Now what have I done to the Singer 201?
So frustrated! When I bought the 201 a couple of weeks ago, it was missing the power cord and the foot control, but once I replaced those, the only problem was that the bobbin tension seemed too tight.
Now I have managed to break it so it doesn't sew at all. (quiet sobbing)
Here's what I did. I was still trying to fix the tension. I first thought I was threading it wrong, but I wasn't, so I decided to take out the bobbin case and clean everything. It seemed to go back together fine and I was happy with everything being all nice and shiny. I put a drop of oil where the bobbin rests and all seemed to be moving okay and in the right place. But when I first pushed the foot peddle, it didn't start to sew - just made a noise. I turned the wheel toward me to get it started, but it just made a small knot and the fabric didn't move. I took out the fabric and just turned the wheel by hand. The feed dogs moved. The bobbin threads okay. However, when I turn the wheel, it goes about a quarter turn and then gets very stiff. It seems like the stitch length control wants to move at the stiff point - if I loosen the lever, the stitch length lever moves when I turn the wheel. I don't want to make anything worse by forcing it, but the wheel will keep moving; it's just harder to turn. I held the machine tilted up and looked at the bottom while I turned the wheel and everything looked like it was moving okay.
I'm not sure which thing I did was the problem. Besides the bobbin cleaning, I was just trying to check things the other day and I couldn't get the wheel loosened enough to stop the needle going up and down (I was doing this as if I was going to wind a bobbin and wanted to disengage the needle). So, I did keep turning the small silver wheel quite a few times, but it never got looser than the first bit of turning had done and the needle kept moving. I did this all by hand and finally gave it up and tightened it again. I haven't tried to use the machine until today after the bobbin case disassembly, so I don't know if all the wheel turning might have done something...
I desperately hope someone can help. I'm afraid to try anything else at this point.
Thank you!