lucymac

I am new on here & new to trouble shooting vintage sewing machines. I am working on a Singer 99-13. I have cleaned, oiled, etc. I have only been able to sew large stitches. I have tried turning the grey screw left & right. It does not change the length of the stitches. I have changed thread & needle with nothing changing. After I wound a bobbin so that the top and bottom threads were the same I tried again to sew. Now I have another problem. My wheel & needle will not turn. I then took out the bobbin & case, cleaned & oiled. Nothing changed. My one problem turned into two problems. All help will be so appreciated. I was going to post pictures but there doesn't seem to be a link to it.

Mickey2

I've had exactly this problem on my 99, and it was all about further cleaning, but mostly oil, oil and more oil. Pay particular attention to the parts involved from stitch length knob to feed dogs, all hinges, cam like parts that sort of "roll" the feed dogs along. Have a few drops of oil on the threads of the stitch length knob, screw it fully in and out, and repeat it a few times. When the knob is turned fully in, you have max stitch length, when it's turned out minimum to stop (when it's freed up at least). All four holes on top needs more than a drop of oil on dry sticky machines.

All hinges, parts where metal move against metal need oil. It can take quite some time before dried up oil and grime dissolves and are gradually replaced by clean new oil. The first oilings is about getting oil to reach the inners of joints and hinges. The next week or two, turn the mechanism daily and add a few drops in all oil points. In the beginning the oil might turn dark or murky, but eventually it will stay clear and clean. Just wipe off and add a drop or two of clean oil. You can speed up the process by using some kind of spray can oil, but be carefull with decals, some products are know to have damaged them. Wipe off right away if there's any spill, regular machine oil is safer.

For the stuck hand wheel and needle bar; keep oiling behind the face plate, remember to oil the shaft for the needle and presser bar too. There is a tiny oil point on top of the machine, furthest to the right, and closest to the hand wheel. Tilt the machine towards the right, spend some time applying oil and wiggeling the wheel, it takes time to get oil all the way along the axle to the outer part of the hand wheel and stop motion screw. Poke a tooth pick or pin into the holes on top of the machine, some times they can be plugged up with grime and dirt.

Make sure the bobbin case is correctly in place; slide the bobbin lid completely off; the lever is lifted towards you; the hook and race has to be in the correct position for the case to slide back in, but it's very obvious if the bobbin case is causing the problem. Bobbin case just lies horizotally on top of the moving race and hook and it has to correctly click back in place for the hand wheel to turn again.

Use a reasonably new oil (not from an 70 year old can); I can recommend Triflow or Finish Line Ceramic Wet lube, they will make it turn very smoothly :- ) The basic pure machine oil works well too.

Sunflowerzz

Thank you for that post. It is very detailed and just what I need to fix my sticky knob stitch lengths.

leonf

When my 99s are well oiled and with the belt removed I can spin 3 or more revolutions of the entire mcahine iwth a twist of the handwheel.