Littlebearkay

I believe I have a Singer 15-88 that is "treadle ready" but has the potted "built on" motor installed.

According to her serial number she was born in 1930 and she is installed in a cabinet with a treadle that has SINGER in the middle of it, with the pitman arm attached to an electric box. Her cabinet has fittings for the treadle, including the spoke wheel, the only thing i think i need is the little dog leg that attaches the pitman arm to the treadle wheel, which sadly i cannot find. It has a bizarre sort of "sheet metal" cover over the treadle wheel, making it so i cannot access it directly and despite exhaustive searching I am not having much luck with finding this feature on other people's machines. Is this something anyone else has encountered? I believe i need to remove this to convert it back to treadle, but it seems mounted on in a complex way that is mysterious to me.

The manual in the cabinet is for a 15-91 but many of the features of the cabinet it's mounted in do not match with that description.

I'd love thoughts, ideas and experience if you've encountered this.

Littlebearkay

I think the plain metal guard or cover is supposed to be there -- a vertical slice in the center allows access to the rotating top of what looks like a piston head. The cabinet is five drawers, open, with plain metal legs. SINGER is on the treadle plate itself not on the supports like most others. The mounting for the pitman arm isn't a single hole either like most models i see--its got like a fork in it that the arm sits between mounted with a large bolt all the way through. I am at a total loss for what this cabinet might be and what parts i need to get it back to treadle.

OurWorkbench

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OurWorkbench

Welcome to Quilting Board. I will post my usual response on how to post pictures. It sounds intriguing. Does it have straight legs? I have a 15-90 that came with a 15-88 manual. I'm very curious as to which treadle you have.

We like pictures. In order to post pictures on Quilting Board, you will probably need to reduce or compress the picture to a file size that is smaller than 2MB. How to post images can be found at https://www.quiltingboard.com/attach...020-01-17-.pdf
Don't forget to scroll over to the far right to find and click on the "Upload" button.

I have found that only the big red "Reply" button or "Quote" work to give me the paper clip icon to work for adding pictures.
https://www.quiltingboard.com/attach...p-location.jpg

Some additional info regarding reducing images at post #4 and images for the scroll and upload button can be found at #5 of quilt block ID?

Another way to post pictures can be found at 2021/2022, 2.5” Birthday Swap
And how to use an ipad to post pictures can be found at Uploading photos

Or simply - Make sure pictures are smaller than 2MB
Click on red "Reply" button
Click on the paper clip icon
Click browse - choose picture/s. (only 5 allowed per post)
Once they show up as being loaded, Scroll over to the right side and click on "Upload"
After the pictures show up as being attached, you can close that window and go back to the screen to finish posting your post.
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Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Littlebearkay

http://photos.app.goo.gl/d28gDXQ6nX2Ta21JA

Maybe this will work? I don't seem to have many of the features you're mentioning when working with this site on my mobile but I'm not going to give up.

It's been such a mystery. Yes the cabinet has straight metal legs. It most resembles something like a cabinet no. 404 (from the 50's)but with a treadle wheel attached in the most unique way.

Littlebearkay

It's been such a bear because the part i would need to get it switched back to treadle seems like it doesn't match any of the pitman arm/dog leg parts I've found but admittedly I've only put maybe 20 hrs of research in over the last year. My next area I'm going to sift through are adverts from the 30s-50s to see if i can't get eyes on what's going on.

OurWorkbench

I kind of thought that might be the one. I don't know anything about how to get it back to treadle operation. I think they are few and far between. I did a quick search a couple of places that I thought I had seen, but didn't find anything. I thought it was ThayerRags had posted something about that treadle, but have been unsuccessful. I know that he has not been active here on QB for quite awhile.

Have you tried clicking on the "Go Advanced" button below the box that you type in?

Sorry, I can't be more help.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

Littlebearkay

You're so kind for even entertaining my pursuits!! Some of the cabinets I'm seeing in WWII era adverts from Britain seem more like it, at least the straight metal legs part. My family is from the deep Appalachian woods in America and have been for at least four generations which is about from when i think the Singer was bought. It seems unlikely that a cabinet of that sort would have made it across the pond to my poor rural family. I know the cabinet and the machine don't necessarily have to come from the same year, so i might see how many boxes of family photos i can look through to see if i can glean any clues there as well.

My Grandma, the last owner of the machine who might recall it's history, is 93 yrs old and living in a nursing home with advanced dementia. It pains me that the knowledge is so near, yet so far away.

OurWorkbench

What happens if you push the wooden button on front top of the cover of the flywheel?

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Here is a picture of one similar that does not have the fly wheel cover. https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.ne...SC_9105_sm.jpg

Littlebearkay

The metal button is attached to a thin piece of springy metal on the inner surface of the flywheel cover, i can push it over but it does nothing. The cover seems attached at three points with large screws to metal arms that are directly attached to the metal legs.
http://photos.app.goo.gl/xBSjebU767gBmf9U6
So..... There is a short handled, flat head screwdriver in one of the drawers that looks to have been hand-filed to make the head thinner and it *perfectly* fits inside the mounting screws for the flywheel cover. I can't see anything integral to the stability of the machine attached to them besides the flywheel cover...... Should I?