Weekend Surprises

I had to work this weekend (translated: Saturday 10-5) and the sewing machine funds are low, so I expected to stay home and work on the machines I already have. Last weekend I was sewing and tried the jumper on my mother-in-law on Friday night but it was a big disappointment. I checked for the buttonhole placement but had to put it aside and give it some time for thinking how to resolve the issues. I have discovered my Pfaff 332 that I thought had a broken gear does not because the Pfaff 262 I'm working on has the same gear with a line on it. That's not enough proof until I watched a brief video on fixing these beautiful machines and the gear had the same line! No crack at all, just how it's made. Now I need to figure out why neither machine can make the right stitches but I have the service manuals for both models and I'm working on it. I would post a photo of the workroom but it's just not a pretty sight now.

As luck would have it, I found a Singer 127, vibrating shuttle model, in a bentwood case at an affordable price so I went to pick it up on Sunday afternoon. The wiring was shot and there was no knee control so, you guessed it, I put a hand crank on it:

Singer 127 with hand crank added

Isn't she pretty? Then I started to sew with her and I had to hold my ears. It was like a rat-a-tap-tap-tap, similar to bullets raining down. After much consternation and consulting with Facebook friends, I find it has to do with the needle bar that has too much play in it:

I know this is difficult to see but the needlebar, at the top of the swing, can drop about half an inch, giving it the noise as it hits the bottom. There is play in the area marked but even with 2 screws for adjustments, they are already tight. This is not right! I got out another vibrating shuttle model to see what it looked like:

Singer 28 from a treadle cabinet

Of course, it did not have this problem and looked the same inside so now what do I do? Here they are front to back:

Singer 127 in front and Singer 28 in back

I know they look the same size but the 127 is a 3/4 sized sewing machine and the 28 is full sized. The different number is due to the position of the bobbin winder. By the way, the bobbin winder works on the 127 even with a hand crank due to its upright position, something the Singer 99's can't do. So now I'm in a conundrum. I'm asking for all possible solutions. Yet I'm having fun just looking at these sweet ol' sewing machines.