MaryLane

I hope cleaning & lubing Emma helps her. My husband is sure it will but I want to use her now! She is a 1936 first quarter machine.

I am off work tomorrow. Plan to clean her. & the 1953 model 99K that arrived Monday. EXCITING!

cabbagepatchkid

One of my FW's was so-o-o slow but I made an adjustment in the pedal and now it moves along nicely.

valleyquiltermo

Good luck, if it is still slow after cleaning and oiling and trying the adjustment on the foot pedal. Try using a hand hairdryer on high pointed to the motor to loosen up the lube in the motor. One of mine needed that and now runs great.

katier825

What exactly did you do to the pedal?

Nanamoms

I'm interested in this answer, too. My FW seems sluggish and I posted in another thread. Haven't had time to check out the suggestion that something might be wrong with the pedal...just not sure exactly what I need to do. I got great suggestions in my post "My FW has a hesitation". Don't know how to link it here.

MaryLane

Well, mine is a lot faster now but husband thinks it should be freer. We removed the equivilent of a bobbin of thread from the motor shaft. That loosened the motor up considerably.

She isn't the prettiest version I have ever seen but she appears all original except her box. It is a two tone cream and brown. Definitely FW box but a later version. Has the side tray. Oh yeah, I think the book is a replacement, too.

smitty

Oh---would I love to have your case ----I have a tan FW without a case. for the 1936 gem. don't take any chances
with such an early, desirable machine. Do it right, before you use the machine. clean, oil, lube. read, read. there is a Yahoo group site for Featherweights.
join it ! lots of former Singer repair people on there. very helpful, very smart ! there is info in their files on fixing your
foot pedal, etc. after all the necessary cleaning, run full pedal ,with no threads in, for about 5 minutes. be sure your
belt is not set too tight---and yes, you can do all of that yourself. good luck ! & enjoy that great machine !

MaryLane

Thanks for the advice. We did just that early this afternoon. He has had a few of the foot controllers apart & plans to take this one apart. Between the two of us we can fix most things. He is a farmer & industrial electrician. I repair a lot of lab equipment. But this is fun!

This model does not have numbers on the tension knob but the book shows them. It was printed in 1941 & I suspect it & the case were replaced at some point.

I want my husband to paint a machine red for me but not this one. I just love her worn patina. I wish sh could talk because she is well worn from use.

redpurselady

Good luck with your new FW - you'll love sewing with her.

MaryLane

I do really like it. It still is dragging. We took the foot controller apart and adjusted it. We cleaned and lubed everything. It is just stiffer than my 301 or my 99.

Hopefully after some usage & repeated lubing it will loosen up.