Singer Slant-o-Matics and free motion quilting?
 

I have a Singer 403 that i just love as much as my expensive modern machines and ordered a free-motion (darning) foot from Sew-Classic to see how she quilts! Any tips or thoughts on this? I would love to know if others have used these machines for this purpose with success? Also, I wonder if there is a different foot pedal that doesn't use the button in the left corner? That tends to slip away and when i do use it, the "button" on the pedal is hard to use without a few passes...slows me down.. anyway..i have had several vintage Singers over the years and berninas also but in a massive down-sizing, this is the one i choose to keep. Such an exquisite machine!

I have the 401A and love how it quilts. I use a piece of foam under my foot pedal and it stops it from sliding.

You can replace the foot controller. I put a used wide one on one of my 301s. I love FMQ with my slant needle machines, but the 301s have vertical bobbins and they are supposed to feed better for FMQ. My 404 has a horizontal bobbin, so your 403 may, too. I haven't tried FMQ with that one.

I would love to know the answer to the FMQ question too. I just bought a 403A, not sure if it is different than the 403, for $20.00. It needed a foot pedal which hasn't come yet plus we discovered the motor needed some attention which hubby has fixed and also the needle is not coming down in the center when the straight stitch is selected, it's off to the right. Hubby is working on that. Even without the cord he was able to make it run but with a little smoke coming out of it which is now fixed. The commutator needed cleaning etc. I bought this at a Reuse store so figured it might need something.

The problem with the needle not coming down in the center is probably a clean and lubricate problem. Push just above the needle on that bar. It should go back and forth easily. If not, everything that moves (or should move) between the needle and the cam stack should be cleaned and oiled until it moves easily. Ditto behind the lever that controls the width of the zigzag.

Sometimes it takes more than one day to achieve "moves easily" as those 400 machines were built to tight tolerances. Almost all oils will dry up and leave a residue over time. Those dried oils are usually the problem with what you describe.

bkay

I have mine in a cabinet that has a knee control and it solves the problem of the button. It *has* a button controller,but the knee lever presses against a piece that presses on the button.

Cari, thanks for that good description of how you do that. I've never understood how it works til now.

Singer slant omatics
 

Thanks bkay- It turned out not to be a lubrication problem. Someone had monkeyed with some screws up on top trying to adjust it. Hubby figured it out and it now runs although we haven't had a chance to really try it but seems to be moving fine now and not hitting the metal.

I can attest to above stmt on 301's...have 3 of them and I love doing FM on each. They do a better job then my modern machines.

I have done a lot of FMQ on Singer 201 (which is not a slant like the 403) and it is wonderful. The 201 bobbin is same drop-in style as 401\403\404. I have replaced the original foot control on my 201 (and 401, which I dont use very much) with an electronic non-Singer foot controller. I believe I got it from AlphaSew.

The Singer 301 is awesome too!

Yes the 301's are great, I have two, both the chocolate color. I wasn't planning on buying two. The first one was 45.00 at our local re-use store and the second one came from a yard sale for 20.00. The lady selling it said if it didn't sell it was going in the trash and I couldn't stand to see that happen.

I still haven't tried really sewing with it but it does straight stitching fine but the zig zag is not good according to hubby who has been working on it. I haven't seen what it looks like yet, been too busy working on a quilt that has a deadline. He likes puttering with the machines.

In addition to what Cari said, check the oiling points with the top off. It won't be quite the same as the 401 as in __for 30w oil slant She's real fun, my 401... but it is similar. Post #15 of that thread also shows where to place a drop of 30W motor oil . The manual should have how to lubricate.

Thanks Cari, Hubby did oil the plunger but he will check it again. It is actually doing better, maybe it's also a matter of using it?
Nancy

I am new to FMQ. I am using one of my 301’s and loving it, but I’d like a different foot. What foot do you use. I’m using a plastic foot with a grid that I bought in e bay.

How do you fmq with it? Set the stitch at 0? There's no way to drop the feed dogs. I use mine for all my piecing, but I use my Lydia for fmq because it has a drop feed dogs button.

I bought my spring jumping foot for my 301 thru Singer.com for FM. I called and the gentleman who runs the site will advise you which foot is used for the 301.

