Thread: You've just gotta love the 'Little Old Ladies' (3/4 size or smaller vintage machine)

Originally Posted by craftiladi

Cathy I was afraid you were going to say that, if I were to bore another hole could I make it work?

NO - the machine is at an angle and the HC has to go straight - You have to get it tight enough to not flop around and mar the machine.

Dee,

There are a number of things that have to match up to make this work. The center of the HC must line up with the main shaft (if the handwheel is in alignment with this shaft). The HC body must be far enough away from the handwheel so as to not rub it. The handwheel must have spokes or be notched to take the finger of the HC. The usual method of securing the HC to the body of the machine is to bolt through the motor boss, with the ridges of the boss keeping the HC from twisting side to side (and it will twist if not secure). There are probably a few other things that I not thinking of right now.
Having said all of that, if an adaptor was made to bolt securely to the machine body and the HC was secured to the adaptor, and the spacing from HC to handwheel was proper (possibly adjustable with the adaptor thickness), then it may work.
I once saw a setup like I described done to allow a class 31 Singer be handcranked. Why someone wanted to do that I don't know, but it did work.

Cathy

Originally Posted by craftiladi

Cathy I was afraid you were going to say that, if I were to bore another hole could I make it work?

Those Class 31 Singers should turn nice & easy on a HC or a treadle. There was a lady at Ray White's class made a free standing hand crank out of a knife sharpener crank. She added some wood and a peg to make it work on any spoked wheel sewing machine. The height was adjustable. You may be able to attach something like that to the base your machine is setting in.

Miriam,

Was that knife sharpener HC geared so that you turned it clockwise and it turned the handwheel counterclockwise?

cathy

Originally Posted by miriam

Those Class 31 Singers should turn nice & easy on a HC or a treadle. There was a lady at Ray White's class made a free standing hand crank out of a knife sharpener crank. She added some wood and a peg to make it work on any spoked wheel sewing machine. The height was adjustable. You may be able to attach something like that to the base your machine is setting in.

I think it might have been. She had a really cool rig. She bought the knife sharpener and then build something for it to go on. I think if you mounted it on an adjustable frame it would be even better.

AWE cute. I picked up a 3/4 size Minnesota not too long ago - looks much the same. I haven't had time to test it out. It looks like they could be cousins.

you can almost see the balance wheel - I made a little cover - I had a piece of quilted fabric and an embroidered doily for a pocket and some ribbon around the edges and for ties... It is covering a little Singer Spartan.

I have to tell one on Cinderella. Someone came to my shop to buy a machine and saw my Cinderella machine. They wanted to know how much I wanted. I told them I would have to ask my DGD if it could sell it or not. So I called and asked DD to ask Miss L if it was ok if I sold Cinderella. There was a very short pause and I heard her say, "To me???" So Cinderella is waiting for DDs permission to let Miss L have Cinderella. In the mean time Miss L visits Cinderella every time she stops by... Actually she is making sure Cinderella is still there....