I'm missing a screw but you already knew that.... When I took the screw out of the tension end of a Singer 401a it went flying across the shop. No telling where it went. Why is it the smallest screws fly the farthest and the fastest? I crawled around with a magnet and still never have found it. Maybe I should shake the machine up a little... see if it falls out... I'll have to rob something else for the set screw. Maybe I can pay a finder fee to Wilbur and Lovie next time they are over. LOL Teach them what 'real' sewing repairs are?
Ok back to what I worked on. I had 3 machines yesterday with buggered up tensions. It was the end of the day and I was exhausted. Before I went to bed I had a little brain fart - maybe I forgot to get the dried up oil off the little tiny pin that never sees the light of day and gets lost when you pull the tension off a machine. So when I got up I messed with the first tension. Pulled it off the machine, re-cleaned and oiled it. I had not pulled the pin out - my bad. The tension works just fine on straight stitch. On zig zag no matter what I do the thread pulls to one side. The machine zigs and zags like it should - the needle swings fine - no crud in the system. I took off all the jewelery so I could see the hook. It is nabbing the thread so it isn't out of timing. I have to go back and explore. I had another Singer 401a with a buyer showing up in a hurry and it's tension wasn't working either - same dried up crud. So that one tension is gone to the machine that is now out the door. The quick fix for the one out the door was the tension off the messed up machine. Now I have the tension for the machine that is out the door missing a set screw and the machine still doesn't zig and zag with good tension. I may pull a tension off a Fashion Mate and see if it works. I'm thinking somebody jimmied up the machine somewhere. Parts were all in a box. The tension was put together wrong. Other parts were pulled from the machine. The other machine I was having fun with was a Brother Flairmatic - it's problem was dried up oil on the little pin that goes in the center of the tension where it never sees the light of day. I got it cleaned, oiled and returned. I like that machine. The Brother Flairmatic seems to be a good solid machine. It would be great for learning to sew! Three tensions with dried up oil on the pin.
Does that tell me something? NEVER LET A SEWING MACHINE KNOW YOU ARE IN A HURRY.
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