Do we have a 15 clone Doctor in the house?
 

My SEWMOR 202 came several days ago and I've been cleaning and working on it. It's good cosmetically but has a mechanical problem I can't find.

Picture a 15 clone, when it runs there is a knocking sound and the stitch regulator lever bounces up and down and side to side at each knock. The faster you run the machine the worse it gets. Eventually the lever will begin to work it's way up till the stitches just stop.

I've had all the plates off, had it on it's back, on it's front, on it's end and turned the hand wheel by hand as I looked and can't for the life of me see what is doing it.

It definitely has something to do with the stitch length parts. Something is binding and I can't see it.

So, has anyone had this problem with a 15 clone and fixed it? If so ..... HELP!

Oh by the way, this is basically the same problem I've had with the EDISON 15 clone. They are all but identical inside.
I actually have 5 15 clones, and three are the same internally, the other two are different from all the others.

I don't have any pics yet as I have no idea of what parts to take the pics of.

Joe

Doesn't need to be a clone to do that, a Singer 15 will also.

I had one machine that was really stiff for the stitch length lever, so hubby took the cover off and there was a a spring steel type piece somewhere in that area. He flipped it around, and put it back together. I had a really smooth lever, unfortunately, it would no longer hold and operated just like you say, clunking and bouncing and eventually working to center and the feeding stopped.

So he took it apart and put it back the other way, and it holds fine, but it stiff to use.

I've had the Edison apart a number of times. There is two ( I think ) spring washers with tabs on them. One on each side of the pivot bolt for the stitch length lever. I did what your husband did, take them off, turn them this way and that and in the end it didn't make any difference.

It seems that there is something binding at a certain point in the rotation of everything. I've just been unable to see what it is.

Joe

I'm wondering if those "springs" might be sprung. Maybe see if you can put in a shim or something to make them tighten down more.

When my husband flipped it around, it put a lot less pressure on the unit, and turns out it needed a lot of pressure on it to keep it in place.

We are off to the "big city" to look at a treadmill - every time my husband would say "I'm contacting someone about a treadmill" - I'd catch myself thinking -we don't need any more treadles!

I am not sure if this will help but i find that when diagnosing physical issues that the slower I move something the better I can feel the subtle changes. Speed of movement gives inertia which makes things "easier" to move. If you move super slow sometimes a part that moved stiffly will stop at the bind point.

One other idea, the only machine that I have had that had a pillar mount stitch regulator issue it was because the screw/bolt under the hand wheel was loose...

my .02

Steve,

The motor needs to be rewired, so I've been turning it by hand without the hand wheel on it for the most part. You can really feel it when it binds up. But even with it in the binding position I can't "see" what's doing it. Either somethings bent or it's just not obvious.

As an experiment I put a motor on it last night and it sews a great stitch. Timing is good, tensions are good. But the problem gets worse as the speed increases.

I'm going to work on it a bit more, then if I can't figure it out with help from the board members, I'll cart it over to my LSMG and ask his help. He's been helpful before so I'm hoping he will be again. I could always offer him some wampum for his time.

Joe

Cathy,

That could be, but it really looks like something is binding. And I can't see what it is. I'll have to put the Commodore next to the SEWMOR for comparison. The Commodore works properly and is the same internal design as the SEWMOR. Maybe that will help.

Joe

Joe I had one that would randomly kick out and not turn at all - I could reach in and poke it and all would be well. The rest of the time it was wonderful. I could never make it do that when I wanted to. I just kept oiling it and poking it - I never saw anything wrong with the machine either - I don't really know which one it was or what happened to it.

OK, partial success I think.

Here are some pics and I'll try to describe what I mean.

Body stripped of most stuff for cleaning and diagnosis:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]450260[/ATTACH]

Full underside view:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]450261[/ATTACH]

Feed dog drop mechanism:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]450262[/ATTACH]

Close up of the feed dog fork and drop mechanism. Point of
interference indicated by the red arrow.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]450263[/ATTACH]

Now that I have seen this I have to figure out how and what to adjust. If you'll notice the screw that holds the part the drop shaft passes through has been messed with. I suspect it might have come loose and moved or since the shaft was badly stuck in the tube someone might have moved the thing trying to free it.

The feed dogs are not level. The front sits higher than the rear and the bottom of the teeth is above the needle plate.
The rear is the same distance lower. So I have some adjusting to do.

What I don't want to do is mess it up cos it does sew really nice stitches.

Anyone familiar with adjusting the feed dogs on one of these?

Joe

Joe,

My son worked as a sewing machine mechanic for 14 years -- he's already asleep right now, but I'll ask him to look at your machine pictures and see if he sees anything.

Jeanette Frantz