Originally Posted by
Thumbs
... Felt is the only material I have. I...
I do notice a potential problem with the tension disks,I think. ... The tension is the same with the presser fut up or down. ...
I have tested stitches with doubled Bounty paper towels.
There is a pin that goes through the tension assembly. Sometimes it gets gunked up. It is supposed to push the discs apart when you raise the presser foot and the discs will close together when the foot is down. (at least that is what it is supposed to do
) You should always have the presser foot up when you thread the machine, so that the thread goes between the discs. It could be put together wrong. WIChix gave you the link for a service manual, which shows the schematic of how the tension assembly is to go together. I have some small brushes that can clean small places. Should you decide to take it apart, be sure that the metal pieces are cleaned and polished smooth.
You said that the feed dogs move when you move the lever, was that when the needle plate was on or off? When I looked an my 99 clone, the feed dogs came almost to the front of the holes in the needle plate when I moved the lever to the longest stitch.
Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.