manicmike

This thread will provide a place to list sources for parts and information on repairing vintage machines, and how to search for information on the Internet.
Please note that this isn't somewhere to advertise or exchange parts or machines and this would be a breach of QB rules.

As a start, if you have a 201, model 15, 66 or 99 you should check out the tfsr (tools for self reliance) website for their repair manual series.

ISMACS is the sewing machine collectors society. They have a lot of information about sewing machines, mainly Singers. If you need to look up a serial number or a model number, it is a very useful resource.

miriam

People ask for that info nearly every day.

SteveH

I find that in addition to those, for Research (grain of salt), I like Sewalot and Sewmuse

For older parts Helen Howes - (if this is too commercial/advertisement, let me know)

Rodney

This forum is the biggest resource I know. Not necessarily for parts, but certainly the knowledge of where to find them.
I'll plug Sew-Classic.com for many of the more commonly needed replacement parts.
Singerco.com is good for free downloadable Singer manuals.
Don't overlook the manufacturers that are still around. Many are excellent resources for dating your machines. I'm surprised at how many still have their old records.
Rodney

manicmike

If you have a 319, here is a pull down and rebuild guide from Miriam. Very picture heavy.
Here's another thread started by Great White who had just acquired a 319.

If you have a 320, 319, 306 or 206, do not use ordinary domestic (15x1, 2020, 705) needles. They are too long and may strike the bobbin case when using heavier fabric. The latter three machines use different bobbin cases. The 306 and 319 look almost identical but they are different in many ways. The 319 and 320 use the same bobbin case.

Looking for a manual?
319K manual from Singer
306 manual from Singer
206 manual from Singer
206K25 manual from Singer

Singer is quite generous with manuals for their older machines and allows free downloads provided they have it as a pdf. These are printable yourself or they can send you one for a fee (type the model number into their search page).

miriam

There is also a repair manual:
http://parts.singerco.com/IPsvcManuals/306W25.pdf

Fuzzykittenbutt

Can this thread be given a sticky? I got a vintage singer a couple of months back and will finall have time next week to give her some attention. I know that I will have lots of questions as she's my first vintage machine and this thread looks like a thread that people like me will be looking for all the time. Seems "sticky"-material to me. :-) Whaddaya say everyone else and admins?

P.S. Until then I'll just bookmark it...but later visitors might not find it. Just a thought! :-)

manicmike

It's going to be. Just waiting for the admin to do it.

miriam

There are a lot of stickies now - we may need a sticky for "The best of QB Antique and Vintage Sewing Machines" and have it set up for just moderators to post what gets nominated or voted in. Just a thought - there are a lot of really good threads on QB that need to be found again and again but too many stickies and it will get hard to see the threads. I believe the info for working on machines was suppose to be covered in that sticky we put up with the cleaning video a couple years ago. But then again maybe something like that could go into "The best of QB Antique and Vintage Sewing Machines" thread.

miriam

For Japanese machines, we also use
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...p-t164361.html
and
http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...s-t207880.html
and
http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...s-t207880.html

This is old but it comes up on occasion:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...t-t174236.html - I'm sure there could be 40 more links tagged on to that one if someone wanted to take the time.

This comes up and I think there are an assortment of other threads on the same topic - I'm not sure where they all are: http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...s-t160607.html

Arctic has a lot of real nice trouble shooting and repair info on her blog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzFX...AyBQ2l-Mzkw7ew video on re-assembling a tension

Muv has a lot of info on the long bobbin on her blog page. There are links to that on the sticky with her cleaning info.

There is a whole lot more info on here that is harder to find. The search comes up with way too much selection to narrow down what a person needs some times.

The information Glenn has posted about caring for the finish on the old machines should be on the sticky as well:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...ts-t97670.html
http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...s-t193635.html
http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...r-t235747.html
http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutoria...s-t109859.html

A lot of times you can search google to find just about as much information/videos as your pea brain can hold on to. It is not difficult to search and find good information.

Other things that comes up almost daily are how do I find a manual for XXX machine? How old is my machine? What is my machine worth? Is this too much to pay for XXX machine? A lot of time is spent by QB members answering those questions daily. A lot of space is taken up by those same questions almost daily. For information, Google is your friend... I almost think if there is a new sticky about anything nobody will read it anyway.