Frozen 301
 

Got a 301 from eBay. But it seems to be frozen. We can't even turn the wheel by hand. We have cleaned, oiled and greased everything but it hasn't helped. We can't figure out where it is seizing up. We are thinking of sending it back if we can't figure out the problem. Don't want to spend a lot of $$$ on repairs as we are thinking of having a booth at a quilt show next year and doing some selling. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? DH is enjoying cleaning these up and doing repairs.

Check out the bobbin assembly. You may have some thread wrapped around the hook and bobbin area.

This is what happened with a machine I was gifted. If you do have tangled thread there, oil a lot(!!!) and wait a while. Should come right out. Good luck.

I think there is some thread wrapped around the bobbin assembly. I could just see the ends of it barely peeking out. But we can't figure out how to get the bobbin assembly out. We have a manual for 301 repair but can't quite understand the instructions. Any help or better pictures would be appreciated.

Don't take apart any more than you have to - take pictures as you remove things - keep things in some kind of order - maybe some double sided tape. I keep a piece of felt around to put stuff on. Careful not to loose tiny little thingys. Put it back like you took it off. That's probably why they got rid of it - like you said you can send it back for a refund.

Use tweezers and you wiggle the wheel. Don't try to turn, just wiggle. Taking apart is the next to the last resort. Last resosrt, repair man. Good luck.

it is best to pull on the thread with a pair of tweezers that lock but some times the machine is so locked up it CAN'T wiggle - I was assuming this was the case...

Since the 301 is similar to the Featherweight I think this website might be of help in removing the bobbin case to get to pieces of thread that may be caught behind the bobbin.

http://thefeatherweight221factory.co...MachineJam.php

Lauri

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the 301 use the same bobbin and bobbin drive assembly as the Featherweight?
If so then there is one itsy tincy screw you remove to clear up the thread jam. Go to this site and read the instruction:
http://thefeatherweight221factory.com/page10.php
Look down at the bottom left and click on "Thread Or Machine Jam".

Joe

LOL looks like we were posting at the same time :D

The website was a great help but there was only one little piece of thread found and removed. We got it back together but there was no improvement. The machine will only make 1/2 - 3/4 rotation of flywheel.we tried oiling and greasing hoping things would loosen after it soaked in, but to no avail. Luckily the seller is willing to refund $$. We are mailing it back tomorrow. It was a short bed anyway and I prefer the longer ones. Sure am curious as to what the problem is though. Just not curious enough to spend big bucks at a repair shop. We want to learn to do these things for ourselves. Any suggestions on how to learn more complicated repairs would be appreciated.