juliasb

The new cord, bobbins and belt came today and so I got busy and installed everything that came. Wound up a couple bobbins and went to town.
The machine is nice and quiet and it sews!! I was thrilled to death! It was a bit tricky at first to get the bobbin in correctly. I even managed to get one in backwards once. I took care of that in short order-.
I then started on adjusting the tension. I was/is still off a bit. The stitching is pretty even, that part of the tension is good. However it is skipping a stitch every once in a while. I am not sure how to correct this. I changed needles and oiled every part in the manual from the motor to the bobbin case and every thing underneath. I see no rust at all. I also cleaned every surface and part as best as I could getting years of heavy lint out of it including a spider's nest. I am pretty sure I have it threaded correctly too. It is the only machine that I have that threads this way from the inside to the out at the needle.
I found a couple of cosmetic areas that the plastics were chipped. I suppose that was to be expected with a machine this age (1949) and plastics would be getting brittle about now. I know little to nothing about the history of the machine either.
I was just glad that I was able to get the cables and wiring done well. It was not a big challenge at all.
Again if anyone can enlighten me on how to fix some of the skipping stitches on this FW I would greatly appreciate it.

Fabric Galore

I have a 1940 FW and I had it cleaned and serviced at my LQS and it sews like a dream.

juliasb

That is definitely on my mind to do. Since this is the first day with her I felt I should give it a whirl before giving into, "ok its time to go to the shop". I have tinkered with sewing machines for many years and I can say that only two ever got the best of me. One the cam shaft broke into several pieces and it went to sewing machine heaven. The other one was passed onto someone who wanted to make a table out of the cabinet and treadle base. The tension is the hardest thing for me to fix. The mechanical parts don't usually give me a problem. My dad taught me how to repair the motors and replace the brushes when I was a kid. Now it cost less to replace the motors.
The shop is at the top of the list but still not ready for it to go that way.

leaha

OK my thought is this, I have 4 FW221s these machines were made so the owners could care and service them on their own. There is a book "the Featherweight and I" by David McCallum, he also made a DVD, "those Fantastic Featherweights " I highly suggest any who has a 221 get the book or DVD or both, it covers just about any thing you can ever run into with your machine.

leaha

its the timing, page 25,

Onebyone

I took Nova Montgomery's FW class. She said that the Singer needles are not made to the specs like they use to be. She said the only needles that will work in the FW like they are suppose to is Schmetz brand. That may solve the skipping problem. I use Schmetz microtex for piecing.

thimblebug6000

https://singer-featherweight.com/ This site has a schoolhouse area with lots of trouble shooting, that you might find help on.

fruitloop

I was using the Singer needles in my FW and was told by long time Singer repairman since the Singer company was sold the new needles were not made the same as before and that caused all kinds of problems in machines. He said to use Schmetz in my FW. It was the only brand that met the specs for the FW.

quiltedsunshine

When a Featherweight is skipping stitches, there's a timing setting called "needle/hook distance." When the tip of the hook meets the top of the eye of the needle, there should only be a thread's distance between them. If that timing setting is off, the collars have to be released and the shaft has to move the hook closer to the needle. That's something you'd probably want a tech to do. We see that at the shop quite a bit.

marshaKay

You sounded surprised that it sewed! We love love love our FW’s . You will figure out the stitches. Get the Schmetz needles, they are the only needle worth their weight for FW’s. In my opinion. Just my 2 cents worth. Sorry. Go to Nova Montgomery’s FW site. She has awesome tips. Sign up for her tips of the month. You can also get everything FW there. Great lady and great site.