Arise & Design

Pfaff 1222, Pfaff 1222E Repair and Dial Operation - 1222 Pfaff Vintage Machines be careful with that dial!

If you find this information useful or have other helpful repair tips and ideas, please let me know and I can add them here.

I will tell you what to look for when buying a used a vintage Pfaff. Have them repaired, once repaired this is a marvelous all metal powerhouse sewing machine. These Pfaff are repairable and the world deserves that these remain in use for generations to come.

Be careful.

I want to help people who are coming across these old vintage machines pulling them out of grandma’s close. So let’s say you pull a Pfaff out of an attic, basement or garage and it has not been used in years. Don’t start randomly turning dials for which you have no idea how to operate. The dial could be tighten up with old oil and you could break it if turned the wrong way, more on that below.

The type of steel used by the German manufacturers do not require oiling of any steel on steel, the steel itself is infused with oil that heats up when the machine is running, in fact they state that they never need oiling (read what Ty has to say about oiling below) with the exception of a drop of oil in the raceway. Never use anything but Sewing machine oil in any sewing machine. All other oils will destroy your machine! However, if you have a machine which sat unused for 20 years, it is likely to have stiffened up and needs cleaning to remove gummed up old grease and old oil to get it going.

Stiffness does not mean that it the machine is no good. Do not run it you may damage it. You can check to see if the hand wheel is rotatable. IMPROPER prior oiling of this machine by a previous owner unaware that the wrong oil can ruin any sewing machine, and unaware these metal Pfaff’s did not require oiling but maybe has been previously over oiled, and now it needs cleaning. You or the original owner might have even damage the dials (see dial operation below) trying to force it to turn in the prohibited direction! Please read the dial operation instructions below before you turn any dial.

Cleaning and bring a Pfaff 1222E back to life.

So if you have an old machine and it’s all stiff then it likely needs a reputable Pfaff repair shop to clean it before using it. I do not recommend just any shop because these machines are complex, and you have to be careful about not getting oil over the motor which sits on the right side, it could drip down and burn up the motor below.

I recently sent my Pfaff in to be cleaned and brought back to life.

Don’t try to run it if stiff. I bought a Pfaff 1222E that was all locked up. I took it in to a repair shop, and it was given a cleaning at least on some parts, then cleaned and reinstalled. The first repairmen could not fix the dial though. I had to ship it to a repair shop that knows very specifically how to repair that stitch selector dial (see images and explanations below). At least they developed a method to do this repair.

Recently I asked a repair technician to share his knowledge and this is what he told me, he says it better than I can.

Actually every machine needs oil once in a while. Originally manufacturers applied grease that was supposed to keep the machine lubricated for the life of the machine. Well maybe they didn't think they would last as long as they do but that grease on many machines over the years gets hard and ends up locking up the machine or making it real tight. If they are used all the time you probably won't have that problem but when they sit for a long time they get really hard to turn and then all that grease needs to be removed if possible and then oiled. I usually use a heat gun carefully and loosen it up then use a lacquer thinner to remove the grease. Any thing that runs metal to metal is going to need lubricant once in a while. You just want to use a clear sewing machine oil. Not 3 in 1 oil. That's another one that hardens up through the years. A drop on the needle bar and the main shaft are important. That's something you can do. (Used with permission - Ty, CA.)

My hope is to explain how the dials on a Pfaff 1222 series operate, so they do not get broken.

So many vintage machines I see for sale have the stitch selector dial broken and many people buy these unaware that they are expensive to fix this issue. The part that breaks is hidden deep within the machine and that part will break off if you force the Stitch Selection Dial counterclockwise, alos since the dial housing is plastic, it can shrink and crack from years of just sitting idle. The plastic or nylon dial used on the stitch selector can shrink up and crack as it surround the metal shaft (experts please forgive me if I do not describe it in the appropriate technical terms for the parts, at least laymen will understand the basic information). The machine basically needs to be taken apart to get to the broken nylon (plastic part) for repair.

