Viking Husqvarna Sewing Machines
VIKING HUSQVARNA SEWING MACHINES
Viking sewing machines belong to the small group of big brand name sewing machines, which I have not done as much sewing with, or servicing & repairing. The main reason behind this, lay in my research of sewing machines, & the high number of people seeking online, for help fixing their broken Viking sewing machines. The most common complaint, seemed to stem from a plastic camstack, which would eventually crack, rending the machine unusable. I had seen & heard so many complaints about this camstack breakage, that I simply chose not to ever purchase one, expecting this particular problem.
However, I found that I LOVED Viking Husqvarna sewing machine manuals, they had great illustrations, well designed presser feet, which appeared to make difficult sewing tasks easier, & I found myself wishing that I had a sewing machine that could use their unique presser foot system. Unfortunately, I discovered that they purposely made their snap on sewing machine presser foot system, totally different from any other brand of sewing machine, so anyone wanting to use their sewing machines, also had to purchase their proprietary, & expensive, snap presser feet & accessories! When I began to research the sewing & textile industry, I discovered Bernina & Pfaff both did the same thing, particularly as the European sewing machine companies begun getting serious competition from inexpensive sewing machine manufacturers from the Orient, particularly Japan, after World War 2.
Japan, & other developing nations, provided such inexpensive sewing machines, in such massive numbers, that the European manufacturers needed to set their products apart, which they did, by developing such high quality sewing machines, with such special features, & such great instruction & training classes, & technical support, that they were able to attract buyers who could afford to pay for special features like built in needle threaders, multiple needle positioning, presser feet for fagoting, hemstitching, cording, blind hemming, heirloom sewing, free arms, magnifying glass attachments, special attachment & accessory cases, with built in organizers, for keeping everything neat, & easily found, snap on feet, that can be changed in a few seconds, instead of needing to dig out special tools, to change presser feet or needles. A button sewing foot, feet for sewing sweater knits, 3, 5, 7 pintuck & cording feet, help a home sewer embellish clothing, home decor, & anything else, darning & embroidery feet, which allow for not only saving money by mending, but also allowing people to express their artistic talents!
Special stitches also became a selling point, which has continued through to today, with the mechanical sewing machines requiring special cams. Once "Built In Obsolescence" became the business plan for all manufacturing, so companies could guarantee you had to buy a new machine regularly, because they built in breakable parts, parts that were designed to break, & by not continuing to manufacture those parts for fixing the machines, people had to go buy a new one. Some of the "BIO" parts would break too soon, like the new type of plastic main driveline gears & camshaft gears in the Bernina 700 & 800 series (730, 731, 732, 740, 750, 801, 830, 840, 850 etc.), so they were recalled, but the Viking camstacks lasted longer than the recalled Bernina gears, but as the old oil in ALL sewing machines aged, it would dry out, until it becomes a gluelike lacquer, or varnish, which literally freezes the machine solid, if the machine is allowed to sit very long, without being used. Any parts which were not moved regularly, would eventually fail, because of this.
With the Viking 6020 6040 & all other vintage sewing machine models, when the machine was only used for straight stitches, for many years, the automatic buttonhole mechanism glues itself in place, the straight stitch system often continued to work, simply because it was used enough, that it didn't get time to solid up completely, but the real bugaboo, was the zigzag camstack & gear, because one of the best BIO setups used in most mechanical machines (in any industry), is to make a metal rod, or tube, but for the actual "specialized working part", the actual geared part, various forms of hard plastic are used.
The function of putting these two very different materials together, is that plastic & metal have differing amounts of expansion & contraction, & as they age, the plastic material gradually becomes brittle, or degrades, until the planned for breakage occurs. With the Viking Husqvarna sewing machines, the built in camstack breaks, basically, the plastic part usually cracks a little more, over time, & if they sit unused for quite a while, or are subjected to repeated extremes of temperature & humidity levels, when some unsuspecting soul, decides to try to sew with it, & the pressure of metal against plastic, the plastic gives. It can do it all by itself, just with age, but particularly when people use hair dryers or heat guns, to heat up the parts where the old lubricants have become glue, it accelerates the shrinkage of the plastic part, dramatically, even when you do not ever aim the heat at the plastic parts. The heat does melt the lubricant until it loosens it's grip, & allows movement again, but as the machine cools, the plastic will shrink & if you have the back plate off the machine, there is a thin metal wire, which is shaped in an almost full circle, embedded just barely, in that plastic part of the cam. This can suddenly come shooting out the back of your sewing machine, as the machine cools down from the hair dryer treatment.
I discovered I could use a Bernina old old style adapter shank, & the Viking 6000 snap on shank, on my older Bernina sewing machines, so I sold the extra set, with the Bernina shank, on Ebay, when I discovered the part for the Viking computerized electronic part cost $250, not including installation.
The feet are excellent, very well planned, well designed, really help make special sewing tasks easier, & faster. The bottom of the presser feet really make a difference in sewing success!
