I received this Japanese Singer 128 clone back here:

https://www.quiltingboard.com/vbulle...e-t316702.html

And when I first looked at it I was shocked at how clean it was, almost as though it had not been used. I started clean up, and there was only the smallest bit of lint under the needle plate. Clean up was quick, including the motor (curiously though I did find a wooden toothpick inside the motor casing).

Time for testing and it sewed great stitches...at slower speeds. If I stepped on the gas it skipped stitches terribly. I had a similar problem on a different machine back here:

https://www.quiltingboard.com/vbulle...s-t312722.html

And so I followed all those tips. I found some oily lint under the shuttle leaf spring and assumed that was the problem, until I ran it again with the same results. After scratching my head for awhile, walking away and coming back 5 or 6 times, I looked at the shuttle while in the machine and realized it was extremely loose in the carrier, flopping around loose. I tried bending up a small, flat piece of metal on the carrier positioned on the underside of the shuttle...and promptly broke it off. It turns out there is a screw on the underside of the machine that holds the shuttle carrier, and which allows the carrier to be adjusted. I snugged up the shuttle and tested again. Success! Even at full throttle (although the machine itself and the case were vibrating all over the place)!

I am guessing the shuttle was this way from the factory, which if so might explain why the machine looked unused, even though it’s probably from the 1950s or so.

There is a paddle lever over under the hand wheel which controls stitch length, and the machine back tacks as well. I wish there where some markings. There’s a knob right there locked in place with the set screw visible in the picture. I am not sure yet what adjustment can be made here.

I learned two things: 1. Shuttle carriers can be adjusted on some vibrating shuttle machines, and 2. Look for screws to loosen things before bending metal.

That is a pretty ono. Glad you got it dialed in. stitch length lever is quite a surprise.

Do you have a picture of the screw that you tightened up? I somehow can't picture it.

Here is the underside of the machine with an arrow to the screw that allowed me to adjust the clearance on the shuttle carrier.

Thank you!

Neat looking machine. I didn't remember seeing a Japanese 27class clone, so I went searching and found a Morse 3/4 size vibrating (long) shuttle machine at http://dragonpoodle.blogspot.com/201...nd-goings.html

That does seem odd, but then I remembered the Revco Reverser. I'm wondering if rather than have the plate on the front with numbers that they just locked the stitch length knob.and put the lever off to the side. There is a Revco Reverser on a 66 in the first post of https://www.quiltingboard.com/vbulle...e-t304489.html

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
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Janey you hit the nail on the head with that blog with the Morse machine. This one looks exactly like that, including the double line decal, but except for the badges. I looked more closely at the stitch length controls, and whatever connected the larger knob to the stitch length mechanism inside the pillar is gone; the set screw keep a person from trying to adjust the knob. The paddle lever is connected via a screw/bolt just under the hand wheel and then to the stitch length control shafts inside the pillar.

Joe, that was an interesting read. Great job on a neat machine. I'd be tempted to add decals on that one.