Keeping the covers over the bobbin’s head.

The slide cover on my Adler class 8 has been loose for a while, and getting worse. I finally got around to fixing it, and made some photos while I was at it. The slide cover goes over the bobbin area on most sewing machines. Vibrating shuttle machines usually have two while most other machines only have one.

This is the sldie cover on my Adler:

Adler class 8 slide cover
Adler class 8 slide cover

Lost slide covers are a pox on older machines. They like to slide out and get lost. On vibrating shuttle machines, it is usually the front cover (closest to the operator) that gets lost - it is opened and closed often, while the one in back is almost never opened.

Modern machines usually have some kind of spring loaded system for holding the covers in place. Older machines don’t.

What some older machines do have, though, is a way to adjust the fit and make a worn slide cover stay put.

On my Adler, that fit-adjustment is this thing:

Adler class 8 slide cover adjuster
Adler class 8 slide cover adjuster

That L-shaped slot I’ve marked in red is the adjuster. You just stick a screwdriver in it from the back side, push hard while wiggling it, and the width of the long slot opens just a tiny bit, making the cover fit just a bit tighter in its slot on the deck of the machine.

In the case of the Adler, there’s a small problem which is the reason adjusting it had to wait a while.

The slots weren’t cut all the way through, leaving this hard to see little nub holding things together:

Slide cover adjuster stuck
Slide cover adjuster stuck

That dinky little nub indicated by the red arrow is enough to prevent me from widening the gap.

I took the cover out in the garage the other day, and used a coping saw with a fine blade to remove the little nub.

After that, I brought it back in and adjusted it just a tiny little bit.

Adjust the adjuster
Adjust the adjuster

Find screwdriver with a straight edge and a wedge shaped tip. You want it to just fit into the adjuster slit up by the bend in the slit. I should have put a piece of soft wood or thick leather under the cover while opening the slit. I got away without damaging the table, but really should have thought ahead.

Push down on the screwdriver while wiggling it from left to right (parallel to the slit.) Do not try to pry the slit open (lever the screwdriver front and back, perpendicular to the slit.) Just that little bit of pushing (straight down) and wiggling will open the slit enough.

The slide cover on my Adler stays put now and won’t slide off and get lost. It is also still easy enough to open and close.

Singer machines don’t seem to have such an adjuster slit. Given how often the 27, 28, 127, and 128 show up for sale with covers missing, they could all really have done with such slits.

The Wheeler and Wilson D9 (of which my Adler class 8 is a clone) has such slits. I couldn’t find any National or Davis machines with adjuster slits, nor any from White.

I’ve had a Kayser model L here with such slits. The Pfaff model K, and models 30, 31, and 30-31 machines I’ve had my hands on did not have adjuster slits.

Model K vibrating shuttle machine with adjuster slits
Model K vibrating shuttle machine with adjuster slits

Whether a machine had adjuster slits seems to be pretty hit or miss, and mostly a miss.

If the slide cover on your vintage machine likes to slide out and disappear, check and see if it has slits in it. Maybe you can tighten things up.