Vintage Kenmore machine - no tension plates?
 

Hello all,

I am fairly new to sewing and I recently bought an old Kenmore machine, used and with no instructions. It's very old and a beautiful machine, but I cannot for the life of me figure out where the tension plates are.

I assume that it is either such an old model that they did tension differently, or that the entire tension plate piece is missing.

Any tips or information greatly appreciated!
I've attached photos of the machine and what I think could be for the tension? I can't figure out what this piece does if not the tension

Thanks in advance!

K.e.n.t.

(Kenmore experiencing no tension)

You are missing the entire tension assembly. You can see it here in this pic..

https://www.quiltingboard.com/vintag...o-t299536.html

Your tension dial is missing. What you have is often referred to as a Singer 15 "clone." There are lots of pics on this thread: https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...p-t164361.html that will show you how your machine should look. I don't know how different the tensions are on different makes of machines, but I would think you should be able to find what you need fairly easily. Someone more knowledgeable will be along shortly with more help.

ETA I just did a quick ebay search and found several tension assemblies for a model 15. Here is one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Sin...4AAOSwK2JckPln

I also just noticed you seem to be missing an inspection plate, unless you have removed it before taking pics.

If you can find the numbers on it, you can find a manual here..
http://www.kenmoresewingmanuals.com/...17_manuals.htm

then get the part number and do a search. I believe that it's a fairly universal type and you should be able to find a new one.

Welcome from western NY and happy quilting :)

Thank you very much xo

Thank you! I'll look for numbers now, a manual would be super helpful :)

That's what I thought! Thank you for confirming, And thanks for the eBay link too, really appreciate that.

I didn't remove any inspection plate, where does that belong?

Glad to help. When you get it together it will be an awesome sewer.

The inspection plate goes above and to the right of the light on the back of the machine. One of the auctions I found on eBay included an inspection plate.

There are several threads about 15 clone machines. One of which is https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...p-t164361.html A generic manual for a 15-clone machine can be found at http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_mach...ion-manual.pdf

Most of the Kenmore machines will have a number like 117.28 or 148.231 or 158.1941 The number before the period punctuation mark indicate who actually manufactured them. I'm curious as to which one yours has. I know there is a Canadian sold 15-clone with the model number of C877.15

Actually, the Singer 15s and pretty sure most of the 15-clones do have a hole on the right back side of the light. It seems like I have seen just one Japanese 15-clones that did have a cover for it, but don't remember the badge name. The inspection plate is on the back left side of the machine and it looks like yours is there. It allows you to get into the top of the pillar to oil some parts in there that are difficult to reach any other way.

I hope you can find a tension assembly as these generally are very good straight stitch machines and is favored for FMQ.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.