Which Singer Touch and Sew machines ............
 

My wife and I have collected machines that do decorative and other non straight stitches. She does crafts and I decorate things with the patterns so we've amassed quite a few machines. Some we have and are going to rehome since even though they are good machines they don't add anything different or unique to the stable.

We've been looking at Singer Touch and Sews because they can be set up for chain stitches. But I loathe plastic gears and have heard that some of the earliest ones have steel or metal gears. What I'd like to ask is which T & S models would have, or be most likely to have metal gears.

Knowing that would reduce the trial and error part considerably.

Joe

Here's a page with a lot of info on Touch And Sews http://www.tandtrepair.com/600TandSstuff.html And you could email him with any questions you have too.

Hi Joe,
I have a 778, purchased in 1976. i think it has metal gears, very heavy machine. It has cams for fancy stitches, but I do not like results of all the cams. Some I love. I have used it for dress making and now for quilting. As long as I keep bobbin area clean & oiled it sew great. Since I retired 4 yrs ago it has gotten very heavy use.

When I purchased it, computerized machines were just starting to be on the market. I told sales person I wanted one that did every thing the "fancy" ones did but not the computer(I did not trust computerized maschines) At the time this machine was the top of the line. Because it was so expensive I do not see many. It has a slant needle and low shank. I have yet to find a walking foot that will work on it. I have 3 walking feet. I have had to replace the foot pedal recently, original was getting to warm for me, did not want to take a chance on a fire.

My DH takes it apart and cleans & oils innards periodically

Hop this helps.

And Joe, several 158 series Kenmores will also do a chainstitch...the ones that have the little needle plate insert that you turn around for straight or zigzag like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEEDLE-PLATE...3b77b8538...or this http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEEDLE-PLATE...item43b77b840c & all of these have metal gears. My 158.17550 does a gorgeous chain stitch. It came with a chain stitch needle plate insert & you take out the bobbin case & put in the chain stitch looper.

Path49,
Thanks for the links. I read the one at TNT and I looked at the eBay auctions and jotted down the Kenmore models. I'll keep an eye out of one of those.

cjr,

Thanks for the review of that Singer model. I don't see many 700 series, so I'll watch for them too.


Joe

Do all T & Ss chain stitch? I didn't think so. The 639 I have here does, but the tension is off so it doesn't sew. I think the odd looking bobbin area has a problem. A retired Singer repairman is now working part time at the Janome dealer's shop. I'd like him to look at it before I part it out.

irishrose,

I don't know if they all do, I doubt it. But, I have acquired a bunch of different accessory kits for the 600 series machines and most of them have the chain stitch parts in them. I suppose I should look into this.

Joe

Joe,

The 600 through 620 T&S machine have metal gears. The change over is supposed to have been with the 626. Some of the 626's have been found to have metal gears and some have been found to have nylon gears.
The 700 series did not originally come with metal gears.

I have always been under the impression that all of the T&S series could chain stitch with the proper bobbin cover plate, thread guide and feed dog plate.

Cathy

Cathy,

Thanks, now I know what I want to look for. And I have several sets of the chain stitch accessories.

Joe

What does that plate look like?

QUOTE: (And Joe, several 158 series Kenmores will also do a chainstitch...the ones that have the little needle plate insert that you turn around for straight or zigzag like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEEDLE-PLATE...3b77b8538...or this http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEEDLE-PLATE...item43b77b840c & all of these have metal gears. My 158.17550 does a gorgeous chain stitch. It came with a chain stitch needle plate insert & you take out the bobbin case & put in the chain stitch looper.)


Miriam, The chain stitch plate & looper for mine....158.17550 are parts 12 & 13 here http://c.searspartsdirect.com/lis_pn...6093-00007.png Mine uses the needle plate insert in the 1st link of the previous post.

If your machine uses the needle plate insert in the 2nd link, this is the chain stitch set you need http://www.bonanza.com/listings/Sear...nsert/88531177

The only difference is the slots for the feed dogs. Pat

Well, it seems that I have a set of the chain stitch parts for the 158-17550 too. Cool. I wondered what those things were for.

