Singer Stylist 437 Seized Zig-zag Mechanism

When I came to try the Singer Stylist 437 I discovered that the zig-zag wouldn't work.  I tried the needle position setting and that didn't work either so I figured I had a seized part.  When I came to have a look at what was going on I pulled out the Super Stylist 533 to compare.  It was very simple, the part that was supposed to move the needle bar had seized and wasn't moving the tiniest bit.  I applied oil as shown in the photograph below.

I then (having tried this on the machine that was working, just to check that I could do this without damaging anything) started to force the needle bar to oscillate by pushing it back and forth.  From what I remember you get the greatest movement when the machine is set to widest zig-zag and left needle position.  After I had moved it a few times I applied more oil to the 'oil repeatedly' points.  Ten minutes later it was springing to and fro as well as any working machine.  I have to say I love it when I have a similar machine to compare workings with!  As a real surprise the pedal on this machine was fine and it is now for sale.

Another thing that initially wasn't working was that the flat-bed refused to lock in.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of this but I'll try and explain.  Start by turning your machine up and taking the bottom off so that you can see where the flat-bed locks in.  Now try and attach the flat-bed.  I found that the metal pin wasn't long enough and thus the cut in it wasn't allowing the catch to catch in.  If you turn the flat-bed up the other way you'll see a grub screw holding the metal pin.  Just loosen the grub screw, adjust the pin slightly and tighten before trying in your machine.  It didn't take me all that long to find a length that worked just fine!

Singer Super Stylist 533

I have had yet another machine donated this week!  Unfortunately it is very similar to last weeks machine - just in worse condition!  The new machine is a Singer Super Stylist 533 and very similar to the machine I learnt to sew on.  This machine also has plastic gears, one of which is a completely different colour and I suspect it may have been replaced.

The white gear on the right I think is new.

As you can see from the above photos the machine left a fair bit to be desired when it came to cleanliness!  The bobbin area was packed with lint, every time I thought it was finally clean I found another piece.

There is something not quite right with this machine, I think maybe it just needs the oil to sit for a while as it was very dry.  It's kind of sticky and the reverse was jammed, although I freed that up.  Under the top cover and faceplate all looked good and the cams all looked crack free, not that they are exactly easy to look at under the white selection disc!

Underneath apart from being dirty, dry and plastic everything looked good.

I annotated the photo above to give some idea of the layout of the machine.

From the front it's rather a ho-hum machine, it might look better if I had better photos and had remembered to take one AFTER I cleaned it!  This machine also has a hard cover, some accessories and an instruction manual, it's not all bad!

My mother made these very cute owl mittens for her sister.  They are Tunisian crochet and I think they are absolutely adorable, I love the green eyes.

Flowers

A few weeks ago I went out with my friend B.  I took many photos.  I have attached quite a few here, as an Easter theme.

This garden was fabulous, lots of lovely roses with littler plants in between, like the daisies above.  The roses were amazing, hundreds of blooms in an assortment of colours and shapes.  Sadly my camera is on its way out and doesn't like focusing all that much, often in an attempt to get my camera to focus I'd move it and not notice.  I ended up with some interesting photos because of it!

I don't think I have ever seen so many gum trees so tall.  They were incredible and appeared to stretch never-ending to the sky.  Up in their canopy many parrots and other birds fossicked, showering the unwary in pieces of tree.  I took quite a few pictures of these trees but this is the only one I can find at the moment.

Wherever you are, have a happy and safe Easter!

Elna Contessa 400

One of my colleagues has an Elna Contessa 400.  Elna Contessa's are not exactly my favourite machines but that does have something to do with the fact that ours has a 'pot' metal part, which has disintegrated leaving the machine useless.  This one had a seized bobbin-winder and to be honest, I suspected the worst and thought it too, would disintegrate on me.  With plenty of oil and a lot of nail bitingly brutal force however, it freed up and is now working fine.  Originally my colleague wanted me to sell it and get her another but on my advice decided to keep the Elna when the bobbin-winder was freed.  From what I could see this machine had metal cams and gears and was in very good condition, although very dry.  I told her that she would not find a modern machine with either of those attributes.

In these pictures the bobbin winder is missing.  Where I work is very dark so when I photograph I have to use a flash, sadly white machines and flashes don't exactly work together!  I have included a picture of the stitch selector to give you an idea of the range of stitches.

Singer Stylist 437

Just a week ago I got a new machine at work.  For some reason it comes with an instruction manual for a Singer 427 but it is actually a Stylist 437.  It is actually rather a nice machine in a pleasing tan colour and comes with a cover, which is always nice!

 I have to say though, once I started taking it apart I decided I didn't want one, which is nice!  It is a belt drive connecting top and bottom and has two sets of plastic gears.  Amazingly both sets of gears look all right, for now at least, but they are just an accident waiting to happen.  We replaced a plastic gear on one of our machines once, cost us $20, almost more than the machine was worth and the machine never felt the same afterwards.  Below are pictures of the gears.

One thing I do like about this era of Singer machines is the hook area.  They are rather easy to take apart and oil.  This one had some minor fur-balls and needed a good oiling, it was slightly seized when I first started on it.

 There is very little under the top cover, apart from the blindstitch cam anyway.  It is also a free-arm machine and still has the flat-bed with it.  No accessories though.

 It does, however, have one of those dangerous pedals on it so I could yet not be selling it.

On Wednesday I got another machine in.  This one is a Globe overlocker.  I am not the world's greatest fan of overlockers, the only thing they seem to do remarkably well is not cooperate!  Unfortunately this one has the wrong pedal and I don't have one that will plug into it, so it looks like it is in for a long stay!

 And finally, a machine I sold recently was a very brightly coloured Brother.  I would definitely not like to own one of these but I love the bright red!

I do have some pictures lined up to post here and an Elna as well.

I'm Still Standing!

I am busy and stressed out of my brain at the moment.  I am still working on lots of great sewing machines though!  Hopefully I should be able to get some on-topic posts up soon.

I did get a great stash of material from work yesterday though, a lot of stretch knits which should make for cheap T-shirts.  I also got given a new machine recently too.  Stay tuned!