MeganMills

Well - there you go! I took off the needle clamp thingy (there was a thread guide in there too, bit fiddly to manoeuvre back on), cleaned it thoroughly and when I put it back together again it was fine! I don't quite know what made the difference as I didn't get out anything "big" from in there, it was all just dark and generally grimy but for whatever reason that seems to have fixed it. Perhaps that little thread guide was throwing something off just a tiny bit at the top of the needle and the re-jiggling it all to get back into place set it straight again!

Thank you so much for the tip - I'll keep it under my hat for the future, for sure - any trouble with the needle and it's not the usual culprits then clean out that needle clamp. :-D

Kelsie

Welcome aboard. You are off to a roaring start with your machine and what a bargain you found.

MeganMills

Thank you for the welcome - and for anyone who's curious.

I've got them out (hurrah!). What I did with the bottom one was liberally lubricate down the shaft of the pin figuring that a miniscule amount might get down into the hole and not just sit on the bed. Then I got a 2.5mm rod (actually, my husband's hex screwdriver - but that's fair play 'cause he's used my good sewing scissors sometimes for things that were not, ahem, fabric). I inserted that into the hole on the bed of the machine under the pin and gave a few gentle but firmish, dead straight taps, then tried wriggling the pin from the top and tapped a few times more. I fancied that the spool pin maybe wasn't quite as upright as it was. So then I shrouded everything and gave the pin, at the top, a couple of gentle sideways taps. It moved slightly off-centre. So I did it again on the other side. But very gingerly, I didn't want a permanently bent or crooked pin in my machine.

It moved off-centre back the other way just a bit. After a couple more of these "slightly knock off-centre" taps I went to see how how free it was with my hand and in a jiggle or two it surprised me mightily by simply coming free into my hand.

I'm thinking the little shock waves from the sideways taps, in my case, were just enough to make the penetrant work its way into where the pin was tapped in and free it up.

This may be something experienced people try automatically but it was a surprise and delight to me.

MeganMills

Oops - it looks like the my attempts at a pseudo-heading using all caps in my previous update about the spool pins might be considered shouting. My apologies in advance, I just realised after seeing someone edited my first post for using all caps somewhere. I'd pop in there and edit that out and underline or bold it instead but I can't see how to edit it. Beginners, I dunno... I promise I won't do that again. <blush>

MeganMills

Problem with tension release lever
I've started reassembling the old Singer 201. It does sew - reasonably well (Yay! - it didn't sew at all when I got it.) However, the tension release lever isn't working properly. When the presser foot is up it's not pressing the pin through the tension stud "forward" into the stud, like it should. It's in the right alignment and I can reach in manually and nudge it forward just that little bit and the pin does what it should. But just by raising the presser bar the tension release doesn't make contact with the pin. In my other machine it does, and quite positively. When I look I can't see the difference between how the two machines are set up.

Has anyone had this problem and/or knows what might be the cause? Or, indeed, whether this is a classic "Oh yes, that's the old xxx part needs replacing". (I've not attached pictures before and don't know how to do it. If there is a way and I can attach them please let me know how? I've got four, two close up to where the pin is inside the head, one with presser foot raised and lowered. And two more, of the whole needle bar, presser bar, timing-stud etc area inside the head all installed, again with presser foot raised and lowered.)

Any help at all much appreciated - thank you!

QuiltnNan

It depends what device you are using. Please visit the QB Help forum or from the FAQ in the above menu https://www.quiltingboard.com/faq.ph...b3_attachments

OurWorkbench

Did you take apart the tension assembly and clean it? Sometimes the pin and stud are dirty and gets sticky. .Sometimes one of the pieces gets put back together incorrectly. If I was having this problem I would study http://mysewingmachineobsession.blog...-assembly.html and watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guYToL6Gegs

There is a pdf that PatriceJ posted at This is a Test ... Do Not Adjust Your Set that shows how to post pictures.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site links

MeganMills

(A) Solution to tension release not working
Someone told me to take apart the tension assembly on the front and look at the piece that has the -|+ indicated on it. It has a horizontal bar across the middle that goes down the "split" in the tension stud. Mine was flat - and it should work when it is flat. But they said to put it down on a flat surface and use a wide-blade screwdriver to push that bar back a bit (without creasing the part) and try that. It worked!

They explained that as that part is made of aluminium it is reasonably soft and over time can get bent "forward" by the pin, meaning it doesn't push back on the pin any more. I'd call this either very fine-tuning or a workaround - I'm thinking maybe Singer should have put a dimple on the back of that bar - but regardless of what you call it the machine now sews very nicely and consistently releases the thread tension so I can remove the sewing from the machine.

I thought I'd share that solution because it is bound to affect other people sometimes, and it is such a very easy fix.

I'm still interested to hear of any other solutions as, while this works, something else might have been off? The reason I suspect that is the horizontal bar in my tension assembly had not been deformed by the pin over time as far as I could see or feel...

MeganMills

I got it working! Happy, happy.

I thought you might all like to know I got the old dunger working and have re-named her Black Beauty. No small thanks due to all of you, by the way. And I've given you credit for it.

My journey isn't over. I wanted a carry case for her as well for when I want to take her places without the treadle. (I have a hand-crank and am a volunteer at a historic home where I dress up in period costume and actually do and make things rather than just decorate the place.)

I could find a suitably long bentwood case but it had a Singer 201 in it. In really bad shape - cosmetically pretty nice on the outside but a rust-disaster inside. It took days to get out the rear throat plate screw and when I got it off - rust everywhere. The top arm is full of rust-dust too and it just keeps shaking out and down and into gears. Ugh. I'm contemplating taking out all the shafts and gears which I didn't do with Black Beauty in the end. I just cleaned in there as best I could with a long skinny bottle-brush thing and wiped and oiled and wiped and oiled until everything kept coming out pretty clean.

So any advice any of you have on ways to really clean in those pillar and arm areas when there's a ton of rust in there so I don't have to more-or-less fully dismantle her would be great! Thank you... Megan
p.s. Nobody warned me this was addictive. Ahem - I've now got a Singer 28, 1914 lined up in the wings so I can learn how to do those too. Unusally its bobbin winder is up top, not on the bed. I guess that's something that happened on later 28s or was an "upgrade" someone did later. Any advice or tips on good threads on here, manuals, refurbishment info, online tutes etc for that model will also be hoarded, studied and treasured for that project.

WIChix

Singer 128s have the "high" bobbin winder. On the 28 it is low.