Read in my diagram below how the dial should look before you purchase a used machine. You may print the diagrams for your own use.

Please review so you can see how critical it is to NOT ROTATE that dial COUNTERCLOCKWISE and why.

HOW TO USE THAT DIAL!

Below is the way in which the inner dial can and cannot turn. Please review carefully. You should print this out and include this when you bring it to a repair shop so they do not inadvertently break your dial.

12 buying tips for vintage Pfaff 1222 and Pfaff 1222E

1. Look under the hood (it is critical to see photos of insides, top lid pop off.)

Does the machine look oily and dirty on inside? Do the nylon plastic gears look oily or greased? They should be very clean off-white. Plastic or rather synthetic gears should never be greased/oiled - they are by nature oily as they are made of oil product. Oiling and greasing them this could eventually cause erosion and crack them. Common oiling mistakes wreck a machine. Putting oil on the right-sided gears/over the motor, can cause a motor to burn up as it sits below the right side and could drip into the motor. Please only used real sewing machine oil on the hook raceway only, this is the the only oiling a user should do. The manual in fact the states these machines never need oil.

Check Gears: Take the top off, the top pops off with a lift. You will want to at least rotate the gears look for crack in plastic cams and gears. I think they are made of nylon? I have a small crack in a gear now and it could be years before it would ever become a problem, and also it could crack any day. A tiny hairline crack might be good for a while.

If machine powers on, then be sure to loosen it up first by cleaning the machine properly as stated above, this does not mean oiling it everywhere (see notes in opening text for more about oiling). If it runs and needle moves up and down then Run it real slow, briefly, or better to manually turn hand wheel to rotate the gears, it rotates the cams 180 degrees, look for visual cracks in the white gears. If the far left one has a hair line crack it might eventually open up, but perhaps it could still last for several years. If that happens you would notice stitches start looking off. You could have the deco cams unit removed and the machine will still sew the basic straight stitch and zig zag. Some machines as the 1222E and 1222 can be converted to a 1209 or 15.

Machine is broken when: the white indicator* has slipped off the “noon” positioning. See Figures 1 and 2 above.

2. Warning - proper operation of the the Stitch Selector Dial is critical -if you do not know how it turns you can easily break the dial.

Rarely owners and resellers know the rules that govern the Stitch Selector Dial - it is an under-emphasized warning in the manual, so many people miss this fact and break their machine immediately. It is an expensive fix, and there is really only one fix, it involves drilling and pinning that dial and it is a precise repair only a few old timers would attempt. Takes total gutting of the machine.

The stitch selector - centered inside, a turn bar, I will call it the “Needle Position Control Bar”. 

Refer to figure 2 above. It’s first function is to switch needle position easily right to left in the upper hemisphere of the dial.

The dial can go right to left and back to center while accessing the needle positions. After that the button hole icon, if you engage it stop and read the instructions and study the diagrams.

So once you rotate past the right needle position and you have engaged the button hole icon, meaning it is pointing to the *white square indicator, 12:00 o’clock position then it is critical that the Needle Position Control Bar is only rotated clockwise! Force it counter clockwise and you destroy a perfect machine, then the white indicator can slip off noon position and its ruined.

Let me re-emphasize, so from the buttonhole position onward it is mandatory you only rotate the Needle Position Control Bar clockwise only to return the machine to the needle position area on the dial. Do not force that bar counterclockwise. Counter clockwise force break so many of these dials! 

FYI: as you rotate it clockwise, you might hear a clicking, clunking sound it is normal.

What to test on a machine that runs.

If your machine was in storage for many years everything can be very tight. The hand wheel will seize up, fixable with taking it apart (I hope to explain that later). The entire front business end of the sewing mechanisms can be frozen from the improper oiling years ago. old oils lacquering up over the years. It probably needs to be disassembled and have a bath. Avoid running it prior to a pro-shop Pfaff repair-person oiling it. The newer repair shops simply do not know how to fix these old machines. They likely will oil the crap out of it and that is a severe mistake! Use only sewing machine oil, regular oils ruin machines.

