SteveH

Well done. I appreciate the continuous progress. So many folks forget to clean the oil holes and then every time they oil they are feeding crud into the machine. Glad to see that you pay attention to those details. Very nice!

OurWorkbench

Thank you, all, for all the positive feedback. And for following this experience of hopefully bringing this machine back into working order. I'm trying to get as much crud out as I can. I will tell later what I did over the weekend but I'm still wondering about the roller as there are a couple of spots that seem to be not quite right. This is where one of the spots where it seems a little sticky from a before photo.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]538541[/ATTACH]

and this is in a little different position - but it is still stiffly going through the same place as in the above picture.

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There is another place, too but on the other side and not as bad.

Has anybody taken this apart and/or do any of you have an exploded view? I'm wondering if it is similar to a bobbin winder spring on some of the Singers. It appears one end goes into the shaft and the other end is loose. I'm wondering if part of it is broken off? and also if it really is supposed to roll around in the track of the large cam at the base of the pillar?

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

SteveH

yes, that is how it was supposed to work. This specific mechanism and it's issues is what lead to the marketing term (for companies not using this anymore) "Light Running" The effort required to use this original Howe design is significantly more than later drive methods.

BTW, this drive method is also used in the Patchers (29-4,etc) and any other place where solid drive force is needed. In the early days, a sewing machine had to be able to sew silk AND leather (really sew it) so these designs worked well. Once machines became more specialized (for home vs industrial/shop) this design was no longer optimal

OurWorkbench

Thank you. I'm going to guess that should I be able to get it loose and off to clean that it would mess with the timing? The lavender arrow part does not rotate at all. It is always facing the same way while completely going all the way around the track. The red arrows are a wire and do not go completely around the shaft. The left end is the one that goes into the shaft and the right one is loose.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]538621[/ATTACH]

I tried to wrap a piece of bicycle tube around the lavender arrowed piece to see if I could get it to rotate -- no luck.

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

OurWorkbench

One thing I worked on over the weekend was the pressure regulator thumb screw & spring. I didn't take pictures of this process. Yes, I know, I covered that area before, but since I couldn't get the screw all the way in, I decided to work on that. IIRC it was CD that reminded us at some point that one should sometimes turn a screw back in as it is coming out to distribute the gunk a little bit. I had tried to clean a bit around in there with multiple sizes of the airbrush cleaner brushes and still couldn't get it past where it had lived for a really long time. I had had such good luck with Kroil on the stitch length regulator that I decided to try that in there. I sprayed some in and took the brushes to it. I was able to go a little further. I twisted the thumb screw back and forth a bit. Took it out and cleaned off the threads of the thumb screw. Repeated multiple times until I could get the thumb screw all the way in. I then put the spring in and pulled it back out and there was a bunch of gunk on it. Cleaned off the spring and repeated a few times.

I didn't take a picture of it, but I also took the screw out on the solid arm that is connected to the take up lever and cleaned it off some.

I was looking at a similar machine on Needlebar and noticed that it looked like there was a washer on the front edge of the feed dog mechanism. Upon comparing mine, I saw that mine had the washer on the left side rather than the right.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]538689[/ATTACH]

I had put the needle plate last week and noticed that the feed dogs seemed to be closer to the race side of the opening rather than centered. I thought maybe the washer was on the wrong side and maybe I should change it. So I started taking it apart.

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After removing the screw, I realized there was something else in the hole.

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It was a gunky spring

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This is the end view after getting the spring and screw out.

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Stay tuned for a BIG NO-NO - shame on me

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

Rodney

That sure looks like a roller that should spin to me. The short wire is a pin keeping it on it's shaft. You may need to take things apart quite a ways to get to it and clean the shaft of the old dried gunk that's bound to be in there. Probably not an easy chore. I just hope there hasn't been a flat spot worn in it over the years.
Rodney

OurWorkbench

I guess I better 'fess up to what I did - that I shouldn't have. Like most everything on this machine there is a lot of dried oil that prevents getting the parts to slide nicely out. When working to get the washer out of the front, the lever was not sliding out. Here is the side with the screw and spring out (also seen at http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...ml#post7412487 ).

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This is what I used to move it out with.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]538843[/ATTACH]

Why I grabbed that screwdriver - I don't know. I have several close by and one has plastic tubing on it. I also had the rubber strip close by as well. Consequently this happened.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]538844[/ATTACH]

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

OurWorkbench

Well it has been over a week now since I took the feed dog lever off and think I better post the pictures.

After getting the lever out,there was a bunch of crud at the end in the hole

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and the washer looked like this

[ATTACH=CONFIG]538922[/ATTACH]

this is the side that was next to the lever

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The screw, spring and washer after cleaning and polishing (with silver polish & 0000 steel wool)

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The screw still looked like it had some crud in the threads. I tried the brass brush on the Dremel with the screw clamped into the vise. Still cruddy, so I took some dental floss and was able to get more out.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]538925[/ATTACH]

Upon further inspection I decided that the washer was in the correct position so that it prevents the spring from getting twisted in the oblong hole at the end of the lever.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]538926[/ATTACH]

This past week I haven't been taking many pictures. I have cleaned some more at the joints trying to get the dried oil off. I mainly use my fingernail or a cuticle stick or a plastic scraper. I have oiled multiple times and then go back and try to scrape off some more.

I guess it is time to move on to the irons and table top. I have been re-reading posts about restoring wood & irons. So many things spinning around in my head. I do have boiled linseed oil and vinegar. I also have Kiwi shoe polish. I also was doing some research on Briwax and found that there are two formulas. Also, something that I read about the Briwax was that because of the solvent used (I think in both - but different solvents in each) that it will clean as well as polish. Should I decide to go that route (Briwax) that probably "Tudor Brown" would be what would work well for the black walnut wood. I took some pictures of the table late yesterday afternoon, but haven't downloaded, yet. I went and looked again in brighter light this morning and found a date of Dec. 28, 1875 on the bracket for the extension leaf. Now it is one hundred forty years old (or at least the bracket is).

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

SteveH

very nice! The chip is unfortunate, but not unique (been there, done that)

Very nice cleaning job so far. Lot's of close up pics, but how about a more inclusive to see the overall change/improvement?

OurWorkbench

Thank you, Steve.

I've been thinking that I needed to post 'overall' comparison and came up with these!

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My. my, how time does fly when you're having fun. I just realized that it has been 47 days that I have had this machine.

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