bearisgray

Are there any known "lemons" in the vintage sewing machine world?

There are some models that seem to be particularly popular in the Singer line -

221, 222, 201, 301, 401A are some of the numbers that seem to come up often - and that have "registered" in my non-vintage oriented mind.


Are there any models that seem to have more problems than others?

Briarberry

I have a 221, 301A, 99K and a 15-91. I also have a more modern Bernette which I only use once in a while for fancy stitches. My favourite right now is the 221 because it is so portable. I use all of them. Can't help you with any models to avoid, each machine has its strengths.

Battle Axe

Someone made mention of a Touch and Sew that should be named Touch and Throw. Ask Macybaby and the others.

Marcia

Mickey2

I lean towards all metal models, I like most of the old straight stitchers, but I haven only had my hands on the most common.

I like the cast iron straight stitchers, there is a couple of them that's very nice.

I try do avoid the late 60s, 70s and 80 models with the worst reputation. If you want stretchy stitches there is hardly a model out there with out plastic gears. Some of my favorite zigzaggers have a few plastic gears like Bernina and Elna. They are nice to work and capable machines. That's why I have a hard time rouling out types of machines generally. If I find something interesting about a machine, or think it might be a good regardless of it's reputation I will take it on. There is a limit to much time and money I will spend on a machine, but with a good one I will go the extra steps. Less so with a very plasticy model.

An example is the Touch and Sew, they have a few fancy features some like a lot, others again find them cumbersome. There some solid all metal models among them, some were better than others. Hard to disregard them totally.

Rocsew

One that comes to mind is the Singer 285, which was a 3/4 sized machine that looked very similar to the 185, but had a cheap, noisy, rack and pinion hook drive mechanism.

miriam

I have a couple ‘good housekeeper’ machines that are brand new but they are trash... all metal - so all metal isn’t always true indicator of a good machine.

One Japanese machine I like a lot is Emdeko. It does have a funny name. Made by Toyota. Some have LRC some are left homing. I like the left homing best for free motion. No reason it just works real good for that. Sews through about anything.

quiltedsunshine

I'll agree with Touch N Throw. There are a few Elna's I wish I'd never met.

Mickey2

I have grown to like a beige and tan Elna Supermatic a lot. I had to replace a drive pulley behind the hand wheel, and I was lucky to find a metal replacement with rubber O-rings. The particular machine I fixed up was very stained and oily and packed full of lint, it cleaned up very nicely. The reason the previous owner couldn't make it work was mostly because of needle was in the wrong way and for some reason it had class 15 bobbins which interfered with the bobbin tension. There are a few here who find them noisy and hard to repair, but mine was well withing a DIY fixup and it has behaved well since. For a domestic it's a fast machine, and I have to admit mine is a bit noisy when I floor the pedal, but mostly I go slow to medium to get the stitching right. If you need to stitch at 1500 stitches per minute for longer periods of time this is not the model to go for. 1000 stitches per minute is fine though.

Some times a model has been given bad review because owners haven't taken the time to sort things out or taken time to know the machine. Other times a model has it's limit and doesn't fit it's purpose.

The later Necchi models like Lydia were very nice models with stretchy stitch patterns, but some plastic parts are almost always cracked and it's not easy to find a way a good way about it. I don't think it's impossible, but it has to be a better quality replacement part than the original. The earlier Supernovas and BU models are very dependable and well behaved.

With models like Bernina a repair generally results in a very capable and durable machine, and is well worth the time and money it takes to repair them. Bernina kept their high standard from the 50s (before the war really) and up into the 80s. With other brands it can be harder to generalise.

These days many consider machines from the 70s and 80s vintage, and some models have more problems than others. Flimsy builds, low priced models aren't favorites to spend that much time on. On the other hand there are been a few surpises; a simple Taiwan built straight stitch - zigzagger model, very sturdy and all metal flatbed from 1970s. A girl bought it as a replacement for a misbehaving Brother model she had used for years. It turned to be the perfect replacement to sew anything from soft leather belts to applique on dog coats and accessories. Bargain priced Brother models have a bad reputation, but I guess it's very model specific. I don't think there are any comprehensive overview of them since there have been so many.

Wanabee Quiltin

Bernette made by Bernina is horrendous.

Mickey2

I don't know when the Bernettes entered the marked, I'm guessing 1990s? Arguably vintage? They aren't really bad compared to similar models around the same price range, but they come of as run of the mill production. We expect rather much from Bernina. These are not the old type made before 1980s and they are not the top of the line models either. For me the last vintage Bernina was the 800 seires and the 900. The 930 and later is just as nice with a few new features, but the circuit boards is starting to get a bit more advanced; still withing repairable I think.