Any Sewing Machine experts out there?

[mrs_overall]

My trusty but ancient sewing machine has started acting up. I haven't adjusted anything. The top stitches are fine but underneath there are no stitches, just loops. I've tried altering the tension but to no avail. Help!

[tonyav]

Sorry I don't know about sewing machines mrs overowl, as you well know I am a plumber !

[mrs_overall]

I thought I'd have an afternoon of creativity. I should have known better.

[Mosaic]

I think this may be an internal gear problem in the mechanism behind the bobbin. The gear that moves the arm to scoop the bobbin thread and interloop it with the upper thread can break with time.
I think the problem is fixable provided you can locate the part and someone to fix it. But if it is an old machine, parts are likely to be impossible to come by at a reasonable price.
This happened to my Husqvarna earlier this year after only 37 years of use - bluddy useless foreign workmanship.......
On the positive side, new machines are relatively cheap.

[tonyav]

Theres bound to be somebody that knows about these Womens toys mrs o.

[Mosaic]

(sighs)

[mrs_overall]

Thanks Mosaic.
It is an inherited machine, only around 40 years old.
They don't make things to last any more!

Tony, sod off or you will find yourself back on septic tank duties

[Mosaic]

See now, if you lived up a back street in Cairo someone would have a spare part. Always in an unlabelled small cardboard box on a dusty shelf. Or they would make one out of old tin cans. Don't try telling me it's all bad news in the developing world.

[tonyav]

The Mad Over Fifties Club had me on toilet unblocking duties last night mrs o. :-(

[rowanwitch]

I think mosaic is probably right... Most good sewing machine repair centresare used to repairing old machines... they have to be as it is usually only the old ones that pack up...

[mrs_overall]

Lol, very true Mosaic.

Ah well, that is that avenue of pleasure closed for me this afternoon.

[jamesnan]

Have you tried a different type of thread in the bobbin, sometimes that is all it takes because the cheaper types of thread often do not have the strength necessary for the tension.

[gsr600]

maybe a silly question but - did you adjust the tension at the Bobbin end,
not the top.

[atalanta]

Have you cleaned out the bobbin-race recently ? If you do not have the original brush, get a thin make-up brush or old toothbrush and scrape it about in the space the bobbin usually goes into, and all round under the needle-space. There may be a tiny scrap of thread wound round some part you can't see. Then give it oil in the proper places.
If your machine was an Elna - like mine - I could give you so much detail I'd still be typing at midnight.
Also, if you are trying to sew some fabric which you have not sewn before, you may have to change the foot, or the needle.

[mrs_overall]

I have spent hours following all your suggestions...and it works again!
Many thanks to you all xx

[grasscarp]

Yet another string to your bow, or, in your case, thread to your bobbin....

[mrs_overall]

lol