nhweaver

My DH came home with 2 Singer Sewing Machines, a FashionMate 237 and a Singer Merritt 8834. The FashionMate 237 is in great condition, just needs a whole lot of cleaning (smoking environment). The Merritt is another story, he will be working on both of them this week, the Merritt's wheel doesn't move easily, so he will be taking it apart, and oiling, and checking the gears and everything. Can anyone tell me something about the Merritt? Never heard of that model. OH the good part, is that he got both of them for $17.

Candace

Merritts have plastic parts and gears and aren't very highly regarded. The plastic parts in the bottom of the machine can and do literally disintegrate. The 237 is a better model.

J Miller

If, and that is a big if all the plastic gears are intact there is a few reasons for the hard turning.

The machine needs oil. There aren't as many places to oil, but there are places. The main shaft where it passes through the arm and especially under the face plate behind the stamped light reflector. Under the bed there is also places to oil.

Our 4622A, similar to yours, had some icky white grease on the plastic gears. It had solidified. I cleaned them off and regreased them with Tri-Flow grease. That made a noticeable improvement.

So I suggest Tri-Flow oil and grease.

Oh, also check the motor. Ours needed the commutator and brushes cleaned and the felt pads on the ends of the armature shaft oiled. Another major improvement. For the motor I use regular sewing machine oil.


Joe

keljo60

I bought a Merritt 8834 from a thrift store yesterday. It runs very smoothly and quietly. However, I need a powercord/pedal and a slide plate. If your machine cannot be salvaged, will you contact me about parts. I'm not sure, but I think I need a master cam also because the zz isn't working. The needle positions work fine, but not the zz stitching. I'm still in the research stages.

Thanks, Kelly

foufymaus

On my found machine, seriously i found it on the side of the road, the ZZ stitch wasn't working. It zigged but didn't zag. Essentially it stitched one side but didn't catch on the other side. So it would do a straight stitch but punctured holes where it would try to zag. Turns out it was a timing issues with the bobbin hook. So you might want to check that out.

keljo60

Did you put a lot of money into your "found" machine, and if so, was it worth it?

I've managed to find a free manual online, not just the product manual, but the user manual. I now need the slide plate and a pedal/cord. I can use the pedal/cord from my Stylist 457, but it doesn't really fit well enough for regular use. It was good for seeing if the machine would work! I only paid $10 for it, they had it marked at $25, but I assured them that it wasn't worth anywhere near that in it's current condition and offered them $10.

foufymaus

Actually, nope. Not a lot of money for the found machine. I adjusted the timing myself, since i hadn't spent $$$ for it i figured it was a good learning experience. After googling timing I found a video on youtube that really explained what to do easily. It took me a bit to figure out the right position to get it to zig & zag. LOL so a few hours, a bit of machine oil i had and that's pretty much all it took.

I find i use my found machine more than my others although i do love the others. The found one is lighter, i guess it's aluminium versus the older steel. It has a more modern look, haha if ya call early eighties aesthetics as modern. Sure there are lots of dings in the paint but it runs beautifully and will vibrate the solid oak dining table i use to sew on when i'm not using the others.

My budget for machines is between Free and $35 depending on how badly i want it. If it were an Atlas (Pink), Featherweight . 301 and a 401 i may consider actually spending more. Or if it came with EVERYTHING ya know the extra feet/cams/manual/cabinet and the condition is pristine.

Here's the pic of my 'found' machine, best i can figure it's a re-badged White machine. I think someone just forgot it on the side of the road when they were traveling. It was just sitting there in the middle of nowhere. Almost like some one set it there to get something else in the car then forgot to put it back in.
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tmw

could you put a pic of the Merritt on here, ? I have a 3314 c. and its gears are metal, its very heavy, but sews good. thank-you.

J Miller

For those machines that do not ZZ removed the face plate and get the Tri-Flow in behind the light and sheet metal part to the mechanism. As I said above that area is not normally oiled. The owners manual that I have does not give any instructions to oil, or where to oil. But the ZZ parts under the nose need it.

My machine would take quite a bit of sewing before the ZZ and patterns would work. It was gummed up from the old oil under the nose. Tri-Flow and soaking fixed it right up.

Joe