mac

The gentleman that repairs and services my machines for the last eight years uses Vaseline for the gears. I was surprised and asked him about it and he said that the Vaseline doesn't harden like some grease does.

It did reminded me of my old Viking and my mom's 1950's Necchi, which both had a problem (at different times) and it was recommended by different repairmen that the parts had to be cleaned to get rid of the gunk from the grease that hardened on the gears. It wasn't a cheap repair for either of the machines.

bkay

I've heard that Vaseline thing elsewhere.

Well, I found that the gears in the 646 were some form of plastic, but should be "lubricated" according to the service manual. (Just bought it today.) What do you think about using "gun scrubber" to clean off the old junk on the gears? I used gun scrubber on my 201-2 to clean off the old stuff, then applied singer grease to it. (There was a little left in the tube in the drawer, so I used it.) But the 201 gears are metal.

The 646 may be a lost cause because the bobbin winder won't work. I'm looking into repairing it, but I'm not so sure I have the expertise.

bk

osewme

Here are a lot of you-tubes on the Singer 646. You might find something there that tells about repairs to the bobbin winder.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...+646&FORM=VDRE

Mickey2

I don't dare to say yes with out hesitation since I have never used it. I looked it up and like the idea of having something that doesn't leave a trace after it's dried up, and ideal for oil as the next step. It says "synthetic safe" on the can, and a commercial says "safe for polymers". The problem is not all plastics are the same, but generally; worth trying, I don't see why not. I couldn't find a list of ingredients for it unfortunately.

I'm sure there are someone who knows about the Touch & Sew fancy bobbin winding functions and can help you sort it out. I have been curious my self, but haven't had my hands one yet. Some have a Touch & Sew as their favorite go to machine, they track down replacment gears and hand them in for service if something goes wrong, so I guess there's something too them

leonf

YOu may have another machine that could wind the bobbbins, or buy a battery operated one. I've been known to shim the battery winders with paper to get them to spin a bobbin with a bigger hole than they were designed for.

bkay

Touch and Sew bobbins don't have a hole in them, so I don't think you can use a bobbin winder.

I was going to give the machine away. It appears to cost about $60.00 to buy the gears. I don't think that is a good investment in time and money. If it was a keeper, maybe I would consider it. But for 2 days and $60.00, I'd rather have a 403, which can be had for that price range. I bought a decent 201-2 for $50.00 a couple of months ago that still works perfectly.

Thanks for your help.

bkay

leonf

oops, sorry. Thanks bkay