Rodney

I took the top off and I see a screw that looks like it hold the wheel on. My only concern is if there's something hiding inside waiting to spring out and be gone forever if I try to remove it.

This is more an idea than a "must do" plus I have an aversion to modifying perfectly good parts. I'll just let the idea brew a bit longer. I'm not sure what I want for the handle anyway. There's no rush.
Rodney

miriam

I've been fighting with - not fiddling with a Singer 500 - it had a stuck clutch knob. There is NOTHING to grip with those. Suggestions to loosen it were to hit it with a rubber mallet - nothing. Use a stick and hit the stick - nothing. Well, my pea brain was thinking and thinking and thinking. What about something that could grip and not slide? T-shirt decoration? Not enough plastic to get a grip. MECHANICS GLOVES? Well I got some and I couldn't get it off but thank you DH, Phil - he stayed with it until he got tendonitis and got that knob off. It sure did not want to come. Now I have been cleaning junk out of the screw areas. VERY hard to get that stuff off - someone did not want that thing to ever come off again. There is still stuff left in there. The gloves are now a part of my shop tool kit - I think they might come in handy some other time.
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miriam

The same Singer 500 had a broken clip spring for the slide plate. I tried to take out the screw in front of the machine but it wanted to just break off the end of the screw. I oiled it, heated it, gave it time out. No getting it out. SSSOOOOO I got a couple screw drivers and pried on the broken one - got it out - it has a C where it is held on the machine. To get the good one out of the donor machine I lifted the end of the spring to get it to slide over the bed of the machine - I used a screw driver for that and another one to lift the center and I used a hammer to bang on a screwdriver to get the clip to give up. When it gave up it went flying. It went into the machine nice and easy after that. Oh and the machine sew tested very nice. Yippie!

miriam

Today my SIL had an ER visit so we had kidos over. I got out a Singer redeye and Wilbur and I cleaned it up quite nicely. He thinks it is a really Kool machine. I gave him a bottle of oil and a rag and he wiped the whole thing down inside and out. He got a real kick out of getting all the 'hair' out of the bobbin area, too. He helped take off the motor and the slide plate and the nose plate, etc. We bagged and tagged it. He claimed the redeye as his since it had a 4 on the bottom and he is 4. Today Wilbur learned about clutches and the knobs. He was rather intrigued. Then Miss L and I went over a Singer 99 which is kind of ho hum since she has seen better 99 machines. She was a little miffed since I sold the 401 we worked on a while ago before she got to see it finished.... ARGH. I didn't dare show her the other one since she would know the difference. She is getting good at spotting differences. Some times I'm not sure if they are learning anything then other times I kind of think WOW they know so much. Wilbur finally gets it about one drop of oil. When I had him wash the machine in oil he was a little surprised.

Rodney

Miriam, I hope it's nothing serious and your SIL is better soon.
Messed with the Montgomery Wards machine a little over the weekend. After soaking for what seems like forever in oil the feed dog knob is still just as stuck as before. I'll probably have to invest in a GOOD tiny screwdriver to get the knob off and the shaft it's on unstuck. Heat will bubble the paint and attempting to drill the set screw out will just mess up the knob.

miriam

It is unlikely that the knob is what is stuck. You need to take care of this little dohinky:
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It needs oil and then heat. Do not be EGOR and use force - at least until the oil and the heat have had their chance.
If you do use force pull on the little rod as you heat. It probably has stuck oil in the shaft.

miriam

I just fiddled with a pristine looking Universal 15 clone. The machine made very short stitches. I wondered if the feed dogs had been dropped and then stuck too low. I cleaned oil out of there. Then I noticed the feed dogs were adjusted too low. I raised them. here is helpful info: http://autonopedia.org/crafts-and-te...machine-repair
Then it was making puckers. I traded out the needle. Then the thread was breaking. I traded out the shuttle - it was burred. Then I noticed the needle bar was turned too much. I adjusted that. Then it seemed like the machine was a bit bouncy so I adjusted the feed dog height again. The machine sews like a dream now. Yup I was fiddling with it alright.

Rodney

Miriam, that tapered pin actually wiggles back and forth slightly. I don't think that's where it's stuck. I can take another look there though. I'm getting no play at all at the knob. It doesn't turn at all even with leather covered pliers and there is zero vertical play too. If I could get it to move even a tiny bit oil would be able to get in and loosen things up.
It's not a big rush but I want everything to work on it and it's currently my only vertical bobbin machine. I may use it for quilting. I think that's what I told my wife (Chief Financial Officer) when I bought it anyway.
Rodney

Rodney

Thanks for the link. I could spend some serious time in that site.
Rodney

miriam

After you heat it and oil it use some Egor muscle and pull on the rod just a bit. It is unlikely it is the knob.