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[Paula]

Hello all, I have a Singer Futura II Model 920 (manufactured 1974), and I’m having trouble with it. The machine was my mom’s, and I know she was sewing with it successfully as of about three years ago. I acquired it last year, but I haven’t been able to make it work—and unfortunately, my mom passed away in 2017, so I can’t ask her about the issue I’m having.

Basically, the problem is: Most times I try to sew with the machine, I get a few stitches in, and then the thread gets tangled up in the bobbin case (below the needle), and the machine gets stuck. I’m including a photo of the thread tangled in the bobbin case—it seems like it’s not passing around the bobbin correctly. (Forgive me, I’m new to sewing, so I don’t know all the terms!) I’ve had some success where the machine miraculously worked just fine, but the problem just keeps re-occuring, and recently I haven’t been able to get it to work at all.

I have had two sewing pros look at the machine, and they were both pretty puzzled by it and advised taking it into a repair shop. Before I pay to have it looked at, though, I thought I’d see if anyone here might be able to offer any insight about what the problem might be (and whether it’s repairable). As I understand it, replacement parts for these machines aren’t available anymore.

Super appreciative of any help anyone might be able to offer. I know I may ultimately be better off buying a new machine, but I want to give this one the best shot I can, because it does have so much sentimental value for me.

Thank you in advance!

[BigRig]

@Paula,

Tension may be a culpret. Have you tried tightening the tension on the top thread?

[John]

Make sure you are holding the 2 threads taunt when you start sewing other wise the bobbin thread will get tangled.

The hook and needle timing could be off. You might be able to find a manual online that will give you the proper instructions for this on your specific machine.

Hope this helps!

[Tourmax]

There can be several reasons for that type of behavior. Timing is usually the biggest offender. But other issues can be tension problems, dirty machine or a burr somewhere on the hook/race/driver/assembly.

I would start with a cleaning and lubrication. A manual would be helpful, but you can just take the bobbin case out and give it all a good brushing. Lubricating involves putting a dab or oil in specific places, but you need a manual for that or find all the oiling holes.

While you have the bobbin case out, pull the hook assembly out. Clean and give it all a good once over for burrs, nicks or rough areas. The thread has to slide over the hook assembly effortlessly, so anything that catches it is a problem.

Next, I would start increasing the tension and see what it does. Higher top thread tension helps to prevent a slack "loop" forming and the hook grabbing that loop when it comes around to me a second stitch. Too high a tension will mess up you stitches (ie: pull the bottom thread too high) but it will at least point you in a logical direction for a fix. What often happens with the tensioners on old machines is the "beehive" spring fatigues and you loose tension. Those springs are easy to find on the internet and usually only cost pennies. You'll probably pay more for shipping if you can't find them locally. The other thing that happens is the tensioner disc get too smooth, or too rough. Too rough tends to increase tensions, to smooth reduces them. While you may not be able to buy the tensioner assembly for your somewhat "uncommon" machine, you can usually find similar sized pieces off other machines that work. Most of the older machines were knock off's or other machines, so you can usually find parts that work.

Then I would look at the timing. You'll either have to take it to a technician for that or find a manual for the machine and figure it out yourself. It's too much to describe the whole process here, but in a nutshell you want the point of the hook at the center of the needle, just above the thread hole, when the needle has risen roughly 1/16th" from it's lowest point. Like so:



That's a vertical shuttle and yours is a horizontal, but they work the same way. The needle needs to be properly timed to the hook.

Since you say it stitches fine for a while and then jams, I would say a dirty machine or bad/weak tensioner is likely your problem. It doesn't take much to bugger up a sewing machine when making the lock-stitch. Even a build up of lint on the bobbin case.hook/driver/race assembly can cause it to bind up like your photos.

here a link to your machine manual: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/86992 ... i-920.html

Unfortunately, it doesn't say much about maintenance other than where to clean. But it's better than nothing!

But, despite all this, in your picture it looks like you have the needle in the machine backwards. I have a couple horizontal bobbin machines, but I can't remember exactly which way the needle goes (haven't used them in a long while). But the needle backwards could cause that behavior.

If you look at your needle, one side has a long groove it's length and the other side should have a short cut out around the needle hole. the long groove is meant to help guide the thread as the needle descends into the fabric and the short groove (called the scarf) is meant to allow the hook to grab the loop that is formed when the machine starts pulling the needle out of the material:



It's very possible what it happening is the hook is able to grab the loop sometimes, but missed in other where the scarf is not there to assist it in grabbing the loop. I would think that would mostly result in just a missed stitch, but it could cause the binding you are seeing. But it's a quick and easy thing to correct so I would start there first. Now, if your hook goes around the back of the needle (as orientated in your picture), disregard. In that case, the scarf would be on the correct side. If you're not sure, the manual I linked you too should show you the proper needle orientation.

Good luck.

[John]

Thanks for the great information @Tourmax !!

[Paula]

Thanks so much, everyone! I really appreciate the responses. I did ultimately decide to take the machine into a repair shop. The technician got it running with some cleaning and oiling, but the tension mechanism is in fact broken. He showed me a way to coax it into functioning, but it probably won’t really be workable long term.

That said, does anyone know of sources for parts for older machines? The repair technician said he isn’t able to source any parts for old Singers, and so he wouldn’t be able to replace the broken tension mechanism, but I wondered if there might be ways to buy them online secondhand.

Thanks again!

[John]

Glad you got it running!

Unfortunately I don’t know anywhere to get parts for those machines...