Singer 427

Following the excellent advice on this site, I removed the handwheel, changed the position of the three-pronged washer, and replaced the handwheel. The machine re-engaged for one entire line of stitching before the wheel worked loose again. I can repeat this cycle, and while sewing is possible, it's tedious.

--are the screw threads stripped in the handwheel? is the screw connecting handwheel to washer working loose? I have not unscrewed the screw fully to check it.
--did I over-lubricate when oiling beneath the handwheel to stop the needle going up and down while winding the bobbin? (another excellent tip from this site)
--is this related to being unable to push the bobbin-winder selector over to winding mode and have it stay without holding it in place (ow)?
--is this related to excessive tension between the tension discs and the needle? I have cleaned fuzz out of the tension discs, and wound them down to 0, but neither action seemed to have any effect on the building tension.

Kliban_Qat, June 2008

Follow-up here.

I had to take off the belt around the handwheel for unrelated maintenance, and after putting it back on, the problem disappeared for awhile. On that hint, I replaced the belt. No more disengaging.

Kliban Qat, October 2009

Follow-up here.

This machine is still freezing when the needle is in the up position. frequently at the beginning of a line of stitching, sometimes mid-seam. If I lower the needle into the fabric and then step on the pedal, most of the time, it'll work normally without having to fool with the washer. It's a nuisance but I can live with it.

The bobbin winder selector problem was a bald spot on the bobbin winder tire, unrelated to this issue. I replaced that and now all bobbin winding problems are due to user error.

Kliban Qat, April 2009

Hello Kliban,
The stop motion is entirely seperate from anything else on the machine, you really do have to move the washer round to a position where it will grip when you tighten the balance wheel, take the screw all the way out of the stop motion wheel, you can turn the three pronged waher upside down as well, try it a different way and tighten the stop motion wheel up, then put the screw in all the way in and see if you can then loosen the stop motion, if you can't loosen it put the washer a different way round, remember that you are doing what an engineer would do so you have to have patience and you will do it.

drivewithken@blueyonder.co.uk, June 2008