After Some Help With My Singer 457U105

[SamH]

Hi folks

I'm a novice sewer at best but I've been wanting to have the ability to sew and repair bits and pieces for a while now. I've ended up with a couple of machines and I'm a bit out of my depth. I've got a 29k, built in 1893 that needs a fair bit of work before its going to be of any use. Mostly it just needs new parts and they look to be pretty easy to get.

The second is a Singer 261. It's a twin needle, feed off the arm machine and I brought it simply because it was the first industrial machine I'd seen for sale locally and it was cheap. Turns out to be just a wee bit too specialized for day to day use.

The most recent machine is another Singer, a 457u105. Straight and zig zag with reverse, much more useful for the occasional bag repair or bit of leather stitching.

Anyway, the main issue I'm having with the machine is that I can't seem to get sufficient top thread tension. It's got a rotary tensioner instead of the usual disc arrangement. With the tensioner wound down hard the lower thread still isn't being pulled into the material, it's just running along the bottom of the work. Any less tension and I just get birds nests.

The manual mentions that there was a twin disc tensioner fitted as standard and a rotary available as an option. Mine seems to have had the optional tensioner fitted for 'specialty work and some synthetic threads'.

The thread I use doesn't seem to make any difference. The thickness of the material doesn't seem to effect it either, one layer of 1.5mm leather is the same as 4 layers (which is about the max height of the foot).

Anyway, if anyone could shed some light on my predicament or point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

Cheers

Sam