Janis I have had two vintage machines that seemed to want to sew by themselves. The kids thought they were ghost machines because the machines would just keep on sewing even when they took their foot off the pedal! Both of them were a very simple fix. DH took the foot pedal apart and said there was something in there stuck - a spring or something. I didn't fix them or I'd tell you exactly what he did, but this was a few years ago when I first got into the vintage machines. I remember, he just unstuck something and I have no problems with them since.

Nancy

An update on my machine. My hubby decided he'd take apart the foot control and try to rewire it.God bless him for trying! After he accidently spilled all of the little circles in the inner part of the foot control on the floor, he said for me to get a new foot control. Did I say he has no patience for things like this? So I'll send an order off to sew-classic if they have them.
In the meantime, I polished her up with machine oil and oiled her. She wasn't very dirty at all, just a little of the lint around the feed dogs, and that's all. He decals are all intact, and she has no scratches on her at all. Other than the bare and twisted together wires just at the foot control, she is in great shape.
Janis

Well, Janis, you had a better day than I did as far as accomplishing something... I cleaned up an Atlas - nice machine - the foot control wires outer layer totally fell off - I'll probably hang on to the pink controller though - snicker. I messed with another machine - got it clean inside and out but had to put it away before I got the tension adjusted. Wilbur came over and I gave him what I thought was an empty bottle of Tri-Flow - I oiled and then Wilbur oiled - well Wilbur baptized a Kenmore inside and out... I don't know why I couldn't get any oil out of that bottle... He understands where the oil is suppose to go. He watched the machine run with out the cover. WHEW! Such BIG eyes!!! He was thrilled that I let him put the cover screws back in the machine, too. Meanwhile, Walter cruised around a bunch of sewing machine cases. Then we picked up sticks in the yard, made a big fire and cooked hot dogs. Grandma hurts everywhere, smells like a campfire and is so glad GKs go home when it gets dark and cold.

Ahh- but think of the terrific memories you are making! It's a great thing.

Nancy- It's height adjustable for all the machines and the L shape just snugs up next to it. The same company makes one that sort of wraps around the machines, and is adjustable, but it takes up too much room for my work space or for a class. I really liked that it was made my a small company in America, too! Laura

Here's a picture of the extension table with a 99 Laura
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My DD just called. Wilbur got out a big jug of olive oil and was trying to figure out how to 'oil' her sewing machine...

OMG!

Reminds me when our oldest made us 'green eggs' (aka Dr. Seuss "Green Eggs and Ham") in the micro when he was about 5 yrs. old. The "green" was Comet sink cleaner........ :)

That will be a secret Wilbur won't hear about... green eggs..... When Wilbur's mother was 8 she made oatmeal in the microwave - cooked it for 15 minutes instead of 15 seconds. I never did get the smell of burned oatmeal out of that microwave.

Joe, how does one obtain these gears? I was able to turn a wheel on the bottom and noticed the shaft that goes to the top does turn, as well as the bobbin race. You've probably hit the nail on the head. However, when I opened the top cover, there are to controls that are in the way which would have to be removed before I could attempt to replace the gear. How hard are these to remove?