I need to correct my answer. The 'Compact' and the other branded names were made by Portman and sold to National, not made by National.

Cathy

Thank you all for your sympathy and well wishes. The funeral is this Wednesday, then things will settle down. Losing a parent is not easy.

Annamarie, that is a interesting machine. Why do they always take a photo from the back? It has the light set up like a lot of my older Pfaffs.

Sharon, we have had a couple vintage machines that wanted to sew on their own! They scared the kids to death, but it was always in the foot pedal and an easy fix. My DH just took the foot pedal apart, cleaned and oiled what could be oiled and got it unstuck! Once he did that, those machines have not acted up since. I saw your post in the vintage Pfaff Yahoo group too. I'd try fixing it myself before buying yet another foot pedal. I love my Pfaff 1222e. I also use my 1222 for bindings, but now I am using it to make purses because of the free arm and power of that machine for going through so many layers.

Nancy

I have the same problem and I was going to use a gear puller but the taper on the hub is such that it looks like it will slide off if I do. I an going to use a torch and heat it up.
~G~

I got a call from my neighbor who wanted some information about her grandmother's machine. It is a domestic and we were able to find the manual on the ismacs site. The question we have is, will regular needles work in this machine?

She wants to do some stitching with leather and said that her dad used this machine to repair his mining work clothes so she figures it should work to sew a leather chair seat that needs some repair. I remember Nancy (BoJangles) saying that she sews leather with some of her machines. Do you have to get a special needle for leather?

I took a few pictures..... it needs a little cleaning up but you can see the pretty stencils under all that grime. I'm helping her get it cleaned up a bit. Do you all know if there is a place to purchase the bobbin winding part that is missing?

Can you snap a pic of the head and the bobbin area?

Okay, I feel stupid now. What part of the head?? The part of the bobbin winder that is missing is the metal disc that moves the arm back and forth to load the bobbin. That entire assembly is missing ... I think you can see it in the picture.

You can see both pictures, can't you, Miriam?

Ok now I see both pictures. I only saw the first one. Nope don't know a place to buy one - some machine would have to sacrifice. I don't have any of those machines all rusted up everyplace else... Mine all work. Not much seems to go bad on them unless they lose parts or rust.

What about needles? Will the normal 15x1 work in this machine?

I'm not sure. I sure would try one out - look and see if the thing stitches. But I'm thinking not. I'm sure not an expert on those machines.

I have had a couple long shuttle Singers that took regular needles.