Originally Posted by DesiG

I purchased a 301 earlier this year (1951 tan short bed in an art deco cabinet) and had similar issues with the tension- Icould not set the tensioner low enough to make a balanced stitch, much less lighten up the tension if needed for specificsewing. What I eventually did was to tighten the bobbin tension with that tiny screw on the bobbin case until I had a
balanced stitch when the upper disc was around the middle number. This took about an hour of fiddling around with it,
tighten the screw- sew a trial seam, adjust, adjust etc. and now I have it so that if I am sewing 2 layers of cotton, the
upper tension is set at about 4.5 or so. I also cleaned the heck out of it, oiled everything and then played with all the
attachments that came with it. Spent just one summer afternoon sitting on my camper deck to get it purring along.
I also have a FW (love it for piecing) and a Bernina 430, but I really like FMQ on my 301.