Which one to keep?
 

I have two sewing machines, and both seem to do about the same stuff, so I'm considering getting rid of one. (My hairdresser wants a sewing machine, and asked if I had one for sale.)

The first is a Sears Kenmore 1701, made in 1970. It came with a box full of feet and attachments, including 20 (!) cams for decorative stitching. The wiring all looks in excellent shape, I think all it needs is to be cleaned, because someone was a little exuberant with the grease tube on the underside.

The second is a Singer Slant-o-Matic 403 special. It came with the basic 8 cams for decorative stitching, and maybe a few extra presser feet. It looks older, but also in nice condition.

I'll say right off that I'm not particularly interested in doing ornamental stitching, and have never used the cams. The only reason I got the Kenmore was because my other machine was a 201K, and I felt I should have something that would do zigzag stitching. Then I saw the Singer 403 and liked it too, so now I have 2 machines that look pretty equal in terms of what they can do.

If there was one you'd want to keep, which one would it be? The Singer or the Kenmore?

The 403 has metal gears, which should last your lifetime and maybe a few more if you keep them greased! I don't know about the Kenmore, but I suspect it has plastic gears because of the age. You can always open it up and see! The plastic gears fail over time, and they can be hard to replace.

I'd keep the Singer, myself. Just my 2 cents!

No Comparison between the Singer 403 and the Kenmore! Definitely keep the Singer. Resale value is ten times the Kenmore.

I would say Singer. I have a 401 in a desk cabinet and a portable 2662. I have them stored since redoing the room but I don't believe i'll ever give either to anyone. Meaning stored; I have the 401 down into the cabinet. the 2662 is in it's carrier.

Check to see if the gears are plastic/nylon, if so go with the metal gear one. So far I have replaced too many plastic/nylon gears, they get old and crack, chewed up.

That's kinda what I was hoping people would say! I hadn't used either of them for a long time, but when I got them out to note down the model numbers and check the attachments and manuals, I couldn't help but notice that the Singer has that well-built "tank" look, and the Kenmore looks a bit... ordinary in comparison.

Maybe it's better off with my hairdresser, anyway, since she has a toddler and would probably use the decorative cams to make fun embellishments on kid's clothes. It's nice that the set is complete, but a bit superfluous for me.

I did look at the underside, but most everything appears to be metal, actually. Perhaps in the head of the machine there may be some plastic gears, but except for a small rod-like thing near the motor, I think the gears are metal.

However, I could not believe what I saw when I unscrewed the cover for the gears that are behind the bobbin case: it looked like someone had taken a quarter cup of green grease and just lobbed it in there, then screwed the case closed again! The gears were not coated, they were *immersed* in this stuff! Surely it's supposed to be oil for these gears, isn't it? I thought grease was for the motor. I would think regularly applying drops of oil to this mess would have made things worse and worse, but I suspect the machine was just put away and not used after it got this "treatment". I can't possibly give a machine to someone in this state; I'll have to clean out all the grease and oil the machine properly.

Are the gears enclosed in a box with a lid like this http://mysewingmachineobsession.blog...-on-gears.html ? If it does, do not remove the grease. These gears are meant to sit in the grease and do not need oil.

My two cents worth: The one you keep depends on what you are sewing. If you are sewing multiple layers of thick fabric that are hard to get under your 403's or 201's presser foot, you will find the Kenmore has significantly more presser foot room and its 1+ amp motor plows through with little effort where the 403 may strain a little.

I have a number of Kenmores from that era that have built-in "stretch" stitches which make for nice sewing of knit fabrics if you have a need for that. Some like yours have a cam (either built-in or insertable) for a handy overcast stitch for finishing garment seams. The Singer also has a plastic cam (available on ebay) that will overcast seam edges more elegantly than a plain zz if your collection of cams do not already include this particular one. I also have a 403 with a complete set of cams that I like to sew granddaughter dresses with, You have a tough decision easily resoved by keeping both of them!

33General: I am starting to feel a little reluctant to part with it! Particularly as I looked inside and found that it's quite sturdy and well-built. Maybe it's more a "late 60s" rather than a 1970s model - they hadn't switched over to plastic parts yet.

pennycandy: Yes, it's the same. Unfortunately I charged in there with Q-tips and scooped out a lot of the grease! I have a new tube of sewing machine grease, though, so I'll replace it with fresh so it looks the way it did before I blundered into the box.

I'd take the Singer for sure