Stitch124

Tammi -- I'm going straight home tonight and I will definitely take a pic of it and post it to show you where I think it might go. It's so darn hard to get it in that spot, and I can do it, but it would just take a lot of patience. Other than that I have only to make sure the check spring take-up on the tension assemby is correct. This is a picture of the spring (taken from another website.)

After that I should be done and will post pics of my finished project. Now looking for 2 more FW's in need of a new paint job....not expensive and ready for the spa treatment. Thanks for all your help.

Julie

Stitch124

Ok -- I got home and went straight to work and found where the washer went and put it in with very little trouble. All the parts are back in place and the tension seems to be fine....now....the problem is that the needle thread doesn't catch the bobbin thread. Maybe a problem I need to get the service man to fix but I'd love to be able to fix this one myself. If I can do this I think I can do anything going forward.

ArchaicArcane

Hey Julie,

yeah, I think that check spring looks OK. The FW I've been taking photos of is a re-painter as well. Poor girl keeps getting her hopes up every time I pull her out of the closet to take pics. I got her running, and a basic cleaning and oiling, but nothing further because I knew that there was a major overhaul coming.

I am thinking I will try to take it on in the winter, or early spring. We know a body guy, so I may go that route, otherwise, I painted a good portion of a motorcycle a few years back, I should be able to manage this one too. Depends on whether I get squeemish about doing it myself or not.

Did you take all of the guts out, or did you just mask them really well? I think I will do a full disassembly, even separate the bed from the arm.... I just want an opportunity to disassemble another machine completely before I take it on with a FW.

You shouldn't need to take a FW in to the service man. They're set up to be serviced by the owners. First thing to look at is if it's threaded right. Needle Flat Left (NFL) so threads Right to left.

Next make sure the bobbin case and bobbin are inserted all the way....

And while you're in there, make sure that the locating "finger" is in between the uhm,.. thingie attached to the needleplate. (Sorry,... "almost middle aged" moment there.)

Stitch124

Hi - Ok -- I downloaded and printed the Service Manual. I didn't take the guts out but I probably took out more than I should have because of all the issues I'm having now. I did tape up pretty good with Frog Tape. I am threading the needle correctly and the finger on the bobbin is in the correct place. All that seems to be ok. Now, I got a new belt in the mail today and put it on. Without the belt the motor hums right along, then when I put the belt on it really binds badly. I tried adjusting the motor to tighten and loosen the belt. No luck - still a problem. Oiled and greased appropriately. Still no luck. I'm stumped at this point. Not giving up...so close to being done....just don't know what the problem could be at this point. Got any ideas?

Thanks,
Julie

ArchaicArcane

Hey Julie,

So is your needle problem fixed, or it still occurs after checking everything?

If it's still a problem, can you take the bobbin case out, leave the needle in, and tell me where the hook is when the needle starts to travel back up?

What was the part number for the belt? Singer's part number is 194144. I'm wondering if the one you got is too short by a smidge... Usually the belt will cause it to run slow if it's too tight before it binds....

Stitch124

Hi Tammi - the needle problem is fixed. Yeah! Now for the belt. I ordered it online from Sew-Classic -- a 17 1/2" black belt and the part # is 194144. I bought some Singer lubricant today to lube the motor wells...thinking they may be dry since this is such an old machine. Will let you know what happens after it's lubed.

ArchaicArcane

Hey Julie, what was the problem with the needle?
So it's the right belt. Did you follow her how to install a belt article?

Use a coin to remove those caps. It should save you chipping one.
Yes, you can replace them, but why when you don't have to.

Stitch124

Holy cow...just read your blog posts. 14 machines!! You are my hero!! I have only 4, not counting the little black FW I just refinished. I have a Sears Kenmore 1802(from 1971 my first purchase as a single woman), a Singer 403A (pristine), Singer 401 (just like Mom's), and my beautiful Birdy (white/green 1964 FW) that I got from my parents to make my own clothes for school. I was taking up too much time on Mom's 401!

I also have a beautiful Singer Treadle #61 cabinet that looks just like yours, but no machine in it yet. Not sure what machine will actually fit into it. I'd like a treadle but only if it's in good shape...not going to refinish any other ones than the FW's. I'm also looking for two more FW's to refinish and repaint for my granddaughters. I want to leave each one of my g/kids with a FW so they can say their Nana made them a quilt on their machines.

Time to go home. Will update my earlier post in a bit.

Stitch124

Tammi -- so I got home and lubed and oiled the machine. Runs like a top!!!! Now just one more thing I need to fix. There's a washer that needs to go in behind the stitch length control...Here are pics. I know that the washer goes with the 3 bent tips going inward toward the inside, but how in the world can I get this washer in place? This is a real bugger to slide into place. Got any suggestions? Here are some pics.

ArchaicArcane

Hey Julie,

I'm so sorry for disappearing on you. I got busy and just didn't get a chance to get back to this thread. I see that you got this washer sorted out, so that's great!

The treadle cabinet that I have will fit most of the full sized "black" machines that you'll find. Mine originally came with the 27 that you see in it, but I've had the 15-91 in it, so any of the 15 series will likely fit. So would a 201, 66, etc.

The black ones that obviously won't are the 3/4 sized machines: 28, 128, 99, Spartan, etc.

I think my count is up to almost 20 machines now. I haven't had a lot of time to blog lately. There's a 401A, a 503J, a 201, the Winselmann, another FW, a 99, oh,. and the 28 and the 128, I picked up in Calgary.... hmm,.. that's over 20. And I have 3 on "reserve" up north. There's a Wilcox and Gibbs chainstitch machine, a Rocketeer paper doll cutter, and a beautiful Saxonia I'm likely going to pay way too much money for. I have to make a trip up there to get them soon, but I need to scrape together a little more cash first.

Then there are the 14 machines I picked up to repair and sell, plus a few donated ones that I want to donate to the seniors homes around here, I think that makes an even 18 refurbs on my desk. Ugh. I'm halfway through those though, and I hope those don't count, since they're only visiting.

In the batch of machines I picked up though, there's a 328K. It's fairly well panned by a number of people, but it seems like a good steady little stitcher. In a test sew, the tension was perfect, and only the motor was a little slow. That was fixed by removing a bunch of the old grease, and just running it for a few minutes. It may get added to the herd. There's no representation for the 300 series machines otherwise.... It just needs a tuneup and a couple of spool pins.