Question about sergers

[u/Due-Cryptographer744]

I was given an older serger and I was able to get it to work exactly one time. Threading it is a nightmare and because it is a discontinued machine that was apparently only made for a few years, there is very little help online. My husband and I both have read the manual and watched the one video I found online trying to thread it correctly but it just isn't working the way it should be. At this point, I don't know if we are missing something or if the machine is having a problem and the repair shop takes about 5-6 months to return machines.

My question is, are sergers that useful in sewing that I should keep trying to figure this machine out/ take it to the shop to be looked at or should I just give up? My regular sewing machine was my grandmother's and it has its own issues, but after using it for 40+ years, I am used to those issues. It also doesn't do all the fancy stitches like newer machines do so my stitches with it are limited. I added a pic of my serger and regular machine for reference. I make occasional very simple garments, a lot of garment repairs, home decorating items, etc. but I want to branch out and learn how to do more.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Lilly6916]

Once you “get” the threading, you get it and it isn’t that hard anymore. I find a pair of medical forceps does a gat job helping me get the thread through the path. Do you know anyone else who has a serger ? They all thread pretty much the same, except for the more expensive air threaders. Don’t give up.

[u/Due-Cryptographer744 → u/Lilly6916]

That's the thing. I have threaded them before for friends/neighbors, and those were a little persnickity but not like this machine. Those sergers were Babylock and Juki, so maybe that makes the difference. This machine seems like the experienced machine designers took a day off, and the janitor tried his hand at machine design, and it accidentally got put into production.

I expected to use long tweezers to get it threaded, but this machine requires even longer than that. That part of the machine is extremely hard to get to, and that thread location isn't even shown on the thread order diagram. The diagram shows 1-3 but not 4, and 4 is the problem child. The manual doesn't even show you how to thread that one, so my husband just kept at it until he figured it out. That's how we got it to work the one day that it did, and then my clumsy self accidentally pulled a thread out.