Nabbed a Pfaff 260 portable for 50 bucks

[LindyBalboa]

So I started my journey (hobbyist) with a standard household Victoria that somebody had put out on the street. It is not great, but it got the job done. I have had the strong urge to upgrade but am not happy with what modern domestics have to offer, can't afford something like a Janome HD9 which would suit my needs perfectly, and don't have space for a Juki 8700. I have been keeping my eyes peeled on Kleinanzeigen (craiglist of Germany) and finally struck gold.

There was not much information on the listing, but the pictures looked promising. I rode way out of town to check it out. The seller was nice and informed me that she had purchased it freshly refurbed from a dealer about 5 years ago when she was doing her Gesellenstück (apprenticeship final) and never really used it afterwards. The oil certainly gummed up as you might expect. After some oiling it did sew fine. The only real issues when checking it out were weak power from the gumming, the needle positioner (left right) and feed dog drop being gummed up and not going back to center, the bobbin depth stop being bent such that usage was annoying,  and the light being dead.

Even with those minor things it was a steal. She was well aware how much it is worth, but couldn't justify asking 2-300 given the TLC it would need. She was also thrilled that I am actually a hobbyist and would be putting it to use and not just reselling it for profit. It was an overall quite pleasant experience.

Tonight I got some cleaning supplies and scrubbed away the polymerized oil where I could, re-oiled the whole thing, replaced the light, and gently bent the bobbin-stop back into place. Funny note: the two little nubs on the light that twist into the socket were too tall and I had to file them down for the light to twist into place. After the cleaning, this thing runs GREAT now. Super smooth, no shaking, clean feed, fantastic stitch appearance, and reasonable noise level. I decided to test the power and I got up to 12 layers of normal weight cotton, which it handled like a champ. Much more and I would have started running into trouble with the presser foot getting to high.

I am over the moon with this acquisition and can't wait to do some real sewing with it!

[Schneiderfrei]

Congrats, That looks to be an excellent machine.

Have you seen this forum?

https://naehmaschinentechnik-forum.de/index.php?sid=001c0ddef19ba2c67a23198de67d25e6

[LindyBalboa]

I have not. Thanks for the tip!

[hutch--]

Hi Lindy, looks like you have done well there. Decent quality and well engineered machine. I don't knnow that particular model as I use a couple of 1960s Elna's but the trick with machines of this era is to keep them well oiled and they will go just about forever.

[Hendrick]

A steal indeed. I use a Pfaff 90 as my only zigzagger and I am still blown away by the quality of it. Your machine looks great and free from abuse. One note; keep the cleated drive belts clear from oil or other grease; these are made of nylon and in time oil and grease will damage them...

Good sewing!

[LindyBalboa]

Hendrik, the belts already appear to be quite oily, particularly the left one. Should I be concerned?

I spent some time with the little beast last night. On the stitch width dial there is an extra lever. This lever doubles the width when puched down, and sets the width to zero temporarily when pushed up. The latter function was unavailable-- it simplly didn't go up. After some research it looked to be a gumming issues. So I built out the levers, cleaned it as best as I could without spending Forever on it, reinstalled it, realized one of this springs had slipped between two pieces, preventing them to seat properly, took it out again, and reinstalled it again. Both functions work great now. As a tip to others, a tough nylon fishing line is great for dealing with springs that run through the vertical part of the machine.

[Hendrick]

No, just clean them carefully with soft "brown soap"and water. Use a soft brush while turning the handwheel slowly and put an old towel or something under it to catch the water. Let it dry and get a small can of PTFE spray. Carefully spray the belt and wipe dry; this will remove any damaging agents left...  Note that the belts may look a little "oily", they are made of nylon.