bkay

There's a video on this board on how to clean a sewing machine: http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...v-t167789.html. She uses a treadle machine for her example, but an old sewing machine is an old sewing machine. It was very helpful to me when cleaning my first sewing machine, a Singer 201-2. If you want more "how-to", enter "cleaning a singer 66" on youtube.com. Lots of videos will come up.

Welcome and good luck with your machine.

bkay

leonf

If I am getting rid of a machine with dangerous wiring, I may cut the plug off. That says, "Don't plug this puppy in unless you have checked the wiring, know what you are doing and fixed it. Another cheap alternative is turning it into a hand crank. But keep the motor and control if something else comes along and you want to invest time or money into repairs. I bought two machines last week that had bare aluminum showing instead of insulation. They could be deadly if I plugged them in.

Mickey2

Cut bad wiring but let us keep the plugs!! I need both hands free to do more than a few stitches, and I like the original motor and light on these machines. All the pre 1950s machines I have had my hands on needed rewiring, and on 1920s machine I had it was literally cumbling away, the woven outer part was fine but the inner rubber insulation was hard and no longer doing its' job in the least. There's no point in converting a machine to hand crank because it's easy, it has to be because you want a hand crank. The orignal Singer motor is very good compared to the replacement motors around. Most of the pedal replacements on ebay are exactly the same as the old speed controllers (carbon resistors).

miriam

I would never spray junk on the machine. You can't control where it goes.

I love my HC. I have flatfelled curved seams left handed with it. It is a matter of practicing control one handed. You would be a better seamstress if you could use you left hand. I'm sssooo not left handed.

Mickey2

LOL, the hand crank has its' advantages, I want to try out a treadle too. They take up a lot of room, I have 5 of these know, two in a cabinet lol

coopah

There used to be a group of Featherweight enthusiasts that met monthly in Burlington, WA. You might check with local sewing machine shops/fabric stores to see if they know anything about it. If you could get their contact information, you'd probably be able to get a lot of information.