Probably every couple of years, I get this question. It goes something like this:
“I opened up the top of my machine, and I found a spring laying in the bottom. Where does it go? ”
The machines in question are usually the Singer 401/403/500/503/411/421/431 and some of the related machines.
This is what the spring looks like.
This is where it belongs. It can be a little character building to reinstall but it’s more time consuming than difficult:
Another trick you can do when you find an errant part just hanging out inside a machine is consult the parts chart. Lots of our vintage machines have the parts charts freely available online these days, and it can sometimes point you in the right direction – especially when the part is pretty unique looking. Not all parts charts are complete though. This spring doesn’t show up on the schematics for any of the above mentioned machines, unless I managed to overlook it on every one I checked. (It can happen…)
Sometimes an image search using your favourite search engine can help too. Lots of people post photos of the internals of vintage sewing machines. With a little luck, you can often spot where your loose part belongs.
I had this spring shoot off when I was cleaning it when I first got it last year and was horrified that I had no idea where it went. I thought to myself, why didn’t I stick to my simple 66’s and 201-2, what was I thinking??!! But thankfully, like you were saying I found a pic online that showed it and figured it out. I may have even found it on your unfreezing a frozen slanto matic tutorial, but not sure. Anyway, thanks for posting this, I may look this up if my spring takes off again!
One correction to my reply above, couldn’t find an edit button, I was actually cleaning the whole area in the top of the machine, not the spring itself like I made it sound.
That’s an awful feeling, isn’t it?
All of the sudden, something you’re not looking directly at is airborne. It’s definitely an “OH Sh%@” moment. C-clips are my arch-nemesis. They go flying as I remove them and I know I’m spending the next hour crawling around on my hands and knees looking for them.
The good old 66 and 201 machines definitely are easier to work on but I think the first time you try – the 401 spring may be easier to deal with than removing the bobbin case from a 201!
I see an edit button for your posts right beside the date but that’s likely because I’m the site owner. I may see if I can find a way to let you edit too. No promises though, wordpress is not like FB that way!
Yes, it is the worst feeling other than maybe if something had broke! I should mention my spring experience was on my 500A, but they may look pretty much the same, I don’t know what the 401 looks like inside. Another scare I had was that little pivoting part that kinda looks like a door or rectangle that is right beside the camstack, mine was out of position and I somehow got that figured out as well. I will definitely stay away from that 201 bobbin case too! No worries on the editing if it won’t work for me.
For sure! Broken parts are worse!
The 500A and the 401A are virtually identical under the hood.
Nah, don’t stay away from the 201 bobbin case. It’s easy once you do it once, it’s just a really weird setup. I thought I’d done a post on it but I did find a video I’d done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RadopyThdJY
That was awesome, thanks!
I’m glad I could help! 🙂