Love You Like a Brother

Maybe this post is not so much about how I love the Brother 1241 sewing machine but my general love of the older Brother models. It started out simply trying to get the excess noise out of the machine only to figure out it had a broken part, several parts it turned out.

Most of the noise was coming from the hook race and I could see there was too much play. After trying out substitute parts I finally discovered there was a broken flange that acted like a tension spring to keep things in place:

Broken part on left to be replaced with donor part on right

Hook with part removed

New part screwed into place with race added on right side

I kept looking for a replacement part that was similar to the one I needed only to find out it was broken on both ends and was pretty generic. Those screws were pretty tiny but not too bad to get into place and then everything was so nice and quiet! I thought I was done and then I noticed it didn't zigzag. And then I noticed the zigzag gear was missing the actual gear:

Zigzag gear with broken section

I had one in stock and it was all metal so quite the win-win to be replaced with a better part but it's never as easy as I might hope. There was just too much play in the needle bar and I could see there was just something missing.

Zigzag part the was too loose

I checked other sewing machines, a Brother Select-o-Matic was similar, but what and where was the part? There it was, resting on part of the casting inside of the machine:

And where it should fit:

And now in place:

From the side view:

No more excess play in the needle bar! Now I'll need to get the swing of the zigzag timed correctly but that's another story. Both of the parts that were broken or missing were so small as to not be noticed but made a significant difference. In the end I'm confident it's going to work and work well. Whew! I'll keep you posted when it's finally done and add a photo at the end. Nice sewing machine that should work for another 50 years? Let's hope so!