csharp

Happy New Years greeting to all you great board members...hope you have some advice to help me.
I have a vintage Elna Supermatic that I'm trying to get up and running....absolutely no experience with these machines, but it was my mom's and my sister has asked if it is fixable. It was in a pretty ugly state when I got it...see before and after pictures...my issue is that it "growls" when sewing and seems loud to me. I have no idea what is normal for this machine...I think it is a model 722010?? Have no idea what year it is or where to look on it for this info. She gave me no cams for it, and I'm not sure she has them, but that's to fix later. Has been oiled as much as I can, but don't know if the "inside" is something I should try to get too. AND does anyone know where to get a downloadable free manual???
Thanks for your assistance....
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oldtnquiltinglady

Oooooooooh, that is exactly like my first Elna, purchased in Fairbanks, Alaska and loved all these many years. My daughter now has it; and hers growls too. I had a repairman work on it one time, and it came back to me that way. Elna is supposed to be super quiet; and when I asked him about the noise, he told me it sounded alright to him. So I do hope you get a reasonable answer to your question so I can get the DH ahold of DD's machine.

Candace

If it thumps and is very loud it likely needs the motor pulley replaced. Google Elna supermatic motor pulley for parts and more info. The part is about $30. The flat spot is from the machine sitting without use. It's a very common issue and most of these machines need the pulley replaced.

miriam

I would like to find a free downloadable manual, too. Those do a lot of thump and rumble if the wheel goes flat

sews

There is a A LOT of information available online for this machine, especially on blogs, and especially about the dreaded "flat spot". Some people simply shave it down and that works for them.

Sunflowerzz

She is a beauty! My Elna Supermatic has a wonderful "Elna Growl" and no it doesn't have any flat spots or anything else wrong with it. She sews perfectly and just has this awesome growl. I cleaned and repaired her, hubby helped with the electrical so we know she is in great shape.

The only really quiet machines I have are the Necchi Supernovas and my Bernina 740 Favorit. All of my other machines have their own sounds to them, some much louder than others with my Elna having the most unique sound.

DebbieJJ

Beautiful machine.....What a difference after the clean-up! No advice on the "growl". Good luck, hopefully it's just it's age showing.

Rodney

Great afters! The good thing about all the dried oil you cleaned off is you know the machine at least saw some oil while in use. I do like the looks of those Elnas.
Rodney

ArchaicArcane

Some of the newer pulleys are very poor quality. Don't skimp if you find one for less. Ray White sells them and I guess he tests them somehow. I can get them from my supplier but I don't anymore. The last one I installed ate itself in less than a day of use. There's an elna heirloom yahoo group and they have some sort of pulley they've created that's made of aluminum and uses rubber O-Rings for the contact spot with the handwheel. If I was going to change a pulley again, I'd probably go that route. That way if you get a flat spot, you can just change the O-Ring out and keep going.

The other things that help a new pulley stay round are to loosen the handwheel when the machine will be out of service for more than a week, and/or giving the handwheel a turn whenever you walk past it.

Lastly, you don't need a special puller tool to change the pulley. I can do it in about 2 minutes with a quick grip and a pair of pliers and a pin or with a punch.

The hook / two parts bobbin case in these machines are a challenge to disassemble to clean right, but once they're back together the machine does stitch very nicely. There's a video on YouTube that is a bunch of stills that can help a lot with this.

csharp

So to get to all these parts...do you take the bottom of the machine off...I've tried the screws there and right now they are not loosening up, but did put a lot of oil on them, and I'll try to get them unscrewed tomorrow. The machine is cleaned as much as I can get too, and it sews wonderfully but is noisy and I have no cams to check that part out. Thanks for all your comments. Keep them coming if you can help me out. Thanks It also has a power flickering problem, so I'm guessing the electrical needs tweaked...anybody know anything about that with these machines???