Joe

Joe, The straight stitch/zigzag needle plate insert for the 158.1755 also fits the other machines in listed in the link for the needle plate inserts so, I'm assuming that the chain stitch set will work with those machines, too.

I have several machines that have the throat plate that takes that part - I have not seen that part though. Maybe I should dig around.

Pat,

Good to know. Thanks.

Joe

Joe,

I have a 252; and a 457. They are ZigZag and have metal and plastic in them. Interestingly, when I purchased a manual for them, except for their numbers and a few words, the manuals for the 252 and 457 are the same. My 778 needs more loving care than I am able to give it. It is a Touch and Sew. I have the cams and some other parts.
I really like the 252 for a ZigZag.

I had a Singer Golden Touch and Sew. I loved it until the nylon gears started wearing. I traded it in for my first Viking in the 70's. I don't remember what the model number was on the singer. My mother in law had the same machine. She did not use it much. It is at my daughters and still works pretty good. I think I bought the golden in 1972.

I have a Golden T&S 750, which, from what I've read, I suspect has plastic gears. A gift from my DH about 1976. Has the cams which I've seldom used but have always worked fine when I did. I've made countless clothes on it--everything I wore for years--sofa slipcovers, pillows, curtains, hemmed a lot of boys' pants, all kinds of sewing, and have pieced every quilt I've made since I began quiltmaking (about 3 years ago). It's been a workhorse--I kept it oiled and clean--and I never had to have anything done to it until this past year; broken gear, I think.

Doesn't help you much since you want one with metal gears, but I've loved this machine and have used the heck out of it. I didn't even know, until recently, that T&S's were badly regarded. I wouldn't give mine up, anyway, because it was a gift from my DH, but it's served me extremely well. So, if it does have plastic gears, they've lasted a long long time!

I suspect the plastic gears suffer more from heavy use than normal use. My wife has a 538 she got in 78 or so. We got married in 83 and she broke the first set of feed dog gears not long after that. She was making teddy bears, and other sewn crafts as well as wedding gowns and even a seat reupholster for my old Chevy. Since then she's had two other sets of those gears replaced.
Those were the old straight cut gears and they now have spiral cut gears as replacements that are supposed to be better and more durable. We are going to replace all the gears in her 538 as soon as she allots the funds to get the parts. Hopefully that will give her original machine back to her and she can use it again.

Joe

I have my mom's Golden Touch'n'Sew...was purchased for her by my dad before 1972. She sewed A LOT with it,and so did I, before I moved away. Haven't had a lot of time to spend sewing lately, but she (the machine) always sewedlike a dream.

What Touch and Sew uses white cams/disks??? I have some but I don't know what they go to. They are like the black top hats but look to be double.

Miriam,

From what I've been able to discern, some of the Touch & Sews and a couple others use the top hat cams. I can't for the life of me remember the machine names I'm thinking of.

Joe

I just know the old 401, 403, 500, 503, 600, 603 but beyond that I don't really know what machines use the top hats. I have a set of white ones but don't know what they go to - they are Singer disks. They must have the ability to go in reverse.

By the way the Singer in my Avitar skips stitches - new needle didn't help - timing seems ok most of the time. I'm going to have to search skip stitches.

Miriam,

I believe that the T&S starting with the 700 series use the double cams.

Cathy

OH Then I have one!!! I picked up a treadle base and the lady threw in a gold T&S - I'm thinking it is a 750 or something. I'll have to test out the white cams I already have. I got the machine to work - it is noisy though - original plastic gears. I'm betting that one does some chain stitch, too. There is some funny rod like thing inside the nose. I should dig up a manual so I know what all it does.

I have a Singer - picture in the avitar with DGD cleaning out the bobbin lint - her favorite thing to do... anyway the machine sews like a dream until it skips a stitch now and then. I need to search stuff in my archives for skipped stitches. Its bugging me.

