Esmeralda the Pink (the cheapo John Lewis machine I bought 6 years ago) has been dying a slow dead over the last few months, mostly due to plastic fatigue. Spools pins broke off, cracks in the casing and what not.
So, I decided to get a new machine, an all metal vintage Singer with zig zag. My Singer 338K is in Thailand, so out of reach for nobody know how long. I wanted something similar, using the same accessories and parts.
I found a Singer 348K on Ebay and went for it. On arrival I had a nasty surprise... he seller put it in its case, and the whole thing in a box. The case was broken in several places, the thread tension unit was damaged and the lock mechanism for the stitch lever was missing.
Dealing with the seller got me nowhere, so Ebay stepped it. I got a refund of half the price for the machine and a full refund for the shipping charges.
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I have since managed to repair the thread tension unit with spare parts I had here. She now sews beautifully, the fact that I can’t lock the stitch length is a bit annoying though. I searched and found the part I needed to fix the issue, and it arrived yesterday. The part number is #163952
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This is where it needs to go - I actually only need bits of it, so I’ll see how much I need to do there.
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So, the 348K and I will spend quality time together today (I actually made my latest project using her, despite the issue), and she might be named afterwards. For Anyone into this series of machines, AndyTube took a whole 337K (the cheaper sister of the 338K) apart and restored it - he filmed and explained every step in a series of Youtube videos:
Step-by-Step restoration of a Singer 337KMore pictures after I accomplished the mission and she has been named.
Fun fact, instead of lowering the feed dogs (or cover them) to make buttonholes, etc. on these machines, you raise the throat plate using the part below... the part number is #161894