A Singer 237 to treadle

I heard from free-motion-quilting guru Leah Day, who was looking for a Singer 237 to treadle. I had one but had done nothing with it since it came in the door several years ago.

If you are a free motion quilter you already know who Leah Day is.  Or you should!  About a year ago she interviewed me for her video podcast, in which we discussed vintage sewing machines and you can see my episode on YouTube here.  If you prefer audio podcasts, the same podcast comes in an audio only version.  Search your podcast player for "Hello My Quilting Friends".

This is the 4th time I have sold a Singer 237 for treadling, and it is a fine choice.  It has a zigzag stitch as well as the obligatory straight stitch.

It also has a needle position lever.

There are attachments to create zigzags on straight-stitch only machines, and they can (might, might not) create an acceptable utility stitch but they do it by moving the fabric back and forth, rather than (as in the case of a zigzag machine) having the needle move back and forth.  Some work better than others.  For NICE (rather than merely acceptable) zigzag stitches, you need a machine designed to do this.

Mostly this post is for Leah, to show her photos of the machine and tell her about its original condition and what was done to make it fabulous.  Because it is as fabulous as it can get whilst still being boring beige.  As usual, dear readers, you are welcome to join us as we explore this 237.

I started by pulling it out of the cabinet (you can have the cabinet if you want it, Leah) and was very pleasantly surprised to discover that my 2-month-old new shoulder was up to the task.  "Don't do anything stupid" was the going-away advice from my surgeon.  When I mentioned my habit of slinging around 40 pounds of cast iron sewing machines, he modified that advice to "Don't lift them up above your head."  Okey doke.

It was an ordinary amount of dirty and I didn't take any before pictures.

I plopped it into the big aluminum food service tray I use for cleaning machines.  And turned it on its side to clean the underneath side.

This is the "after" picture.  I use Tuff Stuff, a spray on foam cleanser, on the underneath side but ONLY ON MACHINES WITH A "MODERN" FINISH.  Definitely NOT on anything with delicate decals.  If the machine is a color other than black and the finish looks like a thick coat of poly with no cracks or crazing, then this or another spray cleaner should be fine.  YMMV, so test first.  Always test first!

I scrubbed the dirtier parts with a toothbrush and wiped it down with paper towels, and then oiled all the oiling points.  Always oil immediately after cleaning.  Don't wait until the next day even if you have more cleaning to do.  Yes, I discovered this the hard way.

For the top of the machine, which was not very dirty, I used a slightly damp microfiber cloth and just wiped it down.  Leah, I did not remove the motor and light assembly, so you will undoubtedly find a bit more dust when you do that.  And there is a small place where the finish is scratched and a bit rough but not in the "flight path" of the fabric being sewn.

And speaking of that motor:  It's crap.  It's noisy and sluggish.  I have left it on because it will give you (Leah) a simple way to test the machine when you get it home.  I have never learned anything about motors (other than how to take them off and put a new one one).  In this case the bad motor is irrelevant since it will be treadled.

I thoroughly over-oiled every point where metal moves against metal.  Over-oiling is a bad thing to do for routine maintenance, but when I have a machine that has been sitting for years I apply the oil  generously.

Then I used that crappy motor to "run in" the machine, meaning that I put a weight on the motor controller (aka foot pedal, and this one is the clamshell style) and let it run for 15 minutes to half an hour.  Before doing this I removed the needle and the bobbin case and set the stitch length to the longest length and set the zigzag to the widest stitch.  The idea here is to let all the moving parts do the most moving that they can.  You also need to make sure that the machine isn't going to vibrate off the table!  This machine did not vibrate like that.

Usually you can hear the sound of the machine change at some point, maybe 5 to 15 minutes in, as the oil works itself down into all the squeaky places and the running smooths out.  That happened with this machine too.

And although I didn't totally remove the  motor, I did take the motor belt off after this to test the machine.  SMOOTH AS SILK.

There were some of the usual, and easily correctable, issues.

The needle was rusty and I replaced it.  Nothing else was rusty so I found this a bit mysterious.

The feed dog drop was stuck.  The photo below shows the feed dog drop assembly on the underneath side of the machine.  These are often stuck.

I oiled it, but that had no effect.

On the underneath right hand side of the machine you can see the mechanism directly under the feed dog drop knob on the top side.  The problem is usually not here.