There does appear to be a new source for replacements of this specific camstack, however, they appear to be all plastic. This may be a bonus, just depending on how long the plastic type material used in it's manufacture, ages & responds to temperature fluctuations, & use. It appears to range from $39 to $89 online, & does not appear to be an official Viking Husqvarna product, but if it allows you to use your beloved Viking Husqvarna sewing machine, it seems like a good thing.
The Viking Husqvarna 6020 which my husband brought home for me, came in it's beautiful carry case, looked brand new, had almost all of it's accessories, extension table, pedal, cord, even 5 of the special cams, which have 4 stitch designs, each. The manual was included, & since I had a set of Viking presser feet, & even 2 of the eyelet attachments, I was pretty excited. The machine was frozen up, & the process of cleaning, oiling, & wiggling parts, worked very slowly, but even with only a few minutes of warm air from a hairdryer, did free up the reverse function, stitch length & automatic buttonhole control. The main driveshaft with the built in plastic cams, remained frozen solid. Even after several days of soaking with Tri Flow oil, & gentle wiggling. I was afraid to use the blow dryer on this gear, because of the plastic on metal, but finally, I gave in & gave it a few minutes of indirect warm air, hoping that it would come loose, without breaking. It may have had a crack already, but as it cooled down, the metal wire spring, which was embedded in the plastic of the cam gear, literally shot out of the machine, it took couple of hours to find it, but I had heard it when it landed, so I knew something had broken loose & gone flying.
It turns out we had 2 cracks in the camstack gear, so that a chunk was almost loose. The manufacturer did have the wisdom to create a texture in the metal pipe, or bearing, so the plastic cam part, had a better grip, & couldn't just slide around, which probably made it last a little longer, but the plastic to metal combination, did what it was designed to do, break. I actually wondered if the metal wire spring, which had been embedded in the plastic part, was either an intentional cause of breakage, or if it actually played any positive part in making it last longer, something to ponder.
I have not yet ordered the replacement camstack, though I do want to, the Viking 6020 is a fantastic, smooth running machine, it is so incredibly quiet & smooth, that it literally sounds like it could not possibly have been used more than a few hours, if at all. The previous owner must have used it some, because they kept the presser feet, so they probably wanted to use them with whatever machine they planned to buy to replace this one, which they donated to Habitat for Humanity. I shall update this, as I complete the repair on this machine.
Viking sewing machines belong to the small group of big brand name sewing machines, which I have not done as much sewing with, or servicing & repairing. The main reason behind this, lay in my research of sewing machines, & the high number of people seeking online, for help fixing their broken Viking sewing machines. The most common complaint, seemed to stem from a plastic camstack, which would eventually crack, rending the machine unusable. I had seen & heard so many complaints about this camstack breakage, that I simply chose not to ever purchase one, expecting this particular problem.
| I am holding my Viking's cracked camstack, above my Ipad, which has a photo of a repair tutorial, showing the orange screwdriver in the photo, pointing at the bottom of the camstack on a similar Viking sewing machine, as the part which is broken, & needs replaced. |
 |
Viking 6020 cracked camstack. The small wire shown below it, actually had been inside the plastic portion of the camstack, where it was wrapped around the metal core of the camstack. Had the entire camstack simply been made of the same sturdy metal as the central core of the camstack, this part may never have broken, on any of these Viking Husqvarna sewing machines. It was clearly intended to be a "built in obsolescence" part of the company's business plan, to stay in business, by making people need a new machine, when the old one broke. |
However, I found that I LOVED Viking Husqvarna sewing machine manuals, they had great illustrations, well designed presser feet, which appeared to make difficult sewing tasks easier, & I found myself wishing that I had a sewing machine that could use their unique presser foot system. Unfortunately, I discovered that they purposely made their snap on sewing machine presser foot system, totally different from any other brand of sewing machine, so anyone wanting to use their sewing machines, also had to purchase their proprietary, & expensive, snap presser feet & accessories! When I began to research the sewing & textile industry, I discovered Bernina & Pfaff both did the same thing, particularly as the European sewing machine companies begun getting serious competition from inexpensive sewing machine manufacturers from the Orient, particularly Japan, after World War 2.
Japan, & other developing nations, provided such inexpensive sewing machines, in such massive numbers, that the European manufacturers needed to set their products apart, which they did, by developing such high quality sewing machines, with such special features, & such great instruction & training classes, & technical support, that they were able to attract buyers who could afford to pay for special features like built in needle threaders, multiple needle positioning, presser feet for fagoting, hemstitching, cording, blind hemming, heirloom sewing, free arms, magnifying glass attachments, special attachment & accessory cases, with built in organizers, for keeping everything neat, & easily found, snap on feet, that can be changed in a few seconds, instead of needing to dig out special tools, to change presser feet or needles. A button sewing foot, feet for sewing sweater knits, 3, 5, 7 pintuck & cording feet, help a home sewer embellish clothing, home decor, & anything else, darning & embroidery feet, which allow for not only saving money by mending, but also allowing people to express their artistic talents!
