Originally Posted by
bkay
I took it to school and the gears under the bobbin disintegrated in about 2 weeks...
...My 778 is still going strong, but it has always been stored in the house and has not been used much. You have no idea of how a donation machine has been stored or used...
The original poster hasn't had a chance to reply yet, but that's why I assume it's worth spending a bit of time and money on a machine like this. My experiences with plastic gears arent' that bad, they go on for up to 40 years on machines that's seen quite a lot of work. A service and repair will hold up. I haven't found a good explanation for why some gears crumble away and others don't. The only thing I have noticed very clearly is sun exposure, it can turn new plastics brittle within a year. Some hold up better than others there too. A fixer up like is usually handed to the next owner for free. I hope some take care of the T&S, especially the all metal and the ones that run very nicely.