fixing machines
 

Where do you go to learn how to repair machines? I live in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Youtube. I just asked my sewing repair guy and, since it is how he makes a living, he instantly discouraged me by saying that the last place he heard taught that skill was jail. And I wouldn't want to go to jail to learn a trade, would I???? Lol. I've seen some tutorial books that are advertised online, but I'm too cheap to take the risk.
What I've done to teach myself is bought some cheap vintage machines and just just taken them apart and put them back together again. It gave me an idea of how all the parts work together and what they do. And if you ruin it, you're only out a few bucks and you've got a ton of spare parts. (If you've seen any of my posts, you'll realize that I am still by no means even at an intermediate level, but I don't mind because it's FUN!)
This site is pretty full of people who have a lot of knowledge when it comes to troubleshooting and vintage SMs, and so far they've put up with all of my questions and given me good answers. I know I won't have many answers for you, but I'd love to help you troubleshoot. Feel free to PM me.

I took Ray White's class a couple years ago but I had already learned a lot years ago by fixing a commercial walking foot every time I used it, prior I used to take apart things every now and then. Plus I learned a lot just fixing junk machines.

What do you want to do, Diana? As in, how far do you want to go? Just fix your own machines or fix other peoples' too?

There are a couple of lists on yahoo that loads of us vintage fans subscribe to, and the tfsr web site has an excellent book on fixing four common Singer models (201, 15, 66, 99). These are simple enough to understand but are also possibly four of the best machines ever made (presumably this is why they were the focus of the book).

I learned by buying very cheap machines from my local tip shop and cleaning then fixing them. If I broke one, no big deal, since they were about $5 each.

Thanks for the info. I think I would like to fix some here and there for some extra money. Now that I am on SS, something interesting to do. I will check youtube and the books. Thanks again.

David Trumble has several Utube videos and he DOES teach classes, I think they are for three days or so at a time. There are also several utube videos out there, just search for sewing machine repair.

I have a Necchi 524 (got it at a yard sale) and it worked until I dropped it -- duh -- now it won't turn on and I'm trying to remove the motor to get to the on/off switch but have gotten stuck. have looked online for instructions or diagrams of the motor to no avail. any ideas? the motor is inside the bottom of the machine and the on/off switch is a rocker switch just above the motor. thanks

Is it a 524 FB(newer) or a Lycia 524(older)? Either way, you should be able to remove the side panel where the hand wheel is, and look inside and see if any wires are loose.

Here's the Tools For Self Reliance Manual mentioned above:
http://www.tfsr.org/publications/tec...achine_manual/

Rain's blog is very informative and he has a good tutorial on rewiring a 201:
http://vssmb.blogspot.com/

Sew-Classic sells supplies but also has some tutorials:
http://blog.sew-classic.com/categori...ne-repair.aspx

There are a lot of manuals available free in the brand-specific yahoo groups. Just join and start reading their files and conversations.

Ray White offers training workshops in several locations each year:
http://www.whitesewingcenter.com/index.php