Dueling Sergers

I love a happy ending, don't you? I've learned in repairing old sewing machines that patience is not only a virtue, it is absolutely necessary if you are going to learn anything without breaking it first. Today's story is about a serger that I've had since August 2015, bought at a neighborhood garage sale:

Simplicity Easy Lock 800

It's fairly small but all metal so heavy and I like sergers this way: they don't jump all around at high speed and isn't that how many of us run our sergers? As it turns out, there is a tiny metal prong that is called a chaining tongue, needed for the formation of the typical interlocking of a three thread stitch. Here's how it's supposed to look:

Arrow points to the chaining tongue

Don't blink or you will miss it, it's that tiny. When needed it is pushed up into place by a lever and then pulled back when making a rolled hem. That seems easy enough but I found out it's so tiny and rather delicate and very easy to break. In fact, I broke three of them! By the time the third one broke I just said "Forget it: I'll just use it for rolled hems" because it make a nearly perfect rolled hem.

But that bugged me. I shouldn't have to keep it in the back, only to come out for a rolled hem. And then one came up on Goodwill Online auction and I got it. It's always my hope that I'll be able to fix something when there is a fully functioning one by its side. I ordered a new chaining tongue and then set them up:

Simplicity Easy Lock 800 side by side

It worked! As I could explore the newer, functioning model I could see how it was supposed to look. I had taken the whole lever and tongue off the machine and it was difficult to see how it would slide in:

Red arrow is on top of the lever

You have to position in just so, without the tongue screwed on, keep in in place while you got the tiny tongue screwed on with a nut on the backside...only to do it several times until I got it right. I have to admit, I'm not too crazy about pulling the lever back down due to breaking it so many times before but I think it's in there pretty good and if I'm careful it just might work. Whew!!!!

Now I have two cute little Simplicity Easy Lock 800 sergers, both with print manual and extra DC-1 needles in handy tote bags. I'm not too worried because they run well, compact, and will be price significantly lower than a new serger. I'm pleased with my efforts even if I did have to buy a spare serger to get it right.

For all you local readers, this is the big weekend for the Textile Center Garage Sale. I already volunteered yesterday, sorting books and magazines. There seemed to be a rather large number of them this year and I got to buy after my shift was over. Stay tuned to my next post where it's show-and-tell with all of the goodies!