Hi - I'm trying to fix the mother in law's sewing machine. I'm handy at most mechanical things, but have no prior knownledge of sewing machines.

After jamming on thick cloth and hearing a loud clunk from the machine, it will no longer pick up the bottom thread when loading bobbin.

I've had it in pieces and think maybe the timing is out. the needle seems to be well on it's way back up again by the time the hook on the bobbin bit passes by, so it misses snagging the top thread by quite some margin.

If I mount the needle about 5mm too low in the needle carrier, it will still be low enough as the hook passes by and the thread will snag and pass round, but it won't sew when set up like this.

My guess is that the timing is out. I can see that the rotating bobbin gear is driven by a plastic bevel from the main drive shaft of the machine. I think maybe this has jumped a tooth.

What I really need is to know how to correctly calibrate the timing, or just to see a machine in working order to compare.

Does anyone who knows about sewing machines know if I'm making any sense here?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Tony W

Tony Woodhouse, October 2007

Hello Tony,
If you have tried a new needle and the machine is missing stitches then it is out of time, I will tell you how to retime it but you must have patience with the machine, you may not get it right first time, whatever you do, do not undo the needle bar and lower or raise it, take the bottom off the machine so you can see the gear underneath the bobbin case, I am not sure if you have a drop in bobbin or seperate bobbin case on that model, however if you do have a seperate bobbin case then take it out and undo the two black clips holding the hook retaining plate, lower or take off the retaing plate so you can see the hook, if you have a drop in bobbin model then leave the bobbin case in place if you can providing you can see the point of the hook.
Select straight stitch, tilt the machine on its back so you can see the point of the hook and the screws on the gear underneath the raceway, turn the balance wheel by hand towards you so you can see the needle going down and then on it's way back up, look at the hook, the point should be above the eye of the needle, if it is not, undo the screws on the vertical gear if you have a drop in bobbin or the screws on the raceway itself if you have a seperate bobbin case model, you can now turn the hook so the point is where it should be, tighten the scres and have a test sew, if it sews okay try it on a wide zig zag, if it misses stitches on one side you will need to reset it and make sure the point is slightly higher above the eye of the needle, it may take several attempts but you will do it, if you have any problems e-mail me at drivewithken@blueyonder.co.uk but remember to remind me of the problem because as you can see by this site I answer all sewing machine questions and I can get as many as 40 e-mails a day.
Ken

drivewithken@blueyonder.co.uk, October 2007