The new machine and WOE

[amethyst73]

So the new(er) machine reminds me rather a lot of my mom's.  It's a Singer 5932, which doesn't appear to be listed in their catalog anymore.  (I'll post a pic of the machine itself soon.)  It's quite noisy, tends to have pretty strong tension on the top (I need to leave PLENTY of thread loose, otherwise the loose end will get sucked into the machine when it starts - maybe I've got it threaded wrong), and if the stitches get too short, or if I try doing most of the 'fancy' stitches, the bobbin clogs.  Rrrr.

I was messing around with it, and then I put it away in its original styrofoam and box.  No problem, right?  Wrong.

The pressure foot lever is made of CHEAP plastic.

I had it in the wrong orientation (it turns out!) when I put it away. (It should have been down; I left it up, 'cuz who puts their pressure foot down after finishing their sewing of the moment??)

The lever is now broken in half because the styrofoam packing wasn't compatible with an 'up' position.

Umm.  I guess I take it up to the sewing machine repair place downtown and hope?  Sure can't find it online anywhere...

Comments

[onyoukai.livejournal.com]

It may not have been so much a problem of cheap plastic as of old, brittle plastic. Still sucks to deal with it, though. Stuff like replacement levers are things that you pretty much have to take to a repair mechanic.

Also sounds like a lot of the mechanisms were just old and needed to be oiled, replaced, or readjusted. The bobbin should never be clogging.

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

It *was* bought "a couple of decades ago."

Assuming that Singer still makes the lever, would it be worth it to do the ~$150-$175 general maintenance, do you think? (That's a good portion of the their-price $499 Elna Explore 340, which is why I'm wondering if it's worth throwing money at the old one.)

[onyoukai.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if the repair cost is that high just to get it into proper working condition, you may as well just buy a better, modern machine. Since some parts clearly need work and replacing now, who knows how soon you'll need to get it serviced for something else for similar reasons?

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

Since some parts clearly need work and replacing now, who knows how soon you'll need to get it serviced for something else for similar reasons?

Perzackly.

Assuming that Singer even stocks the lever anymore (according to the repair guy, finding parts for older machines is getting to be a problem), I'll give it another try. I'll look into at least lubricating the thing first, and see if there's anything I'm specifically doing wrong... but if it's as frustrating as this session was, new machine for me.

[hoshikage.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, my first machine was an Elna, and nowhere near a top-of-the-line machine, and I threw ridiculous things at it for over 10 years (like cardboard, yes really) and only gave it up to trade in for my Janome because it was clear I needed a more heavy-duty machine if I was going to insist on making money via sewing fake fur all the time. :P

But on the other hand, Elna did get bought by someone or other and I don't know what might have happened to their quality after that; even usually excellent brands like Viking have had a quality drop in the last 5-10 years. Research carefully and test-drive thoroughly, basically! (Occasionally these precautions will still fail you, ala my unmissed Pfaffmonster, but they really do help a lot 99% of the time. ^_^)

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

From what I've found, Elna was briefly owned by Husquvarna (http://threadcarefully.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/why-my-elna-sewing-machine-is-bad/), during the 2000 series, but then went back to Janome. However, this other source (http://www.evidently.org/2007/02/too-much-information/) (see Chapter 3, or just do a search for Elna), some Elnas are made by Janome, some by Juki; the Juki-manufactured machines are, according to that source, less good. The same source also makes the point that Janome-branded Janomes are slightly better than the corresponding Elnas, and are less expensive to boot.

Happily for me, there's a Janome seller just up in San Mateo. I shan't bring cardboard, but I shall bring, oh, six thicknesses of denim (since I think that's what you have to sew through to sew a belt loop on). They seem to have discounts on a quite wide range of Janome machines, at least in their online store, and I'm hoping their floor selection of machines to try is good.

I'm just a little leery of ordering a machine from Amazon (or any online seller), even though the prices are really good. I don't want to have to ship the machine anywhere when it needs repair or maintenance (or, God help me, returning; I sent the ham back to Amazon at least two weeks ago, and they claim they haven't got it yet!). Opinions, o purchaser of several machines?