I have a 1951 Black 301 (no cabinet) and 1954 Tri Color 301A(cabinet w/knee and foot pedal) both short beds...Love them both. But I rank my 301A better then the 301 even though they are the same machine. I haven't mastered FM yet but find it much easier on the 301's versus the modern machines.

If you look at my avitar you will see that I have both a fw and a 301 in their respective tables. I use them both. The 301 definitely has more power than my fw but they both have their advantages.

I purchased a 301 earlier this year (1951 tan short bed in an art deco cabinet) and had similar issues with the tension- Icould not set the tensioner low enough to make a balanced stitch, much less lighten up the tension if needed for specificsewing. What I eventually did was to tighten the bobbin tension with that tiny screw on the bobbin case until I had a
balanced stitch when the upper disc was around the middle number. This took about an hour of fiddling around with it,
tighten the screw- sew a trial seam, adjust, adjust etc. and now I have it so that if I am sewing 2 layers of cotton, the
upper tension is set at about 4.5 or so. I also cleaned the heck out of it, oiled everything and then played with all the
attachments that came with it. Spent just one summer afternoon sitting on my camper deck to get it purring along.
I also have a FW (love it for piecing) and a Bernina 430, but I really like FMQ on my 301.

I have 2 401's and 2 301's and a 403 They are my favorites. I can work on them my self. I have a great machine guy that teaches me what I need to know to take care of my babies.

I love those too for the same reason.

http://www.ismacs.net/singer_sewing_...ine-manual.pdf
I found a manual that can be downloaded and has the explanation on the attachment feet. Ismac has all sorts of Singer manuals for free if anyone needs them. I have both the 301 and 301A but haven't used them much or even cleaned them up. My husband fines more then I can get done or else I am on the website too much. It must be he fines more then I can get done! Hope someone can use this site as I believe it is a very good one.

Here is a link that teaches how to fix the tension problems. It's a little long, because the author is a little chatty, but the information in the article is really good.

http://www.treadleon.net/sewingmachi...djustment.html

Dave McCallum has directions to fix the tension, also, in his book "The Featherweight 221 and I" I found it easy to do once I learned the workings of the tension dial.

I would love to join this thread. I have 2 301's and so far like them. I would like to learn more about them!

Singer 301
 

I have two Singer 301 machines, one is tan with a large flip up and the other one is a black one in a cabinet. I would love to have a thread about these machines>

Peggy

Singer 301
 

I have two Singer 301 machines, one is tan with a large flip up and the other one is a black one in a cabinet. I would love to have a thread about these machines>

Peggy