ArchaicArcane

Maria, have you done the procedure shown in the last link I gave you? The one that showed you the finger out of place?

Dollars to doughnuts that's the issue with the machine not turning. It's VERY common to bind a featherweight or 301 up this way when you have nest problems. Trust me. I'm not asking you to take it apart for entertainment factor. I really think it will help you.


Yeah, I've seen the results of it too often! My first motorcycle was that way all over the place. I should have had a clue when we got there to see her and the kid's dad was putting a helicoil in the oil pan of his truck, but I just fell for the little bike as soon as I saw her...

One of the guys in the motorcycle forum I used to run had that as his signature. I burst out laughing when I saw it.

ThayerRags

We used “as tight as you can get it, and two more turns” in the Highline business.

CD in Oklahoma

Mrs. SewNSew

If the finger is back in place, and you are threaded correctly, more than likely you have a tiny bit of thread still trapped in the bobbin area from your thread nest incident. I personally would remove the thread for now, needle too and just work on finding the jam. You may have to take the bobbin area apart and clean thoroughly to find it. Once you have things working again, double check the finger is in the right place and re-thread the machine to try.

Ariannaquilts

I am so sorry to be a pain but I am at my wits end here. I did the tutorial for the featherweight thread jam, it took me almost 2 hours to get the part with the gib screw back in place. I did find 2 tiny pieces of thread in there removed them and then the problems with trying to put everything back together it just wasn't working. At any rate I finally got it on there lined up as shown (oh and btw the whole time I was having all the problems the hand wheel was turning smoothly) put the plate back on and back to square one, the hand wheel will not turn. So I repeated the process 3 times just in case I missed something and nothing. I haven't put the needle plate screws back on this time because I wanted to see if before I put that on and got the finger in place if it was working properly and it was but again as soon as I put that on, you got it nothing. I don't know what else to try I have done everything you've suggested and I'm still stuck. Don't give up on me yet, please help. I'm ready to fling this machine out the window, almost!!!

SteveH

Breath in, Breath out. No magic present here... Only mechanical things to be sorted out... Breath in Breath out. hehehe

miriam

Take a little time out - I have to some times, too. Do a little research - regroup yourself. Getting in a hurry or frustrated won't help - ask me how I know.

purplefiend

It sounds like the needle wasn't put in the machine correctly and its also not threaded right.
Go to www.singerco.com , click on "support and resources", instruction manuals and then type in 301 in the search box and there's free manual for the 301.
Sharon

ArchaicArcane

Maria, this is actually good news. Consider that without that finger locked in place, the machine can turn. With it loose and able to turn with the handwheel (watch it, I bet it does without the needleplate in place) that tells you where the jam is. It's some sort of friction causing that finger to hang up. The most common place is where we've told you to look. Now I want you to put the machine on its back, take that "plate" off that has the thumbscrew on it, and expose the underbits. Look between the exposed part of the hook and the rest of the mechanism. Is there any thread wound up in there? It's technically not the spot we wanted you to look, but when I taught a bunch of ladies how to maintain these machines in April, we found 2 machines with thread -behind- the hook assembly altogether.

sewnsewsue

I don't know if this could help but...... I hit a pin while sewing with my 301. I broke the pin into many pieces so changed it. After changing it, I had same problem as you- handwheel totally frozen. I took the entire bobbin assembly off so there was nothing on that shaft. I never found a thread. One day, i took another 301 out, put them side by side and compared them while turning handwheel on the one that worked. I found that I must have moved the needle bar up when I hit the pin. I would imagine thAt you could dislodge it with bad thread nest as well. The adjustment screw is on the upper side of bar, open the side door thing to access it. Loosen The screw and move the needle down and try the handwheel again.i just measured how much of the top of the needle bar sticks up above thee metal piece by the screw and it is exactly between the 1/8 and 1/4 mark on my ruler.i hope this helps you. These machines are very sturdy. You will be very comfortable doing these things after you fix this issue. Sometimes, I find that if I rock the handwheel just a little, I can expose those tiny threads that get stuck so I don't have to take the bobbin thing apart. Try to get in the habit of holding your threads and having the needle bar in the "up" position, this will minimize these issues.

sewnsewsue

I forgot to say that my handwheel turned freely until I put the throat plate on too!