If you go to www.web.archive.org (a.k.a. the Wayback Machine) and type in www.tfsr.org, you can access the site from earlier this year.

It might be a good idea to make a hard copy folks.

You're welcome, but I don't think I did anything. I like to use Google's servers even to search this forum (i.e. appending "site:.quiltingboard.com"). Incidentally, when I'm not doing a narrowed search, results from here still come up often. I think we can consider this forum officially useful to sewing machine addic...... I mean enthusiasts ;)

I just accessed it now and it's all still there. DL'ing all the manuals anyway and will probably archive it on CD

Grant's long rant. - Sometimes...

I have been restoring machines for a living for some time now. From my experience it is hard to tell about certain individual machine by looking at them. Some sew better than others. Some have a better finish. Many of them surprise you one way or another. Some clean up nicer than you ever thought and some just don't live up to your expectations. Some sew nice and some don't. Even when you are talking about the same make and model. Sometimes even the same year or batch of machine.
I have had some real dogs to work on and I have had some real gems too. Some that looked like a mess sewed so well, you had to love them. Some were so pretty you didn't care how they sewed. Yet others were so forgiving of your lack of skill or of maintenance, they just sewed great anyway.
Yet, some machines seem to have it all. Pretty, shiny, sewed well and were very forgiving. Those are my favorites. And if you get a deal on it, all the better.
I have a machine that came to me for a complete overhaul. It is THEE workhorse for a friend's mother who is retired and quilts. Her workhorse for the past 25 (or so) years has been a 15-91 for her FMQ. It has been used daily for a long time. I finished it and did some test sewing on it. It reminded me of why I love the vintage machines so much. The stitches it makes and the sounds it makes when sewing are perfect. I just wanted to keep test sewing until the spool or bobbin ran out. I think I almost ran them both out in a half hour + test run.
Here is a pic of some test stitches on top and bottom. This is lightweight quilting material. Look at how fine the tight stitches are. And no gathering, bunching, skips, tension issues, Nothing! I just love the vintage stuff.
Who would want a new plastic machine after seeing this?
~G~
[ATTACH=CONFIG]478740[/ATTACH]

THAT was no rant. Plain facts buster - just plain facts. I agree 100%. I think in my experience it has been the ones that look the best that had problems. Once the problems were fixed they were fine. I've seen some really ugly machines that really do the job and there is just something about a really broke in machine. I have a 301 that looks so ugly you just want to part it out. BUT it sews really nice.

I got everything but the first couple of sections that seemed to have errors.

Service/Adjuster's manual for 201's https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYI...alU/edit?pli=1

I ordered the spring and put the tension back together. Trouble is, the pin seems to be ever so slightly bent, so even after cleaning and buffing, it's not reliable, resulting in the tension not engaging when I put the needle down. Back to the ordering board. Considering how chicken I was to work on the tension, my reluctance just seems silly after all this. I do believe I could dismantle the 15-91's bobbin area to fix the tendency to hang up the occasional loop.

Ah, its the adventure.

The purple FW was an ugly that sewed the best of any of my Featherweights, that's why I decided to have it painted. It finally works properly again, got all of its little quirks fixed. I'm so glad she's not in "time out" anymore. :D
Sharon W. in Texas