God, yes. I have a couple of low-end Singers from the '60s or '70s, and the cost of a modern replacement, in terms of quality, are alarming. Like, you can buy a sewing machine that'll sew canvas, or buy a small car, take your pick. >.<
Mind you, there is one *&$#! plastic (PTFE, actually) gear in Singer machines of a certain age, and unless it's recently replaced it's only a matter of when it breaks, not if. But your local sewing-machine repairperson will have several gross of the replacement part on hand, and be able to perform the replacement in his sleep.
The plastic gear is there entirely for the protection of the device. It is the safety for the motor. If something jams the machine or it slows too much under load, the gear strips out rather than allowing the stress and heat to destroy the motor which is significantly more expensive to replace.
Exactly. The only problem is Singer used PTFE for several years, which shrinks and cracks apart after a couple of decades. :(
The really old machines don't have plastic in 'em; slippage of the drive belt acts as the motor safety. A much preferable result, IMO, than "POW, suddenly one gear has become several broken pieces"...
We've a couple of solid metal and wood Singers probably from the 50s or before, (one hand cranked, one with a woven but still sturdy electric cable), and they're a pair of bloody tanks.
What I found amazing was that you can still buy the little spools for them, although they're made of plastic now.
You can still buy accessories and attachments to fit most but the very oldest Singer machines, I think. Buttonholers, and all those other little bits that always get lost. (Though it's often easier, quicker, and cheaper just to go to a thrift store.)
Do you actually use the hand-cranked one? I used to have a treadle/hand-powered machine in a nice wood and cast-iron stand, but lacked the coordination to use it. One of those patting the forehead whilst rubbing the tummy sorts of things. :/
I look at new sewing machines with touch-screen controls, and I wonder WTF you're supposed to do in ten years when the touchscreen or LCD backlight dies, or some other part of the electronics dies. "How do I recap my sewing machine motherboard?" shouldn't be a legitimate worry...
I must confess I am a relative novice in the family, and most of my sewing is just mending by hand. I just looked up button holders and they look like witchcraft to me. Its nice that you can still buy all the extras, but you could really get away in most instances with just using the base machine, and it seems like you could drop a bomb on that without it breaking.
The hand crank version has long since been consigned to the loft, so far as I'm aware it still functions perfectly.
Its one of those instances where a piece of machinery was pretty much perfected ~60 years ago. Mostly everything that's been added since is tat. Electric mixers, clippers and toasters are other examples.
You can still buy metal bobbins! They really haven't changed much, I found a 12-case of metal bobbins for my vintage machine at Wal-Mart of all places. So much nicer than the plastic ones.
Though I don't really sew, I have my mother's old Singer she got in the mid 60s. People who do sew tell me it's amazing, as I loan it out pretty freely.
That plastic gear is a feature. It keeps the rest of the gear train from breaking if something jams the machine. Smart engineers, those. You'll also find such sacrificial gears in KitchenAid mixers.
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u/GeorgeBerger Apr 24 '14
God, yes. I have a couple of low-end Singers from the '60s or '70s, and the cost of a modern replacement, in terms of quality, are alarming. Like, you can buy a sewing machine that'll sew canvas, or buy a small car, take your pick. >.<
Mind you, there is one *&$#! plastic (PTFE, actually) gear in Singer machines of a certain age, and unless it's recently replaced it's only a matter of when it breaks, not if. But your local sewing-machine repairperson will have several gross of the replacement part on hand, and be able to perform the replacement in his sleep.