mulberryellie

Hi all

I had my electric 201 serviced by my excellent osmg back in 2013 and it ran beautifully. Haven't used it since then. Bobbin is now sticking and pulling really slowly. Needle thread tension feels perfect but bobbin awful.

Where should I start?

Plus in my haste the finger plate has come off when I flipped up the extension leaf......how do I get it back on.

Thank you

Mickey2

If it's the bobbin itself turning slowly in it's case I would suggest a good wipe of the bobbin case, and check if there's something up with the bobbin, try a different one. I would check the tension spring for any bits of thread caught some where, as well as race/hook/feed dog area. Don't fill the bobbin too much either. When the bobbin thread is drawn up the needle plate and you pull it a bit, the bobbin should turn freely. If it has been standing since 2013 I guess in only needs to be oiled and used again. If you have the version with belt driven motor you can with advantage use oil on all parts (except motor) but remember to oil frequently. If you have the potted motor, use grease on the spiral gear on top near the hand wheel.

mulberryellie

Thanks mickey. I've cleaned whole bobbin area, sorry but I used wd40 so will have to get oil into it. Also re wound a fresh bobbin. Running smoothly and not looping on bottom now. Stitch is almost tight enough. On the top it is perfect but the underneath bobbin stitch looks crooked/diagonal in places and looks ever so slightly loose. I've lose new bobbin screw about 90 degrees and increased needle tension. Thus has almost sorted it......anything else I can do?

Mickey2

You should assume the machine was set for sew-it-all type thread weight and go from there. Set top tension to 5, test sew two layers of medium to light weight cotton fabric (quilting and shirt type thickness). In theory it should stitch perfectly. For thicker threads you likely have to loosen bobbin tension.

If you see tendencies to loops under neeth the fabric, I would guess it's too loose top tenions, if you see tendendencies to loops on top of the fabric it's too tight tension. When diverting too much from sew-it-all type thread, (like top stitch) you might have to adjust bobbin tension. If the bobbin stitch looks slighly off to one side, or like the top thread isn't tightening it properly it's usually too loose top tension.

Don't use WD40 other than for dissolving dried up oil and grime, rather use basic sewing machine oil, Triflow or Finish Line Ceramic Wet Lube, the last two have added teflon for extra smothness and minimal friction. They do a better job than WD40 in the long run. Spray can oils are too thin to work optimally.