Singer Sewing Motor BAK 4 12
 

I have just acquired a circa 1957 Singer 15K with a late version of this motor fitted and am wondering if lubrication is part of the maintenance schedule. There are no obvious grease points on the outside of the casing as on earlier BAK or BRK - S motors. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

I have a beige 1955 201K with similar belt driven motor. There are two tiny holes at each end of the motor reaching the motor axle, (in other words bearings). Inside there is a type of wadding, and it's meant to be oiled. My 99K and black cast iron 201K has obvious grease ports, shiny metal tube like things; the Singer tube with motor grease fits perfectly in the tube opening. I hope this helps, I can't take pictures until tomorrow. If the machine has been used a lot you can open the motor and check bearings and carbon brushes, clean out carbon dust etc. I think you are meant to add grease once or twice a year, oil more frequently; a drop once a month or so is my guess. There isn't much wadding, just a bit, but it takes a few drops to soak up enough to reach the ends of the motor axle if it's dry.

According to http://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/motors/ BAK motors were for 15K, 99K, 185K, 201K23, 306K I looked at my 306 and it has a BA 3 motor. When I looked at the 306W25 service manual I found this tidbit of information on page 77. Found manual at http://parts.singerco.com/IPsvcManuals/

"On all latest machines shipped from the factory, the two grease tubes Y7, Fig. 153 have been eliminated.
The motor requires no lubrication."

I gather that you do not have a manual that came with your particular machine.


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

Hi
Thanks for the response
I'm not exactly sure where I should be looking for these tiny holes. Are they easy to miss? Some photographs would be great if you get the chance.

I think this machine has seen regular domestic use but not for many years. It was very fluffy and dry when it arrived. I get the impression that it has spent most of its life in the home of a heavy-smoking, cat owning, seamstress.

Shortly after turning on one of the capacitors in the foot pedal went phutt and set the machine going by itself. I have heard of this happening but this was the first time I've witnessed it first hand. Rather eerie the ghost in the machine! I opened the pedal to whip out the capacitors and found the whole button and linkage area choked with pet hair and fluff. Glad to get it clean now.

I may open up the motor to carry out the checks as you suggest. I have the user manual for the earlier type BAK motors so hopefully that will be of use.

Thanks again for taking the trouble to respond.
Regards
G

Hi
Thanks for the response. The original manual wasn't with the machine so I purchased a PDF of the manual for 15K110, 15K111 and 15K112 (mine is the 15K112; solid handwheel and belt drive electric motor). There's all the usual stuff in the manual plus some more detailed bits on taking the tension and shuttle race apart for cleaning.

The links you sent are interesting and useful. Funny that Singer suddenly went lube free on these motors after years of selling tubes of grease. It's one thing to say that the motor requires no lubrication but I wonder, if after 61 years, it would appreciate so petroleum jelly in the bearings. It's looking like I might have got get inside this one to see if I can getting running more quietly. Has anyone ever tried sourcing and replacing bearings on a noisy motor?

Regards
G

There are no bearings in the motor, the spindle sits in a hole in the bakelite casing at both ends. They don't need lubing. Cleaning the contacts and replacing the brushes are the only reason you need to disasemble a motor. On older motors, the 2 metal grease tubes were located on top of the round part at each end of the motor. The motors are of the exact same design, so not sure why they got rid of the tubes unless they realized they just weren't needed.