Lara,
Remove the face plate and look at the needle bar. Many of the newer Singers have two timing marks on the bar. These are used to put the needle in the correct height position and to time the hook.
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This is an example from a Singer Mdl 457.
The timing marks can be at the bottom, in the center, or at the top of the needle bar.
How this works is this. When the bottom mark is below the top of the bushing and the top mark can just be seen, the needle bar is all the way down.
If you rotate the hand wheel until the bottom mark is in the same position as the top mark when the machine was all the way down, the point of the hook should be centered behind the needle.
Better instructions for this can be found in the Singer shop manuals you can download from their site.
I suspect from your pictures, that the timing has slipped on that machine.
Or, if the needle in it was the one you were sewing on, it could have been bent backward somehow and now the hook is catching it. Try a new needle as you check the timing and make sure the needle arm is in the Center position.
Joe
Last edited by J Miller; 09-22-2013 at 10:31 AM.