Blackberry

I have a brother that I have been tinkering with for about 3 months. My OSMG has also been working on it. We finally got the cam shaft to turn fairly well except when it gets to a place where it has to move to the left it hangs up. I have oiled it repeatedly on the cam shaft but I was wondering if I need to grease the part that has a gear to it. Also it appears that the cam selection knob is not lined up with the stitches but of course I can't tell that for sure because I can't get the cam shaft to work properly. Maybe part of the problem may be because the cam selection knob is not lined up properly. I just can't figure out what else to do. Maybe someone on the board has some info for me.

J Miller

Gears get grease, especially metal gears.

I would use Tri-Flow oil and concentrate on the ZZ linkage to the left of the cam follower. Any thing that hangs up in the linkage will hang up the machine.

It also needs much more cleaning inside. There lots of old varnished oil on every thing. That alone will cause the mechanism to jam up. Especially the ZZ parts.

Joe

Candace

Yup, I also see areas of old varnish that could easily be gumming up the works.

miriam

Yup Joe and Candace are right - clean it up some more - the zig zag linkage. I have a Pfaff too months to free up. Something in the linkage was stuck. I cleaned everything up as best as I could get it. It still wanted to not return a zig zag. Finally I used Tri-flow and set it under the bench. Every once in a while I used more T-F and turned the machine on a different side so the T-F would flow into where ever it was that wasn't moving. I just kept turning it over. I would turn the knob once in a while to see what it was doing - hit it with some T-F and one day it worked. I don't really know what exactly was stuck - but it was varnished up pretty good like yours. It can have some stuck inside somewhere you can't see it. The T-F works quickly most of the time, in that case it was very slow. Now the machine has a different problem...

oldsewnsew

my avatar is very much in the same boat. thinking of putting it IN a boat and using it as an anchor!!

J Miller

Jim,

If you haven't done so already, give the Tri-Flow oil a chance. Once I tried it, I've found I can't live without it.

Joe

oldsewnsew

if it hadn't been worked on (or over) by the same guy who put the grease in the 201-2 brushes, who was also using the service manual and had taken a lot of trial and error notes... I'm not so sure its oil any more...

miriam

LOL I think I like to see an honest to gosh beater rather than one somebody tried to work on...

oldsewnsew

Yeah, me too, I just hope I'm not doing the same to some poor sap down the road!

miriam

Well, I hope you are getting useful help on here so you have success in your repairing. Some people on QB put in a lot of time trying to prevent disasters. I have a Singer 401 still on the back of the bench - it came with a box full of pieces someone pulled off the machine. There was dried grease everywhere. My little DGD and I carefully removed it. Nothing turned - she helped me clean dried up varnish and re-oil. I got it all together and it sews but the tension will not adjust. I've replaced the tension with a different tension. No change. I replaced the bobbin case. No change. I'm thinking maybe the little spring clip that holds the tension is next. At least take it out and put it back. No easy task. Getting the spring screw back will be a PITB. I just hope I figure something out.... fixing a machine can be frustrating if you let it. It can be rewarding if you are patient. It is all a learning experience.

I shouldn't have said beater... NOT around HERE