AlvaStitcher

We drove an hour south of us last Saturday to purchase this White treadle machine. $35.00!!! I am beyond excited. I have wanted a treadle machine for a very long time. The cabinet is beautiful although in need of some TLC. My husband has dismantled it and has begun restoring the finish, replacing pieces of chipped veneer, etc. It will be lovely when done. I have not yet begun to clean the machine but hope to find time this week or weekend. [ATTACH=CONFIG]613924[/ATTACH] I think I got a great deal. Does anyone know the model # for this or where I can look to get that information? The serial number is RR 224886.

leonf

You gor a great deal.. I bet you were singing all the way home. They are nice machines. Don't use any water based anything to clean it. Sewing machine oil will make it shine. There is a woman who has an extensive database of White machines. Someone lese will have contact info.

AlvaStitcher

Thank you Leon. I Was singing. LOL. Yes, I am going to use sewing machine oil to clean it up. There is a lot of old oil and grease on it as well as some rust. The stitch length lever won’t move but I suspect it is because of rust. I will find out as soon as I tear it apart for cleaning.

AlvaStitcher

I’ve spent 2.5 hrs this morning starting to clean the machine. It is very dirty and I have gotten a lot of the old oil cleaned off and a boatload of lint cleaned out of the bobbin area. The stitch length lever will still not move. I soaked down the area with machine oil so I’m hoping it will loosen up. Tried tapping it with a hammer but still stuck. Any suggestions? Also...I took a picture of the bobbin hook area before removing it but a very small spring fell out and I don’t know where it fell from. Could it have been in the cover plate for the bobbin area? Any and all assistance is appreciated. I’m certain I will be back with more questions and I hope I don’t wear out my welcome here. LOL

leonf

Coil spring or a leaf spring? I don't have one at hand.

pocoellie

What a gorgeous machine, even without you cleaning, I can only image how gorgeous it will be once cleaned.

luvstoquilt

Just beautiful!

juliasb

Great find. Glad you have this new family member.

RotaryQueen

Great color in your decals! Mr. White was the first of my vintage SM collection. A very strong sewing machine with the largest harp space of the household SM. I had to remove an unbelievable amount of lint and wound thread from the bobbin area and yet he still turned!
Treadleon.net has some great information about working on this machine. Here are two examples:
http://www.treadleon.net/sewingmachi...aceplaste.html
http://treadleon.net/sewingmachinesh...itewheels.html

Do not try to take the tension assembly apart! I never tried, but that is the warning I've seen on several pages. If you are interested in attempting free-motion quilting (there is no darning foot available to fit the bottom clamping mechanism, at least none I've ever found) there are some great posts and videos from Tim Latimer on using a White Family Rotary treadle to thread paint and FMQ. His website is www.timquilts.com
Here is a video of one of his White treadles. He explains about the feet.
https://youtu.be/yWRhe-n9KWA

AlvaStitcher

RotaryQueen, Thank you for the links regarding working on the White. I took the tension assembly apart on my White Model 45 (?) a few months ago and ended up sending it out to my machine repairman to put back together. I will not touch this one!
I do have a question for anyone...Is it possible to clean up the wheel on my machine to return it to a shiny surface? It looks so drab but I guess if I was over 100 years old I would be more than just drab. LOL. Still not able to loosen the stitch length lever. Grrrrr.