Champanier

Just before Thanksgiving, I bought two sewing machine heads (one is a 127 and I think the other is a 15-30), because the pheasant deacals looked good on the 127, the seller had the original 127 manual and the price was reasonable. Well, when we met the seller, the machines looked one step above pitiful and maybe a step below sad. Totally frozen - couldn't even raise the presser feet, let along move anything on either one. They apeared to have salt crystals in some places, along with a greenish lichen-looking something (no idea what) on the finish. I asked the seller whether they came from near salt water and he said Old Lyme, which is on Long Island Sound. He said the woman who sold them to him said she'd been using them (but clearly didn't mention that she was using them as boat anchors!)

DH and I have been working away on and off since they came home. Kept trying PB Blaster, triflow oil, scrubbing connections underneath with wire brushes ... all to no avail. Yesterday I took the handwheels off both of them, wrapped a piece of thick leather belt around the shaft and DH started working on them with a vise grip. The 15-30 freed up pretty quickly and then finally he got past one tight spot on the 127 and it worked! It's not hooked up to a treadle, threaded or anything, but with one good spin of the handwheel, it zips that little shuttle back and forth on its own and keeps going for several turns.

Here's my question (got carried away with the whole story) - can someone explain how to use the dremel to polish the plates? (Actually, the 15-30 is missing the slide plate, but I'm watching for a good vintage one.) The seller had tried to polish the slide plates on the 127 and now they have deep marks from the brush he used. On the 15-30, the small metal release knob in the wheel has most of the coating peeling off and the wheel rim looks like the finish is all gone. I have 1200 sandpaper, a dremel, jeweler's rouge, buffing cream, brass, stainless and carbon steel brushes, cloth buffers and more. On small parts, like presser feet, I have good luck with Evaporust and the 1200 sandpaper. Between Mother's and Simachrome, I can usually get things shiny if the finish is intact. I've tried before to use the dremel for metal when the finish is shot, but haven't really been happy with what I did.

Can someone tell me (or point me to instructions) what the sequence is for polishing metal once the nickel finish is beyond help? Which brush should I use first? Will any of the brushes damage the finish further? Should I go in circles or straight? At what point do I use the jeweler's rouge and buffing cream?
Thank you!

Here's a picture of the two after a little cleanup. They look better now. I forgot to mention that someone had added a motor to the 15-30 by drilling two small holes through the bed. We took it off, but it's actually kind of an interesting Franklin motor with a vertical foot pedal.

Oh, one more question - the 127 serial number starts with K. I thought I'd read that K serial numbers were made in Scotland, but now I think I'm confusing this with model numbers. Ah, well.

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miriam

I guess it depends on how much plating is left... I always wash it up in Dawn to get any old oil off. If it is terribly compromised soak it in evap-o-rust then I use a green scrub pad and see what is left. If not much is left, I wire brush it off. You can polish it until it shines. It won't have the same shine as the plating though.

Rodney

If the plating is in really bad shape sand it off and polish the steel. It's a slightly different color than nickel but it will still shine well. I have buffing wheels on an old grinding arbor that I use. Start by sanding with a coarser grit sandpaper and sanding block, say around 200 grit if really bad, and work through the grits to at least 600 or so until you have a smooth flat surface. Now you can start buffing with a coarse buffing compound. Work from coarse to fine with your compounds until you get the shine you want. Use different buffers for each grit of compound and clean your work piece between compounds too. Caswell's has a free tutorial on their site and sells everything you need for plating and polishing metal. I bought what is probably a lifetime supply of buffing wheels and compounds from them about 10 years ago.
Rodney

Champanier

Thanks, Rodney. I'll check the Caswell's site.

I can tell how far behind I am just by what I don't know. Grinding arbor? No idea what that is. Different grits of buffing compounds? Who knew?

SteveH

another method I have used is to put the hand wheel on the machine, loosen the lock so that it is only spinning the handwheel (like you were about to wind a bobbin) have someone treadle while you use the machine like a lathe to spin it and do the polishing using your tool of choice

(I usually just take it to work, put in on an aluminum shaft I made for the purpose, and polish it on the lathe. I just assumed you did not have access to that)

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Champanier

Yep, I do that even with just metal polish - works great!

ThayerRags

I do it like SteveH mentioned, but if the wheel has some of the plating gone from it, I use fine emery cloth wrapped around a piece of wood and try to remove any remaining plating. That stuff can cut like a straight razor, so I try to get it all off if I can, polishing the iron underneath as I do it.

CD in Oklahoma