Johncn

Hello,

My wife and I recently purchased a lovely 401A at a Central Florida thrift store to replace a 1960s-era nylon gear machine that disintegrated in the middle of our tent camper makeover project. We are not sewing enthusiasts, per se, but have learned lots of from the Quilting Board for our last machine. The 401 had been frequently mentioned on this forum and others, so we were pleased to find one that seemed operational (motor came on, things moved), but had a layer of dust and grime from sitting out in a shed or garage for a while. There were many "mud dauber" (type of wasp) nests on the outside and the machine compartment.

We removed the machine, and it rode in the passenger compartment of our truck while the dirty cabinet rode in the back. Upon getting it home, we began a quick cleaning, and the machine itself seemed relatively very clean inside....a bonus. My wife is currently oiling and greasing it with TriFlow.

My post, however, is about trying to identify the beautiful cabinet this machine is in. When we saw it in the shop, it was quite large, didn't seem assembled correctly (it just hadn't been folded the right way) and was quite dirty on the surface. Because we live in a condo, we were hesitant to even take it with us. They said "as is" means we had to remove it, so home it went.

We were really quite surprised at how nice the cabinet itself looks. After wiping down and removing the wasp nests, it simply gleams with mid-century charm. The mystery cabinet is a blonde wood / veneer combo with spindle legs, knee control, and a split personality. When fully extended, it's huge. Larger than a "card table" model...and perfect for my wife's quilting projects. When completely folded, it's just the size of small desk.

Anyway, I have searched several times over the last couple of days, and can't find information on this cabinet. I'm stumped. It There is a maker's mark on the bottom of the cabinet, but it's blurred, and appears to have been smeared when originally done. It's looks kind of like a "NBSP and PNo400" in a circle.

I've attached some pictures here, including a top-down shot of the machine as we opened it...so a "before" cleaning image. The two cabinet knobs are off on the drawer because there was a wasp nest covering them, and they are being cleaned. If anyone has any advice about how I could learn more about the cabinet, we'd sure appreciate it. I'm sort of fascinated by how hard it is to find other examples. Must be my OCD kicking in!

Thanks in advance for any assistance the wise members the Quilting Board can provide.

John


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OurWorkbench

I think those are neat. If you look at post #23 here -> Singer 401/A you can find a description of it.

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

Cari-in-Oly

Janey beat me to it. It's a school cabinet.

Cari

QuiltnNan

what a lovely cabinet/table it came in

Stitchnripper

That is a fabulous cabinet! Nice machine too. I have one that took me a long time to unstick the cam stack.

Johncn

Thanks for all the quick replies. We were excited to learn that it is a Model 403 3-way Sewing Desk, but in a different color than the one mentioned above. Apparently, these were used by some schools for teaching sewing, and so served as both a work table and an instructional desk. The amount of collective wisdom in an active enthusiast's forum like is amazing, and far exceeds the brainpower of Google.

Any additional info appreciated, and thanks to those who took the time to comment.

Regards,

john

QuiltMom2

I really like that cabinet!

lindaschipper

I know nothing about the cabinet except that I like it and wish I had it!! LOL

OurWorkbench

Welcome, John.

I think that in the post that I linked to, the numbers were transposed as according to Needlebar it is number 430. It looks like there are three pictures on Needlebar - the middle one is http://needlebar.org/cm/displayimage..._display_media

When I did a search for Singer +"3-way Sewing Desk" I found a 1959 a copyright entry here
Interesting though, it calls it "set 432"

It sounds like you have read some of the vintage threads. There are a lot of similarities between the slant shank machines. One of the threads that I and others have referenced is this one

Another good link for slant shank Singers is this one

Did you get a manual with your machine? I personally didn't think the knobs for the decorative stitches was very intuitive. You can find a manual at http://www.singerco.com/support/instruction-manuals You don't put the "A" in the search box.

Have fun with machine and cabinet. I like the cabinet, too. Mine doesn't look near as nice. Some day I need to take measurements for the runners underneath to see if I could find a tote to slide into.

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

Johncn

Thanks, that is also helpful.

We are checking out the other links you included. The "accessories" were mostly missing for the 401A, but on the scale of things to complain about with a vintage machine, that is pretty much not an issue. The manual did not come with it, but we downloaded the user manual and the service manual from various searches. Hopefully will only need the former.

Because my wife and I are both retired educators, it is certainly appropriate that the blonde cabinet we found is former school issue....lol.

Really appreciate everyone's comments. This is a friendly forum compared to some I have used or moderated. I really like "forum format" better than the other more instantaneous "social media" tools. Forums allow for focused, sustained thought and discussion, and documentation of info and processes that help others over a longer period of time in ways that "new media's" immediately there / immediately POOF! formats don't. Forum threads become an archive of information. And this forum seems to have kept up with VBulletin updates and tools...well run IMHO.

Regards,

John