Aaaaaaaaaaaargh! Calamity!

When mine choked on the bridal satin last summer, I bought a cheapie (as in used) Toyota as an emergency as mine was going to take a few days and I didn't HAVE a few days! One of the best investments I ever made!

The Toyota was £160, fixing the Huskylock, plus about £45 for disemboweling, severe cleaning, re-timing, lubrication, and a general Talking Too! NOT what I wanted eating my profits, so there went my new specs - again! :( Still, at least now when one is on the fritz, I have back-up! At least I can off-set it against tax...

In article , Kate Dicey of Customer of PlusNet plc

uttered>>When mine choked on the bridal satin last summer, I bought a cheapie >(as in used) Toyota as an emergency as mine was going to take a few >days and I didn't HAVE a few days! One of the best investments I ever >made!>

I blame the ^&*^% expletive deleted tulle and crystal organza (and I

*hate* crepe backed satin, too)

I'm still working on the tax thing - and unfortunately don't have even the price of a 2nd hand one for back up right now.

However, I do have a number of *very* nice antique machines if anyone would like to buy one/ do a swop ... no? Darn. Thought not :(

I want the antiques AS WELL as the overlockers - but I'm running out of room, and Wilf has an Elna Lotus in the wings for me... Good job it's tiny, like the Featherweight!

Sorry to hear your woes AJH. I know you are FAR more experienced at sewing than I am, and I'm sure you have tried cleaning your machine, re-threading it and putting new needles in, making sure the kids haven't altered the settings etc.? With my machine I occasionaly find a thread has jumped out of the tension discs which causes interesting effects.... Or maybe if I'm using thread from a reel rather than a cone, it gets all tangled up in itself.

I know my dealer has provided loaner machines to people when theirs have been in for repair - I don't think they do this reguarly though. Might be worth asking your dealer?

Best wishes for a speedy and cheap resolution to your problem.

Sarah

I bet if you change your knives the problem clears up. Serger timing is a HUGE misnomer. I have been repairing for over 25 years and have done timing on exactly 3 sergers in all that time.

Ron gives good advice, I followed it last time and he was right.

;-)

Penny

In article , Ron Anderson of SBC

uttered>I bet if you change your knives the problem clears up. Serger timing is >a HUGE misnomer. I have been repairing for over 25 years and have done >timing on exactly 3 sergers in all that time.>Already tried that. There's something binding slightly at one point when you turn the wheel by hand. It chains off fine, run fabric through it punches holes but doesn't form a stitch whilst sounding twice as loud as it did before, then the minute it's off the fabric, there it is chaining again.

Excellent advice, but unfortunately I'd already been there and done that. :'( See other post.

In article , Ron Anderson of SBC

uttered>I bet if you change your knives the problem clears up. Serger timing is >a HUGE misnomer. I have been repairing for over 25 years and have done >timing on exactly 3 sergers in all that time.You were right, and then, you weren't. It was one of the link thingies attached to the looper wossname, right in the guts of it. How it became twisted and bent I have no idea. Still, the spare part wasn't too expensive and I doubt I'd have been able to sort it myself any quicker by the time I'd soured the part.

I'm not surprised he was right. Ron runs a sewing machine repair place, and he's always very generous with advice on the NG.

If I could have dug his email address out when I needed it, I'd have been bothering him! If he'd been within about 20 miles I'd have been sat on his doorstep. Mind you, it wasn't the knives, the needle, the threading, or indeed any of the bits I could actually get at LOL!

That could be any number of things. Most usually caused by dull knives, but could be a burr on a looper, needle plate, or some other thread path surface, could also be a slight threading problem. If it was out of time it would not chain at all ever.

One of the hazard's of guessing at problems. It really is impossible to diagnose a problem with no machine in hand.

In article , Ron Anderson of SBC

uttered>One of the hazard's of guessing at problems. It really is impossible to >diagnose a problem with no machine in hand.I know. It was difficult enough with it *in* hand. I wasn't surprised it wasn't the timing - it was the *other* dealers who reckoned that was it. I used to subscribe to Featherweight Fanatics, and people there always used to be on about the timing, but all the dozens of old machines I've fettled, most of the problems were solved by putting the needle in the right way round and picking the compact6ed crud out of the feed dog! I'd still love to know how that bit in the bowels got bent, though ... very odd, and I don't want it doing it again!

My guess on that is lack of lubrication.

In article , Ron Anderson of SBC

uttered>My guess on that is lack of lubrication.>

It's a possibility, although the bit that bent isn't accessible without dismantling the entire machine. All the "user serviceable" bits are cleaned and oiled with monotonous regularity. However, the manual contains no hints as to where else to oil, or how to get in there.

Incidentally, is it possible to get the old lower knife blade sharpened now I've put the spare in?

Ahh you see and say users accessible. This is why we repair dudes get the big bucks. When serviced properly all the covers come off and it is completely serviced. This assumes of course your local gut is competent and not lazy. Some knives can be sharpened but it is not a common thing. The problem is unless it is a carbide knife it might be $6.00-$10.00 to replace and how much time would one spends sharpening a $6.00 knife? How much can you earn doing that? I won't buy the machine it is a couple hundred and then every knife has a different jig to get the correct angle $50-$60.00 each. Not worth my time. Same reason I stopped sharpening scissors.

In article , Ron Anderson of SBC

uttered>Ahh you see and say users accessible. This is why we repair dudes get >the big bucks. When serviced properly all the covers come off and it is >completely serviced. This assumes of course your local gut is competent >and not lazy. Some knives can be sharpened but it is not a common >thing. The problem is unless it is a carbide knife it might be >$6.00-$10.00 to replace and how much time would one spends sharpening a >$6.00 knife? How much can you earn doing that? I won't buy the machine >it is a couple hundred and then every knife has a different jig to get >the correct angle $50-$60.00 each. Not worth my time. Same reason I >stopped sharpening scissors.>Well, it's 10 *quid* for a new knife - about 17 dollars? Last time I had my scissors sharpened it was under £5, as opposed to thick end of 20 for a new pair. I did have a look at the knife, and reckoned that slight angle was probably mission-critical, hence the question. When I'd taken *all* the screws I could find out of the overlocker casing and still couldn't get in it without forcing anything, I decided that was the point at which to quit and do the job I otherwise wouldn't get paid for, rather than risk making the damage any worse. Tinkering to any greater degree has to wait for a day when I have all the time in the world to fiddle about.

Please don't assume I'm a total numpty. It may (but probably won't) interest you to know that I currently have around 50 machines dating from 1870ish through to about 1950, plus two more recent ones. Not all of them worked when they arrived, but they do now. Never once has the timing been a question (regardless of the squeaks of the subscribers to Featherweight Fanatics).

I can not comment on the knife costs as you never did include which machine it is you have.