Hilltop

I hope I am not to late to pm you about the bobbins! Sending you a message right now. Weren't you the member here that was going to make some needleplates? I got my machine to sew 4.5 stitches an inch after realizing I adjusted the feed dogs when I had my gigantic more aggresive ones mounted on the machine. I will post a picture later tonight. Does anyone else here have a double set of feed dogs on their machine? Most pictures I have seen online have been with a smaller feed dog set.

By making the slot longer in the front do you mean to cut the throat plate? I will check the feed dogs as you suggested. My husband and I took apart a Featherweight once, and when we put it back together the stitch length was never right again. It was a while ago, but if I remember correctly the longest stitch setting sewed about half the distance it should have. Obviously we did something wrong when putting it back together. At the time I had the most detailed Singer adjusters manual I have ever seen. It was a few computers ago though, and I've never been able to find it since. By the time we got the Featherweight stitching again, we were ready to be done, so it never really got fixed. Thinking about the Featherweight made me curious as to whether the 42-5 had something wrong. It seems in line with everyone else though from the feedback I'm getting. For all the other 42-5 owners here, what happens when you push the stitch length selector all the way up? Does it stitch in place like mine does?

I have mine in an industrial treadle. I haven't used the clutch motor it came with. I'm actually kind of scared to try it. I had my heart set on a servo, but now I'm not sure I want to spend the money, since I'll be spending $12/bobbin and I'm a cheapskate. Lol. This is my first treadle experience, and I can see why it appeals to people, but I like to have options. I might have to try out my clutch motor. I too find the lack of thread tension release rod my biggest issue with this machine. I find the thread tension set up odd. Do you use the knee lever? I just connected mine, and it made a huge difference as I could finally release the tension. I still am not crazy about it.

Yes the leather piece is tiny, ha ha. I have 4 bobbins, I want more, but I hate to spend so much per bobbin. $12 each seems outrageous, right? I've only found it one place online too. I love my machine, but not being able to find parts stinks. It seems like I read a Aussie member here was going to make some throat plates? I wonder if they ever did.

This is really interesting, and from reading the thread I see you are not the only one. I love that there are other 42-5 owners here!

Hi everyone! Long time lurker here. I have a stitch length issue with my Singer 42-5. At the longest setting stitch, it only does 7 stitches per inch. By the time I move the stitch selector to the middle, I get stitches so small that they perforated the leather. When the stitch length selector is moved all the way up, it just sews in place. Surely this is not right? I've only been working with this machine a few weeks, the previous owner must have messed with it without really knowing what they were really doing, as when I bought it, the feed dogs were going in reverse. Lol, the guy told me it only sewed in reverse, which I know was not right as this model doesn't even have reverse. I actually got it to sew in reverse too, just not reliably! It works in the correct direction now, since I adjusted the feed dogs and timed the feeding mechanism with some of the information I found on this site. Can I make any adjustments to make the longest stitch length longer, so that I have more choices with stitch length? I have attached a picture of the stitches. Far right stitch is the longest I get, and far left stitch is the so small it perforated the leather stitch I get when moving stitch selector know to the middle.