3. There is a common thing that happens right behind the bobbin case or housing. When your hand wheel turns tight it is likely you need to remove these impacted thread! It is common for the 1222’s and other Pfaff of this era. Threads wind up and pack themselves in behind the bobbin housing, open the side door and use tweezers and crochet hooks to remove these periodically! If the hand wheel is tight it is really most likely that there are tons and tons of threads wrapped in behind the bobbin housing. Use a flash light and look in close rotate the hand wheel back and forth, you will eventually find a tiny thread sticking out, grab it with a tweezer and rock the hand wheel back and forth to gently pull it out, soon an other pieces follows and you will be amazed at the volume of thread you pull out. The side small door to the bobbin area can be removed so you can really see what you are doing. I could explain how to do that later. Or you will look and find the small screw yourself if you look hard enough.

4. Needle positions check them, right, left, and center

5. Powers button works (often broken on these models), Motor is it a nice quiet hum? It a good practice to use two fingers on the power button, as a slanted depression I think breaks many of these power buttons.

6. Pressure foot lifter bar has three positions, down, up (horizontal), and (auto-up), that is pushing the bar up just slightly past horizontal, it an auto thread uptake motorized so machine needs to be turned on to test that.

7. Walking foot does it work? (IDT dual feeding system) observe that leg walking along to see it walk...operate some fabric under sewing foot.

8. Automatic threader align proper? Little brown button on the left pulls down turns into eye of needle? 

9. Does reverse work? 

10. Does the zigzag selection work? 

11. Does the decorative stitches work? 

12. Does the bobbin winder work? Please note to operate the bobbin winder you of Pfaff 1222 and 1222E you will not be disengaging the needle bar via the hand wheel as on most other machines, on this model you will put the Stopmatic Control Bar at Position A (see the diagram above).

HOW TO REPAIR A TIGHT HAND WHEEL

LOOK FOR THIS ISSUE FROM TIME TO TIME THROUGHOUT YOUR SEWING ENDEAVORS.

See the second image below. I want to note I keep on getting threads wrapped up in here, I think it is due to the tray below the arm it collects debris and thread, and when I use the bobbin thread uptake the bobbin thread is picking up debris from the tray below and drawing it into the gear, so my advice is keep that tray clean!!!

Threads that are trapped behind the bobbin case need to be fished out periodically. It is a flaw of these Pfaffs.

You can remove the bobbin enclosure door, to get a better look at the situation, and you can also remove the top throat plate so you can see the stuck thread even better, use a bright light to see the area. See step 2.b above. I located a video describing exactly what I have found common to this machine, titled: Sewing Machine Jammed or Running Slow? Fix it yourself. Here is the link if it’s still available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmlzbI-j25M

HAVE NO FEAR

I would like you home sewers to not be at all afraid of unplugging your machine and taking off the top lid, and the side panels and even the bottom plates. You can have a good look at your machine this way. You will see the condition of the belts and can look for cracks in nylon gears. You should ask any seller to verify if the gears have cracks. Before you drop it off at a repair shop you should alert the repairperson to the fact that your gears are not broken and go over that fact before you release the machine to them, just so there is no question of the good condition of the gears (or in some cases bad condition) when you drop it off. You might take a video of the rotating gears to have it on hand in case of and “funny business”. Of course if it is cracked you would tell them you noted a crack. If it is cracked does not necessarily mean your machine won’t run for a long time because it can run a long time even with a crack. So be careful of cracked gears and negotiate a cheaper price if they are cracked when buying.

