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Help with White 1500 4 string machine

We have a White model 1500 4 string machine. It was purchased about 13 years ago and has been used maybe 5 times. It worked great when we first got it, my wife used it for her wedding dress, and then put it into storage. After a year of storage, she has not been able to get the tension to be stable. She has used maybe 5 times since and gets tired of the tension going off, and puts it back in the box. I looked at it, and I can adjust it for a perfect stitch, but after a minute it goes off. Readjust, a few minutes later it's off and needs to be tweaked. It doesn't just go off a little - it goes from right on to way off and ruins the stich of whatever is being worked on. On a long run, you can see it go on and off, on and off. About this time she is going, uh huh, didn't believe me, did you lol. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

We had a nice Elna, but we took it to the wrong shop, and they charged us $100+ and messed it up worse then it was to start, and the machine ended up going in the trash because it just wasn't worth spending more money on it. Because of this experience, I'm really leary of paying someone $100+ to service this machine since because I've been burned once and am seriously considering chucking this machine and just getting a new one.

Any suggestions, other then throw it in the trash and get another one? Is there any hope for this old machine?

Reply to
Ook
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There are a couple of things you can try. Run some unwaxed dental floss, dipped in rubbing alcohol, through the tension disks. This may dislodge lint that might be reducing the tension.

Another thing is to check the needleplate and loopers for burrs. These can often be smoothed with something like 400 grit sandpaper or crocus cloth. Adjustments to thread guides, needle guards, etc., are best left to a technician.

they charged

You would have been better off taking the Elna to someplace where they could have put it to rights than buying the 1500. gwh

Reply to
G. Wayne Hines

May be a very simple problem. Often when threading a serger one forgets to pull the threads taught so they seat all the way in the tensions. If not then they have a way of working themselves out from between the disks.

Reply to
Ron Anderson

I will check them for sure, as I can see how that would do it. If the tension is not consistant, that would cause what I'm seeing.

You are probably right, but at the time we had already lost $150 (and it took them over a month to do it!), and I wasn't about to flush another $150 down the drain. There was no one else in town to do it, and my confidence in repair shops was zilch. I later found a shop up in Portland that was experienced with the machine and could have indeed fixed it, but by then it was too late.

Reply to
Ook

I'll check that too. My wife is cursing the thing right now lol.

Reply to
zootal

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