Fixing A Dead Head Stuck Sewing Machine

Suitably maintained sewing machines give sewers astonishingly creative performance for decades.

Regular user maintenance and annual sewing machine service are essential. They prevent the undue collection of debris and gunk. They keep the old lubricants from gumming up the machine or crystallizing into an encrusted material that locks up the sewing machine entirely.

Here is a slight distinction: sewing machine repair includes standard servicing, cleaning, and lubricating; but it also involves fixing problems that result from abuse and mechanical failure.

When you find a frozen sewing machine, it is no easy fix. It requires highly a skilled sewing machine technician to fix a locked up stuck sewing machine. You can easily tell when a sewing machine is dead head by attempting to turn the hand wheel. If it binds, resists turning, or freezes solid; it is locked up stuck.

Working on bound up sewing machines can be very frustrating. I suppose that no one wants to hear tips when struggling with insurmountable problems. That is what it feels like when you are working on a locked up sewing machine. It feels like the whole sewing machine has fused into one lump.

After you become explosively frustrated working on a bound up machine for several hours, stop. Take a break. Follow some simple steps described below to unfreeze the machine.
First, ask yourself, why do sewing machines get bound up stuck?

There are three reasons why sewing machines lock up. Sewing machines lock up because of abuse. Sewing machines lock up because of a fluke in the bobbin area. Sewing machines lock up because of broken parts.

Follow these basic sewing machine repair instructions step by step.

Crystallized and gummy lubricants underly most locked up problems. Use of the wrong lubricants can cause serious harm because many lubricants contain ingredients that leave gummy residue as they dry. Even pure clean sewing machine oil can be a problem if the machine is not properly serviced at least annually.

Lint, debris, and old gummy lubricants can cause binding in the bobbin and hook area. Failure to clean out the bobbin area every few hours of sewing can cause a sewing machine to be bound up.

Sewing machines can also lock up when a part inside the sewing machine breaks. If a gear breaks a cog, it can lock up. If a lever bends, it can lock up. If a cam assembly breaks, the sewing machine can lock up.

So, what specific steps can the sewing machine repair man do to fix a dead head machine?
If the hand wheel on the sewing machine is difficult to turn, the first thing to do is clear out the bobbin area. Open bobbin area. Remove bobbin and bobbin carrier. Clean it out. Try the hand wheel again.

Take off all the covers: top cover, bottom cover, and side covers. Blow out the machine using an air compressor. Look for threads wrapped around any parts and eliminate. Brush away and remove any encrusted debris. Lubricate the sewing machine appropriately. Test hand wheel again.

Sometimes the belt, tensioner, pulley assemblies, and drive mechanism can freeze up. Release the belt or drive from the hand wheel and try to turn the hand wheel.

If you have a Singer sewing machine, these singer sewing machine repairs can usually be done at home. It is very satisfying to diy repair of your Singer Sewing Machine.

Since gunk is one of the major causes of a sewing machine becoming dead head; remove it. Blow it out. Brush it out. Get rid of old sticky and gummy lubricants. Carborator cleaner and other solvents are useful in cleaning away these sources of binding problems. Test the hand wheel and retest. Force the shaft one way and then back the other. Search for points where points might bind.

If you find a bind between metal parts that just wont give, add lubricant. Move the pieces back and forth to loosen and free them. Work the binding areas until they become free. In extreme situations, you may use a torch or soldering iron to heat up a binding point. The heat will dissolve the old lubricants and enable you to free the bind. An extreme measure use to be used with really old machines without electronics and plastic parts, is to soak the machine head in strong solvent for several hours.

Do it yourself sewing machine repair comes with a few challenges, but it also comes with a huge sense of personal satisfaction when that dead head stuck machine is working like new again.