I was starting to work on some of my rainy day projects yesterday, so I put in a new needle. I started sewing but noticed that the machine was making a noise that I wasn't familiar with. Sort of a ticking sound. My first thought was to clean and oil the machine (Singer 2662). So I openned it up and found a few lint bunnies. Nothing huge. Removed the bobbin carrier and cleaned under/around that area as well, and followed the instructions to oil it. Went back to trying the machine again and its still making this small ticking sound. So I walked the machine through its paces. I tried several different stitch patterns, different needle placement, different stitch lengths. Nothing seemed to make a difference. So, I openned up the bobbin area and the machine covers and worked the hand wheel listenning to various parts of the machine through a cycle or two. I think I found it. When the bobbin hook swings around and passes the needle, its making contact. Its obviously not hard contact, just grazing the tip of the needle. So I pulled the needle out, looked at it carefully checking for bends etc. Looks fine. Thought it might be just the way the needle was seated in the carrier, so I reseated the needle and turned the hand wheel again. Still get the clicking, but its a little bit less loud than it was. Should I worry about it? Should I replace that needle?
faulty needle?
May 23, 2004
Last reply: 22 years ago
4 Replies
The cost of a needle is about 50 cents. The cost of a repair trip is ???
I believe that the real problem with your machine is that the bobbin hook thing may be out of alignment ever so slightly, so as to cause the needle to hit and this will happen with a brand new needle.
You can buy all bobbin holder parts, but it might be the ring that holds the hook in place that is bent out of shape. This can and will happen if somebody (who will remain nameless in your household) sews/mends/hems jeans or other extremely heavy repairs too fast and with too small a needle. Such a misuse of your machine will also cause those lint bunnies...
Irene (who knows about this from sad experience)
Any problems with a sewing machine, replace the needle first. For 50 cents it solves 90% of the problems. Roger.
Thanks Irene (and everyone else that posted opinions on this). As it turns out, it IS the needle. I replaced the one that was "ticking" and the ticking went away. The replacement, from the same pack, is also bad. Its not quite straight left to right. I know this because the automatic needle threader doesn't go though the eye, it misses just to one side. The third needle in the pack of 4 seems straight in both directions.
I know that no > The cost of a needle is about 50 cents. The cost of a repair trip is > ???
Thats a good point. One day, I changed the needle on my sewing machine, and 'tick tick tick' was the result. I eventually worked out the needle was low, and then found I had a little bit of fluff wedged up in the hole the needle goes into - which was causing the problem. So it pays to check!
Sarah
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