Originally Posted by
michellebewell
Hi Friends,
I have recently aquired a minnesota A treadle, and would love to get in working condition!!
Does anyone know if the bobbins and shuttles for this machine are available anywhere?
Thanks for any information re: those items or care/maintenance of this machine in general. I am a newbee!!
Blessings,
Michelle
Most Minnesota models, including Minnesota A, where made by Davis. Pictures would help to tell for sure.
Most Davis machines took a special needle (1x2, aka Boye # 9) that is very hard to come by, and standard 15x1 needles just don't work. But you may get lucky and it takes a more common needle. Please check the ISMACS needle list for your machine, available here (you'll need a PDF viewer):
http://ismacs.net/needle_and_shank/i...edle-list.html
Luckily Davis shuttles are fairly common. There's a good picture of one on this catalogue scan here:
http://ismacs.net/shuttleidentificat...g-page-28.html and the shuttles are also called a Boye # 3. New old stock ones usually go for around $25 which is about average for a sewing machine shuttle. The shuttles also work well with Singer long bobbins, they fit a bit loose lengthwise but I haven't had a single problem using them in two different machines. Singer long bobbins are very common in both vintage and brand new repros! Either are usually very good.