Okay, I was in North Carolina, went to a Flea Market and found a Singer 99 that did work when I tried it out. When I got back to Ohio, I ordered the spoke wheel and hand-crank from Sew-Classic and converted from electric to "no Electricity Necessary". The machine and case were $44.00 and then about $30.00 for the hand crank and wheel and here she is after several hours of cleaning her up and converting her. She purrs like a kitten with a perfect stitch.

YOU GO GIRL, GREAT JOB. YOU HAVE FUN.

She is very pretty

Did you use the tutorial on this site to clean it? I have been reading it, but haven't had the nerve to try it yet

awesome...want to come and clean mine up???
she also needs a tension take up spring!sigh

All I can say is, wow, I sure do LOVE electricity! Just can't imagine how many turns on that wheel it would take to make a quilt, haha. But definitely do love those old machines (to look at)

Yes I used the tutorial here plus other information from other sites - oiled/lubricated and used a mild soap on the actual machine (dish detergent, very diluted) then polished her up with car wax.

That is exactly what I want to do, convert a Singer 99 to a hand crank. Have fun.

Beautiful job!

Pat

where is the tutorial to clean an old sewing machine?

Sweet! Great job. It looks brand new.

Nice job

Wow, very nice! Was it easy to convert it to a hand crank?

Click on the bottom of the page, Topic Lists. Right at the bottom is a link to here:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/virtual...jsp?vsnum=1013

Scroll right down and it will take you to the cleaning tutorials

That type is what I learned on 4 or 5 yrs old then mom got an electric so I was 13 before I was allowed to use it

YAY!!! I did the same thing with my 1928 99...she needed a knee controller, and they are hard as hen's teeth to find. I also wanted a portable no-electric machine, so I put an open spoke handwheel and handcrank on her. She sews so quiet!! Wonderful and fun!!

Great minds think alike!! :thumbup: :thumbup: :D

Lucky you!

That's fabulous! What a pretty little thing she is, too.

One of my 99s is on my list for putting on a hand crank. Yours looks very nice!

Cute little gal. I like my no electric, foot powered gal myself - don't think my arms could take the crank but am happy for you.

I don't understand the hand crank, do you have to turn the wheel for every stitch and have the other hand to hold your pieces ?? I need both hands to hold my work and keep pieces together.

She (Fancy) sews perfectly straight with one hand and you can make it go very slowly or very fast so piecing for the quilts would be nice on the and possibly on learning FMQ (haven't tried that yet on ANY machine). But may help me learn that more quickly and quiet....wow....I thought my other vintage's were quiet...this baby is unheard at all.

Congrats! I have a hand-crank Singer. I have never used it yet. I am trying to figure out how you keep the fabric straight under the presser foot, and crank at the same time, kinda like walking and chewing gum. :roll: :lol: :roll: :lol:

Love your machine! I want to do this too! :)

wow, that is wonderful.

great job. love the new baby.

have to ask.... how long does it take to wind a bobbin by hand????? I would love to try one of these.... or a treadle!

Very pretty.

Enjoy! Enjoy! There is nothing like a hand crank machine. I have a 201K. That's what I do 98% of my sewing on. I absolutely love it.

Love it! Very pretty machine, you did a great job cleaning her up.

Wow! I didn't even know it could be done. Great job!

Oh Sewing Heaven, How did you know that I was JUST researching Sew Classic a couple hours ago? Your 99 is gorgeous! I got a free 99 from a cousin and so want to convert it to hand crank! Now I am super excited! Thanks to all for the comments. That machine has a beautiful stitch.

Very nice!

Hand crank machines are a lot of fun, and so much more portable than electrics, especially if portable means outside of the building. Yours looks great, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. I have a 99K31 like yours waiting in the wings to be converted to HC someday. I already have 3 hand cranks in service (Singers 66, 221, 28k2), and I’m currently working up a 201K for my “herd”. I’ve had several hand cranks, but they seem to find new homes regularly.

The 201K will give me a machine with a back tack again (the other 3 don’t have it), which comes in handy for sewing things other than piecing quilt blocks. I like to sew heavy duty fabrics some of the time (tarps, awnings, and such), so the 201K gets fixed up before the 99K. I still need to come up with a good storage case for my 201K.

(My avatar shows me "hand cranking" one of my Singer 29K70 Boot Patcher machines, but they're actually considered "treadles".)

CD in Oklahoma

To answer your question, I have a hand crank machine. There is a handle attached to the wheel. And yes, you have to turn that in order for the needle to go up and down and create stitches. Since your turning the crank determines how fast the needle goes up and down, it isn't hard to crank with one hand and guide the fabric with the other. Truthfully, you don't have to do much guiding. It's not as hard as you think.

What is a tension take up spring? I recently bought one but the whole tension part seems to have been taken apart and probably not put back together properly. I haven't had time to take Eunice to a shop for a check up...Thanks

Here’s a tip for anyone using a Singer HC like QuiltingHaven’s converted 99K or my 201K machine. Her hand crank is after-market and mine is original, but this works for both of them.

It helps to coordinate the HC handle with the needlebar each time after winding a bobbin or disengaging the HC finger from the wheel, to make it easier to stop with the needle in the up or down position as needed. Most of these old machines turn so easily that the weight of the HC handle can be enough to allow the needle to begin moving after you have turned loose of the crank handle. That can be aggravating as heck.

So, after winding a bobbin, tighten the clutch knob and turn the wheel until the needle is in its furthest down position. Loosen the clutch knob and turn the wheel again until the crank handle is also at the bottom of its rotation (make sure the needlebar doesn’t move while you’re doing this), and then tighten the clutch knob to begin sewing.

Now, since this type of HC is at a 3:1 ratio with the needlebar, the needle will be down at three points of the crank revolution, one of them being when the crank handle is straight down. Same thing with the needle being up: there will be three points where the needle is up during a complete revolution of the crank handle, one of them being when the handle is straight up.

Now you will know that when you stop the crank handle at the bottom of the rotation, the needle will be down, and when you stop the handle at the top of the rotation, the needle will be up. Makes hand cranking a whole lot more fun!

CD in Oklahoma

Beautiful. Have fun.

They have quite a group of handcrankers at a nearby shop here in Michigan. The Hen House (http://www.thehenhousemi.com/) has a group that meets monthly to sew. I never knew there even was such a thing.

Sometimes I wish my featherweight had a handle on the wheel, for lifting the needle.

That's possible. Here’s one, but I can’t set it as I described for the other hand cranks.

CD in Oklahoma