4dogs

you did a good find..........I like thrift stores too.........but I just got a dud from "shopGoodwill.com"....a Singer 6199 Brilliance that looked wonderful.....about $40.00 later , it arrived, didn't sew worth a daggone, so I took it to the repair guy and he called me and said "so sorry"...not worth the cost of fixing, it will never be worth using...bad needle head design.............so beware of that one, don't waste your dollars.......he says if you are going to buy anything "newer" than the old metal machines of old, the Janome seems to be the best of the lot.........but he still says those old ladies are by far the best ones to buy...............

Sewnoma

Well you won't get much disagreement from me! These steel machines are amazing, they'll last long after I'm dust. I'm fond of Janome too, my modern machines are all Janome and I haven't had trouble with any of them. Much as I love my vintage darlings and enjoy sewing on them, my Janome 6600 is my workhorse. But I also know that one of these years the electronic brain is going to have problems and render the machine useless, while my vintage machines will still be as functional as they were they day they were made.

I'm sorry you got a dud, though!! I won't buy any old/vintage machine that has a plastic body, and I TRY not to get any that have plastic gears. The plastic simply can't take the decades of wear and aging like the metal can. But I also think that some day 3D printers will be cheaper and able to print metal, and those plastic-geared machines will become a lot more appealing.

HelenAnn

I love thrift stores also. The only thing I don't like is when they put tape on the machines. Many really nice decals ruined that way.

4dogs

is there a cut off date, for when the metal started changing to plastic?? like,,,, no good ones after (whatever date....1962 or whatever............)????? that way, we would know NOT to buy it if its made after 19?? whatever year............any suggestions about that? thanks so much for letting me pick your brain here..............

Sewnoma

I think it's probably different for every manufacturer, exactly when they started going to plastic gearing.

I'm not really positive, but I start getting leery of things built in late 60's. If I see ANY plastic on the outside it makes me suspicious, even just knobs or the plates on the body. I'm to the point now, though - I keep a screwdriver in my purse and if I'm in doubt I'm not shy about opening up the machine to see what's going on inside. I explain what I'm checking for and ask permission first of course - nobody has said no although some have given me weird looks or been a little nervous about it, but I promise to buy it if I break it and that seems to reassure them. People usually trust me - I seem to have an "honest face", lol. (And I brows the local thrift stores often enough that some of the staff recognize me now) A couple times at thrift shops I've gained an audience doing that, which is kind of funny. "What are you doing?" "Are you fixing that machine?" "Hey, my machine is sort of like that and it isn't working, can you help me?"

Or if you have a smartphone with you or are looking at a machine online, a quick Google search might help. Usually you can find pictures of the machine's guts and you can see what's inside.