I fixed my Pfaff 332!
 

I should have looked at it much sooner. :o

This area was the problem. The lower cog/arm thing for the belt tension was out of alignment, letting that cogged belt slip completely off. It (the tension wheel arm) was being stabilized by that lump of hot glue you see there, LOL. (This is the "after-fixing" picture, I forgot to take any "before"s)

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It looks like some rubber pad behind the bracket has disintegrated. I found a manual online and it mentions a washer, but it was 4AM and I couldn't find one, but I did find a scrap of rubber foam pad and cut a couple rectangles out and put that behind the bracket, and now the belt lines up perfectly and stays put! I'm not sure that's really how it was originally, but it works.

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I will have to find a washer but I couldn't tell from the scanned image of the manual where exactly it goes. I'm guessing between the screw head and the bracket arm?

This machine is such a tank. I took the top off and holy cow. This is the 332-260 so it has a built-in camstack. The belts on this thing are insane. I can personally verify that this machine is capable of sewing right into an 8 year old's finger, right through the nail, without hesitating. LOL
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I plugged her in and she sews great! Amazingly quiet too. I'm so stoked!

Next up is a good cleaning and lubing, and some minor adjustments. And then a bigger house, so I can keep more machines set up at a time!!

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I love how the bed folds down. :)
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Getting at the dials with the lid on - this was a part I was NOT ALLOWED to touch as a girl:
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Yaay! I just made my weekend, LOL.

Good work! Such a sense of accomplishment!

Great job fixing it! Great machine too. :)
Rodney

yay!! congrats, she's a beauty!

She is a beautiful machine! I am a little jealous that YOURS is nicer but I am feeling lucky to have found one for myself! I haven't started the clean up process. I know right up right the light switch on mine is broken but everything else is at least moving. If I run into problems I might be asking you! Congrats on getting a great machine and getting it up and running!

It's funny because it looks SO dirty to me, compared to my grandmother's. She would have never let HER machine get this grubby!

The automatic needle threader on mine doesn't work, I've discovered. It doesn't come forward far enough. I haven't figured out why yet. I do remember that the one on my Grandmother's machine didn't work either. It's overall a little gunky, someone was sloppy with the oil. Better than not oiling it at all, I suppose!

I don't really know a whole lot about it but I'm happy to help if I can! I am having fun taking a trip down memory lane for sure, though.

I was going through the attachments and I realized it has a horizontal spool pin converter! It's not the one it would have come with, judging from pictures in the manual and also the color of the metal, but it works! I'm pleased because that's an attachment I can use (and have real use for) on multiple machines. It also has some interesting open-toe darning/FMQ type feet I'll have to play with. All stamped Pfaff, so presumably originals.

Fun, fun, fun. :)

I was playing with it more late last night and realized the top lever/knob marked 1,3,5,7,0 is stuck and I can't move it. I probably stuck the lid on wrong somehow so I'll have to play with that after work today. I'm pretty sure it moved before I took it all apart but not positive now, lol.

It's funky, that whole front knob assembly actually moves around on the face of the machine as it sews a pattern. I only did straight or zz as a kid so I'd never seen it do that - it spooked me for a second! So far the only patterns I get are wobbly zig-zags but you have to adjust 3-4 dials to get a proper stitch pattern and I'm just playing with the one cam dial; when I get my pattern wheel thingy I'll be able to test properly. And fix that top knob.

I was sewing on some denim scrap, getting the tension adjusted, and I put 8 layers though. It just sewed through it like it was nothing, nice lovely balanced stitches. It's almost a little scary, I started having some flashbacks to sewing my finger!

Every machine needs a name, I'm thinking this little toughie might need a name like Bonecrusher or Fingerbreaker. LOL (Better than "Broken Disappointment" that I was calling it before!)

I came so close to buying a 362 and I have a similar 230, so this is vicarious for me. Nice job on the fix! :)

I would probably have never looked at this machine if it didn't have such a sentimental connection for me. I think it's somewhere between "plain" and "plain ugly" - the slightly newer version of this machine is a lot prettier and I think same guts under the hood. But I'd have missed out, so I'm glad I was exposed to this machine when I was young. I definitely appreciate it a lot more now than I did then!

It gives me such memories and makes me wonder what happened to "my" box of fabric scraps at Gran's house when she died. I had some watermelon fabric in there I was saving for something special!! LOL (Watermelons and rainbows, tossed on a teal background if I remember correctly. Ahhh, the 80's....)

First 201 I bought it was an ugly tan one. After using it the first time I saw it as beautiful. Once I use a fantastic machine like this, I never see it as ugly again.

I still see it as pretty ugly, but I love it to pieces anyway. I feel the same way about one of my dogs. She's a weird looking little thing, part alien and part I don't know what, but she's MY weird little dog and I adore her. :D (She actually looks a lot like Dobby the house elf from the Harry Potter movies, so that's her nickname now.)

I noticed something about this machine that seems to be unique though! There's an extra spike on the top of it and I can't figure out what it's for! I did a bunch of Google image searching and none of the other Pfaffs seem to have it and the drawings in the manuals I've found don't show it.

Is it an aftermarket thing? It doesn't move or rotate or extend; maybe something is supposed to bolt onto it? It's narrow enough that a spool will fit on it, but just barely and it already has 2 spool pins that flip up, and it's awfully short & stubby by comparison.

Anybody know what this is?

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Yours is a boy. :o

ROFL!!

