Hi Linda,
Sorry my answer did not help.
The bar at the back of the machine should have a type of fabric in the holes.
As the forked piece is not coming out far enough, it might be an idea to remove the carriage from the bed and turn it upside down to find out which bits move when you move the lever. There might be something missing on one side or a spring may have fallen off.
As you are getting a consistent pattern with the needles, have you checked that all the push buttons have been released properly, as if they are still in working position they will override the punchcard.
The other thing to remember is that this is now a very old machine and people have experienced problems with the patterning mechanism. The fact that there are the push buttons and punchcard
seems to affect the reliability of the needle selection.
Kind regards,
Sue
December 2011