Machine guts took over my morning. I decided last night that I’d get up early & focusfocusfocus
on making the coat today. Got up at o-dark-thirty, set up a serger—and spent 2
hours fussing with it trying to get the adjustments right before I decided to switch
sergers.
Temperamental critters are
sergers. Folks don’t seem to know what to do with them so they dump ‘em at
garage sales after a frustrating adjusting experience. I bring one home occasionally
as a project. Current inventory is 4 so you'd think at least one would be plug & play! Sergers are great if you know how to use them. I got my first one brand
new (first-gen home Singer) in the early ‘80s and it’s been my workhorse all
these years, but it’s become impossible to get good replacement parts for the
things that are worn out and I’m always looking for a similar one for parts. I can coax it to work but the cutting blade is useless. My
backup is a low-end Brother that I got in trade & that is the one I was
fussing with earlier. It’s more of a beginner machine & is usually forgiving. Last year’s garage sale finds included a
lovely Janome that the original owner failed to oil out of the box & is
seized up. [side note, this is common because they ship them pretty dry & the manuals all say oil before use. Nobody reads manuals.] I’m determined to make it work because I’d never spend that kind of
money on myself & it feels like a treat. #4 I paid
$5 for at a garage sale over the holidays and that is the Huskylock I have just
spent a couple hours cleaning and oiling because I was tired of fighting the
adjustments on the Brother. This one is
new to me & I’m happy to report it’s now fully functional. Of course, part of the process was to soak
the poor dry guts in oil & let it sit a while, so I’ve fussed around much
of the morning cleaning the aquarium & starting a pot of ribs for dinner
while I waited for the oil to do its work.
I expect the one I started with would like an oil & clean now too,
and that might magically help with the adjustments. It's a mixed blessing to be able to repair my own machines.
Now I’m blogging &
having lunch while I try to get back into the project frame of mind I had 6
hours ago. The sun has come out, and I
need to mow the lawn, and my kitchen smells of ribs, aquarium, and WD-40, which
is kinda weird.
 |
| Huskylock guts, nice & clean. It really needs sewing machine oil, but the spray tube on WD-40 is good for getting into tight spots. |
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