The Singer 750 Works Fine
I finally got around to sorting out the Singer 750 Golden Touch & Sew that came with the table in the previous post. It turned out to be in pretty good shape. I had to replace the rubber feed dog as the rubber had turned to a blob over the years, otherwise it only needed a CLA (Cleaning, Lubrication, and Adjustment).
Singer 750
Someone, presumably a so-called technician, had adusted the upper tension setting so it sewed properly at about “1″ on the dial. Singer spec’s “4″ for most of their machines, but this one has a lot of special stitches that have to have very loose tension. The dial shows zig-zag from 1 to 4, and straight stitches from 6-9). I wound up setting it so it sews evenly with my standard needle and thread at about 6, and so far that seems to work well (I do not have a service manual for the machine). There is a web expert out there that says he always sets upper tension at 2; I think that leaves you SOL if you try to use a very heavy thread.
I have read a lot about the nylon gears in these machines and how bad they are. Only problem I do not see those nylon gears in there, although they may have made several versions of the 750 over the years. The drive gears are metal, the sub-gears are either anoized aluminum or something like Deldrin (a very high tech super durable plastic). The cam stack and related parts does seem to be nylon however.
Also the housing on this machine is alloy, not plastic as sometimes reported. It remains to be seen if the reported timing problems show up. I am beginning to suspect that most of the problems reported about these machices is a case of the service tech not being very knowledgable about them, as they are different in many ways than the earlier machines.
This machine that I only got because it came with the table I wanted, has now become my main machine. The Singer 337 is planned to go to a young lady I know who has lots of kids to sew for.
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I am not so lucky all the time. I recently bought a Singer 301 at the local Goodwill store for not too much money.
Singer 301
It had a lot of mold on it as it had apparently been stored for decades in a damp basement or some such place. Unfortunately, the mold had eaten into the paint. OK, so I can not clean it up and sell it, but it did come with a complete set of feet that I can use on the 750, they are both Slant Needle machines. Or did it? Nope, unfortunately, those feet are for commercial high shank machines. I cleaned most of the mold off it, and plugged it in. It does run. I guess I can put it up on eBay for parts or something. It would cost more to restore it than you can buy a minty one for.
Very helpful, thank you! It’s nice to see a guy using sewing machines! Keep feeding information - very useful!
I just got a 750, no idea how to use it, but very excited. I like to hear that that is now your main machine - very awesome.
I have a 750 that was a gift to me back in the early 70’s. I have loved it but stopped using it quite a few years ago because of a timing problem. It started breaking needles. I am not sure exactly what it was, but when I took it into the service guy, he said he’d have to send it off to have it fixed. I’ve actually forgotten what he said the problem was other than a timing problem. I started using my other machine and then stopped sewing because of working so much. I am now retired and want to start sewing again. You mentioned the “problems with timing in the 750″. Could you give me some more info on what is said about these problems. I am wondering if it is worth trying to fix my 750 at this point. I had never heard about the timing problems mentioned in reviews. I thank you for any assistance. Jill
One of the problems with the 750 was that it was an entirely new machine different from the previous Singers. Another was that it was more complicated than the tech was used to. However, it is still a mechanical machine and if you can find a tech familiar with them he should have no problem fixing it for you.
A timing problem means the needle and the shuttle are not arriving in the right place at the same time. A problem that can look like a timing problem is a burr on the shuttle or bobbin causing the thread to hang up, that can be dealt with by smoothing the burr down with a fine whetstone.
The 750 uses a cogged belt to link the upper and lower mechanisms, if one of the pulleys slipped it would throw everything out of whack. If your tech got the pulleys out of sync by a cog or more nothing would line up.
I am not a sewing machine technician. I am a electro/mecahincal technician however, so I can usually figure out what is supposed to be going on verses what is going on and thus fix it. However, I have to have the machine in front of me to do that. What you need to know is there is not much that can not be fixed on a mechanical sewing machine unless parts can no longer be found, or it is so worn that it is not worth fixing.
From what I have seen, most sewing machine mechanics were self-taught tinkerers, they could easily fix what they were familiar with. In some ways the factory trained guys were often worse because they only knew what they were taught. The point here is that 90% of the machines that came in had one of a few problems that the mechanic was familiar with, the other 10% they just said it had to go back to the factory to fix. Not because it was a difficult fix, but because it was something they were not familiar with.
The point I am trying to make is that if you can find someone who really knows the 750, or someone who is good a figuring out how things work, there is no reason why your 750 cannot be fixed. Unfortunately finding that person can be difficult these days.
My Mother just gave me her old 750 I am currently looking to find a desk and case for it as I just moved into my new home and have the space to devote to my new hobby. Any suggestions on where to purchase a desk/cabinet? Also, would like to find a case to store the machine until I find the right piece of furniture?
I just bought a Singer 750 just like this at a yard sale for $4. I can’t wait to check it out and make sure I can use it! I found your post and just wanted to say hello! I hope you are still blogging!
i need to know how to adjust the bobbin tension on a 750. any advise?
I do not have info on setting the bobbin tension specifically on the 750. The general method of setting bobbin tension is to set it to where it just holds when you dangle the bobbin case by the thread, but will slip at the slightest jerk.
However, I should point out that unless someone has screwdrivered it you should not need to reset the bobbin tension. Just make sure that is is clean, and has no lint stuck in it. All tension adjustment is normally done from the top.
I do have a very good article here in the blog on setting the top tension.
I deeply appreciated your technical explanation of the #750… i bought mine in ‘73 (it was a demo) and i still use it, although i since have purchased a Sears/Janome computerized machine. The 750 been repaired one time and recently serviced and is a ‘workhorse’ of a machine. I would encourage anyone who finds one (in good condition) to invest b/c it is gear, not belt driven and has proved it’s investment well.
a ’stitchin’ sister’….