5 STEPS TO repair a cracked Pfaff 1222E pressure lift bar.

If you still have the plastic pieces. You can fix broken sewing machine parts. if you have the broken plastic parts, and the crack of that bar is on the outside of the body or case of the machine and there still is some of the plastic on the metal shaft leading into the machine. I used what I call the “super glue and baking soda method to repair plastic parts, you will find clear methods on you tube of how effective this method is to both glue plastic parts back together and or you can build new parts. What you need for the repair: large metal document clip, Super glue, I used loc-tite ultra gel brand, A small dish with about a tablespoon of baking soda in it, a Dremel tool, Hacksaw and sandpaper, a piece of flat metal you can obtain from an old hanging file folder, hacksaw it to the right length*.

Step 1: lay the machine on its face, then tape off the areas you do not want to get glue on near the presser lifter bar. I will assume your bar is likely like mine and the crack is at the tip of the bar where it is near the metal shaft.

Step 2: Prepare the metal file folder piece. Hacksaw it to wrap three sides of the lever, I think the longer sides measure 65mm, add the end length it is possibly 7-8mm, total length is then 138mm. Use a hacksaw to cut it. Sand the edges of the metal smooth so once this is wrapped on the lever the sewing machine user will not cut themselves using the lever. Use a dremel tool to scar up one side of the metal, and use the dremel to scar up the three outer sides of the plastic lifter bar.

Step 3: Bending the metal. With a sharpie mark the bend locations in the metal, 65mm, 7 or 8 mm, 65 mm. Put the metal piece in a vice and make straight 90 degree bends. The first bend I made in a vice - easy, try not to go past 90 degrees or the metal could break. The second bend which is 7-8 mm from the first is created using a needle nose pliers and the vice. Put the handle of the pliers in your vice and the metal piece positioned in the needle nose pliers, alight it and make the 90 degree bend.

Step 4: Check the fit of the plastic parts and study how they align with the remainder of the plastic parts on the metal shaft. Keep this precision placement in mind. You need to work quickly with glue so you should rehearse a few times without the glue.

Step 5: Gluing. Do not use too much, not too drip out and be lumpy when done, protect your machine. Set up the baking soda in a dish near the machine. Apply the glue first to the inside of the metal band wrap you made. Apply glue the tip of the cracked plastic and fit that first onto the metal shaft tight as you can, in alignment. (In my case the plastic pieces shrunk and the two pieces no longer fit tight but left a 1-2 mm gap it will not matter, you are just going to apply pressure to get it tight as possible and the glue fills in the gap. It is highly critical you align your pieces with the remainder of that plastic that heads into the machine body or else your repaired lifter bar could be in an odd position.) Working quickly, apply the glue to the other broken end of bar and put it in position on the shaft, squeeze with one hand these two pieces of the bar in position on the metal shaft, you need to work quick, you will hold these for a few seconds, but not so long it sets up.

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Hey everyone! I believe I have discovered that the twin needles are to blame in a significant amount of my issue with rotation, I have found that 50% of the twin needles are of low quality and I use Singer Brand Twin Needles. The soldering mount is off, meaning the needles mounted to the shaft crooked. Just be aware of this!

I am figuring out the issue with turning Twin Needles. Apparently this part can get worn out. The needle clamp. here as are a few images and a video.

How to Replace a sewing machine belt on the Pfaff 1222E

Basic Do it Yourself Sewing Machine Repairs:

Take off top lid, remove the screw on the side, loosen 2- set screws near the handwheel area. Remove side cover.

Put the belt in place on top of the handwheel first, then carefully pry out the grey clip A, see photo. Now you can easily slip the white Sprocket off the shaft and then position the belt on the sprocket. Gently pull down on the Sprocket with the belt on it and slide it back on the motor’s shaft. Replace the clip.

Note: You might need to loosen screws B, C and D if you cannot get the belt on, this may allow the motor, shaft and sprocket to lift a few millimeters up or down as a unit. It is possible to completely loosen B as well. However I am uncertain if you were to also loosen screw F that it would help, I did not loosen screw F. Of course don’t forget to re tighten the screws when done.

Lets say your belt is too loose, if you have that issue when the screws are all loosened you can push down and hold while you tighten screw B.