Thread: Vintage Sewing Machine Shop.....Come on in and sit a spell

Don't know if you all follow this blog, but this is an interesting, and useful post.
http://dragonpoodle.blogspot.com/

Originally Posted by grayhare

Don't know if you all follow this blog, but this is an interesting, and useful post.
http://dragonpoodle.blogspot.com/

Thanks for sharing Anamaria, great site!

Nancy

Originally Posted by J Miller

Jo Anne,
If you want a vintage Singer with a gear drive and a large arch you should look for a 201-2 or a 15-91. The 201 has the largest arch of them all, or so I have read. Mine sure looks like it too.

If a belt driven machine with a large arch will work, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Singer 66-16 or -18.
They are all great machines, but the 66s just won't quit sewing. I have 8 of them with the ages from 1913 to 1952 and they all sew great. Very well designed and trouble free. Easy to maintain and if the motor dies they are easy to replace. Or you can treadle it. They are excellent treadle machines too.

I don't know anything about Pfaffs so I can't comment there.

Nancy,
What is an "IDT" foot?

Joe

The IDT foot on a Pfaff is the Integrated Dual Transportation, or the built in walking foot! Pfaff had the patent on the built in walking foot until a few years ago. Pfaff use to be the only machines with a built in walking foot. I love that feature on the Pfaff!

JoAnne, one more note. If you are going to use the new machine for free motion quilting, then you should get a vintage Singer 15. The Singer 66 is a great straight stitch machine, but it does not drop its feed dogs for FM. The Singer 15, on the other hand, does drop its feed dogs! I have a Singer 15-88 treadle that I use for FM all the time.

Nancy

Originally Posted by jlhmnj

Hi QW,

Saw your post in the Davis VF group and am assuming your troublesome pitman is off the "New" Davis VF with the orange decals. Ball bearing can be added if you know the size or possibly trial and error to see what works. The whole rod can be replaced if your fortunate enough to find the part. The tape isn't original equiptment and might be hiding other problems but if it seems to work, best to leave alone. Ball bearing are available online and industrial supplies. Good luck .
Jon

Edit--Manual doesn't say what size ball bearings only that it takes 9.

This cabinet came with my Franklin machine. The tape is some sort of slippery, hard plastic, maybe teflon type of material. I can tell that the ball bearings either fell out or were taken out. The other end has them. Thanks for the info!

FYI, Singer 29 bootpatcher in Sonoma for $275.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/atq/3309713454.html

Originally Posted by grayhare

Don't know if you all follow this blog, but this is an interesting, and useful post.
http://dragonpoodle.blogspot.com/

That was a fun read. Thanks for sharing.

Update on my slipping oxygen tube belt: it was slipping again yesterday so I added the rubber band instead of shortening the belt. It seemed a little better. Today I went down with my spray bottle full of vodka that I use for cleaning. I soaked a hunk of cotton batting and ran that in the belt groove on the treadle wheel. I probably did 150 rotations and kept turning the vodka soaked cotton and ended up using three pieces of batting before it was looking pretty clean. (That surprised me since I know I did a cleaning when I first started using this treadle. But, I did not use alcohol that first time.) Then I started sewing. It is now working perfectly (no slippage) and my belt length is the same as it was a few days ago.

Note on the rubber band. It will only be useful if you put it on the part of the hand wheel that the belt uses! LOL When I looked closely today I noticed I put it too far to the left (towards the machine body) so the belt was still riding on a metal surface; not the rubber band. No wonder I didn't notice much difference! I'll bring down a different rubber band and install it CORRECTLY tomorrow. I can be such a doofus sometimes!

Thank you VintageMotif and Joe for your help.

Judy, I'm glad that you figured it out. Enjoy treadling!

I share this opinion. I enjoyed reading the blog and will continue to check it from time to time. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Originally Posted by JudyTheSewer

That was a fun read. Thanks for sharing.

I adopted 2 more machines today. One is that 1886 singer 115 i found on craigslist. It has a beautiful coffin top and pretty irons with the gold and red nice and bright.

I also brought home a.white rotary in a Martha Washington cabinet.

I will post pics tomorrow. Theyre not getting unloaded from the back of my truck till the kids get all the bags of feed out from around them in the morning