I agree! I love the color of the clones. I love the decals on the older machines. They are just beautiful! I wish they still made machines that way instead of basic white.

Muv has another video - this time is is about threading a Singer 15 - it also applies to the Japanese 15 clones!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2tii...re=uploademail get yourself a nice cup of tea and enjoy!!!
Thank you Muv!

Seam Master 15 clone
 

My 15 clone is a Seam Master...it has a white faceplate, which I've never seen before.

My new Commander. Made for Sears (Simpsons in Canada), tag says model #148.270. The pillar says C.M.K. over the Made in Japan.

oops that is wrong - there is a delightful video on here by Muv - please watch it - she has the correct threading for the clones.

here is my Emmerson... I have no information about her, just the model number. A 109157 brass plate says...DELUX the machine that satisfies, made in Japan. If you have any information on her, like when she was born, I'd love to know! thanks...


she is in need of a super good cleaning. I dusted her off, but have not been able to take her apart and do a proper cleaning. That will have to wait until I get a digital camera at least. Plugged her in when I got her so I know she works, but I have not threaded her yet. She came without a bobbin case, but my other bobbin cases fit so that's ok. She was a gift from a friend... my first vintage and free!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]299058[/ATTACH]

Check out Janie Doe, the 15 clone - We only know her table had a date in it - Yours no doubt is older than Janie just because she's black. Here is a link to Janie: http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...r-t169127.html I think there are some links for manuals on there too.

Another Belaire clone
[ATTACH=CONFIG]299788[/ATTACH]

Looks like an old car radio. I LOVE the clones!!

That Belaire looks like an old car dashboard doesn't it - you can't see the tension - I should have taken a pic of the end of the machine - it has it's own corner for the tension and the light is in the bump out. The punch buttons are to adjust the feed dogs for FM!!! I sold that machine to a guy who came to buy a machine for his wife for Christmas - he took a look at this one and had to have it too. Cracks me up.

If he can't afford a classic car then at least he can buy his wife a sewing machine that sort of looks like a classic car...lol!

Nope - he bought that for himself...

My boss bought a red and white Belaire clone from me a couple years ago so he could park it in his living room and take it for a spin - he LOVES it - he is into sewing costumes for plays his kids are in.

Here is mine, a Revere, made in Japan. I rescued it from a dumpster outside a Goodwill store a few weeks ago. I love the color!

I am going to have it cleaned and serviced and give it to my granddaughters to use.

good choice for GDs - simple to use and very good machines.

Did you see Muv's video above? I showed Muv's video on how to thread it to my 21 year old computer friend last night. He thought he could figure one of those out - he really LOVED her video.

I'll keep my eyes open for machines like these. They are really neat.

I know there are more of these Japanese 15s out there - please keep posting pictures!!!

So much fun looking at all these lucious machine. Love all the colors. I gotta get me one.

Since no one has posted an Atlas yet, I thought I show mine. My mother brought this home one day back in the late 1960s. She worked at an auto auction - a place where used cars are bought and sold between car dealers. She said that this machine was in the trunk of one of the cars. As with all these clones, she's heavy, sturdy, and will run forever.

The photo doesn't show her at her true "pinkness."

[ATTACH=CONFIG]308486[/ATTACH]

Your Atlas is the same as mine!! I didn't post it here because it's not a 15 but it's awesome anyway. I bought mine from Lostn51 (Billy) from this forum. My young children were arguing over who was going to get it when I'm gone...:shock: :D

I brought home the Montgomery Wards 15 clone tonight. I haven't purchased it yet. I want to try FMQ with it first. Tension was off - I got that, didn't advance well - whoops, the feed dogs were down, but 1) it sounds like a tank and 2)where is the thread cutter?

It's a pretty little thing. Shiny black with moderate silver trim.

