Rose_P

A few months ago I got a Singer 201-2 that came with a lot of attachments. This little white object was among them. The fork mechanism rotates around the post, and the base has a strong magnet that keeps in in place wherever you put it on the machine. I thought it might be some sort of a guide for braid or thread, but the pivoting would seem to cause problems with that. I'm just curious and I suspect one of the great experts on this board will know.

Also, the machine is in a nice art deco cabinet, and there is an arm mechanism that is supposed to swing out to support the lid. It doesn't work. I can see a button in the hinge that looks as if it supposed to pop up, but doesn't. Underneath is a device with a spring. I've thought about taking all that apart, but because of the spring I was leery of it and afraid I might not be able to get it back together. When I want to use it I set a small table under the lid and put (don't laugh) a roll of toilet paper on there because it's just the right height to support the lid and doesn't cause any harm.

When I step away from the machine for a minute I cover it with a large laundry basket to keep Lizzie the cat from unthreading it for me. It's been my go-to piecing machine since I got it.

Sorry about the pictures. The clear one was from the person who sold it to me. The blurry ones I took with my iphone, and I don't know how to use it properly. (Any suggestions on that would be welcome also!)

Glenn

Rose P I don't think the gizmo is for the machine. I think it came off an electric can opener. My MIL dad one in her sewing machine and she used it to pick up pins off the floor and such.
Skip

DogHouseMom

Totally agree ... my mother used the same "tool".

MadCow333

That metal arm should swing out when the lid is opened. And I think maybe you have to push it back in manually after closing the lid but I can't remember. If you try pulling it out, it ought to pop out of there. If it doesn't have a spring attached to it, maybe that's why it's not popping out. I guess you could try a drop of sewing machine oil on that ball thing that's in the hinge.

I have never looked at how those arm things work. I've never encountered one that didn't pop out. Some that don't want to stay in is the more common problem.

bbl...

J Miller

MadCow is correct. I have a cabinet like that and the arm on it sticks too. I'll be using oil, probably Tri-Flow on the little buttons and the arm's pivot points and latches .... when I strip the white latex paint off of it.

Joe

MadCow333

I love that style of cabinet, btw. I have one in storage. Those desk type cabinets usually have a clip for the black Bakelite foot control, and then either a foot lever down near the floor, or a knee lever control.

Not the same cabinet, but it has the foot lever.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/attachm...to08301320.jpg

yel

i saw a gizmo something like that on tv the other day it went on like any other foot but it was used to put cord with a flange [like you see around some of those fancy pillows ] was designed to get the needle right next to the cord ,,,.,. see it you take the foot off if the flat metal part will fit on the screw that holds the foot on ...

Rose_P

Hi, ya'll! I've been away for several hours and I hardly know who to thank first! You're an amazing bunch. Glenn, the minute I read "can opener" that clicked, and I knew you were correct. It was smart of people to save and use a magnet like that because it wasn't always easy to find a good one in a store, and why pay money for something that you already had around? It sure looks like that fork could guide some thread or ribbon, too. All I'd have to do is put some duck tape across it to keep it from pivoting. Yel, it certainly does look like something that would attach, but the fork is too long. Anyway, I used to have a can opener with the same mechanism. There's a spring that allows the magnet to go down to the lid and then lift it when it's loose.

I'll be trying some tri-flow on the lid mechanism. The spring is attached, and looks to be in the right position. Nothing looks rusty, but there were more than 70 years worth of cobwebs in there, though the machine and table had been kept indoors in a clean house and were kept dusted. You have to remove a drawer to even see the mechanism. Maybe the spring has a little metal fatigue. I have not been able to pull or push the arm out by any method I tried, and can't pry the little button up. Don't know why it didn't occur to me to oil it. That was the first thing I did with the machine. The young woman who sold it to me said it was her great grandmother's and she had inherited it 10 years ago, but didn't use it. She needed the space.

I did a little googling and learned that this is the #42 style cabinet. There are no holes or even screw holes for attaching a pedal at the bottom or for the knee. Mine is missing the little seat that they came with, but I have an old piano stool that swivels and works well for me, though it looks rather out-of-place with the style.

Thank you to all who took the time to write!

ladyinpurple135

That is the exact same machine and cabinet I inherited from my grandmother in 1978. I hated the funky-looking cabinet for years - just wasn't my style (I was about 30 at that time). Never saw my grandmother sew on it but was thinking she had it from the 1940s or so. Saw just the cabinet in an antiques shop a few years after my "gift" - it was in bad shape but had a price of over $400 (early 1980s. Needless to say my cabinet started looking more attractive to me. The machine and cabinet have been in a climate-controlled storage area since we moved to NC in 2003 - just didn't have the room at that time. In the past 10 years I've added quilt a few portable antique Singer machines so am thinking I need to recue it.

The 201 model is a great machine - what I learned to sew on in Home Ec in the late 1950s. Those older machines sew perfectly straight seams - better than my much newer (and more expensive) computer sewing machines!!

Sandy in Mooresville, NC - haven't posted in quite some time - hello to everyone

MadCow333

Are you sure that there isn't a foot control bracket in there? This pic is looking at the inside of the front, standing at the back side of the cabinet. (Pic is from ebay.) The black bracket is what the fc clips into, and the knee lever folds up.down. The lever works by pressing on the button of the foot control, assuming you have an original foot control.


I laughed at the clothes basket. I have one cat here that I'd like to throw a clothes basket over and just leave it there all the time. He is young and keeps trying to thrash the peaceable 11-year-old housecats that were here first. Someone dumped him off here, and I did him a favor by adopting him and letting him be a housecat. No good deed goes unpunished, though. haha