Featherweight sewing too slowly...
 

Hello! I have a friend who just purchased her first FW. She says the stitch is beautiful, but it sews too slowly. Is there an adjustment in the foot pedal to speed it up or does the foot pedal need to be replaced?
Thanks!

Not necessarily the foot control. The belt might be too tight. It needs to be just tight enought not to slip. Or it could need lubrication, or it could have thread wrapped around something and be jammed up. Has it been serviced lately? FWs are easily self-maintained. The Yahoo Featherweight group has a lot of good advice (as well as this board).

Thanks - my friends will check the belt today. We appreciate your help.
Linda

Linda,

Belts are easy to check. Just feel how tight it is. If it feels tight, it's too tight. There should be deflection of the belt between the hand wheel and motor pulley. If there isn't any deflection, or it's hard to make the belt deflect, it's too tight.

Joe

I have also seen this when the motor needs lubricant and one time it was motor need brushes. So several things to check.

We have found that the lubricant can be old and hard causing the machine to run slow. If so, we heat the motor by using a hair dryer which softens the lubrication. Works like a charm for us.

I just heard from my friend and her DH made some adjustments to the foot pedal and cleaned some contacts. Her FW is running just fine now! Thanks for everyone's help!

Mine ran slow when I first
got it and then I realized that I had the wheel for the bobbin winder engaged. Boy did I feel dumb!