Vintage Machines - Zigzag tension
Hey everyone,
This seems to only be a problem I run into on the vintage machines. The newer machine (A 290C) doesn't exhibit this problem that I've ever noticed. Usually my 403a, but today it's a new to me Elna Supermatic giving me grief. I'm wondering if I'm just being too picky and should just leave well enough alone.
I can't seem to balance the tension "exactly". I've disassembled the bobbin case area and cleaned in and around. I removed the tension discs and cleaned as well as I could, without complete disassembly (looked like a real pain), but I managed to fish this out:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]347131[/ATTACH]
I reassembled everything and took it for a test drive. I played with the bobbin tension some, and finally arrived at this, at an upper tension of 4.5ish:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]347133[/ATTACH]
Hopefully the picture is big enough to see. What I think I'm seeing is tension too loose on one side of the zig zag, and too tight on the other side. It's fairly consistent, and of course it's not noticeable if you use the same color of thread top and bottom.
It's just that,.... well, I know it's there.
Should I just be ignoring it? Or have I missed something? Tighten or loosen the tension top or bottom from here, and you end up with more pulled down or up, but still can't find the "perfect" balance. An OSMG said to me that you sometimes have to sacrafice the bottom a little if you want the top perfect. Does that mean this may be as close as it gets?
Thanks a bunch for any and all opinions.