miriam

If you just run the motor with the clutch out like you would wind a bobbin - the motor would have no load. If you remove the belt and turn the machine you would be turning the machine with out the motor. Maybe I'm not understanding your problem.

quilt938

Oh it did ok winding the bobbin of at least sounded the same. Didn't remove the belt but turned the wheel by hand. When I'm sewing it sometimes doesn't want to start moving the needle until I give the hand wheel a little help with my hand..maybe that's normal? My mom used to do that with one of her machines when I was a kid

miriam

Things have been crazy with still a different new job. Third time's the charm? At least this one isn't so stressful. DH says I'm a lot more human when I come home.

I picked up a really bad looking Singer 66. (lotus decals) The underside was caked with lint. The needle bar was frozen. The pressure foot bar was frozen. The tension was spinning around and the screw was stuck. The bobbin area was just gross. Parts were off the machine but were found in the set of attachments. Anyway. I have the machine together and it seems to be all there now. I've been working on the icky finish so I'll ever want to sew on it. The finish has improved but has a ways to go to be smooth. The decals aren't very nice on the bed. The rest of the decals were covered in grime but they cleaned up ok - not exceptional though. It should sew nice when it is done.

miriam

Add on... I put some more parts on it and it does stitch but the pressure foot needs more adjustment. When it is down it is 1/4 inch too high. Sigh.

KenmoreRulesAll

I bought a Pfaff 30 today. I fiddled with it, meaning I cleaned the exterior and oiled the needle bar area, shined the needle bar and shank, started the bobbin area, got bored, quit.

Cari-in-Oly

Ending or starting a seam, the take up lever should be just over the top of its travel. That is the beginning/end of the stitch cycle. if you coach yourself to always have your take up lever in that position, you won't ever have to fight removing your fabric before the the bobbin thread wants to let go, and beginning to sew you should only have to hang on to your threads and not have to give the hand wheel help to get the motor going.

Cari

Cari-in-Oly

I've got a few machines that I did exactly that too. I'm hopefully gonna get that Futura finished tonight so I can get that thing out of here. All I have to say about that machine is it's no wonder Singer went bankrupt. Somehow I lost one of the cabinet mounting set screws, I'm hoping it either fell out in my trunk or at her house when we took it out of the cabinet.

Cari

KenmoreRulesAll

You have a Futura? lol Sorry, I just hate that machine. Back when I was bringing home any machine that was free, I actually turned down a Futura in mint condition with tons of attachments in a beautiful cabinet. Hey, I have my standards.

Rodney

Miriam I hope that Lotus cleans up for you. I like both the redeye and lotus patterns but prefer the lotus. I almost never see one with decals in good condition though. I saw one go by on shopgoodwill with really good decals. At the time I saw it it was at $100 with time left.

KenmoreRulesAll I like the looks of the Pfaff machines. Make sure you post some pics when you're done.
Rodney

Cari-in-Oly

Oh he** no this is not my machine. It's a family members', I was just dumb enough to agree to service it for her. I couldn't find anything wrong except what I think is a broken piece of part of the motor mount. It doesn't seem to affect how it runs, so I'll tell her what I found and pray she doesn't ask me to fix it.

Cari