How to Repair a Riccar 2600 Sewing Machine

Unplug your Riccar sewing machine for safety. Place the manual nearby for reference, if you have one.

Check the hand wheel to be certain it is tightened. Hold the hand wheel in your left hand and turn the smaller stop-motion wheel with your right hand away from you. The stop-motion wheel is to the center of the hand wheel. Raise the needle bar to the highest position by moving the hand wheel toward you.

Remove the slide plate -- the flat metal piece covering the bobbin. Remove the bobbin case and bobbin by lifting the latch on the bobbin case and pulling the case and bobbin toward you. Using a paintbrush or toothbrush, brush the lint and thread from this area. Check the bobbin for broken threads or lint as well as uneven winding. Drop the bobbin back in the case and pull the thread through the slot in the case and under the tension spring. Hold the bobbin with the latch and replace the bobbin and bobbin case. Replace the slide plate.

Replace the needle. Loosen the thumbscrew to release the needle. A needle with a burr or bend will cause your sewing machine not to sew or to operate poorly.

Thread the Riccar 2600 correctly. Place a spool of thread on the spool holder at the back and pull the thread across the top of the sewing machine through the thread guide. Continue down around the tension, catching the thread guard and up to the top again. Thread through the take-up lever at the top and back down through the upper and lower thread guides to the left of the tension. Catch the thread in the needle clamp thread guide and thread the needle.

Oil your Riccar with sewing machine oil only. Turn the machine on the side so you can get to the bottom. Place one drop of oil on each of the connecting movable parts on the underside. There should be six or seven oil ports or metal-to-metal movable parts across the underside of the sewing machine. Turn the sewing machine back to sewing position and oil the movable parts across the top of the machine. You should be able to locate eight or nine movable parts at the top of the machine.

Connect the power source and locate an old piece of fabric to sew. Stitch the fabric and check the tension. The bobbin tension adjusts with the screw on the bobbin case; the thread tension adjusts with the round knob above the needle. Turn the tension screw or knob clockwise to increase tension and counter-clockwise to decrease tension. The tension affects the stitching. If your fabric puckers, the tension is too tight. Thread loops indicate your tension is too loose.