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update from new member with 3 W & W's

 

I have the "donor" #8 working and used it to make a hanging nest (based on a Nancy's Notions idea) to hold the instruction book and other bits. ?It sewed okay except for skipping a stitch here and there - not in a regular pattern and only occasionally. ?At New England TOGA it was suggested that I should change the needle.?
But neither # 8 had a bobbin winder, so I had wound the bobbin by hand. ?The bobbin is so skinny that it was hard to wind and I wondered if inconsistent winding could be the problem. ?I got out my Sidewinder and filled the bobbin while being careful not to over-fill. ?Practice stitches look perfect. I have not changed the needle yet but maybe I don't need to do that.
I don't need to try to add a winder to the machine - maybe it never had one - but might my hand winding have been the issue? I do like my Sidewinder.
Lillian, near Cape Cod
 

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I have had issues over the years with poorly wound bobbins even when using the bobbin winder on the machine, I have a Singer 115 which is sort of a descendent of the Wheeler and Wilson 9. And it has no tension control for the bobbin winding and I have to route the thread around several things to get the tension high enough to not make loops when the bobbin winder guide arm reverses direction. So in my opinion yes. I will hand wind bobbins sometimes but I use an electric drill with tape around a bit to hold the bobbin tight and then guide the thread on evenly. The sidewinder is better than that by far.

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Sent from for Windows 10

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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of elviby <lillian@...>
Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2019 9:15:06 AM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: [Wheeler_and_Wilson-Sewing-Machines] update from new member with 3 W & W's
?
I have the "donor" #8 working and used it to make a hanging nest (based on a Nancy's Notions idea) to hold the instruction book and other bits. ?It sewed okay except for skipping a stitch here and there - not in a regular pattern and only occasionally. ?At New England TOGA it was suggested that I should change the needle.?
But neither # 8 had a bobbin winder, so I had wound the bobbin by hand. ?The bobbin is so skinny that it was hard to wind and I wondered if inconsistent winding could be the problem. ?I got out my Sidewinder and filled the bobbin while being careful not to over-fill. ?Practice stitches look perfect. I have not changed the needle yet but maybe I don't need to do that.
I don't need to try to add a winder to the machine - maybe it never had one - but might my hand winding have been the issue? I do like my Sidewinder.
Lillian, near Cape Cod

 

Lillian;

Most W&W #8 machines had the bobbin winder mounted on the irons for use. Here is a picture of one from our photo album;


The winder is pulled down against spring tension so the tire will run on the flat of the bandwheel. You simply guide the thread on by hand. Hand crank models & a few very late ones had the winder moved up on the machine bed. but this is how the vast majority of the #8s were set up. I feel sure this is what yours would have had originally.

On my #8, I use a DBx1 needle. It is a round shank needle which is 5mm (0.197") shorter than the original. It has to be pulled down in the clamp as well as having the eye aligned but then sews like a Champ. The original #8 needle was the 6n1 & then the 126x1 which were also round shank & had to have the eye aligned but were self-setting for length.

Several years ago my Wife & I were at our local Joans store & they had the Simplicity Deluxe Sidewinder on a fantastic sale, about the same price as the regular one. We bought one of them & have used it a lot. It has more power than the regular one & has interchangeable spindles to accommodate different bobbins. I have even wound a small regular sized spool on it instead of a bobbin. It is strictly a 1101 volt though, while I believe the smaller one can be run from a battery if desired.

Miller/TN?

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