kland

Hello, brand new member, so apologies if this post isn't appropriate here (if it isn't, perhaps someone could point me in the right direction [besides the exit door]).

I am looking for repair advice on an old Singer sewing machine...

I picked an old Singer 1802 sewing machine at a nearly SA store. I needed something simple, and I love to repair stuff.

When I examined the machine, it was pretty much frozen (very hard to turn the hand wheel). The motor hummed, and spun freely with no load, but could not budge the machine when installed.

I could not find a service manual for this machine, but decided to try to repair it anyway. I proceeded to carefully disassemble it. As I expected, I found many spots where the lubrication had either turned into a sticky gum, or disappeared altogether. So I cleaned and lubed the machine throughout and installed a replacement motor (not OEM).

After all that, the machine would run but no way it would sew. After more research, I realized that my disassembly/reassembly likely messed up the bobbin timing (among other things I'm sure). I found some general information about bobbin timing and made that adjustment. I also discover that the black plastic bobbin case had a couple of chips around its outer rim leaving a very rough surface, and that the thread was catching on these and not flowing correctly. So, replaced the bobbin case.

As of now, the state of the machine is that it will sew a few inches, but invariably the thread from the bobbin will break. I've checked the thread tension from the bobbin case and it seems OK. I've also cleaned the thread tensioner assembly.

At this point I'm at a loss as to why this is happening. There was one adjustment that I just guessed at, lacking a real service manual for this machine...namely the needle bar height. The bar does have registration marks on it, but I could not find any manual that matched those, so I guessed.

Any help/suggestions much appreciated!