I have an update on the Bernina 530-2 I posted about earlier...it's working!! Wahoo. It had a seriously locked up screw in the Cam/lever area. The sewing machine guy I went to see got it movingand adjusted in a relatively quick amount of time. As many have said on this forum...the older Bernina's have an awesome stitch. Every stitch on this 54 year old machine is just perfect.

Joe, you mention a Wizard. Well, I had one in my car that I got back from my other machine service guy who told me it was unfixable. I admit it isn't so smart to pay much to have service guys tell you it can't be fixed but anyway I decided to have this other service man look at the Wizard. He did and he told me what was needed. I left it with him and he called a day later with an update..it now works and the zig zag is functioning BUT..he says I'll need to have some music on my iPod to drown out a clunk noise that he says he doesn't think he can fix. I haven't heard the clunk yet but I believe him if he says it's loud. I think I'll sew on my Bernina 530 that purrs like a kitten and wait a while before I rescue more vintage problems. I hope you are having a sunny day and sewing something fun.

IQuiltnFL,

The Wizard I have was rusted tight on the needle bar end. I got it free by heating certain parts with a torch as I pumped oil into it.

It is now very easy to turn. It needs the bobbin case retainer replace as that was broken when I got it. But it will work as is. All I need to do is double check the timing, clean it a bit more, and reassemble the small bits I took off to clean.
It should sew. But I have no idea of how good, or how quiet.

If your Wizard has a clunk somewhere I'm thinking something is hitting something. Just a guess. Or something hasn't got oil to it yet.

I know about hard to find noises, my last 413 still clatters and rattles and I have not been able to find the cause. I told my wife we should make a quilt and ZZ all the seams with that machine, pushing it till it divulges it's secret or breaks.

Joe

Out of curiosity, what makes the SU a challenge? I had one here, worked beautifully so nothing to troubleshoot, really nice stitches too.

"Up here" there's no Vitamin D to be had from the sun at this time of year, all the walks in the world don't help. Vitamin D comes in pill form only for us. Ugh. It's a good time to hibernate, but if you can stand your spouse this far north in the winter, you can make it through anything. :D

Perhaps a new project, Joe? Something that's not bags or fixing machines or quilts... I find that always gets me fired up. I think it's why I have so many "projects" on the go always. I know what you mean, I have a problem child on my desk at the moment that I was really looking forward to sewing with, and I just can't find it in me to finish the repair (new hook, but the new one is problematic) but I've found the time to organise fabric, write a software program to handle my stash(es), and chop holes in a desk to make several sewing machines sit flush with the top. I'm sure you (and I) just need a break.

Anna, what a cute little Maltese! I had one of those once . . . . I love the little dogs, although, we do have two large rescued 'ranch' dogs too!

Joe, you are just going through a lot right now - with moving and all! Take it a day at a time . . . . . do what you can . . . . . , and when you get moved get a pet! It has been proven that a pet can extend and emotionally improve the lives/health of their owners!

When I am down or discouraged I bury my nose in a horse or a dog!

Nancy

Nancy,

We do have pets. We have 5 kitties that keep us company. I have my arms around Pollyanna as I type this.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]396745[/ATTACH]

As for moving we are stymied now. Most of our stuff is boxed and we don't have any room to move around, and the financial thing is taking forever to work through. I'm at that the point that we need to resort much of the boxed stuff and dispose of it. Or rent a storage locker (no money for that though.)

Joe

is your PollyAnna a polydactyl? looks like an extra toe there!! Gorgeous face on her!

Lara,

Yes she is. 7 toes on each front, 5 toes on each rear. 24 total. She is so incredibly fast and agile we're thinking she may have a sew of invisible wings too.
Very loving and possessive of my wife, likes to sit on her shoulder as she walks around the house.

Joe

In addition to a lifelong love of all things quilting, I have been collecting fabric for 32 years lol I also volunteer for a boxer rescue. i love my Olivia, a stray we adopted two years ago She gets me outside every day-- sun wind rain snow she doesn't care she lives to walk. A little exercise and fresh air might help.

Sideways,

You are sooooooo very right. But I don't have a doggie to walk and my wife Elaine objects to the leash. :D

Seriously as soon as the weather changes for the better I will once again get out to walk. I just can't deal with the cold this winter.

Joe

Hi Bojangles,
Thank you for your kind words. Actually she is a Havanese. A little Spanish dog and the national dog from Cuba. Nina is small for her breed and indeed because of her coloring, Havanese can be any color or combination, and size looks a bit Maltese. That is one of the main reasons I was drawn to her. She is a lot of fun and so soft. I love the horse in your avatar. This is our first little dog. I loved our large dogs but I wanted a small indoor lap dog and this one fit because she is hypoallergenic or better her hair is. They also have a little more of a larger dog personality and are a little less nippy then some breeds.

J Miller!!!!!! Your wife on a leash. I sure hope you did not try that. Your cat is adorable and her toes very interesting. I love cats but we can not have them as several of my children are very allergic to them. So we got Nina, the 7 lb hypoallergenic doggie, that looks a bit like a long hairy cat. She even sleeps in a cat bed. Sssshhhhhh... don't tell Nina that.