Good luck with that machine irishrose. It sounds pretty. I hope it works as well.
Janis

Pic??? Some don't have thread cutters. I bet you can get one some place. Glad you found and rescued that one. You will really like it once you get it moving. Sounds like a tank? Did you oil every moving part you can find under, inside the nose, inside the top? Check the pulley to be sure it is tight on the shaft. Clean out the bobbin shuttle - look in a manual - those pop apart to clean - lint could make it make noise. Use a flash light to shine in the holes to see that the oil hits the moving target. Move the machine as you oil so you can see what parts move - oil the friction points. Those machines move so sweet when they are oiled.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]310368[/ATTACH]The MW is as clean as a whistle. It was serviced before being stored which may be her problem. You do a machine no favors when you oil it and then not use it. I will keep sewing a little at a time and looking for more places to oil. It sews well, but stiff and noisy. The base is a little rough, but the case is in great shape with no odor. If I buy it, I will recover them.

The Admiral wouldn't sew today and it did when I bought it last summer. I discovered the belt is loose so I need to shift the motor back. I scraped off that RWB decal and the machine looks much better. It is the prettier of the two black machines [ATTACH=CONFIG]310368[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]310369[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]310370[/ATTACH]with her Art Deco decals and faceplate. THe turquoise and gold trim is a nice touch. This one has not been cleaned. The tension spring is not in the right position and not engaged, but it sews without it. I will get brave and take the tension apart. Those are good directions you linked on the first page, Miriam.

The Universal's motor is laying on a chair. I had a new cord put in it and I don't want to put the motor on until I clean the machine. As you can see, she needs it, but everything is in perfect condition so she will clean up well.

I see only the MW as a 15 clone.

Irishrose, your Universal is just like my Mama's which I'm going to get. It's in a desk type cabinet. Can't wait to get her to my house! I'm pretty sure the manual is with her, too!

Say hello to My Sweet Ada!
 

Leslie, that's a very pretty one. How nice that it's a family machine.

Nanamoms, good, then when I need help with the zz stitches, I'd like to contact you. I don't have a manual and didn't think I'd need one. We'll see. It seems that you have move certain things in certain ways in order to get her to do her thing. When I sewed on my mother's White which was very much the same, I must have stuck to straight stitch sewing or my memory is failing. I'll play after I get the motor back on. The light cord and plug in cord are fine, but the motor cord was totally bare and was attached deep in the motor with solder so I had my appliance repairman replace it. He'd never done a SM, but a motor is a motor.

Now the MW is sewing very well and is quiet except that the motor is noisy at lower speeds. The machine is quiet and at high speed sounds good. It was not clean. How can a store charge money and not remove the needle plate? It was packed with lint.

Universal Manual
 

Hi, irishrose, I will be glad to share my manual with (if there is still one there...I think there was). I need to go get the machine and cabinet from my brother's home (it's his now...he bought out our part) so now that my grandson is living with me and has a truck, we can go get it. I will let you know when it gets here!!

I've got so many machines, I am starting to have trouble finding a place for them all. And I'm constantly on the lookout for more...sad, isn't it??

[ATTACH=CONFIG]311855[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]311854[/ATTACH]Here is my 15 clone. A blue Morse! I think she is really pretty!

I like that - very nice details on this machine!!! Does she sew as good as she looks?

I LOVE the face plate on the Morse! That's too cool for words.

Love your 15 clone BoJangles - the decals are fantastic and that faceplate!!!!

Joann

jljack,

The little wire on your machine is NOT wrong. I have two and both of them are that way. There is more than one style of spring. Here is a picture of my HOTHER threaded correctly with red thread.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...s/IMG_3299.jpg
To thread the machine:
The thread from the spool goes to the thread guide on the back side of the face plate
Then down to the outside of the tensioner
Under the bottom of the tensioner then up and over the outside of the curved thread guide
Then under the bottom of the thead spring
From the spring up to the outside of the thread take-up lever
Then from the take-up lever down to the faceplate guide
Then to the guide on the needle arm
Then to the needle from the outside in, left to right as you're facing the machine.

I hope this helps.

Joe

One more comment. As I've been looking at all the beautiful machines I noticed that many of them have the presser foot down on the feed dogs. In many of the owners manuals I have there is a caution to not store the machines with the presser foot down on the feed dogs or to run the machine with the presser foot down and no material under the foot.
To keep the metal to metal contact to a bare minimum I make a little pad out of denim to put between the foot and feed dogs. You can see this pad in the pic above.

