Nope! I do have a straight stitch plate and the hole is centered.

Mizkaki, it appears you are correct. Well, I guess that explains why the needle was set just to the left of center. It must've been to co-ordinate with the presser foot. I haven't had trouble with the needle hitting, but it is so close it's scary and I am a little OCD about wanting everything to line up neatly. :o I guess I will adjust the needle back just a scooch and call her good! It's looks like i have done all I can do!

I'm glad you figured it out.

Cathy

Just a thought: If you put the L-C-R or L-M-R lever ( however it's labeled) in the center position, and the needle is to the left, it could well be out of adjustment. I have had two like that. Neither were Left homing machines. One a Dressmaker 7000 was a royal pain in the ...... sit down part to get adjusted. Like the one mentioned by the poster above, that machine never worked like it should.
The other machine was a wee bit off and a good cleaning took care of that. Something was sticking.

As for left homing machines I have two of them.
One an Aldens that has a L-C-R lever. You can sew a centered SS with the machine "IF" you leave the ZZ needle plate on it.
If you put the SS needle plate on it, you must move the L-C-R lever to L or the needle will bite the plate.

The other is a Domestic that does not have a L-C-R lever. It's a pure left homing machine when on SS.

So like you mentioned your machine has a centered hole SS plate. Pretty much makes me think somethings out of adjustment.

Oh, there is no way to adjust the pressure foot shaft that much. But you can have the wrong foot on it. Some of these feet are dedicated Left Home feet. Others are just a bit off in specs and don't center up exactly.
Got to pay real close attention to details.

Joe

Wrong foot is a possibility. I found another to try on her and see but it's soaking for a good cleaning first.

Seems like most of the old Japanese zzers are left homing. You can find out real fast if you put a straight stitch foot on it. I have an old White zz I've been fooling with lately sews left. Nice machine though.

Our Riccar ZZ is a left homing.

Again, I might be mistaken, or not have read everything correctly, but in this picture, it looks like the presser foot is askew of the need plate. Maybe an optical illusion, but perhaps you're presser bar, is not clamped straight ahead. Or maybe it's the needle clamp. or maybe neither

That's correct. I found I can get the needle centered, but the presser foot is off center. There isn't a way to correct the position of the foot-at least none I have found so far.

Ok now I am wondering what IS a left homing machine?

A left homing machine is when you take if off zig zag the straight stitch is toward the left of center. I'm thinking the early Japanese zig zag machines are mostly left homing. Later maybe or maybe some companies made some that have the option of left, center or right. Some are centered. If it is left homing there is nothing you can do but live with it. There are left homing straight stitch feet. (see pic) The foot on the left is a left homing ss foot. The difference is where you screw them on and since the feed dogs are wide you will have some feed dogs with no foot over them although I have seen a ss foot that did cover the whole feed dog area. They are gone now so I can't shoot them. You will see other styles of ss feet. They do not always interchange. If your machine is left homing you need a left homing foot for ss. If it is center homing you need a center homing ss foot. zz won't matter what foot you use as long as it is the right length shaft. There are several shaft lengths the 3 most common are low shank, high shank and slant shank. If you have a low or slant shank machine a high shank may throw it out of needle bar timing if you try to use a high shank attachment - ask me how I know... Clear as mud yet? With the left homing machines, there are some zig zag feet that are easier to use than others. You may need to experiment and see what you like.
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