Oly

With the cams you can do all of the same fancy stitches as the 401, and the 403 is a bit simpler to use, I think. The 401 just has more of the fancy stitches built in so the extra cams aren't necessary. The top hat cams can be found cheap if you keep your eyes open, some sellers are too high. Any of the black top hat cams will work, they aren't specific to a machine.

Cari

miriam

The 403 is a better machine IMHO. If you have all the cams you have the ability to adjust the stitch width. The built in stitches on the 401 have only one width and it is an allusion that there might be some infinite variety of stitches. After comparing the two, my go to machine is the 403. If you want a vintage machine with a big variety of stitches look for a Singer 319 and a big pile of disks.

SingerCLA

The 401 is a good bit more complex under the hood than the 403. The 2 knobs controlling the cam stack selectors are the main difference where the 403 has none of that and only requires to change the single removable cam to select the stitch type.

The 401 does have some features not available on the 403 though: the straight stitch needle position (AK3) allows the needle to be positioned incrementally any amount left or right of center where the 403 has Left, Center, and Right positions only.

The 401 has 7 built in "primary" cams that will behave exactly like the corresponding 403 removable cams. In addition it has the 'S' or Special position that allows you to insert any of the special cams the 403 will use. In 'BS' position, the 401 will behave just like a 403 with any of the removable cams.

Where the 401 gets confusing though is the 'combination' cam positions. All these settings are described briefly under the cover on the 401 but may help to understand a bit more by reading the few pages in the manual to understand. The 'Combination' settings combine 2 different cams and here the stitch width control behaves differently than for the "Primary" cams. The middle position '3' combines the 2 cams effect equally. Towards 1 favors one cam, towards 5 favors the other cam..... All this for some decorative stitches that few are ever likely to use.

The other common problem reported on the 401 (and 500) are the selector knobs become frozen. This is due to the grease drying up after 50+ years on the selector posts. (because no one really uses all those decorative stitches anyway....) Clean off the dried up grease and oil the posts. The problem will be fixed for at least another 50 years.

They are both great machines. Get the one you prefer.

Jeanette Frantz

I vote with Miriam. I have a 403, and absolutely love it. It is my "go to" machine, for straight stitch sewing (not quilt piecing, although I have pieced some table runner blocks on it) and it works great with the decorative stitches. There are a total of like 22 or 23 cams available for the 403. I picked up one set of 12 cams off e-bay for $ .99, yes, 99 cents, plus shipping, so if you watch the auction sites, you should be able to find them very inexpensively. Just one caution, the 403 (and I'm guessing the 401, too) cannot use the Flexi Stitch cams that come with the Touch 'N Sew machines.

Jeanette

BonnieI

Do you know what the 401 is valued at? I have a friend that wants to sell me hers.

Cari-in-Oly

Value is subjective. It's worth whatever you're willing to pay for it. In my area I've seen nice cabinet machines go for as high as $250 and as low as $25. I've had 3 of them and only paid $20 each for them.

Cari

miriam

Those machines can be picked up fairly cheap but usually there is a lot of work or do to make them work properly. If the machine has been recently serviced or kept in real good running condition it should be worth more. I spend more time servicing those than most other machines. Either I'm not very good and quick or the ones I find just plain need a lot of work.

Wintersewer

I'm looking for the zz cam for my 403, if anyone has one to sell.

mjhaess

I have a 401 I use all the time and I love it....