Weeeellllllllll, we scored a Singer Golden Touch & Sew on GW. Mizkaki says it's one of the 700 series so it should work with the white cams and attachments to make chain stitches. We shall see when it arrives. Hopefully the gears will be in good shape and I won't have to mess with them any time soon. ( I ain't holding my breath for that though.)

If this machine works I will have another variation of sewing types to learn on. :)

If not, then I will have another variation of broken machine to learn how to fix. :(

Joe

Joe I know you found a Touch and Sew machine but here is one listed on CL, Rockford, IL and I can't read the model # for $30. now. Comes in a cabinet, looks like it's a good deal.
http://rockford.craigslist.org/for/3733199715.html

caroloto,

Thanks for the link. Nice machine but I think I'll pass. I lost the machine I won the bid on. Well, I should say GW lost it. They refunded our money, but we were a bit peeved for a while.
Then another forum member here in IL offered me her 7xx series T&S. We'll be picking it up next week.

Joe

Sorry about you lost the machine you were bidding on as I could feel your happiness in the post. But great another board member was/is able to help the hurt!!! Love this board and the members they are so helpful!

I will put my two cents in here about the cams. I picked up a 778 Touch and Sew a couple of weeks ago. It uses the black colored Top Hat type cams. Strange thing is, it has to have disk #0 in the machine to do a ZZ stitch. If it is not in there it will just sew a straight stitch. Mine didn't come with disk #0. It also uses the white colored Flexi Disks.
The other odd thing is, it had a smooth feed dog that was black. The black is because it is rubber. It was old, smooth and hard. Needless to say it no longer worked. It just slid on the fabric. I had to replace that one with an all metal one.
Next time I pick one up I will know to look at these two things as well as the gears.
One final thing on the gears. I recently read that the white gears were the original part. The black ones are the replacement part. So, if this is true, when you look at a machine and it has black gears in it, they were replaced. Can anyone confirm this?
Thanks.
~Grant~

Grant,

Over the years I have bought replacement gears from the wholesale house in both black and white. Most of the original gears that I have seen/ replaced were white (actually a ugly amber color).

Cathy

Thank you for clearing that up for me. I was a little skeptical about it myself.
p.s. I just picked up two more in the past few hours. A 600E and a 603E.
~G~

Grant,

You're welcome.
I love my 600E.

Cathy

We traded for a Singer T&S 778 last week with another forum member. The one we got had 90% of it's attachments and cams, we had enough in our stash to finish the set. The "0" cam was cracked but we had a spare. Bakelite will do that if it's dropped or twisted or you hold your mouth crooked.
Sew Classic has one in stock: { http://www.shop.sew-classic.com/Cam-...03A-171316.htm }.
The feed dogs were metal and work nicely. And the feed dog gears were black with the spiral cut. I don't know if there is different versions of the 778 but this one is a nice one. Everything works and it even makes duck patterns with one of the white cams.

Joe

My local shop had one so I picked it up yesterday. It is sewing perfectly now. I wound up bringing two more T&S machines home from his back room. A 600E and a 603E. The 603E is running again and I will be test sewing on it this morning. The 600E has a broken handwheel so I am not sure about that one. I have a lot of cams. I counted 20 of them and I have the duck pattern one too.
~G~

Only 20 cams?! I think I might have 40 or more. But then I have three machines that use them and I've been snagging any and all lots of slant shank accessories and most of them come with cams too.

Joe

Joe,

I have proof that those cams breed in dark garage. Way over a hundred cams is the proof.

Grant,

Send me a PM me. I probably have a spare hand wheel for an early T&S.

Cathy

Usually when I get a machine my rule of thumb is, what came with the machine goes with the machine. I have a few other cams but the top hat cams for the T&S machines that I have were a set that came in a box of sewing parts goodies I found at an estate sale. I have been waiting for a machine to pair them up with.
I do have a question about the T&S and the #0 plain ZZ cam. Do all T&S machines need that cam in to be able to do a ZZ stitch? Or do some have the ZZ built in. It seems odd to me that if you lose or break it, you won't be able to do a ZZ stitch.
~G~

Joe, I also have the duck cam. I tried it but it didn't look like a duck in either of my machines.
~G~