Cawood Girl

[ATTACH=CONFIG]583221[/ATTACH] Sorry for the poor picture quality, folks. This is a 611 White Rotary Sewmaster that I am having a hard time with. It has a rough finish on it making it hard to clean. It's got something aweful and sticky on it (those dark areas). I have made a start on it but haven't got it conquered so any tips you have would be appreciated. I couldn't figure out the bobbin but managed to get some info off youtube. If anyone has one of these any info would be helpful. I has a knee lift with cabinet. Is it worth putting some effort into? Does it sew well? It runs but I haven't got it threaded up yet, sounds like a bit of a tank! Having a difficult time finding info on it, not as pretty as other vintage beauties I guess.

Mickey2

The picture isn't bad at all. It looks very nice, and these old straight stitchers usually stitch perfectly on most types of fabric. The only thing I would be extra careful with is the top tensioner on the side; the early Whites tend to have a rather fancy mechanism, and I would simply vaccuume around it and not take it appart if it's not strictly necessary.

The throat plate should come off to clean around the feed dog and bobbin area. There's probably oil pionts several places in the body, and if a cover or plate looks like it should come off, it probably does. Look for accessable internal parts; all joints, gears, levers, hand wheel, rods; moving parts where metal touch metal needs oil. There's usually oil points on top of the machine, behind the face plate, and under the base. The presser bar needs oiling, as well as needle bar. Move knobs and levers, turn the hand wheel, behind them there are parts that need oil.

The staining on the body should clean up nicely. I had a cricle finish case I used liquid car polish on, the whitish type, and it was difficult to buff up after it dried. Try it on a spot to check how it turns out, if the finish isn't too crincly it might not be a problem. The glace or sealant version (often sold as a second step after the basic polish) doesn't leave the whitish grit behind in the cricles.

I'm guessing there's a rubber motor pulley running on the inside of the hand wheel some where, it usually needs replacing on these old machines. I couldn't find a free manual online, but there is at least one pay version available. When there's no manual or tutorial available you just have to use your intuition. I'm sure somone here on QB have a similar model, and there's clever people on the Victorian Sweatshop forum too.

Cawood Girl

Thank you so much for this info, Mickey. You are absolutely right, the plate where the tensioner is came off so I got behind there and was wary of the tension unit as I haven't seen one like this so I will take your advice and not fool with it if I don't have to. I will pay more attention to around the belt. I did see that manual but being the dinosaur I am who doesn't shop online I may have to break down and be dragged kicking and screaming into the new world. The car polish I think I will try on one of my smooth machines first for practice. I will have to figure out the threading and needle direction. The bobbin is wound the counter clockwise, similar to the 301 so thread may go from right to left? I will check out the Victorian Sweatshop forum too, I thought this was a store!! Thanks for taking the time, much appreciated, Lynda

ruthie108

I ended up yesterday with an tote bag of vintage White accessory parts, at least 4 (white sewing) boxes full and a manual. Cover says for a White Rotary Electric Series 77. Oh and two pair of pinking shears that I have no clue as to what I will do with. Interested in selling any or all. Thanks, Ruth

Mickey2

It's belt driven? I found a picture of this model on the web, and it looks like the motor is internal. It has a rather neat design, simple art deco lines. I can't see the bobbin winder at all, but some machines have it on the side under the hand wheel. Have you managed to thread it up and made some attempts at stitching?

For the upper threading these models can be a bit of a basic model 15, but the general way about it; thread on the spool pin; aim towards the tensioner and look for thread guides on the way; hooks, loops, grooves.

Does the tensioner have two disks or is there some kind of fancy hooks, springs and loops? I'm not much help, but if there's round flat disks the thread goes between them.

Then aim for the take up lever, and then towards the needle. There's probably a couple of thread guides on the way. The needle goes in with the flat side a particular way, and it threads a particular way, and if you look at the last thread guide above the needle and the needle clamp it might give a clue to which way.

You can assume you need to apply oil several times and run the machine inbetween to get it running as nice as it should. I have had machines that took four days of oiling and test stitching to run smoothly again, and sometimes you just don't know until you get there.

NopahDesertRat

Most folks say to use only sewing machine oil, but I have found with these old crinkle machines that a bit of hand cleaner found in the automotive dept of WalMart, without pumace, sort of a jell stuff, and an electric toothbrush purchased for cleaning works wonders. Let the hand cleaner sit a bit on the gunky places and then brush gently. It works wonders. Have a supply of paper towels to mop up the mess!!

OurWorkbench

You might want to check out - How do you clean a Crinkle finish? Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

bkay

You might try goo-gone on an inconspicuous place, like the bottom to see if it hurts the paint. It's basically orange oil. I would try it first, though. I've not used it for this, but it will take off gooey stuff and usually does not effect the finish.

bkay

Cawood Girl

Ah, great minds think alike, picked up some orange oil this week to try. I like the jelly go-jo idea too and toothbrush, it is definitely crinkly! I will have time to lay down the cardboard this weekend and try it all. If I manage to get it conquered and stitching I will let you know. Thanks for all your great ideas!

Cawood Girl

Thanks for this link, J&J, fun to read and informative and I obviously didn't find it myself. I am going to have to work on my patience factor if me and all these old machines are going to come to terms!