The Singer 401A was popular in the early 1960's (as far as I know)
and featured an adjustable throat plate, a hinged face plate,
superfine control of stitch length, a built in Light,
a new needle clamp that can hold 2 needles and the "Cam Stack". This machine, also known as the "Slant-O-Matic", was professed to be The Greatest Sewing Machine ever built.
(At least that's what it says on the owners manual)
(At least that's what it says on the owners manual)
I probably had the most trouble with this machine trying to get the "needle swing" working correctly. It was gummed up and would stick on the right side. It was driving me nuts! I finally found the service manual and there was a "step by step" on how to free up the needle swing. These old machines can really clean up nice.
The picture below shows the cam stack with the addition of the one "Special" replacable cam.
This machine came with it's own table which was in perfect shape.
And, I had to try sewing with 2 needles. I am not a sewer but I really enjoyed playing with the decorative stitches with 2 needles.
Being new in the sewing machine repair business, I new it would take a while to develop a customer base. I also new that I needed to gain some confidence. I search garage sales, flea markets, antique stores, Craigslist and E-bay for inexpensive machines to work on. What a great learning experience.
