Projects like rewiring, painting, or DIY servicing add both time and money to a seemingly great deal. Will it take a while to get the machine useable? I think quality is great on a lot of the random branded machines out there, but I know I can find manuals for a Pfaff, Necchi, Singer, etc so I would stick to those.Ĥ. This is the primary reason why I would avoid lesser known machines. Can you find a service manual & owner's manual online? The 230 is a very similar machine to former with the addition of an embroidery unit that is a pain (at least for me) to tune.ģ. An example would be the Pfaff 130 vs 230. The more junk (embroidery, etc.) the harder it will be to maintain and tune. Is it straight stitch/zig-zag or does it have a lot of bells and whistles? Taking a few seconds to familiarize yourself with the markers between a 20's Singer and a 50's Singer could save yourself a lot of trouble and land a great deal.Ģ. Singers are tricky, because they all kinda look the same and a lot aren't marked with a model number except by serial number lookup process. Going for too old (20's or 30's) of a machine might mean headaches with wiring, rusting, etc. This will usually indicate all metal, well-made machines. Such a shame.Late to the party, but here's my two cents if you want to go the old machine route… They're easy to spot: The decals read 'The Singer Sewing Machine Company' instead of 'The Singer Manufacturing Company' (as Singer had changed names in the 1960s, and the company had bought rights to the new name). A Chinese company grabbed rights to the name and started pumping out repros, but only of the model 15.

'There were repos made of the model 15, which also used the Sphinx decals, in the 1980s/90s after Singer was broken up and sold off in 1987. Oh, one other thing is that the top of the machine says 'Singer Sewing Company' rather than 'Singer Manufacturing Company' which is another indication that it is a reproductions: The serial number plate was not in the usual place (in fact, it cannot be found), there was a plastic dial on the bed of the machine and the 'Sphinx' decals did not look like the ones on the Singer site. My warning signals were the cabinet - in pretty good condition in a reddish/orange wood colour, (I only have photos and can't see inside the drawers but I thought that perhaps it was an older machine in a new cabinet).

Great article - I came across this today (two years after your post, thank goodness for Google search!) having just been offered a this machine by a colleague at work.

Pfaff serial number lookup