Brother XR-52 mechanical machine problem
 

Just wondering if anyone has a mechanical Brother that has a presser foot that only stays up at "half mast" so to speak and if you have fixed it. It will go all the way up if I lift it, but won't stay all the way up. By some miracle I took the front and back off the machine and can barely see in the area with the presser foot mechanism. It is not the needle bar - that works fine. I don't want to take it in if I can help it. I know this is a low end machine, but, it has never given me a minute's problem in sewing. I could live with this issue if I had to, since I have for a couple of years, but, now that I tinker with my vintage machines, thought I would give this a try.

You might want to join the wefixit group on Yahoo. They specialize in sewing machines:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/wefixit/info

Most of those mechanical machines work on the same principle, so likely someone there can tell you what to look for to correct that problem. If I had one of my mechanical machines out of storage, I could probably figure it out for you. Were you able to take off the cover on the left side of the machine? That is probably where you need to be looking. Usually there is some kind of a lever mechanism that clicks into place when you raise the presser foot. It may be that a screw is loose, or it needs oiling in that area, or a piece broke off.

Thanks Prism99 - I managed to get the entire white case off. Just 9 screws. Now it is naked on the dining room table. I can see the lifter but I am afraid I'd have to take something else off and I am no expert and I really do like the machine. Tomorrow when I am more rested I will give it another look. I feel like if I had some good instructions or a picture I might be able to see what's what. I've been googling and searching you tube all afternoon. Will check out the yahoo group.

There is a Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/VintageSewingMachines/
There are many very knowledgeable and helpful people that restore machines like new and they share everything they know about any machine.

I have the brother xr70. It is designed to lift the foot about halfway, then if you need the extra space under the foot you can lift it a little more with the lever. I think the machine may be operating the way it was designed to work and would be very careful about making any adjustment.

Thanks. Will check it out. I don't think it is a vintage machine though.

Wow, I'm surprised because it didn't always do this. For the first half of its life the presser foot stayed all the way up. Maybe it adjusted itself back to normal? Now that I have the case off I guess ill
just clean it up and put it back together.