MADE IN TAIWAN: Kenmore 10 stitch

I have been trying for weeks to get this post up.  I wish that I had taken more photos and when I get a MINUTE to breathe I will try to take a photo of the clutch knob.  I have been sewing and traveling to Boston and working, so it isn't as if I have been slacking.  I just haven't been blogging.  

This is a good little machine.  True it was made in Taiwan but it is quiet (now) and sews well.

I wouldn't sew upholstery fabric on it, but it probably could handle small projects.  I had to adjust the belt a little bit to quiet it down.  Honestly, when I was showing it to a neighbor, it sounded like a dentist's drill.  A little adjustment, and it was fine. 

I hav a 12 Stitch that looks just like this one.  The hand wheel just wasn't right.  It felt too stiff.  The same neighbor showed some  interest in the machine and I was trying to get it ready for her. I kept adjusting the belts but could not get it right.  Too loose and it sounded like the drill.  Too tight and it bogged the motor. 

Kenmores have a two pulley system to make them stronger.  To adjust the lower belt, one must loosen the motor mount and turn the pulley screws TO THE RIGHT.

As you can see in the above picture, there is only one belt attached.  That's because once, after loosening the motor belt, I forgot that this is a lefty tighty and turned  the screw too far  to the right.

Clink.  And the whole pulley came out in my hand.  Uh Oh.  Something dropped in the back.  A rectangular shaped nut.  Oh Sh!t.  No worry.  I have a parts machine.  I can look at that and see how it fits.

OH ! That's easy, and I got it back together.

But before I did that I figured that I might as well take the belt drive off and clean it and the shaft to see if I could get that d r a g out of the hand wheel.   That didn't fix it so I took the clutch knob apart.  OOPS.  I had done this before, I thought to myself just as I lifted out the clutch and the springs spit out the ball bearings and they flew across the room.  http://mysewingmachineobsession.blogspot.com/2012/07/ball-bearings.html

SH!T.  Oh right.  The parts machine.  I took its clutch knob and installed in on the 12 stitch.

Sews like a dream.  Nice and quiet, but still a bit sluggish.  I tweaked the belt ONE MORE TIME and now I am happy.  I wonder if my neighbor is still interested?  If not, well, it is a lovely machine.  I can always use it as my class machine.