ThayerRags

The Model 401A was one of Singer’s best machines. My wife and I have 4 of them, and our daughter has the fifth one. Three of ours do “tag team” duty for my wife at our shop and at home. She sews daily at the shop, and nightly at home. A 401A is in use at each place, and the third one gets serviced and set on my work bench for the next rotation.

We picked up the fourth one when we got her Singer #430 "Profile" 3-Way Sewing Desk for our home. It was designed as an extra large desk for school use that combined a sewing table, a cutting table, and a school desk all in one. It has a 43 1/4" X 37 1/2" surface area with the leaf folded out. The machine folds down in the desk, and there’s an insert to cover the cut-out for a cutting table.

I named the 4th 401A machine “Weinie”, because of the sound that the motor makes when I take it up to top speed and let it wind back down (weeeeeeiiiiiiiinnnnniiiiiieeeee). The motor bearing lubricant dried up after years of non-use, and it will take a while for the oil that I added to it to soften it back up again. It’s a loud enough whine to be really annoying. It should quiet back down eventually and be another good machine. If not, I’ll stick another motor in it.

Non-use is probably the hardest thing on the 401A model, as with most other machines. If they don’t get used regularly, things get sticky, whether freshly oiled or not prior to storage. Nearly all of the 401A machines that I’ve come across have had sticky cam selector pins in them, so it’s common. Things can get bent if someone hauls one out of long-term storage and starts forcing the linkages.

Prices vary greatly from one area to another, so I can’t comment on that.

CD in Oklahoma