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Singer Fashion Mate Model 360
We paid $10.00 for this machine at a Mission Church fund raiser here in Point Pleasant. It had all of its parts including a box of cams, a nice clamshell speed control, and the general purpose foot which we seem to always be in need of. Its owner was a smoker and we were surprised how much odor remained so our first order of business was airing it out.
The machine was made in Italy and the serial number was ground off for some odd reason.
The machine does not use a bobbin case which is a plus. The bobbin can be easily loaded beneath the slide plate.
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Rear view of Singer 360
The above image shows the back side of our Singer 360. The machine has a typical motor which drives a belt which spins the handwheel--it is not gear driven. The entire thing is covered with plastic for cosmetic reasons.
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Exposed Interior of Singer 360
Under the all-plastic skin of our Singer 360 is a very substantial metal framework and mechanisms. We don't have a manual for the machine, so we learned how to lubricate this machine the hard way. To gain access to lubrication points, the top is first removed and then after finding about a half-dozen nicely concealed screws--three different sizes, the entire back side can be removed in one piece.
An oil can with a long flexible spout is essential to lubricating this machine. If we didn't have some experience with Singers, we could never have found all points requiring lubrication.
There is a tab protruding from the base of the machine. This little extension is extracted when tilting the machine rearward to prevent the base from flipping over.
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Singer 360 Belt Drive
Our Singer 360 has a belt drive shown above. We would guess that this is a weak link in the chain of this machine. First, the fiber belt can't last forever, and secondly, it the belt ever slips a cog, really bad things will happen as the needle and bobbin will be out of sync. If the belt is removed for any reasons, care must be taken to install it properly. At this time, we have no clue as to how to re-sync the machine but would assume there are procedures on the web for this task. Fortunately, our machine works perfectly as it is. In fact, after lubricating it and installing a new needle, it sewed a very nice stitch.
For some reason, the machine never had a serial number or it was ground off the space which is the elongated dark spot on the top of the base.
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Box of Cams (or Discs) for Singer 360
We were fortunate to find a machine that had a box of seven cams. We created a pattern of each which is shown below.
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The patterns were made with cams inserted into the machine. A piece of foundation was placed beneath the fabric to keep it from puckering. The stitch-length adjustment can be moved about to either stretch-out or compress the pattern.
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Access Door for Singer 360 Cams
The above black-and-white image shows where the cams are inserted. After inserting the cams into the compartment, the right-hand sliding lever must be moved to the cam position so the cam follower will be in proper position. Depressing the center of the cam stack will slightly eject the cam so it can be retrieved. The hinges on the little door are plastic--as is the door and we held our breath every tome we opened it, but our hinges are still intact unlike many of these machines.
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