Well, I've found a very supportive group of them here, and feel far less extreme with my scant 7 vintage machines.
It is just that there is actually a lot of info out there about how to fix Singers and manuals and parts, makes it difficult to want to work on others as a beginner. I got a featherweight 221 with two inner parts put on backwards fixed and going within a few days, but I had to buy a manual for my Kenmore 1311 from a manuals website. And it is a good thing that the first one of the two I have was in very nice condition, and the second only needed a new bobbin winder tire. That said, I envy and admire the people who've been at this long enough that they're fixing up machines that can't even be firmly identified!