That's extra funny because today I was thinking about I was going to name it, and thought it needed a good German name. I was thinking something like "The Fingerbreaker" or "The Bonecrusher" as a joking reference to how I sewed my finger with one, and decided to look those up in German with Google translate.

So I discovered:

"the bone" = male article (der knochen)
"the crusher" = male article (der brecher)

Then I tried "the Bonecrusher"...and suddenly it's "die Knochenbrecher" - with the female article! LOL

So now I don't know WHAT to think! LOL

:shock:

As for the German. Mark Twain had a lot to say about German grammar and none of it was flattering but all of it was very funny.

LOL! Good read - I like Twain and I took German in high school so I followed that pretty well, and agree with most of it!

I think every language has quirks like that, the English language is tricky too. My boss's husband is from Mexico and still learning English and his homework is HARD! I don't know half the stuff he's learning! Present perfect tense...what? I don't know what that means, I just know if the sentence sounds right or not.

I stumbled into this thread again through a search engine. It's not what I need to find out but I see something that might be "off". I'm looking for how to access the inside part of the back plug.

I have a copy of the service manual and the aluminum wheel in the photo you posted should be up against the belt but the belt doesn't go around it.

According to the manual that is the Motor Belt Idler. It's job isn't to tension the belt but to keep it from flapping around. It says it should be adjusted so that the belt clips are in a permanent mesh with the wheel. If that is confusing message me and I will try to explain better.

Oh, so the belt is supposed to ride against the wheel but not around it?

It was completely off and just scratching around in there when I opened it up, and it fit so neatly on the outside of that wheel I just assumed that's where it was supposed to go! I found a photocopied manual online that showed this area of the machine but the photos were so dark I'm not really surprised I got it backwards. That makes sense, though, because the way that wheel attaches to the machine is with an open slot and it seemed a little weird it would be pulling against something attached that way. If the belt is on the other side of the wheel that pushes instead of pulls and that makes more sense.

I will switch it next time I have her on the table. Thanks for letting me know!

I still can't figure out the purpose for that extra spike. I'm convinced it's not original at this point, but I still can't fathom what it could have been used for. Mystery spike!

It was only by chance I happened into this thread again but after messing with mine I knew something seemed wrong. I am still working on mine. It's coming along but slowly. I need to peek into the wiring and it's a bit of a booger to get into. I've seen just a bit of oil seeping where the plug goes and want to be sure it only needs a clean up and not someone more worrisome.

Yes on closer exam that spike does look added on but I can't fathom a reason for it. It's interesting though and definitely makes your machine unique!

That spike is exactly the right size to poke out the paper covering the bottom of a spool of thread.

Until I figure out anything different, that's what I'm using it for. LOL!

Did you get the capacitors replaced on yours? I saw that post and cringed. Beyond my abilities at this point!

I didn't replace them. I just removed them. I also had to remove one from the foot controller. It was backened on the end. This machine was loaded with them. I wasn't planning on all that, but I did know that my machine was a fixer upper when I bought it. I've found a couple more issues but am working my way through them. I was able to try a few stitches last night. I'll keep working on it. I think I am going to love this machine. I've given it the name "War Horse".

War Horse is a good one!

It's funny, it's such a GOOD machine, but I wouldn't have given it a second look if I hadn't become so acquainted with one as a youngster. It doesn't LOOK awesome like the dashboard machines or the old classic black-and-gold look, but man is it impressive under the hood.

I'm glad mine seems to be OK as far as the capacitors go. At least for now! If/when they blow out, I know who to message for help! LOL

By the time I am done working on this one I should know a LOT about it lol! I have a tendancy to buy machines that are both desirable to me and mystery puzzles. It often takes a lot of work to get them going but I learn so much about them! If your capacitors even fail I should be able to help. ;)

I've been thinking of trying to find some sort of local classes to help me learn more about motors and capacitors and how to fix these things without killing myself or catching my house on fire (or worse, ruining an awesome sewing machine). Problem is I hate going to school. LOL I should just shanghai my cousin and force him to give me a primer. I just need a kick in the pants to get me started, once I have some idea of what I'm doing I can run with it.

Sewnoma,

My son (who worked on SMs for 14 years) and who is also deeply involved in electronics, could give you some pointers, if you need help! He completely re-wired my 201 (which was still working) but he didn't like the looks of the wiring! LOL!

Jeanette

I think I need more than pointers, I need a "wiring 101 for dummies" type of education - I need to start from zero, basically. It's a little embarrassing. Does he make house calls to California? LOL

I know exactly two things about electricity: DON'T TOUCH and CALL A PROFESSIONAL. LOL

I have a motor I took off of a 99 that needs rewiring, and I have a feeling it's probably REALLY simple but other than looking at stuff I'm afraid to change anything. I'm not actually sure the current wiring is correct so I don't want to just copy what was there, but I don't know enough to figure it out. I really need to open it up, take pictures, and post it here. I'm sure people here can guide me. I just haven't gotten back around to that particular mess yet!

I was the same about electricity a year and a half ago! I knew NOTHING other than it's very dangerous. :shock:

I started by reading and re-reading this blog http://vssmb.blogspot.com/2012/01/co...ted-motor.html which is absolutely awesum! It isn't the same exact motor as the Singer 99 but all the skills he teaches you are skills that apply to pretty much any motor.

I learned everything from the internet starting with this blog and then researching any other things that came up. Opening up the motor is just part of what I do with every machine I get.

Cool, thanks for the link! I will check it out when I get home. :)

I think you are now where I want to get to! I know I CAN learn this stuff, I just need to get over the hump and get started on it.