How do I tear down my 230 Pfaff?
 

I want to strip it down and remove all of the old paint down to the bare metal to repaint. This is my first vintage machine and from what I have read is probably not the best one to start with but I am fearless. ;) I have the motor off, and am trying to get the large screw in the middle of the largest tension knob to break loose but it won't budge. I want to remove all of the bakelite knobs too as they can only be cleaned by a good long soak. They are so filthy I don't even want to touch them...All of the knobs are screwless except for the large one and I was wondering if the whole assembly comes loose with that one large screw? Do they sometimes just pull off? Thanks

Okay, I THINK I figured it out...

good luck and make sure you take pics as you take apart so you can get it back together again. show us when done.

Thanks Amyjo Yep, taking pics. Thanks for the well wishes.:)

Sunflower, are you certain it needs stripping and repainting? That sort of industrial machine paint is very hard to get off - it looks to me as though the paint is solid, but a gloss has gone flaky, or the paint has oil or crud build up on it. I am certainly no expert, but just wondering, have you tried just flaking off the cruddy junk?

Anyhow, if you proceed with the full dis-assemble, then WOW, you have my admiration. I've not done such a thing, but from my very minor tinkerings, my only advice would be to take more photos than you think you need. I am always surprised at the details such as orientation of a spring, etc, where photos rescue me after the fact. :-)

Best of luck!

The knobs and dials crack very easily and can easily be broken by removal. Good luck as they're somewhat fragile.

You are Brave! - for all the machines my DH has done, he says the Pfaff 130 was one of the more difficult to deal with. Though not as bad as Viking 6000 series.

Join the Yahoo group, there is a lot of information you can look up on that site to give you a good idea what you are getting into. And the specific problems they are prone to.

parts can be very hard to come by- and if you find them the are not cheap! On the good side, there is a good market for the parts if you decide to sell them.

Thanks guys. Well after delving into this machine we decided to clean up as much as we could w/o a tear down because it does look to be more than we want to take on right on now. I already cleaned the dials while they are still attached. I ordered some parts for it and next I will go ahead with a paint job as best as I can. Unfortunately the actual paint is down to bare metal in numerous places and there is weird numerous little spots that if disturbed flake off right down to the metal. I am thinking it must have been splashed with something at some point so it does need a new coat of paint. The good news is it runs great and nothing was frozen on it. This has been fun! Thanks for all of the advice and the well wishes.