my bobbin thread will not catch with the needle thread.

Hopefully with as many covers off as possible, moving the wheel round slowly by hand you may see exactly what's going on.

NT

I agree, also you might want to insert a new needle as the one you are using might be bent on the very tip.

More than likely the vertical shaft gear broke , very common on that model Pop the top off and have a look

Ron Anderson A1 Sewing Machine

18 Dingman Rd Sand Lake, NY 12153

Ron, I love that you say that as if it's the most normal thing in the world. Just the thought of it makes me shiver!!!

So sad! Seriously, sad.

I just ran THREE LAYERS of bonded upholstery vinyl through a Singer

500A (a back-up, I am not about to risk one of the 401As), and encountered no difficulty at all. I am making covers for my patio furniture out of this: It was not quite wide enough for my table, so I cut a long 10" strip, used a leather needle, mounted one of my walking feet, and sewed a few sample seams to see what worked best (and what would feed), and sewed wrong-sides-together with a long straight stitch, then wide zig-zag from the right side through three layers to finish the seam. No problem at all. Tell me one of today's plastic miracles could do that. ;-D

Beverly

Long ago I sewed 6 layers of denim on an old domestic machine ok. When it came to the overlap with 12 layers it really struggled but got the job done, with assistance on the handwheel, taking it very slow.

NT

I handle multiple layers of denim with the assistance of a jeans-a-ma-jig:

Before I discovered that handy dandy tool, I used a few folded layers of the self-same denim, held under the presser foot behind the needle, as I approached in-seams/side-seams in a hem.

This reminds me of the terry-cloth robe I made for my father years ago. I could not find his favorite color (kind of a bronzy-rusty-orange) in terry yardage, so I purchased several over-sized terry/velour towels. All the seams were felled, so by the time I crossed seams, it was at least 12 layers of really thick terry. Broke several needles on that project, but the Singer 401A came through with flying colors. Dad loved the robe, he wore it until it was literally threadbare.

Beverly

I've got one of those and they sure are handy.

I'll have to try that, I've got a denim job to do that will reach a handful of layers at overlap points.

NT

I use an old Kenmore to sew patches on my Leather vest and Jacket.