Thursday 30 January 2014

Bonding with Singer 15K80

One day early last autumn I got out the Singer 15K80 to do a quick job sewing some furnishing weight chintz.  The cotton thread I used was pretty old, it came from a wooden spool that arrived with the machine, and thicker than the usual polyester I buy.  I really struggled to get the '15' to produce anything like the kind of stitched vintage Singers usually make.  The stitches were loose at the beginning of the seams then would improve - a bit.  The best I could do was to back the top tension right off to get the top and bottom threads balanced but then the overall impression that the stitches gave was somehow sloppy.  It was hard to distinguish neat individual stitches making up the line.  Hard to explain and I didn't take any pictures at the time.

The poor quality of these stitches in spite of many rethreadings and much adjustment of the top tension were rapidly making me fall out of love with this machine.  I have often thought of the 15 as a bit of an odd ball in the Singer stable with its odd man out bobbin and bobbin case.  Three of my machines take class 66 bobbins so why did I even need the hassle of yet another type of bobbin?  For a few minutes I even considered throwing in my lot with the 15k80 and selling it.

Instead I did some thinking and research and came to the conclusion that my problems were, more than likely, related to bottom tension.

It took me quite some time before I could find some really useful practical advice on how to set up from scratch a class 15 bobbin case.  One method I watched on You Tube relied on buying a new bobbin case set up at the factory and then pulling yards and yards of thread through the tension until you develop a 'feel' for what should be the right tension - er there must be a more scientific way than that…!

And of course there is.  A big thank you to Charles Day who submitted these instructions to singersewinginfo.co.uk helping people like me (and you?) to improve the performance of their vintage Singers.

Step 1: weigh out just under one and a half ounces of sugar


Step 2:  put the sugar inside a tiny ziplock back.  The one I used came with spare buttons for one of The Much Beloved's shirts and was just the right size.


Step 3:  Tie the bobbin thread to the bag of sugar.  My bag happened to have a small hole punched in it for just that job.


Step 4:  Load the bobbin into the bobbin case.  The first time I did this I discovered that the tension on this bobbin case was so light that the bag of sugar quickly dropped to the floor sending the bobbin spinning in its case.  Ah-Ha!  So there's the cause of my sloppy stitches and inconsistent tension.


Step 5:  Using the small screwdriver; little by little I tweaked up the tension until it was sufficient to just hold the bag swinging in mid air.  A sharp upward motion should allow one to two inches of thread to be pulled off the bobbin before it comes to rest in mid air again.


Step 6:  Load the bobbin and case into the machine; check the thread path of the top thread;  adjust top tension to balance the top and bottom threads; admire the beautiful even straight stitches produced by class 15 Singers.  I think I may have just found a new favourite.


7 comments:

  1. I quickly looked at the pictures and thought you were making candy! Great instructions on adjusting tension.

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  2. Good job Gavin! Sometimes lower bobbin tensions can be a little tricky to adjust. Sometimes the weight of your thread is another reason you may have to adjust tensions from time to time. Great post.

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  3. Ingenious, Gavin. It is the reverse of the shuttle dangle test with a long bobbin machine, where the shuttle itself is the weight you need. So glad you have achieved the beautiful stitch with your 15K. They are seriously nice machines.
    Love,
    Muv

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    1. Exactly so Muv. Your instructions on the shuttle dangle test were what got me started with my 28K and got it sewing very well. Those instructions and you video came to mind while I was messing about with the sugar. Since I got the 15K set up right I have really been enjoying sewing with it.
      Hugs
      G

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  4. Thanks, Once I didn't buy a strange tool at a garage sale and later learned it was a tension guage. On ebay they are about $60. This makes more sense and I have never seen this tip anywhere else and I have read dozens of sewing books. Super blog.

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  5. Thanks for the tip. I'm embarrassed to admit this but I have been sewing on my antique Singer for more than thirty years and I didn't even know there was a bottom tension. I don't know what model it is. I've searched online and never found one exactly like it. The bobbin case looks similar to yours but not exactly and the bobbin itself looks different.

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    1. Hi Lynn
      Thanks for the nice comment. I am glad you found it interesting. Don't be embarrassed. If your machine has been properly set up there is no need to tamper with the bottom tension. My machine was second hand and somebody had been tinkering. Your machine sounds fascinating. I'd like to see a picture of it. I am no expert but my understanding is that Singer supplied Model 15s that were modified for light industrial applications. It's possible that you have some kind of 'special' Singer.
      Hugs
      G

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