Joe, it's not cold out if you wear a coat, hat, scarf, gloves, boots (plus jeans and sweater underneath) and keep moving. The sun is so pretty on the snow though you probably don't have our complete snow cover (2+ feet minimum) and 6+ foot snowbanks so your landscape isn't as sparkly. I didn't consider the four foot drift behind my car on Thursday pretty.

I thought of you today. I've had to do tension adjustments on a machine for the first time since 1973. My 'perfect' 301 had tension problems for the first time in the 2 years I've had her. I'd say it was the rayon thread except it's been used before. My MW 15 clone's tension was completely screwed up. That one took a lot of adjusting, both top and bottom, but now it's perfect. I hope that was a one time only thing - I have no desire to duplicate the problems I had with my Kenmore from 1961 to 1973.

Annaquilts,

That was a joke, the truth is I'm the one on the leash :(

My wife's youngest son was allergic to about everything when he was a kid. Including cats. My wife fixed that problem by bathing the cats to keep the dander down, and making him home made stuffed toys out of hypoallergenic washable materials.
He still has the first teddy bear she ever made him.



irishrose,

I'm thinking some tension problems are caused by gremlins. Machines that sew along perfectly then suddenly the tension goes wonky. Our 4622A has just done that. I've done everything but remove the top tension and take it apart to clean the assembly.
It went from sewing beautifully with the adjusting knob on '3' to be too tight. I finally got it to sew again but now the knob is on '2'. Probably some lint in there somewhere.

Joe

AHA!!! Two things to relieve boredom! 1) Elaine lets go of the leash and watches Joe spin around like a crazy person. 2) rebuild the tension like you didn't - then refer to #1... Crazy Person Joe, she loves you dearly and you take good care of her - you two are a good match.

I've been finding a LOT of bobbin cases packed up lately. The lint under the spring is unreal, and of course it makes the bottom tension way too loose, making the upper un-adjustable.

Would you like some cheese with your Whine. LOl

You know what I've noticed, lots of thread we buy seems to be extremely linty and dirty. I start with a cleaned machine, and when I'm done the bobbin area is just full of lint and fuzz. I have tons of thread to use and most of it is Coats & Clarks. It's the newer stuff though that's so dirty.

Joe

I agree with you Joe. I also have and use a lot of older C&C threads, some at least 30 years old. The last spool of C&C I purchased a few months ago was made in Mexico. The old spools were made in USA. The thread strength is about the same and next time I use some newer C&C I will see if there is a difference.

Tammi, I have found a lot of packed up bobbin areas - in fact just today - I bought a Singer Fashion Mate for the cabinet - the machine was not suppose to work. How can it work when it is so impacted by lint and dried up oil?
1) Bobbin area/feed dogs solidly packed up with lint - looked like insulation
2) Dried on oil everywhere - nothing moved at all even with out lint
3) wiring not functional - machine does not power up at all
Good: the plastic gears are in tact - no cracks
What I did:
The lint is cleaned out - everything moves when I hand turn it thanks to Tri-flow
I think some fabrics shed more than others but I agree thread isn't what it once was
There will be a day for cleaning up hardened oil and very dirty linty grease
Another time for checking the wiring.
Machine should work just fine eventually...

Dunno if you ever found your blue singer 15 clone... But if not maybe its time to find one? :)

I've been so busy planning my wedding and jumping through all the proverbial hoops that I haven't even had time to finish my last machine! (I've also been completely absent from this forum!!) but a new machine is coming my way (it's a mystery singer. Haven't seen it yet) so I'm hoping it rekindles my want to play with them!

The sewing teacher I learned from said to never use the Coats thread. (I suspect that it might have been because the Coats thread that the local fabricland carries - which is where all new sew-ers seem to shop - is the bottom of the barrel for quality. I have no doubt that they have several lines as well.) So when I (re)started sewing, I bought Gutermann exclusively, but I'm finding even the Gutermann is very linty these days. I like the Robison Anton thread, and I have a spool of the Aurofil here that looks pretty good too (haven't had time to use it yet) and it's dirt cheap as far as cotton threads go here.

Those threads don't seem to be delinting themselves and messing up the spring tension as much as the others, but I also clean my machines more often than is strictly needed.

The quilt batting on the other hand, holy COW the mess that makes in the hook area.

I've often thought of reusing those felts that the machine makes... like for the race wicks on a 66 / 99 for instance. :D They're thick enough and often big enough....

Because of the mess I keep finding, I've taken to disassembling all bobbin cases and cleaning under the springs. I just turn the screw in until it stops, make note of the number of turns, then remove both screws and clean like crazy. Then I reassemble to the same spec and test from there. More often than not, the case doesn't need any more adjustment, and the tension problems magically disappear.

One of the bobbin cases was so packed up that there was a "chunk" of lint under the spring that I had to "chip" off with a small blade screwdriver. DH caught me muttering "THERE's your problem...."

Another one was so full of lint in the hook area, I took an air compressor to it.... there was fluff floating all over my sewing room (in my eye lashes, my hair, all over my clothes...) for a good 15 mins at least.

I bought a little Genie for parts this weekend. I hate to do it, but I needed the pedal, and the machine was missing the slide plate and the hand wheel was cracked in 2 pieces. It was surprisingly clean in the hook area, but maybe that's the lack of a slide plate. The lint could escape.