The problem is almost always on the left hand side, where a rod with a point end slides through a cylinder.  Old oil in the cylinder can glue it into immobility.

In the past I have spent countless hours heating up cylinders like this with hair dryers, trying chemicals harsher than sewing machine oil, etc.  I am older and bolder now and I just hit it with a hammer.  (Actually I tapped it fairly gently with a tack hammer).  This worked a treat.  A bit more oil, problem solved, and now the feed dogs drop.

The stitch length lever was working properly, but not completely.  I'll explain:

You are supposed to be able to set the stitch length so that it stops at a certain stitch length.  This means that you can throw it into reverse, and then throw it back into forward by moving the lever down without having to slow down to look at the machine and set the stitch length to a certain point.  It should stop at the point at which you set it.  This was set to a stitch length of about 10 and it would not move to a longer stitch.

Inside the lever is a tiny screw, and once I found a screwdriver the right size it was an easy matter to loosen this up.  The stitch length is now fully adjustable.  However, the feature that allows you to set it at a certain maximum length only works in the 6 to 10 stitches per inch range.  You can't set it smaller.

To summarize:  the stitch length lever is fully operational throughout the entire range of stitch lengths for setting a stitch length for stitching.  A minor function is not working however.

And speaking of the stitch length lever, let us now clear up a misconception about the Singer 237:  that it is all metal.  It is NOT all metal.  It is mostly metal but I'm going to detail the parts that aren't.  Like the whatever-you-call-this which is part of the stitch length lever.

Another piece which may or may not be metal on a 237 is the clutch knob.  This one is plastic, but I have also seen them in metal.

BTW, don't ever use the blow dryer on a stuck plastic clutch knob.  They will melt.  AMHIK.

Although this clutch knob did move, it WAS stuck inside.  So you could move it into the "release" position but the needle kept going up and down.  I removed it and the handwheel and there was something that I swear resembled rubber cement gluing the handwheel to its shaft.  Never seen anything like it before.  Alcohol did not budge it but #400 sandpaper did.  Followed this up with a drop of oil on the inside of the handwheel and now the bobbin winder works as it should.

The guard which snaps the bobbin race into position is also plastic on a 237.  I have never had a problem with one of those.  Sorry, no photo.

What is problematic on the 237 is a tiny plastic piece that lives deep inside the tensioner.  It is a tiny white cylinder with flanges that always reminds me of an Elizabethan ruff.  On about half of the 237s I have had, it was broken and if it is broken the tensioner is toast.  If you have a machine like this, all is not lost because the entire tensioner can easily be replaced and Jenny at sew-classic.com has them for around $15 (at time of publication).

However, on this machine the tensioner was NOT broken.  It needed a simple adjustment but other than that it was fine.  On the principle of if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it, I did NOT dis-assemble it.

The photo above shows the adjustment I will describe, but I want you to know that my fingers do NOT glow red.  I tweak all of the photos to show sewing machine details to their best advantage, even if this throws off the color.

The problem was that the numbers on the tensioner were set wrong.  THE NUMBERS WERE JUST SET WRONG, THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE TENSIONER.  Yes, I was shouting just then.  I wish more people knew about this, and there would be significantly less sewing unhappiness in the world.

So when I got the machine the tension was working properly for two layers of cotton, but the number read "1".  (One).  This means that you've got practically nowhere to go on the downhill side, so if that tension is too tight you can only loosen it up a tiny bit before you get to "0" (zero) and it won't move down any farther than that.

You're not going to believe how easy it is to fix this.  Unless you already know.

You can push in the disc with the numbers on it, and this releases the pins that are holding it in place.  Then you can just move the number disc around to read any number you want.  Release the number disc and the spring behind it will push it back out.  And your problem is solved.  I set this one at "4".

I have amazed and impressed at least one person in my quilt guild by "fixing" her Featherweight in five seconds flat.  Now not every tensioner is made this way, but if yours is set wrong it can't hurt to check and see if the number disc is moveable.

Now for the test stitches.  I always use two different colors top and bottom so that I can assess the tension better.

Top thread.  Stitch length, zigzag width, and needle position all tested and working.

Bobbin thread, showing nicely balanced tension.

So there you are, Leah.  Machine is lovely, as long as you take the motor off!