Sunday, February 7, 2021

'Modern' Machine Annoyances - Aligning Singer 401 Needlebar

 I'm working on some baby quilts for our charity sewing group - more on that in another post.  Today I decided to jazz things up a bit by putting a cool zigzag stitch one of of them.  I pulled out the not-so-trusty 401 and while setting it up noticed this:

How I never saw that before is a bit of a mystery.  But there it is.  Oh, don't worry about the two washers on the needle clamp, they're are just there to keep the walking foot lever from slipping off.

I checked Youtube for any quick video guides about aligning the needle and though there are some very extensive videos about the 401 on Youtube, nothing with just a quick quide on how to do the alignment yourself.  So I pulled out the 401 Adjuster's Manual, looked up the procedure and did a quick video guide myself.

Not a terribly difficult procedure.  If I wasn't making a video of the steps it probably would have taken about three minutes to go from this -

To this - 

Making a video out of the steps, simple as they were, turned it into an all evening affair.  But at least there's a quick reference for doing needle alignments now.  

If I get adventurous sometime maybe I'll do a front-to-back alignment video.  Right now though, it's back to making baby quilts.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the thorough demonstration. I like the fact that you include what not to do and better ways to do things.

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    Replies
    1. My pleasure. Sometimes I feel like I go off on tangents, even in the short videos. Glad they were helpful.

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