Tag Archives: VSMRepair

3D Printing, Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Pfaff Power Switches coming back!

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I alluded to this in my previous post.  A number of years ago, the power switches for the Pfaff 1222 type machines went “NLA” or No Longer Available.  As usually happens, it takes a while for existing stock to disappear so many of us didn’t know until it was too late.  Around the middle of 2020, it finally happened.   Not long after my first order went unfilled, I started playing with the idea of rebuilding the switches.  The reason being that it’s a single piece of (sometimes 40+ year old) injection molded plastic that fails.  Every single time. Could it be 3D printed? After all, several years ago, I’d determined that the rest of the switch is high quality, modular and relatively easy to rebuild. In October of 2020, I received 4 Pfaff 1222 machines in for service and you guessed it, there was a broken switch among them and I had no more switches in stock.

After a series of unfortunate (family/personal) events that Fall, I finally began on Christmas Day 2020, and by a couple of days into the New Year, I had a working design and it took me about 15 minutes to disassemble the machine, disassemble the unnecessarily complex switch, replace the defective part, reassemble the switch and the machine.   This could be a viable solution! The problem was Continue reading Pfaff Power Switches coming back! →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Reader Mail – January 2022 edition – Slant-o-matic spring gone rogue

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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.

Continue reading Reader Mail – January 2022 edition – Slant-o-matic spring gone rogue →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Never Know Unless You Give It A Try – Replacement Featherweight Bobbin Cases

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Around 2 months ago, I received 3 Singer featherweight 221/222 (and 301) bobbin cases from my Canadian parts supplier.  The cases varied in quality and perhaps accordingly in price.  They’re also 3 of the cases most commonly seen in the wild when someone goes looking for a featherweight bobbin case.  Like me, you’ve probably read a lot about variable quality and about some not fitting at all, some stitching out poorly and other issues.

The purpose of ordering the 3 bobbin cases was to investigate why there were so many issues with some cases and if anything could be done once you got the “wrong” case.  (Caution: Long “shoot out” style post warning! You’ll also want to click on pictures to view the bigger versions.  It will probably make what I’m saying a lot clearer. )

3 different Singer 221/222/301 bobbin cases as they arrived here in July.

Initially, I’d planned only to evaluate 2 cases – the Korean made Towa and the Japanese made Towa case but Continue reading Never Know Unless You Give It A Try – Replacement Featherweight Bobbin Cases →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Needle(Plate)s and Pins – Replacing the throat plate and spool pins on Singer Slants

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The Singer 431G is a stellar machine.  Seriously, it’s one of my favorites but it and its sibling, the 421G do have flaws. The 421G suffers from the first one and the 431G suffers from both.  Luckily, both issues are easily solved.

Flaw #1: I feel that the throat plate pins were a poorly thought out design.

In the photo above, you can see that both pins are broken. Originally, it looked a lot like a Philips (cross) screw from the top and I think this might be how they get broken.

Some people may have thought that a screwdriver was needed to remove the throat plates – and “conveniently”, there’s probably one that fits right in the accessories box just inches away. 

These plates lift off, no driver required.

All of the 431Gs that have been on my bench have had at least one of these pins broken or missing. One machine had some ground down screws as replacements that scored and gouged the aluminum horribly.  That machine came with a service invoice that showed that some “helpful” serviceman had even charged for the privilege of having the machine so damaged.

So, once the pins are broken, how does one fix this?  After all, the parts are long since discontinued.

First, the method.   Replacement is very easy.

Continue reading Needle(Plate)s and Pins – Replacing the throat plate and spool pins on Singer Slants →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

The loosest thread – Those pesky thread nests

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Some of the most common sewing machine issues I hear are:

  • “The bobbin thread is bunching up around the bobbin”,
  • “I have loops under the fabric”,
  • “It looks great on the top but the bottom looks awful!”,
  • “No matter how high I turn the tension on my bobbin, I still get a mess on the bottom side of the fabric!”,
  • “I keep lowering the upper tension but I still get loops underneath!”
  • “It’s the tension”
  • or something similar.

Something like this: Continue reading The loosest thread – Those pesky thread nests →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Highway Star – Full speed from a Singer button controller

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Back in April and May of 2012, I wrote the two posts that would become the most popular posts on this site.   These are the posts on how to adjust the Singer button controllers.  I’ve yet to find another brand’s pedals with so much adjustment which is why I advocate keeping them.

Today, I’m going to add a little tidbit of information.   Previously, we took care of a pedal that had been badly adjusted and was creating too much heat or was maybe not as responsive as you wanted – or a little too responsive and likely making noise.

What I didn’t cover at the time was how to adjust the pedal to get full speed. Continue reading Highway Star – Full speed from a Singer button controller →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

A search for things that you can’t see – Singer motor lube replacement

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A “controversial” post today folks.

Motor Lube for Singer motors.

This one causes a lot of sometimes heated discussion on forums.  Many people have done tests and lots of opinions have been stated.  Today, I’m going to state my opinion, back it up with my reasoning and testing and then you can decide what you want to do with your own machines.

A couple years back, I mentioned that I could still get Singer Lube that was still suitable for use in Singer motors.  In February of this year, that changed.  I spent some time posting about it on Facebook.

Because I still get requests for Singer Lube, I thought I’d discuss what happened to make the Singer Lube no longer suitable for motors and what I recommend to replace it. Continue reading A search for things that you can’t see – Singer motor lube replacement →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Motorin’ – Electric motor theory

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Electric Motor theory – why and how we lubricate

There have been a lot of discussions about sewing machine motor lubricants over the years and I thought I’d take a step further back and discuss why we do this, how we do this and why some of the information “out there” is sort of F.U.D. (<- Wikipedia Link)

First off:  Why do we lube or oil a motor?  (I’m a why person, have you noticed this yet?? I’m quite sure I drive some people nuts with my “whys?”… )

Continue reading Motorin’ – Electric motor theory →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Quick Note: Why I don’t recommend…

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simply re-threading your machine when you have problems with it.

A quick note today folks! I’m inside waiting for the anti-inflammatories to kick in before I go back outside to do some bodywork on the truck so I thought I’d jot down a little note for you.

The traditional advice when you start to have tension problems with a machine seems to be “Re-thread it.  Everything, the bobbin case and the top”.

Most of the time that usually means that people yank the thread out from the back – or some will cut it and remove from the front – then they re-thread and…. it doesn’t fix it.  Sometimes it will but often it doesn’t.

Why? Continue reading Quick Note: Why I don’t recommend… →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

PSA: Sometimes it’s not what it seems with your seams

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So today I sat down at my industrial to sew a couple of hems.  Yes, overkill but I like to exercise my machines a little sometimes. 😉  Immediately after sitting down, I noticed tension and stitch length problems.

Strangely, this photo doesn’t really show that there are 2 hems here.   Stitch lines 2 and 4 are the problem hems.  The bottom one is the most obvious, you can see loops and the stitch length kept changing. Continue reading PSA: Sometimes it’s not what it seems with your seams →