Sewing machine question

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Speicher

Vice Admiral
Moderator
Have I removed something that I should not have removed? :blush:

I am guessing that not many people on here do machine sewing, but IIRC some people wifes or partners who might. :smile:

Yesterday, my sewing machine, rather elderly, decided to completely mess up the stitches and jam.

I tried rethreading, putting a different bobbin etc. Also adjusted the tension etc. Then followed the instructions ;) about cleaning the Hook Race. Removed the needle plate, and started to clean said hook race and housing. There was not much lint or dust there, but right in the centre appeared to be a wodge of lint, which was difficult to remove.

Out with the tweezers and remove said "lint". But it looks like a special shaped tube of felty material, and is spotted with oil. :blush:

I put the machine back together again, and it now works. But is that wodge of felty stuff important? It occurs to me that it is there for a reason, to stop oil transfering to fabric? It is uniform in colour, and density not multi-coloured like wot you would expect lint to be.

There is a forum called sewingonline that has a system where can call someone and they can ring you, for which there is a charge. But if this is an easy peasy question for people who do lots of machine sewing or whose wife does lots of sewing, I would like to know the answer please.

Sensible answers might be preferred, rather than too many puns. :smile::laugh:
 

Rhythm Thief

Legendary Member
Location
Ross on Wye
Rage against the sewing machine.;)



... sorry, I've been looking for an excuse to post that for ages.:smile:
 
Mods. Overlock this thread!
 

Spinney

Bimbleur extraordinaire
Location
Back up north
My knowledge of sewing machines is only sew sew, but if the thing is needling you...

If it is now working (and not transferring oil to fabric), and taking out the bit of lint appeared to be the tweak that fixed it, I wouldn't worry too much. I don't recall seeing such a thing in my machine, but I haven't looked that closely, and mine is ancient (bought via a special offer in the Radio Times over 25 years ago!).
 

BrumJim

Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
Engineers tend to use felty type material to prevent metal-on-metal contact, and the associated rather harsh sound. Tolerance build-up issues may mean that it isn't necessary on all machines, just on a statistical few.

Hence, don't worry about it. It'll be an NVH issue, affecting the consumer experience on a small number of machines.

However the large amount of oil on it, and the possible subsequent loosening of the item could be a bigger issue.
 
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