Help bobbin threading an old singer 248? Fashionmate??
 

Hello!

I got this machine Friday at a charity consignment store -- just after reading one of the 'how to buy a vintage machine' threads! Thanks for that help! I got lucky with it, it had been testing, and was still threaded, with a needle.

It sits in its case, but it had been taken out, and by the time we tinkered with it to get it to sit flat, the bobbin had come out.

The machine is smooth and virtually silent. MUCH quieter than my 70s era kenmore. even my newer sears machine is louder!

BUT -- I cannot thread it properly . . . I thought I almost had it, it made three 1 1/2 inch lines for me that looked ok . . . the tension was wonky, and I was thinking on it. It got a nasty rat's nest of upper thread *under* my fabric. i cleared it, it runs fine again, but . . . obviously I am the problem. I have never threaded a 'flat' bobbin. Both of my machines have bobbin cases, and stand vertical inside the machine, under the needle. This one sits on its side, in front of the needle part. It has a metal slide plate that was missing (I am going to back and ask), so I can see the shuttle race moving smoothly.

Can't upload a picture, but here is an ebay link to a similar one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Singer-Fashi...item4ab4b1bc80

any suggestions?

thanks!

http://www.sewusa.com/Sewing_Machine...g_Diagrams.htm

check on here I see a 247.. no 248. the 247 is a front loader, so it must be the same.

thank you . . . !!

<off to go check that website!!>

if I weren't dial up, I bet I would have found an answer already! =)

here' s the link for a free manual for the 248. I hope it works for you.

http://www.singerco.com/uploads/down...92e3e0384c.pdf

I think this will bring my post current again we'll see! I finally got a slide plate for this guy but it still is giving me a problem. My old post proves that it did so for me before! Now, thing in the bobbin case is hitting the needle and pulling it to the left. It won't sew a stitch. No one has done anything to it except my sewing machine guy, who just installed the slide plate while I watched. Here is a picture!

Try resetting the needle to make sure it's all the way up in the needle bar.

"[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD="width: 89, align: left"]248[/TD]
[TD="width: 73, align: left"]1980-81[/TD]
[TD="width: 65, align: left"]Domestic[/TD]
[TD="width: 548, align: left"]Zigzag; with buttonhole facility; drop in bobbin; white/green.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
"

Make sure the bobbin case, probably plastic is seated correctly on the hook assembly and if those two things don't do it remove the needle plate, slide plate, bobbin case and bobbin and verify that the hook timing is correct.

Or, take it back to the guy who touched it last and have him look it over.

Joe

hopefully the picture will work now. The bobbin case is metal . . . Didn't try to take that out yesterday. I guess I need to google 'hook timing'!

picture looks bad, but I had one hand on the wheel, 'gently' holding it to show the lean!

Lara,

The needle looks bent. Is it?
Is the needle inserted with the long groove facing the front of the machine (flat to the rear)?

Cathy

Lara,

Remove the face plate and look at the needle bar. Many of the newer Singers have two timing marks on the bar. These are used to put the needle in the correct height position and to time the hook.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]437494[/ATTACH]
This is an example from a Singer Mdl 457.
The timing marks can be at the bottom, in the center, or at the top of the needle bar.

How this works is this. When the bottom mark is below the top of the bushing and the top mark can just be seen, the needle bar is all the way down.

If you rotate the hand wheel until the bottom mark is in the same position as the top mark when the machine was all the way down, the point of the hook should be centered behind the needle.

Better instructions for this can be found in the Singer shop manuals you can download from their site.

I suspect from your pictures, that the timing has slipped on that machine.
Or, if the needle in it was the one you were sewing on, it could have been bent backward somehow and now the hook is catching it. Try a new needle as you check the timing and make sure the needle arm is in the Center position.

Joe