manicmike

Bought this little beauty (OK, not physically beautiful) from the auction site last month and fiddled with it today: Cleaning, oiling and mounting it into the 96K41s table then connecting up the clutch motor.
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Haven't stitched with it yet (I don't have the right needles) but she sounds and feels fantastic. This sub-model was used for "suits, shirts, skirts and other clothing". I'm sure jeans were included in that.
Seems like the replacement for the 31K tailor's machine. I'd have preferred the 331K5 (walking foot version) but for $20 I won't complain.

And for the more vigilant, yes that's an antique model 15 underneath

Rodney

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
It looks great to me and for $20 you couldn't go wrong. I'm thinking it will sew any fabric based project that you care to throw at it.
Rodney

ThayerRags

Went to an auction today to bid on a Singer 31-15 head that they showed a close-up photo on their website. Got there and looked at all of the stuff for sale, and no 31-15. Asked the Auctioneer about it and was told “I don’t know, maybe the kids decided to keep it”.

There went a 90-mile round-trip for nothing. I hate it when they do that, so I left the auction before they even started selling. I don’t care to spend any money with them when they do that.

CD in Oklahoma

manicmike

CD, if that happened here I imagine a lot of collectors and dealers would grab pitchforks (from the auction stock) and head straight for the auctioneer, with me leading the charge.
Quite unacceptable to advertise it then be shrugged off like it's not a big deal.

Rodney

That's where I'm at too. Sounds like a bait & switch to me. Once they advertise it, it should be there.
Rodney

ThayerRags

To cut the Auctioneer a little slack, I know that sometimes family members change their mind at the last minute about selling something, sometimes without mentioning it to the Auctioneer.

Another explanation that I can think of for it not “being there”, is that another bidder had hid it somewhere where I couldn’t find it. This was a 2-ring auction in two large warehouse buildings full of electrical business tools and inventory along with a large personal collection of antiques and vintage junk goodies. There were several sewing machines and cabinets, some in each building, so there was a lot of stuff for the auction staff to keep an eye on.

I’ve been to auctions before where I’ve looked an item over, then went to look at the rest of the auction items, only to come back and discover the item gone. Then later during the auction, the item would mysteriously re-appear in a box with some other items, or just “pop-up” all by itself somewhere. Although, stashing a Singer 31-15 out of sight and bringing it back without being noticed might be tougher than burying a small item in the bottom of a box of other unrelated things.

All kinds of little dirty tricks go on at auctions, mostly by bidders trying to create an advantage.

CD in Oklahoma

ThayerRags

I went to another auction (different Auctioneer, different town) today, and now I feel better about auctions. I picked up a Singer Industrial Treadle stand in very good condition for a very good price. It had an electric MW zigzag machine mounted in it temporarily with no permanent alterations to the industrial machine cut-out. The rear and end extension leaves and their hardware are all there, along with the drawer, and the flywheel operates very smoothly. Of course, I had spotted these two auctions this weekend in hopes of marrying up the Singer 31-15 head with the Singer Treadle, but at least I got half of the two. I’ve got a Singer 96-40 that doesn’t have a permanent treadle home, so that may be the machine that goes into this treadle.

I’ve got to brush off the remaining spider webs, clean the rust off of the rear leaf slide rods, re-glue a couple of tiny spots where the surface laminate is loose, and it should be good to go.

Sidenote: While waiting for the auction to start, I watched a guy taking jewelry out of a 6-drawer jewelry box and putting it into a container of other jewelry to “sweeten the pot” of one of the four lots of costume jewelry for himself. There were some old wedding band sets mixed in with the costume jewelry. Trouble is, the auction staff gal was watching him too, and made him put everything back and vacate the premise. (hehehe) I love it when cheaters get caught!

CD in Oklahoma

sews

I bought this machine in January (I think) and haven't had a chance to really try it out until recently. The brief test after bringing it home was not as good as I had hoped. The machine seemed noisy and sluggish. I have a 201 and a few others but I had hoped to bond with this pretty green machine and make it my go-to work horse.

So fast forward to last week. After re-oiling it, I began using it, and had to stop immediately as the motor was making horrid sounds. (I had not done anything to the motor.) It had not been THAT bad before. DH spread the motor housing at the seam in the center and it quieted down significantly - but that didn't last.
He opened up the housing and found that the fan blades were touching the little "nails" that are used to hold the ID plate in place! He filed them down and the noise is (almost) gone.

Another problem remains. The motor runs *extremely* slow after the machine has sat idle for a while, even just 15 minutes.... While I sew, it slowly gains speed, but sometimes slows down again as though someone is pulling the breaks. I have new brushes on order but we are not sure that this will cure the symptoms.
Does anyone have experience with this?

The service manual is strangely quiet about motor issues, claims that no maintenance is necessary.
I'd love to find out what else we could do while we wait for the brushes....

I am actually quite pleased with the machine, needed a reliable zigzag for some mending and it did the job just fine. That is, after I fixed the foot controller -- thanks to the tutorial on ArchaicArcane's blog :-)

Oh yes, almost forgot -- I had to file down the bobbin case. The seller had told me there wasn't a problem with someone previously using the wrong needles.... Well, not true; there are needle marks on the top, and something like a short rip on the side - that I managed to file down to a relatively smooth edge.

Yep, we're bonding...... due to a shaky start. I want this to work.

manicmike

There's a small piece of spring steel in the centre of the motor housing that will cause all sorts of problems if it's missing. Most obvious of these problems is noise, second is blades hitting things and I'd guess at this point that someone has removed it and lost it while the motor was apart. It is small and its only job is to take up the slack between the motor and housing.

If it's not there, you can make one or go to an OSMG and get one. It will fix your problems.
If the spring is there (it looks like a spread out inverted 'V') I'll think some more, but I'm pretty sure this is what's causing the problems.

greywuuf

meh them new fangled electric motors are just a fad, throw that 319 at a treadle.... thats where my 306 lives !