oldtnquiltinglady

Here is the 401A that my son gave me for Christmas. He was so proud of the fact that he found it during one of his Saturday morning treasure hunts and saved it until Christmas for me. I love it, but have already found a couple of faults with it. I decided to piece a square with it, and that was a mistake because I am so spoiled by my FW's work. I finished the square with it, but it is going into the repair area to be worked on. I cleaned and oiled it good, the best I know how, but it didn't help the performance of the little thingy on the back of the head that you raise and lower the presser foot with. It is HARD to work. I can't just reach through and raise or lower the presser foot--I have to really grunt and work at it to make it work. That got aggravating after awhile and I almost quit on it. But I did finish it, with a decision being made to get a GS over here to help me load a picture, so y'all can help me through this problem.

So, help please. I'll run off copies of your advice, and get to the job when I get back from Texas.

oldtnquiltinglady

And, oh yes, I forgot to mention that some kid (probably) leaned on grannie's machine while she was working on something for him/her--both ends lean a lot, don't hold up even with the sewing surface like they are supposed. More advice needed there. What do we do for that?

J Miller

Open the face plate, check the presser foot tension dial. It should be set at 4 or 5 for normal sewing.
Then oil everything that moves as you work it. The presser foot lever will be harder to move if it needs oil or the shaft tension is too tight. There is a lot of things in there to oil. Especially the horizontal shaft that guides the swing arm for ZZ and pattern sewing.

For the cabinet leaves
Remove the screws from the leaf(s) and the cabinet body. Clean the holes.
Make sure the hinges are not bent. If so straighten them.
Then roll up some thin veneer or if you don't have any, match sticks and fill the screw holes mostly up. Before you put the veneer or match sticks in fill the hole with wood glue. After filling the hole slice off the filler wood at the surface.
After the hole is mostly filled and before the glue is dry reassemble the hinges to the cabinet body and leaf(s) and tighten the screws down tight.

I've done this to several cabinets and so far it's leveled up the leafs on all of them.

Joe

LITTLEOLDME

This one is a favorite of mind , bought it new ,have sewen millions of miles on it. Been a real work horse, still sews great.

elnan

I must have misunderstood. I thought the leaf of the cabinet fit flush, that it was the left and right ends of the machine bed that was too high, creating a bump. If the machine head does not fit flush, could it be that it is the wrong cabinet for this machine?

Good Son to be thinking of what you would like.

tessagin

When I got my 401, I cleaned and oiled according to my manual. Love it. Have done lot of stitching. My presser foot was a little tough to maneuver but fine after cleaning. Had some thread bits in some areas. There are also a lot of videos on YouTube that are very informative. I watched those over and over again. And followed along with the videos and manual for cleaning. She purrs like a happy cat! My manual has a trouble shooting section also. But just about any trouble shooting manual is the same. just need to check the different areas. Mine is in a desk cabinet.

Tink's Mom

I have the same machine, though not in a cabinet...she is in a case. I wonder if the pressure foot lifter is bent? That could be why it is such a struggle.
I need to replace my tension assembly (in my spare time)...then she will be a sewing wonder again.

elnan

[QUOTE=elnan;7029565]I must have misunderstood. I thought the leaf of the cabinet fit flush, that it was the left and right ends of the machine bed that was too high, creating a bump. If the machine head does not fit flush, could it be that it is the wrong cabinet for this machine?
QUOTE]
Yes, I did misunderstand, and didn't party last night, even going to bed early. So Joe and oldtnquiltinglady were talking about that fold out extension on the left side of the cabinet. I've seen metal elbow shaped arms that come out to support that leaf when it is extended, then retrack when the cabinet is closed up. Joe's fix is more professional, mine is to prop a round spring loaded cafe curtain rod underneath.

oldtnquiltinglady

Yes, my 201 cabinet has that pop-out supporter type thing for the left wing on the cabinet, but this one does not. It just has the three mounting hinges that I guess are sprung. I just can't understand both ends being that way--I kinda can see the long one, because it is really heavy, but it is also really slanted. For my sewing the other day, I just set the ironing board close enough to the machine to hold it up. And didn't raise the other end at all. I am going to put the DH to work on it next week. I have run copies of Joe's fix--thanks, Joe.

J Miller

elnan,

If you look at the last pic you can see the left leaf tilting down. That's because of too much weight being applied. It pulls the screws out of the wood and sometimes bends the hinges.
I do like the cabinets with the flip out metal arm, but most of them don't come that way.

Joe