Questions about upper tension, motor
Hi!
After about a year with my Singer 223, I've finally gotten brave enough recently to get into the guts of it to clean and actually oil it. It's sewn fine for the most part, and I wouldn't say that at any point I felt like something was seriously wrong internally, so I didn't really think it was necessary to mess around inside. There were still some things that bothered me so that's what I have some questions about....
1. The upper tension wasn't releasing with the presser foot up. It turns out that the plastic +/- indicator is missing the tiny center piece that is supposed to rest inside the tension stud. You can see the little chip in the plastic where it's broken off in the picture below. I'm wondering if there is any cheap-y crafty way to avoid having to buy a new tension assembly or even just the indicator separately. Would it be enough to replace the release pin with a longer finishing nail? Or is that bit of plastic really necessary? Has anyone successfully glued some kind of makeshift thingy into their indicator?
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2. My motor has been unusually loud this past week, and today I found this little object (in the picture, below the indicator) rattling around inside and was able to just shake it out. I've had some similar moments of noisiness in the past, so it's probably been in there the whole time I've had this machine. What is this? Is it important? My machine still runs and has always run. The motor sounds improved, I guess.
Anyway, thanks!