As always, I was chatting about my obsession at work one day. A woman I know mentioned that she had a little sewing machine in her attic that she hadn't used because it wouldn't stitch anymore. After more inquiry I knew that it was a featherweight. She brought it by work on Tuesday for me to fix.
Of course I could not wait until I got home to look at it. When I initially talked with P. about the machine I figured it had a thread lock. Then when I looked at the machine yesterday I saw that the "finger" on the bobbin case base was not positioned appropriately.
The arrow in this photo points to the hook shaft flat. Now there's a catchy phrase. Sounds like it could be a Country Music Song. I couldn't get her stitchin, cuz I missed the hook shaft flat.
In order to get that piece of thread out, I had to remove this screw to get the looper off the hook. Can you see those scrapes on the back of the hook? I think an errant needle made those. Certainly the looper had some burrs on it. I left them and these needle marks. I decided that if it did not stitch well I could go back and sand them down.
That was the biggest part of this job. Once I had the thread lock out, the hook cleaned and back on the machine, I finished the servicing. The bobbin winder was pretty dirty and required a fair amount of rinsing and spraying with canned air. But finally it was suitable and I re-assembled the machine and got it stitching.
I spent two hours on it. I am horribly inefficient. I spent too much time getting the hook back on, despite my knowing about the hook shaft flat. I did NOT remove the feed dogs or dis-assemble the tension. I did clean them, of course. I did have to adjust the tension number dial so that it would read at "4" . I cleaned the machine itself with some Awesome and T3-3. The motor sounded happier and happier the more I ran it. I think it was happy it got greased. The brushes looked fine and the commutator was not too dirty so I did NO MOTOR work.
I think it looks lovely and what is more, it stitches.
Yay!! Good job! I love the looks of these little machines, but I don't enjoy sewing on them. I burn my hand on the light bulb every time! Sew, sew cute though!!!
ReplyDeleteI never thought of that. I have yet to sew anything on a featherweight, though I have two. They both need cleaning. Time to get to work!!!
DeleteWoot, Woot! What does a COA cost in your neck of the woods? My inefficiency is how I end up making $8/hr. But I am educated and entertained. Just haven't performed enough procedures to be fast yet. It will come.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a COA?
ReplyDeleteClean, oil, adjust I would guess. Kind of a late answer to your question but I only ran across your site a couple days ago. Nice!
DeleteThank you. Of course
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