As a Car-Guy sometimes, after struggling with a difficult fastener, and winning I do a "I'm smarter than bolts!" song / happy-dance. Well - Tonight (June 24, 2014), I'm smarter than a Featherweight™.
My mom is a quilter and she's always been there for me, so when I saw the 1948 Singer Featherweight sewing machine in the used tool store for $225 I was wondering how I'd swing it. I went back and it was down to 200. I asked, "Since it's on consignment..." and the store owner volunteered to see if there was some 'wiggle room' - he asked me if $150 would push me over the edge - that was a done-deal. Mom tried it today while I was at work and I was asked if there was a warranty on it when I got home. It would start to snag the thread and not make even two good stitches - my heart sank.
I looked at where the thread was catching the bobbin carrier. I was suspicious that the carrier was installed incorrectly - I downloaded the service manual and saw that my suspicions were correct. l carefully removed 4 screws - cleaned the carrier, reassembled it, installed it the way I thought it should go and carefully spun out 6 stitches by hand with no issue. We put the power to it - Mom pushed the floor pedal and 1948 came alive on the dining room workbench. More than a foot of perfect stitches rolled off the needle. Mom stood back and shook her head that her son fixed an incorrectly assembled sewing machine in a matter of minutes - I'm amused.