Ok,.. here we go. So this is what I picked up on Tuesday. Today it got a complete cleaning, including both tensioners (needle and bobbin) disassembled and cleaned, oiled and greased.
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As discussed, I added felt to the bottoms of the spool pins, to take up the slack. It's a little spongy though. It doesn't seem to affect the thread spools in a short term test. We'll see over a longer term project though. (If I knew how to make one of Joe's bags for instance...
) I may replace the felt with washers or something.
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A close up of the bottom of the spool pins. It was pretty tough to put the steel lock washer into place. There's no bend in that plate, but it's certainly out of shape. I wonder if it will settle down eventually.
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I found 3 surprises though, all related to the bobbin.
1. It's significantly different than the bobbin that's in a 401/ 403/ 503. I don't have a 500 here to compare with, but I suspect that it's the same as the other 3. My guess is that this has something to do with the ability to chainstitch?
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The second surprise was the "epoxy" or similar on the edge of the bobbin case. Miriam, does yours look like this, or is it a repair the way I suspect it is? It seems to work fine for lock stitching. We shall see about chain stitching tomorrow when I have some focus back.
Third surprise, it needed a new tension spring, but I replaced that with a spare from 403ish bobbin case, set it to the "specs" in the TFSR manual and the test stitch is perfect! Next test, probably tomorrow now - project chainstitch.
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Here's what the machine came with, besides the manual.
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It also came in a cabinet, which I'll just store for now, and maybe send with another machine at some point. Once I've had a chance to go through all the treats I found in the drawers, of course. The guy I bought it from said he got it at an estate sale auction. All of this came with it, plus a Griest buttonholer.
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I picked this case up from the Singer store that just closed, and it's a perfect fit for this machine, so that's where it will be stored.
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I picked up this 115 from the same guy, and I suspect he got it at the same auction. In the drawers for the 411, I found a green box of low shank attachments, and the buttonholer was a low shank as well. There was also a manual for a Blind stitch attachment, and coincidentally, my BS attachment was missing its manual.
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It will get cleaned up at my next opportunity. It's got some paint that's been dripped on it, so I'll have to figure out how to remove that. Today it got a wipe down, and a good oiling with Tri-Flow. It's freed right up. I think I'll make a box for it, and put my "spare" (chinese) hand crank on it. No parts required.