I went to the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati this weekend and stopped by the Jean S. Lyle booth. I have a 1940 FW given to me by a friend last year that had a sticky bobbin case. When I took it to my local repairman, he told me it needed a whole new bobbin case assembly (the part in the machine that holds the bobbin and its case) and it would be around $200 so he suggested it wasn't worth putting that much money into it and just use it for parts. I figured he really didn't want to mess with it - he just doesn't understand why we love FWs so much. It sewed beautifully when I could get the bobbin case to go in and stay in. Billy and some others here on the board said it was definitely worth fixing especially since I paid nothing for it.
So I asked Mr. Lyle about it on Friday (without telling him how much my guy wanted to fix it). He said, if you're coming back tomorrow bring it in and I'll take a look at it. So I did. He tried all the quick fixes first - brand new bobbin, new bobbin case and finally he and his technician Chris determined that the assembly was bent. Showed me where the bent part was and said they could replace it then and there. Chris (who is no spring chicken) sat on the floor of their tiny little booth for over 3 hours working on my machine because once she finally got the bent assembly out and put the new one in, the timing was off so she had to work at it to get the timing perfect. I kept roaming around the show and stopping back to see how she was doing. Through this whole time, Mr. and Mrs. Lyle and Chris were so nice. I asked him a bunch of other questions and he is just a well of knowledge about FWs and happy to share what he knows. When Chris was done, my machine was purring.
I felt so bad that she had to spend so much time on my machine sitting on the floor but they told me they love a challenge and enjoyed doing it. And it cost me about the same as my repair guy wanted to do it but I had an expert fix it. I am now in love with these people and will use them for all my parts and accessories. They sell FWs too. Their website is
www.jslyle.com
If you ever see them at a quilt show, stop by and talk to them. They are just fantastic.