Really.
This is my neighbor's machine. She bought it with hopes to sew sheep skin. I have had it for several weeks. I have been cleaning it up. Boy it is dirty. It is also very very heavy.
It is rather imposing with all those external fittings.
It has a knee activated presser foot lifter. I have one on my 31 I love it.
It is equipped with a positive upper and under feeding mechanism.
It also has a roller edge guide. I can't figure out how to work it. Perhaps once it is cleaned up and re-installed I can figure it out.
It certainly has a beefy looking feed dog lifter and race. A class 15 bobbin fits, but it takes a heavier weight bobbin which fits better.
I did not take much apart to clean it. The race and shuttle assembly is very similar to my 31-15. That I felt I could manage
I thought that I would have to remove the feed dog lifter in order to remove the shuttle race. I seem to recall doing so on the 31-15.
But I could not get the screw loose so I could lower the arm shaft holding the feed dog lifter roller in place. Someone obviously had loosened this screw a time or two before I tried. Turns out, though, that I did loosen it and, ultimately, changed the feed dog height. I didn't know that until I tried a stitch test. I had to go back and adjust the feed dog height. I never did get it off though. I would have liked to check that roller.
I cleaned the parts in the ultrasonic cleaner then rinsed them with denatured alcohol and oiled all of them. It is nice to have clean parts. Were this my machine, I would have taken the whole feed mechanism apart and cleaned those parts as well. I had to just do my best to rinse with denatured alcohol and oil, over and over. I finally got the compressor out and just sprayed all that gunk out of there. That helped. The machine is stitching and while I would like to spend more time cleaning it up, I think my neighbor would like to get it back. I am sure she is anxious to play with it.
What a great old machine! I love these odd ducks. I just spent the evening working on my Necchi BU industrial - another oddball. What a great machine. Knee lifter and the cutest little butcher block table. And just like the regular Necchi BU, L/C/R needle position and zig-zag. Fun machine.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is an interesting machine. Glad you are back. I don't know if I have enough guts to fix something like that. I can't even get some simple wiring done. I am happy as a clam when the FMQ works flawlessly on the 301s and when the straight stitch is perfectly balanced on the others!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! What a neat machine! I think (my guess) for the little roller by the foot is to keep the seam allowance true AND it is a roller so that you can go fast. I think you would push the edge of the fabric right up against it and as it rolled you would be flying! I think the industrial machines will sew faster than a household machine. Especially if it is hooked up to a 5 amp motor instead of a 1 amp motor.
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