I bought an old Singer Cam Sewing machine but don't have any of the cams. Can anyone help me?

Just make sure you get the right ones. Apparently they don't all fit. My dad's machine won't fit my machine.

I know. That is what is scary.

You can do many stitches with just the dials. The extra cams are only 5 or 6 and not easily found. I love this machine!!!

I bought a set of them on ebay.

You may post a free ad seeking your cams from someone who may wish to sell. Be sure to read instructions carefully.

http://sewingwishlist.com/

June in Cincinnati

The 500 does a lot of different stitches without the cams - and most of the cams duplicate stitches that you can make with the built-in cams. I used to have a list of the cams that the machine couldn't duplicate, but I can't find it at the moment.

Singer had two basic styles of cam.

If you look at auctions on eBay, you're looking for the black "top hat" style cams - if you stretch your imagination, they could look like little hats. ;) The white ones will not work in the 500, nor will the black #23 basting cam made for only two or three machines in the 600 series of Touch & Sews.

You also don't want the other style made by Singer which are flat disks.

The only disks you're looking for are the black "hat" looking cams.

You can find them really cheap if you watch for a while - don't look for parts specifically for the 500 or 401 - look for parts for the Touch & Sews - they will usually sell for far less than the ones sold for Slant-O-Matics. :)

Here's a chart that shows most of the disks made that fit the 500 & 503 machines.

The settings are the same on the 500 as they are for the 401.