Taming the 15 clone tension... well maybe.....
 

I rebuilt four 15 clone tensions this morning. I have four more to do. I kind of go by what I know about the Singer 15s, 66s & 27s and then have to improvise from there. I don't know of a manual that will have a whole lot of info on clone tensions. The bit parts will never match and often don't interchange even when two tensions look a like and are from the same manufacture. I'm hoping some of you experts will come along and help with this. Some of you may see a different tension on your 15 clone so shoot a pic for us if you don't blind yourself with trying to photograph chrome. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to post all the pictures I would like so I'll spread them out later on as I have time today or tomorrow. My 89 year old Mom helped me clean a couple nose plates while I fiddled with the bits and the bobbin cases. She took a lot of time on two of them and they came out very nice. Two of the plates did not need anything.

Step 1:
Get a box of Tension Tamer Tea at the store. Brew up a cup of it and sip.

Step 2:
Remove the nose plate. If you can't figure that out go drink the tension tamer tea and take the machine into a shop... just saying...

Step 3:
Take a picture of your tension.

Step 4:
Start by removing the nut that holds the tension on the post - if you can't figure that out you know the drill....

Step 5: carefully remove the other parts - take pictures - line them up in muffin cups - what ever you have to do to keep them in the right order and in the right direction. I use an old magnetic sign turned magnet side up to catch things and keep things from rolling around. Some bits and pieces face out and some face in - you will need to remember that - I put them on my magnet pointing the direction they came off. Pictures, notes, what ever helps you remember. That said, I had a tension that was completely assembled wrong. Experience told me that by looking at it right away.

To be continued...

For now something to look at.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]530032[/ATTACH]
Montgomery Ward
two identical looking tensions. There were a couple parts that were not the same inside.
One of the tension springs was rubbing on the face plate enough to scratch it. The first one I took apart had one part turned the wrong way and 2 parts were different from the other tension. Go figure.

I'll try to post one more picture then later come back with more info how to clean up the tension. I have to work in bits and pieces here so things don't go crazy in this house...
[ATTACH=CONFIG]530033[/ATTACH]
Sorry the chrome is so glaring. Can you see that these are not alike??? I have 4 more to do tomorrow and they are all different. When I took the pictures I hadn't worked on any of these yet.

Step 7:
Drink some of that tea.

Step 8:
Clean all the parts keep track of the order and the direction they go back on. If you inhale the fumes from solvent you might forget stuff... Well - don't inhale. This is a half hour or less job but things never seem to go as planned Mom and I spent a good hour each cleaning up one of the tensions we did this morning.

Step 9:
Some of the parts might have rust. I soak them in a zip bag with enough water to cover and a little pinch of citric acid for a couple hours. Then I dry them off real good. None for me today though.

Step 10:
You may not find rust but you may find dried oil. Dried oil can clean off with Naptha or some times rubbing alcohol will clean it up. I try to stay away from water in the event that I don't get things dry. I would rather see dried oil than rust.

Step 11:
More tea... this is where it gets tricky. You have to put it all back. The tension pin goes in the post. Does it slide well? If there is a drop or so of dried up oil it can keep that tension from working properly. Clean the pin and the inside of the post. I used a tooth pick wet with some alcohol for the inside of the post. I just wiped the pin with alcohol on a rag for the pin.

Step 12:
Put the tension spring (the spring with the long thingy for thread to go through) in it's can. These are directional. The bulk of the spring goes around the post. Some spring ends go around the post some go under it, some hook in a groove. Anyway put the post and spring in the can like you got it out. You will need to put the screws that hold the post and can in. The spring arm should point down. When you pull it up it will have some tension on the spring to make it pull the thread. The can thing has some cut out place - it should look like the letter C. Did you note how it was adjusted by the screws when you took it apart. Tammi or somebody who writes more technical might have a good explanation of this some time. You can also look at the TFSR manual for the Singer instructions.

The picture failed to show up. I'll try to post a pic later on. The tension spring on one of the MWs was bent. It was scrubbing on the face plate - you can sort of see the marks in the pic on the right. It also had a little bit part installed in the wrong order. It has been corrected but I will need to replace the spring. I bet it didn't sew very well. I will continue later on maybe pictures....

May the force be with you!

Yes force... But don't use force unless you have to...
Step 13:
More tea - this is where you are kind of on your own. There may be a thing to hold the disks there may not be. It can be about any shape. But you took pictures so put the next thing on your nose plate like you took it off. On a Singer it is a chrome thing that keeps the disks together. It has to be worked into a notch. I have had to wrestle more than one of these because I didn't make good notes or things got into the wrong direction.

