FW-HASB ?? fixable? by me? - very long winded
What is FW-HASB you ask? Well for me it is featherweight- horizontal arm shaft bushing
Why I'm asking is that I found a close to pristine Featherweight at the the thrift store that doesn't work.
I would have to say that this machine's condition is probably close to:
"8: Very good used condition. All paint good; all metalwork bright. What the
average antique dealer would call "perfect"."
It does have some wear spots and a couple of chips on the hand wheel (I may have made, but being very careful). The case is not as good and missing some of the original accessories that would have come with it.
When I tried the hand wheel, it would barely budge. I figured a thread jam - especially because of recent discussions here.
I did find some thread pieces that I pulled out after removing the bobbin case. Try again - same results. Okay still thinking thread jam. I removed the rotating hook bobbin case base and nothing there. I did find a thread that I was able to remove by easily unwinding around the hook loop guard. It didn't look as if it had been wound tight like the curly thread that has been on bobbin for a long time. Still not able to move hand wheel.
Okay, must need fresh oil and grease. Cleaned oil holes, gears and grease cups. It looked like there was grease in two places that should have had oil. One was on top by the pressure regulating thumb screw & the other was on top just to the right of the arm top cover. Tri-flow for oil and Singer lubricant (metal tube) in proper places. Let sit overnight - same results.
I know the instructions tell you, "If, after standing for some time, the machine works heavily, use a little Kerosene in place of oil. Then run the machine rapidly to clean the bearings." Now would be the time to check motor so can run rapidly. Well, if the hand wheel won't turn... I didn't think that the motor and belt would either -- and it didn't. I don't remember the exact order of checking but some of the things I tried. Such as adjusting belt tension both tighter & looser, switching belt & again tighter and looser. Couldn't get it to move. Somewhere in time, I also checked to see if motor/belt would wind the bobbin, so undid the shiny metal knob -aka "stop motion clamp screw". The bobbin winder - belt - motor WORKS. Now why is the the rest of it not working?
So I put kerosene in all the oil holes and proper places in the instructions - I left grease cups in motor alone. I let it set over night and still not moving correctly. I let it set for another day.
I decided the next course of action would be to try Kroil. I wrapped the motor and terminal body with plastic wrap. I placed an absorbent pad in the bottom of a contractor trash bag, placed the machine in the bag and sprayed (with narrow straw) all the places where metal to metal, except gears that I could get to. I had it outside in the sun and closed the bag and let it sit for a little while. After a bit, got it to turn a little more freely. So since I knew motor was ok, I put the belt on and plugged it in. Got it to move a bit, but sluggishly. I decided that it needed some heat and got out a mini hair dryer. Started at the bottom - that wasn't helping. Thinking that maybe since I had seen some evidence of the probability of grease in the top oil holes and thinking there was some there that I would try to melt/flush grease out. As I ran the dryer, the motor started speeding up -- I was getting somewhere. I ran it for a bit with the dryer aimed there. Upon turning the dryer off the motor slowed down. Ran it a bit more with dryer on low. Figured I would give it a break. Let it set for a bit and tried again to run without the dryer. It tried to run, but until I directed the dryer again it was barely moving. I thought I would put too much load on the motor so stopped. Maybe now if I Tri-flowed it that would be a good thing. Well, I oiled it again with Tri-Flow and let sit. Try again, same thing would barely run without the dryer. I figured I'd let it run a bit to disperse oil, and that it might need some more so oiled a few places while it was running. Again slowed down after removing heat. Thinking maybe let it set overnight to give Tri-flow a chance to work.
Since I knew I couldn't turn the hand wheel in the very beginning, I did not even try to take a stitch with 'her'. Let's see -- check list:
1. Remove thread jams -- Done (including behind hand wheel - there wasn't any thread behind the hand wheel)
2. Clean and lubricate -- Done a couple of times.
3. Adjust -- Adjust what??? and how???
The next morning, hoping all would be well, I tried again. No such luck. Quite by accident, I had stuck a plastic tube down in the oil hole for the horizonal arm shaft bushing (45704 on the parts chart - there are two of them on the horizontal arm shaft). I notice that both oil holes have a very small ledge before it drops down to the arm shaft. I checked with another FW and the holes are all the same size all the way down.
Okay, I am a fairly decent researcher, and I had tried to find a possible solution or reason for an almost like new FW to have these exact symptoms. I couldn't come up with a similar scenario. I did find one place that seemed to address the problem of a FW sewing okay and then as it heated up would start turning sluggishly and when let cool would sew. I was having the opposite problem. Is the solution the same? The answer seemed to be end play of the horizontal arm shaft. It appears to me that the bushings somehow got twisted, rotated, misaligned, messed up, misplaced or something and are not in the proper position to operate like a typical featherweight.
I don't know if the end play adjustment would work or if it is more complicated or maybe just a lemon out of the factory. I have been trying to be careful, but I feel like I'm adding inadvertently to additional wear & tear to this beautiful machine. Has anyone else run across this problem? Any detailed advice would be greatly appreciated. I tried to follow the directions on page 30 of the Adjuster's Manual but it didn't appear that the balance wheel bushing moves when the screw is loosened.
I'm wondering what to do. Maybe this would be better left to someone who has more experience and better tools. I'd sure like to say, "I fixed it myself." Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.