Welcome to Quilting Board, Slsweets22. There is a manual available at https://res.cloudinary.com/singer-se...-305-old-x.pdf It is not the greatest, but it is free. Have you seen http://www.doubleveil.net/zssmp/tz17.htm Unfortunately, the link he gave for a better manual is no longer a good link. Be sure to read all the way through, as there was something Zorba found out later that would have been helpful.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

Interesting read on Zorba's site. Now I know what the controls and dials do! Thanks Janey.

I’m also curious! I know the lower right knob and lever are stitch length and reverse, respectively. Top left lever is the autoZigZag, obviously. The other two, I think relate to the cams and/or stitch width of the ZZ.

Janey-
Zorba’s site has been helpful, contacted him about finding a power source, when I first got my machine.

Thanks for the link for the manual!

SLSweets

Help
 

This is my grandma sewing machine, I don’t have the instructions book. Do any of you know something about it?

Welcome to Quilting Board, marineandi. I have never ordered from etsy, but I think that the manual at https://www.etsy.com/listing/8637761...other-opus-211 would work for you. In the meantime, there are some threading instructions at http://web.archive.org/web/201508180...ng_diagram.htm

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

ETA. I found a couple others but when I researched the companies I found that they had an "F" rating with BBB. So be very careful who you order from.

I don't know anything about this machine other than it is clearly beautiful and was obviously well-cared for. I would be surprised to learn that it isn't a very high quality machine as so many of these "badged" machines were.

Is there a number stamped into the base of the machine, someplace underneath? If so, it can perhaps be looked up and at least the manufacturer might be identified.

I suspect that you won't really need an instruction manual specific to this machine, I would think that pretty much any manual for a machine of this generation would shed enough light on how to operate it. It's a very straight forward machine. It has a needle positioning control, left, centre and right, a drop feed control to lower the feed dogs and options for straight stitch, zig-zag and perhaps a blind stitch setting.

The large dial also seems to have patterns printed on it. It may be that these would be built-in embroidery stitches.

Experiment with the controls and you'll soon learn pretty much everything that would have been in the instruction manual.

Congrats on having this beautiful family heirloom.

Thank you
 

Serial number
 

J-A-29
the label shows
Bradford
model 7788. -7788A
Made in Japan

sorry I forgot how to upload the pictures hahaha. Thank you

JA - 29 is listed in one of the resources as having been made by Brother. I wouldn't be surprised that it was all metal, with few if any plastic parts. Likely will last a few more generations if kept oiled and cleaned.

Yes, it would have fit into a cabinet or sewing table. Very likely it can also be put into a standard carry case. Lots of choices available for carry cases including some with a base that the machine sits in.