Step 14:
Usually the disks go on next followed by a washer or a cup thingy with a bar across for the tension pin to release the tension. It goes a certain direction. These usually are not flat. You should have looked what direction it goes when you took it apart. If I forget to note it when I took the tension apart I put a finger on it and then lift the presser foot. If it moves the disks and holds flat it is good to go.


Step 14:
Usually the disks go on next followed by a washer or a cup thingy with a bar across for the tension pin to release the tension. It goes a certain direction. These usually are not flat. You should have looked what direction it goes when you took it apart. If I forget to note it when I took the tension apart I put a finger on it and then lift the presser foot. If it moves the disks and holds flat it is good to go.
In the case of the MW there was a cup with a flower looking hole. The little washer thing went under it. On one of the tensions someone had it inside that thing - the pin didn't work that way - I bet it didn't sew right...

Step 15:
Next should be a beehive spring. Then some tensions have a little washer with a pointy thing at the top. Out of 4 I didn't have any. These can be curved or not. Another thing to carefully note when you removed the tension parts. Have some more tea...

Step 16:
You may or may not have a cover of some kind for the beehive spring. Some just have a nut. Some have a dial like the Singers. Some have a nut with a cup thing over it. Your next step will be to turn the tension spring with the little loop on it for thread up into that C shape cut out in the little cup where the spring rides. Then you can put the nut on and adjust your tension. If yours has a dial you will need to see about getting it on there in a way that will span from 0 back around to about 1 without coming apart. . Trial and error will get it sooner or later. Tammi has info on the dial on her blog article about the Singer 201 however it may or may not work on the clone.
The tensions I worked on today did not have a dial like a Singer. These had a little window with a line and you kind of want the line in the middle.

Step 17
You will need to adjust your tension.

This can some times be tricky if the tension did not re-assemble like it should. Usually if it doesn't adjust I remove it all and start over because it is likely something did not go in the right order or direction. Some times I get lucky and it works right off.

If you have a broken, missing or sprung tension spring you will need to determine which kind you need. I have a few around so I try to match them. Occasionally I have found an incorrect spring on a tension and needed to replace it with a different one. Some have a longer arm than others. If the arm is too long or too short you will not get good stitches. I've seen them get stuck under the pin if they are too short. I try to match the arm length. Anyway you want that spring to move freely not scrubbing the face plate or getting stuck in the bar thing.

The other two tensions were entirely different from the two MW tensions. I don't know if I can post a pic yet or not. One was definitely not assembled the way it was intended. If you run across a non working tension it may be because someone didn't know what they were doing or were sloppy putting it back together. If you disassemble one like that and put it back like you got it you will not have any improvement.

In my second picture you can see one face plate has a post near the tension for thread to go around. The other face plate has no post. Thread goes around the plate that goes behind the tension disks.

I realize this is very general and no photos... Somebody better with words, a better camera and more knowledgeable than me might be able to explain some of this a little better. I don't know of a source for how to do this.

I haven't done very many tension assemblies(if it works-don't fix it) but I've done a few, enough so that I understood you.

Cari

As I have mentioned, there seems to be two kinds of 'bar' the thread goes around after it goes between the disks. One is mounted on the plate and the other kind is attached to the tension post. They take different springs. One of the MW machines had a bent tension spring - looking at it some more. Someone had lengthened that spring for some reason. It was wearing on the tension plate. The kind with the post on the plate is a little bit easier to rebuild because it has less parts. The 3 I have came with the plate, a tension post with a pin in it, a can they seat in with two screws holding it. Then all these tensions had for parts were 2 disks, a washer or a cup that fits over the tension post with a bar for the pin to hit, a beehive spring and a nut. That's it. Very simple and similar to the old Singers.

The plates that have no bar but have a little part that seats on the post right on the can have more parts and those parts vary wildly. There is usually some little cut out on the can or the cup the plate that holds the whole mess. Then the part that sits on the can... well it has a tab that fits the cut out on the can... That was the hard part when one wasn't done right. Then the tension disks go on. Then you will have a wide variety of cups or washers to go on next 2 of them have a cup with a bar for the pin to hit. Two have a cup with notches that seat on a little washer with a bar across the tension pin... Then the beehive goes on. Then you may have a nut with a cover for the cup and beehive or not. Then you may or may not have a little washer with a pointy thing to make the dial work if you have a dial OR you may have a nut. WILD.