Time will tell (be forewarned..this is a wordy, if not verbose, post)

So. I got out the famous Ray White timing tool.  Installed a brand new #90 needle in the 319W and set about timing the hook and the needle.  It would not work.  I fiddled around some before I finally decided to just come in the house (it was warmer in here) so that I could have the working 319 near by for comparison.  That was when I discovered  (moron that I am) that I was using a 130/705H system needle.  The 319 takes a 206X13 needle.  Oh good.  Something simple.  Well, even with the CORRECT needle I couldn't get the thing to NOT catch on the hook as the thread went around.  So then I put in the bobbin case (more brilliance, I just astound myself) but it STILL would catch.  I was STYMIED.  STUMPED.  FRUSTRATED.  BAFFLED.  CLUELESS. AND BUMMED TOTALLY.  TOTALLY BUMMED.  ABSOLUTELY. 

Then the kids came.  Saved from myself.

This morning I went back out to the shop. Last night I studied the 306 service manual, re-read Bill Holman's advice about how to fix these machines if they have been re-timed for a 130/705H needle system.  I checked the feed timing, I re-timed the hook, I checked the needle bar height.  I did it all.  STILL, it would catch as the thread went around the bobbin case.

THEN  I wondered if perhaps the problem was that the tension assembly was dirty.  I took that sucker apart and cleaned it.  I couldn't get the stud out of the machine because the set screw was glued in there with old dirt and oil.  Heat and Tri-Flow.  Heat and Tri-Flow.  Heat and Tri-Flow.  Admittedly the tension assembly was dirty.  But that was NOT the problem.  Well, ok I was not yet at the "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANY MORE AND I WANT TO THROW THIS MACHINE OUT THE WINDOW AND NEVER LOOK AT IT AGAIN." but I was dang close.  Tears were trying to well up in my eyes and I was shaking, only a little bit.  So I walked the dogs.

I decided that my original plan, to have the working 319 near by, was a good one.  I came back in the house (the kids had left by then, quick trip to fetch a car) with the famous timing tool, screw driver, LIGHTED MAGNIFYING GLASS (did I mention that I am in my seventh decade?) and requisite needle and bobbin case.  Oh how I did not want to get that 319W out of its base.  I did that the other day and it was a bear to get back together.

Then I remembered... I have a 306!!!!

I put the two of them together on the table.  I stripped the foot, the needle plate, the feed dogs off of the 306.  I tipped it up on its end and I studied that hook with the lighted magnifying glass.   I dropped the needle down to DROP DEAD CENTER put the famous Ray White timing tool in place and studied the position of the needle in relation to the hook when the needle bar was raised about 2.5 mm (courtesy of the famous Ray White timing tool). 

Then I took the FRWTT off of the 306 and put it on the 319.  I got that needle and hook as close as I could to perfect.

THEN I tried it.  The thread still got stuck.  OK  tears are starting to flow...... WTF (and bad language too).

I turned to the 306 and threaded it up,  and watched as the thread went around the bobbin case.  IT GOT STUCK TOO.  WTF WTF WTF.  Could it be that simple?

I put the needle plate back on the 306...Perfect stitches.  WTF WTF WTF.

I put the needle plate back on the 319.  Perfect (ok not perfect but pretty f...... close (bad language persists)) I managed to GET perfect straight stitch stitches by adjusting the tension. 

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?   I was holding the thread up as I was testing the timing, but I guess I wasn't holding it up loosely enough or something.

Some famous inventor of a timing tool always said, over and over again.  "Nine times out of ten it is something simple."

Magic

I honestly don't know how it happened.  All I can figure is that these machines are pretty forgiving, or else some OSMG spirit took pity on me and fixed the timing on this machine in the middle of the night.  I did not re-time it after making sure the needle wasn't hitting anything.  Sunday morning, since it sounded good I decided to try stitching and this is what I got.  WOOO HOOO.  I was very happy.  I did not photograph the bottom but it is fine.  The thread is a bit oily from flushing the bobbin case and hook.

These 306s have a bobbin case that is secured with a position finger.  It is tricky, but you have to get the position finger just so to allow the thread to"escape"  At first I thought that was the problem with my bottom tension being too tight.  It wasn't.  It was just gooey in there and flushing it out with the alcohol and the tri flow must have been the magic cure.  That is all I can figure.

  I spent some time cleaning her up.  The crinkle finish is a challenge and after a bit I could not decide if I was removing dirt or paint.  Y ou know, that beige finish is deceiving.  I quit.  She needed a dust cover so I ripped an old sheet up intending to sew together a drawstring bag.

What the heck, try the 3 stitch ZZ cam.  And it worked.  For a while.  Then the fabric would not track and the presser bar got lazy. AGAIN.  All this happened while I was talking to my sister on speaker phone.  Gotta go, Alice, got a machine in crisis.

I took the whole presser bar assembly apart.  I don't recommend it if avoidable.  The culprit was some goo on the part that rests in the groove in the back of the machine where the lever rises and falls.

This part was a bear to remove and a grizzly bear to re-install.  Finally it just slid in.  Again, MAGIC.

I also realized that the feed dogs were not fastened tightly.  I had tightened them once, but having never removed them in the first place I did not know how tight they should be.   They were VERY loose.  Thank Rain for encouraging me to get the Brownell bits (http://vssmb.blogspot.com/) Itightened them up and got the machine all back together again, and VOILA.

GORGEOUS STITCHES.  I finished the bag and closed her all up.

NEXT, the 301A in progress.