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.