It's All In The Timing

Excited about my Viking 12-1, I dug in and cleaned it, freed up the frozen places, and then had to re-time this baby. Did it come needing to be timed? I doubt it, but in order to get everything moving I released the lower shaft and figured that was going to be the price. Here's the part I released:

Hook drive shaft with hook mechanism in red box, screw to release with green arrow

The green arrow shows the screw I unscrewed that got everything moving but it also threw the timing off. When I went back to set the timing I couldn't figure out exactly how this was going to work without a special tool to measure it, something I always imagine the techs would have. Maybe not because a lot of it is just eyeballing it and testing over and over again. I could move the hook but it never seemed to be right, either way too much or too little, never getting the fine tuning right. When I sat back and looked more closely I discovered I was moving the hook way too easily and how was it going to stay in place?

Bobbin case in place with hook

Taking everything out and moving slowly, I could see how it was supposed to work:

Red arrow for hood, Green arrow for the needle

As the needle goes down the hook comes up and catches the thread as the needle retreats. There is just a small gap that is created for the hook to catch that thread. Pretty cleaver, huh? But I couldn't get the hook to stay in the perfect place because I failed to tighten the screws on the shaft in the first photo.

Set screws in red box: loosen up, position hook, then tighten

Of course, once tightened up it only took a little finessing to get it right and a final test and tightening. I could hardly believe I forgot how to do this but, heah, it's been a long winter and spring is finally here! I got the Viking 12-1 all threaded up and sewing in no time, sounding wonderful and with a bit of a zig-zig sound that is music to my ears.

So the Viking 12-1 that I picked up free but all frozen up, now works and is going to be a mighty fine sewing machine. I can't find a manual but it's pretty straight-forward. It came with a green metal hinged Husqvarna box with an oil can and set of bobbins but it really takes standard class 15 bobbins.

Oil can and bobbins (but what's with those plastic bobbins?)

This is a nice addition to a classic sewing machine that has so little written about it. Another oldie but a goodie, all for your reading pleasure:

Viking 12-1