Oil, Water, Air and Oxidation

I know, sounds boring, but what you don't know about these things can hurt your machine.

Understanding how these elements interact with your machine will save you money!

So you got your sewing machine serviced 6 months ago and shoved it into the closet. That zipper that was threatening to break finally does and you get your trusty sewing machine out.
What the hey! It's frozen solid, you can't get the needle to move without a lot of force, it certainly won't sew.

Sitting a long time is bad! Chainsaw, antique auto, lawn mower, sewing machine. These things need to be run occasionally, if only to circulate fluids such as - you guessed it - oil.

Older, once-upon-a-time expensive machines have at the very least, oil channels that funnel oil to where it does the most good, some have wicks built in to constantly supply lubricant to the right parts.
Many inexpensive machines today don't have oil channels, they have a teflon washer that wears out. Then the machine rattles, eventually overheats and dies.

I'm sure at the time $79.95 seemed a great price - But 3 times a year? Unless you shell out at least $600 these days for a new one, you better have a dependable old one to fall back on.

The easiest machines to maintain are the most used. Quilters and Volunteers have the least problems because their machines are always in use.  Oil and lubricants can congeal, evaporate or slowly migrate to where they do no good in time. Once a month, drag old Gerty out and fire it up for several minutes. This helps circulate the lubricants over the moving parts and increases the life of the machine considerably. Use only white ( clear ) sewing machine oil specially made for sewing machines. Other lubricants can gunk up over time. Don't use grease - use pure white ( clear ) petroleum jelly. That's right - in the baby isle.

Use it or lose it...

Repair vs. Restoration - The difference is Black and White

Repair is what I do. Check electrics and timing, put petrolium jelly and white (clear) oil where it goes, clean everything and wipe down the outside.

What restoration specialists do is begin with total dis-assembly. Polish each metal part and paint the frame from the metal up. ( See link to restoration )

This is exacting and professional work, taking many hours. A lot of the time, customers will have to reserve an appointment to take in their machine to start the restoration process. Some specialize in various models such as Singer 222K.

If you can afford it, I imagine there's nothing as satisfying as using a 50 year old machine that looks as good as the day it was taken out of the box. Beautiful!

Does size really matter? And other Topics

A resounding Yes!

I have picked up many machines for $5.00 or free because they changed the needle and now the machine won't pick up any stitches at all. Some will immediately advise that the timing is off, and that's an expensive fix. Sometimes, I know better.
There are tiny differences in different brands of needles. Organ, No-Name, Singer and Schmetz.
Location of the thread eye, length, distance of eye to point can vary with brand and with type of needle as well. If someone set up the timing with one particular brand and type - It may not work at all with a different type. Many learn this the hard way, believe me - I know.

Another job that doesn't need to be as hard as people make it is removing the machine from a cabinet. I have had many take the legs off the cabinet and bring the whole thing in the trunk. Bloody heavy! Also hard on the back.

  It may take up to a minute to remove a machine the easy way. Lift the machine up until you see the bottom. Look at the far side of the bottom - You'll see a screw head at each of the hinges.  Undo these and pull the machine off the hinge pins. Sometimes the pedal and plug are free already, sometimes you need to undo a screw or two to free them. It's that easy.

Like cheap thread? - No. Like inexpensive thread? - Yes.  Those that sew a lot know that fancy stitches are nice but they use a ton of thread. I test every stitch of every machine I service and that uses a huge amount of thread. I pick up 3 $40 spools of thread for $3, sometimes less.  I cruise Salvation Army, Value Village and the like - They usually have some spools of  thread in neat little plastic bags. Saves considerable overhead. 

My feet are too long!

I ran into this problem a while ago - I needed a short shank zig-zag foot and all I had were straight stitch ones.
Short shank feet are more expensive because they're popular. long shank feet are not because hardly anyone uses them any more.
So I bought a long shank zig-zag foot, making sure it covered the same area as the short foot.
I then took a tiny nail and tapped out the pins holding each foot in place and swapped them.

1898 White Treadle Head

Problem solved. Pics to come later - Promise!

Where do I find all the Easy-to-Understand Repair Books?

I'm sorry to have to tell you that they don't exist. Don't faint!

After trying a cross-range of these available books, I was really disappointed with the content - Small pics so reproduced you couldn't tell what you were looking at - Rorschach blots? Hovering very close to actually telling you what to do like you already knew.

I learned much more following advice from some of the fine Yahoo sewing machine groups out there and hands-on trying. Yes, I do know it can be scary, but a little common sense and help from the net makes it a lot easier.

As for searching for the good among the bad, the net is like a magazine rack, it doesn't take long to figure out the truth from the trash.

First Motor Rebuild - No Kidding!

The dead motor. No new one available. Motor brush springs

 fed right into the armature.

Torn apart - Now what?

This little machine was donated to me for parts after the owner found that the motor was blown. It was not their fault. They didn't know that when the machine became erratic and the sound changed, they should have quit using it.
This machine sat around for quite a while. I knew very little about the motors in sewing machines at the time except to change them.
I finally decided to do what I could, it was broken already, right?


I asked people I knew, researched motor info on the web - With lots of pictures!
Then I could buy a set of motor brushes that were close in size, file them on each side until they slid easily where they were supposed to go and fire it up.

I was happily surprised and understood why Swiss machines are so prized - They sew very exact and quietly. This learning experience ended well and the little Elna 46 is in my own collection now.

The beginning - It cost HOW much?

Knowledge these days is worth a lot of money - Why do you think they charge so much to fix your sewing machine? Because they usually know how.
I say usually because as in everything else, there are those unscrupulous 'repair' people that will take the money without doing the work. Would you like to be able to unscrew the top and check that the work was actually done?
Thought so.

Why pay up to a dollar an inch ( 21/2 centimeters ) for spool pins when you can buy the correct diameter metal rod and use a dremel tool or hacksaw and file to create a handful of spool pins.

I learned much of this out of necessity - No money. Now I would like to pass on some of that knowledge to you. You will feel empowered, save a little money and sew better knowing exactly how your sewing machine works. Anything wrong with that?