I picked up a cheap derelict sewing machine from the Goodwill Auction sight unseen....
It was dirty.
I cleaned it.
It was smelly...
Cleaning helped
a lot.
It was not moving.
(It does now) Does that mean it isn't derelict now???
no...
I decided to take the tension apart.
The spindle/post thingy was spinning around in the socket.
Stuff and thingies were not coming off like they normally should.
After a while, I got the bit pieces off the post.
The spring was sprung.
ssssooooo not good...
So I thought I would pull the post it out and see if I have a spring that fits.
Well...
The spindles are held in by set screws or they screw into the socket.
I turned the set screw and metal came chipping out around the set screw... ARGH.
Eventually it came out. It took the right screw driver, Tri-flow and heat...
I started looking more closely at the socket. It looked a little knackered.
Well, someone must have taken a hammer and screwdriver to that socket and tortured for some reason known only to them.
Usually they come right out if you take out the set screw on the side or top somewhere... I guess that Egor character who worked on it never saw a service manual.
I found the set screw, got it out. Then tried to pull the socket.
Some of the metal came apart like a bad tooth filling.
Then I thought I would pull out the remains of the socket.
It crumbled some more. But the part that stayed in was stuck - very stuck.
REMEMBER I had all the set screws out.
Well that socket was toast... It had to come out
thanks to that Egor character with the hammer going nuts...
DH to the rescue. He got out a chisel and hammer... to no avail.
That puppy was stuck. We did a bunch of head scratching.
Then he got out the drill and drilled it out. The machine is now full of metal bits from that socket.
I'm going to need to check and see if another tension/socket will fit in the hole after I get all the metal out of there...
OK. So let this serve as a terrible warning:
TENSIONS HAVE SET SCREWS HOLDING STUFF IN PLACE.
READ THE SERVICE MANUAL.
READ IT AGAIN............
FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. 
Manual:
http://www.tfsr.org/publications/tec...achine_manual/