Special stitches also became a selling point, which has continued through to today, with the mechanical sewing machines requiring special cams. Once "Built In Obsolescence" became the business plan for all manufacturing, so companies could guarantee you had to buy a new machine regularly, because they built in breakable parts, parts that were designed to break, & by not continuing to manufacture those parts for fixing the machines, people had to go buy a new one. Some of the "BIO" parts would break too soon, like the new type of plastic main driveline gears & camshaft gears in the Bernina 700 & 800 series (730, 731, 732, 740, 750, 801, 830, 840, 850 etc.), so they were recalled, but the Viking camstacks lasted longer than the recalled Bernina gears, but as the old oil in ALL sewing machines aged, it would dry out, until it becomes a gluelike lacquer, or varnish, which literally freezes the machine solid, if the machine is allowed to sit very long, without being used. Any parts which were not moved regularly, would eventually fail, because of this.
With the Viking 6020 6040 & all other vintage sewing machine models, when the machine was only used for straight stitches, for many years, the automatic buttonhole mechanism glues itself in place, the straight stitch system often continued to work, simply because it was used enough, that it didn't get time to solid up completely, but the real bugaboo, was the zigzag camstack & gear, because one of the best BIO setups used in most mechanical machines (in any industry), is to make a metal rod, or tube, but for the actual "specialized working part", the actual geared part, various forms of hard plastic are used.
The function of putting these two very different materials together, is that plastic & metal have differing amounts of expansion & contraction, & as they age, the plastic material gradually becomes brittle, or degrades, until the planned for breakage occurs. With the Viking Husqvarna sewing machines, the built in camstack breaks, basically, the plastic part usually cracks a little more, over time, & if they sit unused for quite a while, or are subjected to repeated extremes of temperature & humidity levels, when some unsuspecting soul, decides to try to sew with it, & the pressure of metal against plastic, the plastic gives. It can do it all by itself, just with age, but particularly when people use hair dryers or heat guns, to heat up the parts where the old lubricants have become glue, it accelerates the shrinkage of the plastic part, dramatically, even when you do not ever aim the heat at the plastic parts. The heat does melt the lubricant until it loosens it's grip, & allows movement again, but as the machine cools, the plastic will shrink & if you have the back plate off the machine, there is a thin metal wire, which is shaped in an almost full circle, embedded just barely, in that plastic part of the cam. This can suddenly come shooting out the back of your sewing machine, as the machine cools down from the hair dryer treatment.
There does appear to be a new source for replacements of this specific camstack, however, they appear to be all plastic. This may be a bonus, just depending on how long the plastic type material used in it's manufacture, ages & responds to temperature fluctuations, & use. It appears to range from $39 to $89 online, & does not appear to be an official Viking Husqvarna product, but if it allows you to use your beloved Viking Husqvarna sewing machine, it seems like a good thing.
The Viking Husqvarna 6020 which my husband brought home for me, came in it's beautiful carry case, looked brand new, had almost all of it's accessories, extension table, pedal, cord, even 5 of the special cams, which have 4 stitch designs, each. The manual was included, & since I had a set of Viking presser feet, & even 2 of the eyelet attachments, I was pretty excited. The machine was frozen up, & the process of cleaning, oiling, & wiggling parts, worked very slowly, but even with only a few minutes of warm air from a hairdryer, did free up the reverse function, stitch length & automatic buttonhole control. The main driveshaft with the built in plastic cams, remained frozen solid. Even after several days of soaking with Tri Flow oil, & gentle wiggling. I was afraid to use the blow dryer on this gear, because of the plastic on metal, but finally, I gave in & gave it a few minutes of indirect warm air, hoping that it would come loose, without breaking. It may have had a crack already, but as it cooled down, the metal wire spring, which was embedded in the plastic of the cam gear, literally shot out of the machine, it took couple of hours to find it, but I had heard it when it landed, so I knew something had broken loose & gone flying.
It turns out we had 2 cracks in the camstack gear, so that a chunk was almost loose. The manufacturer did have the wisdom to create a texture in the metal pipe, or bearing, so the plastic cam part, had a better grip, & couldn't just slide around, which probably made it last a little longer, but the plastic to metal combination, did what it was designed to do, break. I actually wondered if the metal wire spring, which had been embedded in the plastic part, was either an intentional cause of breakage, or if it actually played any positive part in making it last longer, something to ponder.
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| The darkened orange plastic on the motor cover of Viking Husqvarna & Bernina sewing machines, due to the heat of the motor, can be lightened considerably, by using Liftoff 4 Spray Paint & Graffiti Remover. Note the orange color on the cotton ball, on top of the yellowed plastic. |
I have not yet ordered the replacement camstack, though I do want to, the Viking 6020 is a fantastic, smooth running machine, it is so incredibly quiet & smooth, that it literally sounds like it could not possibly have been used more than a few hours, if at all. The previous owner must have used it some, because they kept the presser feet, so they probably wanted to use them with whatever machine they planned to buy to replace this one, which they donated to Habitat for Humanity. I shall update this, as I complete the repair on this machine.
