miriam

He already is fun. Did I tell you he 'oiled' his rocking horse in the living room with Dawn??? I think he was barely 3 at that time. He WILL improvise as needed no worries....

miriam

Wilbur and I worked on a White from the late 70s or 80's judging by the plastic cam stack the other day. It is all mechanical and has some very nice features. It works great. BUT this morning, I broke off the reverse plastic knob without any help from Wilbur. Any ideas what can be put on there? Is this something I can find at Harbor Freight or Granger? I don't think it will glue back together. Maybe make one???
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miriam

Now how did I do that?
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miriam

Last night I pulled thread out of all the old bobbins, soaked the rusted ones, then brushed off the rust with the Dremel. The last batch of class 15 bobbins I bought were terrible. I'm salvaging any old ones I find unless they are really far gone or bent, too. CRAZY.

Oh, I had thought I could just use up the thread in the bobbins to sew test. WRONG WRONG WRONG... There are thread misers out there who save and hoard thread on bobbins. They wind 16 colors on one bobbin. The thread tangles up and you do not get a good sew test. Oh and the thread rusts the bobbins. Now I have all empty bobbins. Not a chance of getting a bad one. Each machine from here on gets a new bobbin before it gets a sew test. ggggrrrrr.... madness.

Rodney

Bummer about the knob. I just check McMaster Carr, they're my go-to place for odd hardware but it looks like most replacement knobs come with a round hole.
It must have been cracked to begin with. You would have to crank on it pretty hard to break it otherwise.
You don't have anything to lose by trying to glue it. I would either use Testor's model glue (it works on certain types of plastic by "melting" the plastic chemically and creates a strong bond) super glue, or epoxy. I would remove the cross pin before I tried. It may not go back together with the pin in the way.
It's not an easy fix if you want it to look right.
I'm trying to remember where else I've seen that style knob. (not sewing machine) Some just slide on and off the shafts. You may get lucky and find a workable replacement you can rob off something else.
Rodney

miriam

It was easy enough to rob a knob to fit on there but it is another matter getting it to stay on there.

ThayerRags

Maybe you could make one out of wood?

Sharpen up your whittling knife, go out into the woods, search until you find that “just right” tree that has your knob shape in it, and commence to whittling away all of the unnecessary wood until your knob magically materializes in your hand.

Isn’t that the way the Old-timers used to do it....?

CD in Oklahoma

miriam

Then paint it hot pink...

ThayerRags

....with Chartreuse stripes....

CD in Oklahoma

miriam

or polka dots