Sandi Anaya

hey, just bought a Singer 301, need your expertise please, the needle bar will not budge. Ideas

MFord

Drench it with good quality sewing machine oil, anywhere that two metal surfaces contact each other. Put a piece of cloth or paper towel under the feed dog to pick up excess oil. Then wait a few days and try again - should make a difference! If not, you can try wiggling the handwheel back and forth, lightly, while running a hot hair dryer in the stuck up area as it could be hardened grease. Also, have you been completely through the bobbin assembly looking for stray threads, even invisible thread? That can cause a world of problems. Good luck!

HelenAnn

You can open the side panel to see what the bar looks like. Does it move at all?

miriam

One of the things I don't like about the 301 and the FW is the thread jams. Some how my Mom can jam thread in those machines at the drop of a hat. The machine does not move with a thread jam and some times they are hard to locate the stupid little thread causing it. If it is just dried up oil, turn it upside down and oil, too.

Sandi Anaya

Thank you all, it did have a major thread jam I got that all out, then was stumped. More probably wanted instant gratification, shame on me. But when I got up this morning it wanted to move. So OK I give in little by little. This morning a little more oil and a little more cleaning, and I will look at it again when I get home from work. Thanks again.

Rodney

Sounds like you're on the right track. It didn't freeze up overnight. It can take a little time to work loose too.
Rodney

Manalto

Everything that was said above, plus - sometimes heat from a blow dryer will loosen up old solidified oil. If there are no thread jams, rock the handwheel and heat up the mechanism with the dryer. 301s are well worth the effort!