Vintage Revival: Singer Stylist 457 Gear Replacement

Last year I wrote a couple blog posts about a Singer Stylist 457 that I picked up.  She isn't fancy, doesn't do any special stitches and isn't much to look at.

First I talked about the machine and then I talked about the cabinet.  Then I also talked about my sadness when the gear that drives the bobbin assembly was chewed up.

While making an order for some other parts for some vintage machines through a very helpful seller on Etsy called Old Sewing Machines, I found that he also had the gear I needed for this machine for a great price.  I added the gear to my order and did some research while I waited for my parts to arrive.

The belt on the underside is what drives the bobbin hook.  When the gear went, the machine wouldn't pick up the bobbin thread because the hook wasn't grabbing the needle thread.  I had shared an email or two with a commenter on my original post and was given a link to the procedure to change the gear and reset the timing.

Here is the best photo I could get of the damaged gear while it was still in the machine.  This photo is taken from the front of the machine through an access port.

Here are some of the remnants of the gear that I managed to rattle loose during replacement of the gear.

Somehow I lost the gear inside the machine and it got wedged inside but not near any moving bits.  I had to get a friend to come peer inside to find the darn thing for me.  But here it is after removal.  Since I had already installed the new gear I don't have a side-by-side comparison.  I did some more cleaning and oiling while I had the machine apart and it sews quite nicely now.  

I did some test stitching and while it could use some more minor adjustment, I'm really proud of the result.  For reference, the white thread is the bobbin thread and the pink is the needle thread.

Now that she is all put back together she is ready to go back in the cabinet and back into the travel trailer.  I'll let you know how the new gear works out.  So far I'm really pleased with the outcome and I'm so glad someone told me it was easy to do so I could get over my reluctance to trying to time a machine.

Have you stretched yourself lately and learned a new skill?