quiltjoey

Hi Everyone: My daughter had a friend stay with her when she lost her job. When my daughter's friend got back on her feet finding a new job and a place to live, she gave my daughter a Singer 401a and said she didn't sew and didn't have a place for it and belonged to someone else in her family and she didn't want it.
Below are the pics of it. It sews beautifully, has 6-7 cams, attachments and is free moving except for the big brown knob on the upper front. The manual says to pull it to make it move the left silver lever to the different letters but I can not get it to pull out. The right silver lever moves fine. Is there anything I can do to make the brown knob pull out or move the lever? Any help would be appreciated. And I know if anyone can help, it will be y'all on the Quilting Board. The machine is in great condition otherwise, I think...
Thanks in advance,
Quiltjoey

[ATTACH=CONFIG]421466[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]421467[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]421468[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]421470[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]421471[/ATTACH]

DanofNJ

They get stuck. Oil the two slides next to the cams and adjacent movements. Don't be afraid to use too much sewing machine oil. Let it soak. Repeat, and keep trying the selector...gently. The top knob pushes in and twists down, the inner selector is pulled. DO NOT FORCE. It will, over a day or two loosen up. Then mop up oil and you're good to go. PS...oil everything that seems to move mechanically. The machine is fairly indestructible.

Stitchnripper

http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...e-t216956.html

Here is a thread where I got lots of good help with my recent 401A issues. It is working great now.

J Miller

You PUSH the outer brown knob IN to turn it, and you PULL the inner tan knob OUT to turn it.

You must turn them one at a time and make sure they have fully released the latch on their respective vertical shaft before turning it.
Also if one is not fully latched in place and you try to turn the other you can jam them good.

You'll have to oil the shafts and mechanism and jiggle the knobs, the correct way, and try to free them up. Don't force them, things can be bent inside.

Joe

Noel

If patience and oil don't work to free things up, you can get a little more aggressive by using a penetrating oil (I use Liquid Wrench, available at a hardware or auto parts store), heating with a hair dryer and LIGHT tapping with a very SMALL hammer. Others suggest leaving the machine inside a hot car all day after oiling. I've never done that, but it sounds like a good idea.

bearisgray

I found that knob turning confusing - and the knobs were kind of balky.

Grace MooreLinker

I have a 401 A that I bought in 1979 new, it has sewed many a stitch, over the years. It was my first new machine had a used light weight one before. oiling the backside of the knob always helps mine. Enjoy her.

miriam

Liquid Wrench may eat paint
Hammers are known to bend shafts

If it is that stuck, someone probably used 3 in 1 oil. It will take a solvent to clean off.
Pack the area with cosmetic pads or pantiliners or something that will absorb excess solvent. Then apply some solvent - you should see the old goo get a bit runny - wipe it off. Be patient. As someone mentioned above there is a thread where we addressed this problem recently.

Stitchnripper

That was me, Miriam, and you all gave me such good advice that I got my machine up and running. I do enjoy it now.

miriam

At least we won that one!