trivia42

My Little Bro and SIL asked for a tree skirt for Christmas...last week. I pull out the FW to start piecing and the motor won't engage. Now I need to trouble shoot and get it working again. I'm thinking this isn't too hard, I'm just not overly familiar with these motors. So...

First a few facts:
Clutch is engaged to sew, not wind bobbins. (triple checked)
The handwheel turns freely, the needle bar moves and I can crank stitches.
No lose/ stuck threads in the bobbin area.
I just cleaned the mechanical bits tip to tail with a pipe cleaner and cloth about 2 months ago and oiled parts and greased gears (did NOT grease motor).
When I cranked the handwheel the belt engaged the pulley and the pulley arm turned stiffly but without hitches with the belt.
When pressing the pedal you can hear current and the motor gives the customary right-before-it-starts-spinning noise.
The light works, the pedal is 6 months new.
The last time I sewed on it was about 2 months ago for a series of quilts and work projects.


Can anyone point me to where to start troubleshooting this? I've honestly never done anything with the motor since I got the machine about 16 months ago. I don't really know where to begin to look. I can get any parts fairly easily as my LSMS has a good supply. I also have a spare 127 motor I can take apart to play with if I have to as practice. TIA!

quiltedsunshine

Could be the motor brushes. Unscrew the little cap, but hold it down so the spring doesn't fly out. There should be a carbon brush on the end of the spring. Don't want those to wear all the way off, or you'll damage the armature.

Try turning the motor pulley by hand. It would be easier to test if you can disengage the belt. Is the motor pulley turning freely? If not, there could be some thread tangled around the pulley or the shaft, or the bearings need some grease.

If it was at the shop, they would try a different foot control, to make sure that's not the problem.

Good Luck!

miriam

Check your foot control wiring

ArchaicArcane

Boy you're not kidding! Had someone send me a photo of an armature that the brushes had worn right down on and it looked like someone had dug a couple of trenches in the metal.

Brushes should be changed at about 1/4" long. Their name is also misleading, they're a solid piece of carbon, not bristle like at all!

If you've had the machine for over a year and used it a fair bit, it's probably time to grease the motor. Comments like the pulley "turned stiffly" and "series of quilts and work projects" says it wants grease at the very least.

If you take the belt off to test the pulley and motor with no load, make sure when you put it back on that it's just tight enough that it doesn't slip. With the newer belts, I find that often means that the belt rests on that lower guide if the machine is not running. Too tight will cause the motor to overheat, to moan and groan before it starts and to run much slower than it should if at all.

Your manual is here, if you don't have a physical copy:
http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_mach...e-manuals.html
It will explain greasing the motor.

I agree to with Annette and Miriam, the foot pedal is commonly an issue. Does your 127 have a 3 pin connector on the cord? You may be able to use it to check if it's the machine or the other pedal.

trivia42

I'll grease the motor. I'm sure it's time. My 127 is wired to a cord block. The foot pedal is newer electronic. The pedal was soldered to the original bakelite cords because the old pedal had serious fire hazard issues. Are we still using PJ for motor grease? It's been awhile since I asked.

ArchaicArcane

Good girl!

There's never a need to solder cords. A replacement cord is about $10 in the US and it has proper ends on it to connect to the electronic pedal. Hearing that, the pedal cord would be my first suspect. What was the pedal doing that it was a fire hazard? Properly adjusted, they're as safe as any carbon pile resistor pedal.

Don't forget to check the brushes too!

I still use the Singer lube because it's still available to me in the old formula.

J Miller

Wish I could find some down here.

Joe

trivia42

The old carbon pile resistor (button) pedal would get really really hot and fail to deliver current so I switched just the pedal to the electric one. The bakelite 3 pin connector and cord are the same. I don't have any motor grease on hand. Should I get specific motor grease or would PJ work? I recall some discussion about melting points and viscosity with PJ being comparable to older versions of grease. Am I recalling correctly?

manicmike

Apparently vaseline is almost identical... I see now what PJ is for (petroleum jelly) - duh! Yes, PJ will work

If you bypass the FC with a piece of insulated wire and switch on briefly, the motor gets a full press of the pedal. If it still doesn't go, the FC is definitely not at fault.
Be careful of course, but bridging the FC wires is a very easy way to eliminate it as the cause.