The 400 and 500 series machines have a drop-in, horizontal plane bobbin. I have done a fair amount of Free Motion Quilting with my 503A, and it often gives me fits with tension; here is what works for me, most of the time:
1. Use the best thread you can find, in a relatively light weight (50 weight, 60 weight ), in both the bobbin and the top thread. Leah Day recommends Aurifil, and it works great with my machine. Polyester better than cotton for this application, in this class of machines; sorry natural fiber purists.
2. Use a Quilting or a Topstitch needle, and bigger than you might otherwise. Replace it often - needles are cheap; what is your leisure time worth to you?
3. Check your bobbin tension using a cheap clip-on postage scale, see The Schoolhouse at the Featherweight Shop for instructions. You want your tension with the bobbin thread you plan to use to be relatively light.
4. Go slow. This can be a problem with the original button type foot controls. I use a replacement electronic foot control, with an external "door stop" so it doesn't run away from me completely when starting.
5. "Floss" your thread through the tension disks to make sure it's really in there, and my machine works better on the outer of the two thread paths through the tension disk stack. Ditch the "tension compensator" on the 500 series, and feed around the center bar before going into the disks.
6. Do not use the current production Singer Brand Class 66 metal bobbins! They are poorly constructed, and the thread catches on the badly pressed in center "hub". I used to curse the plastic Class 66 bobbins because they break if you wind them too fast and hard, but they have smooth, finely finished flanges, as do the METAL bobbins sold by specialists in Singer restoration like Twice Nice in California and Sew-Classic. The original Singer metal bobbins from the 50's are fine, but the new Finest Kind are actually nicer.
7. Clean up any roughness in your needle plate with a teeny diamond sharpener, the one that is a small tapered cone finished with diamonds. Use the Straight Stitch round hole needle plate, and put a piece of tape over the needle position and zig-zag width lever to avoid inadvertent needle strikes when you change sewing modes.
8. I have come to believe that leaving the lifting needle plate down with the stitch length set to zero beats putting the needle plate to the Darning position. Putting the needle plate up changes the relationship with the rotary hook, and I'm not convinced that's a Good Thing.
9. Any of the available Free Motion feet will work, as long as they are specific to Slant Shank Singers. Low Shank and high shank feet will not work, and cannot be modified to work - I've tried. The plastic feet with the arm that rides on the needle bar break eventually. The plastic foot breaks off the plastic and metal jobs with a spring and and arm in time. I haven't used the Big Foot brand, but I just got a Westalee Ruler foot that does not hop, and it works as well as anything else, and it's bombproof. The little spring-steel open toe foot that came with your machine also works, with the presser bar tension set to zero.
10. Pull your bottom thread to the top, every time. See Leah Day videos for a how-to if you need one.
11. Check your tension often, by looking at the back of the work. If it goes to hell, re-thread everything, if that doesn't work, change the needle and re-thread again, if that doesn't work, go to a bigger needle and re-thread again, if that doesn't work, retreat to the Moaning Chair, and weep until the swelling goes away, put your walking foot on, and quilt the project that way. Next week, next month, next project, start over again, and it might work like a dream. The 400 and 500 series are some of the best machines Singer ever made, but they do not excel at Free Motion Quilting. But I have had other machines fight me too...I have decided, for today, to keep my 503A, with all the feet and attachments and bobbins I've accumulated for it, but it's been a near thing lately.

I have had a 403 for years and have done quilting with it until I moved up to a machine with a bigger throat/harp. Still have that machine and it will still likely outsew anything out there if you don't need the 'bells and whistles' found on the new machines. As to problems with the machine, go to a website called Vintage Siingers. They have a forum where you can ask questions and get advice on problems.

Update: I'm FMQ now with my 404 and it's doing a good job. The horizontal bobbin is doing well. If it finishes this king size quilt, it will be worth the $5 I paid for it.

I have the knee control also, for my 301. They are very like the 400 series, but without the zig-zag. My cabinet was built in 1956 for this machine and has a lever of wood that presses against the"button" on the control. I have always loved this machine and the control mechanism. I have a double drawer without a side in it to store my machine. Then it looks like a desk, which I am working at now on my computer.

My Singer 500E (rocketeer) does not have a lever to drop the feed dogs, either. I just remove them for FMQ and then replace them for piecing - it's just two screws and they're off :-)