I have a 25-year old Singer Touchtronic that started a grinding/squeeling noise last week. It still works, but it makes an intermittent grinding noise going forward. When I am sewing it sounds as if something is dragging or grinding inside.
(It makes almost no squelling noise when sewing in reverse. )
Sometimes it will run silently (for a few minutes) and then start squeeling again.

Can you tell what is wrong and is it worth fixing? If not, any suggestions on a sturdy replacement model?
Thanks for your help and advice.
The last repair in 1987 (electronic panel) cost $100 for an electronic part.
I sewed thousands of yards of fabrics on this workhorse trouble-free and have invested in lots of attachments.

Sylvia the seamstress, July 2009

My sewing machine was making a noise that sounded almost like a hen getting ready to lay an egg, so it was a bit alarming. After oiling everything and making sure there were no threads or lint, I thought of maybe putting in a bobbincase [metal] from another machine. As I was examining the bobbincase, I noticed that inside the tube that goes over the spindle was looking a little rusty, so I put some sewing machine oil on a q-tip, cleaned inside the tube, replaced the bobbin and bobbincase and now the machine purrs like a kitten. Weird. Don't know if the touchtronic has a metal bobbincase or not, though.

Lynne, July 2009

Hello Sylvia,
First of all you need to locate the noise, take the bobbin and bobbin case out first and run the machine as you normally would, if the noise is not coming from there it will be a process of ellimination, it may just need oiling with some WD40 especially on the needle bar because that is the fastest part of the machine.
Ken

drivewithken, July 2009