This is just a suggestion as I've replaced many presser feet that are badly scored by running on the dogs with nothing between them.

Joe

Muv has a video about threading a Singer 15 - it also applies to the Japanese 15 clones!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2tii...re=uploademail get yourself a nice cup of tea and enjoy!!!

good point - where did you replace so many presser feet? I've replaced presser feet with scars from the needle stabbing - I had one that looked like a star it had so many burrs.

wow lots of very preety sewing machines out there

Bojangles, the turquoise Morse is very pretty.

I took the faceplate off the Universal and it won't go back on. I've played with it off and on all day, but it refuses to line up. Grr.

So, now back to the regularly scheduled program:

Here are the pics of my HA-1 15 clones;

HOTHER:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...Frontsmall.jpg
The HOTHER was my mothers machine and she sewed on it for decades. Towards the late 80s it started giving her trouble so she retired it when she bought a cabinet machine. Later she gave it to my wife. Somewhere about 90 or 91 we took her Singer 538 and the HOTHER to my late uncle Charlie who owned his own sewing machine shop. He fixed the HOTHER right up for us. After that she ended up on the bottom shelf of a wooden shelving unit in the sewing room. This shelf was against a wall that adjoined the bathroom. Unknown to use the bath tub had developed a rust hole and leaked. The water seeped under the wall and the shelf unit soaked it up. The HOTHER in it's case was on the bottom shelf and also soaked up a lot of water. The old paper/fabric on the case molded and the bottom warped and the latches rusted. But somehow inside the HOTHER endured unscathed. About three months ago I dug the HOTHER off the shelve and with great dread pulled the case of her. I was thrilled. NO rust. I plugged her in and she worked. YAYYYYYYY. Unfortunately the motor wires were melted. A chemical action I think.
So I put a new motor on her and bought a used case at the local sewing machine shop. I'm working on restoring the original case but other things get in the way.
Until I get the original case finished the HOTHER will live happily in the PHAFF case.

EDISON:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...on-Hother6.jpg
We actually bid on the EDISON because it came with a complete set of attachments, a button holer, a zig-zager, a bunch of bobbins and an instruction manual for the machine and the attachments. The machine is really nice looking to but that was secondary.
The auction house said pick up only so we made a day of it and drove to Terre Haute, IN to pick it up.
When we got it in the back of my Pathfinder I was looking through all the stuff inside and I noticed a ton of bent and broken needles inside the machine case. That was a big precursor to what was to come.
When we got it home I noticed there was an interference fit between the presser foot and the needle thread guide. The feed dogs were also miss-adjusted and were impacting on the needle plate.
I used Singer 15 instructions to do some adjusting and as soon as the presser foot, needle shaft and feed dogs were adjusted I tried to sew with it. NO WAY. This poor machine was also very much out of time. So I put it back for later attention. Another project for a rainy (snowy) day.

SEWMORE 404:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...cs/SEWMORE.jpg
This machine just got here yesterday. This is what I found when we cut open the bubble wrap. The bottom of the case had litterally fallen apart. The top was in better shape but was also damaged.
From the photos from the sellers I knew the case was in bad shape but I hoped it would get to me intact. Oh well, I have lots of Elmers wood glue.
This machine is a kind of a cross between the Singer 66s with a couple features of the 15s. I'll get her cleaned up tomorrow and see if the LSMG has a case I can buy. Then I'll know for sure if she'll sew or if I'll have to coax and cajole her. More than likely I'll have to whisper sweat nothings in her hand wheel as I clean and oil her.


I want a blue one next.

Joe

Miriam,

One of the first things I check when we get a new machine is the presser foot. In the last couple three months I've found at least five of those we bought had damaged presser feet. The SEWMORE I just got is really bad. Looks as if they actually ran the machine with the foot down on the feed dogs. So, I replace them.

I've found some that are pock marked on the top from needles too. My HOTHER foot is like that. I polished that down a bit and ran the bottom over some ceramic polishing plates to touch it up. It wasn't really bad.

Joe

Oh NO Muv's video about how to work a Japanese 15 doesn't come up. I'll have to look for it again. Muv? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2tii...eature=channel
ok here we go - this one came up for me.