Singer Stylist 533 zig zag timing
 

Hello all, we are finding that the needle shifts to the right while it is in the fabric. My husband says he located the cam, but can not see where any timing adjustments are, at least not in view. He located some Singer service manuals, but so far none cover the 533. Any help or suggestions? Thank You

I'm no authority on timing a sewing machine, but wonder if your problem is something else. Have you thoroughly cleaned, oiled and greased it? If you want to sew with a straight stitch, make sure the thread take-up lever is all the way up, set the Flexi-Stitch Pattern Dial to O for off. Select center needle position by pushing down slightly on the lever as you move it to center. Stitch Width should be set all the way over to the left for straight stitch.

Yes. He cleaned out bunches of lint and dirt, old grease and such. Put a drop or two of oil in all the lube points. Everything seems smooth and easy. With the settings you pointed out, it sews perfectly for straight stitch, and the needle position in center, right or left, works fine too. It's only when I put it in zig zag that it doesn't quite do it right. When the needle is up just before the down stroke it goes left as it should for the left side zig, but it doesn't do the right zag until the needle is entering the fabric. With the top cover off, we can see that the arm the moves the needle position right for the right side of the zig zag is not quite to the top of the cam to move it to the right even with the needle at the fabric's surface. I hope this is clear

Any cracked plastic?

Hmmm, didn't find any evidence of cracked plastic; perhaps in the stitch length? He's going to look there. We did find another zig zag cam with the same part # on eBay. We're thinking of giving that a try.

First check for any end play on the main shaft. Should be none; any movement here will affect the cam timing. Check the cam gear carefully for any cracks in the plastic. The cam timing is set by the worm gear on the main shaft. There are 2 set screws that secure it's position on the shaft.

Thank You! End play was some of the problem. According to a parts list, there's supposed to be some kind of a "thrust" washer. There are none. Ebay to the rescue. I will post results. I hope we're almost fixed, it's in nice shape for its age.

I'd hazard a guess that the thrust washers crumbled into bits and they were part of the crud your husband cleaned out. tandrepair.com should have replacements, also repair info. The 533 I went into had them in place, but they crumbled when I touched them.

My name is Greg. I'm Julia's husband. I put 2 new thrust washers in according to the exploded view drawing for this machine. Now there is no appreciable end play, just a tad for lubrication. After only a very slight adjustment of the worm gear, the machine works perfectly in all modes. I did notice a slight chip on the cam, but we have spare coming for the future. Thanks to all for your advice. This site rocks!! :)

Welcome Greg (and Julia)!

Glad folks here could help! Pictures? (we like pictures of machines)