Assistance with a Singer 66
 

Hello all,

Just joined, first post, and I'm looking for some assistance. We live on a boat and after doing research, I settled on a 66 for a few canvas projects we need to complete. I bought this machine off of eBay knowing it had a few parts missing. I've ordered a slide plate cover, and a set of bobbins, but I just realized that it appears to be missing the bobbin case as well. Can any of you confirm this, and advise of any other parts it appears to be missing? I think the bobbin case is the last, but just need to make sure.

Thanks in advance!

Chris

More photos...

God news. bobbins drop in and your area is intact. Welcome aboard. your 66 has a crinkly finish often called a Godzila. It is a newer machine with the spotlight lamp and reverse. ( woo hoo.) if your lamp is out ask for directions on how to change it.

There is an introduce yourself forum should you want to tell us a bit more about you.

Your 66 could be converted to hand crank should your three hour tour turn into months. ( hehe)

Welcome aboard.

Welcome. As Leon said it is a horizontal drop in bobbin. You will want some sort of sturdy base or case for it.

You can find a manual for your machine at https://res.cloudinary.com/singer-se...ng_Machine.pdf The instructions for changing the light bulb is on page 5 of the pdf and how to install the bobbin cover slide plate can be found on page 15 of the pdf. The slide plate is often missing as one tries to put it on sliding left to right instead of right to left.

I don't know if they have led bulbs for this machine, but more than likely there are. Also the lens covering can sometimes be tricky to remove and replace.

Have fun.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

Welcome to the Board! Singer 66s are great machines. You will need a base for it, as it rests on moving parts at the bobbin end without a base. I make bases out of 1"x6" board ripped in half, 6 pieces of wood total, it requires some router work (e.g. for the hinge pin fittings on the back side). Frankly, for the work you're talking about I would want a wider footprint on the base, from front to back.
If you're going to be working on canvas, I'm wondering about the belt on the motor in the picture. I recently cleaned up a machine and with a cogged belt it would not spin up all the way, but with a v-belt it would. You should get a proper Singer belt for this machine. You can test all of this after you service the machine.

I figured that I would have to get a new belt for it anyway, but I was waiting until it arrived before I dove into that. Like any maker, I have a tendency to jump into things head and finacially first. I know that this is probably a .5 or .7 amp motor, and I know that 1.2a motors are available so that may be something else I switch up.

I opted to go this route because these machines were built of quality materials, have plenty of power for my needs, and have been going strong for decades. I couldn't justify paying $800 or more for a straight stitch Sailrite machine, when this does essentially the same thing, and has been for decades and decades now.

I hope it's a pre-1960's machine. I've heard that 60's machines and newer sometimes have plastic gears. Any truth to that? I'm not sure when Singer quit making the 66.

I didn't get the serial number for this one to verify that it was a 66, so I'm not quite sure when it was built. This one was cheap so I relied on the visuals to verify, i.e. "ski slope" neck, badge placement, crinkle finish, back/tack switch placement.

You have a 66-18, which I gave a link to the manual for in my previous post. The manual is dated 1952. My 66-18 is from 1950.

It appears that the serial number on your machine starts with AK which would mean that the serial number was allocated between November 1950 and April 1952.

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

Wow! How’d you see that so fast! I had to zoom way in!! I didn’t notice that when I originally looked at the listing.

Your machine is metal, no plastic gears anywhere. You can do some basic maintenance on that motor before jumping to one with high amperage (if some is good more may not be better): 1. remove the brush covers and remove the brushes, 2. remove the silver tubes at each end which house a grease wick (with maybe a spring at the top end to push the wick down), 3. spray out the motor with CRC QD electronics cleaner, 4. make new grease wicks (I've sued wool felt) and saturate with grease (Tri Flo or petroleum jelly), fill the ports under the tubes also, reinstall, 5. wipe off the brushes very carefully, reinstall with covers. I have a small inverter that runs off my 18v battery system for power tools which I use when testing a motor, rather wreck that than catch the house on file. If/when you test the motor use a circuit breaker protected power strip. You might be happy with the Singer motor.

Also when sewing heavier materials you need to use a heavier needle and larger thread.

Thank for a very thorough tutorial for the motor. However, I think the consensus of those that deal with them more and longer than I have, is not to use Tri-Flow for the the motors that use a wick.

A couple of examples -
https://www.quiltingboard.com/vintag...n-t183796.html and https://archaicarcane.com/a-search-f...e-replacement/
It seems like, that initially, when the sewing machine world extolled the virtues of Tri-Flow that it was suggested that it could be used anywhere the Vintage Singer Lube could. A few years later, that changed for motors as it didn't work like it should.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

One more thing...

Knowing that I'm going to be sewing through at least two, if not 4 layers of canvas, along with clear vinyl material of .03 or .04 thickness, which needles would you suggest?

A lot of the leather workers seem to use Schmetz of varying sizes.

Soooo... I just realized that it appears the bobbin winder assembly is missing on mine.

Guess it's back to part shopping.

ETA: Nevermind, it looks like it's all there. It goes down to the hook on the bottom right hand corner and then up to the winder spindle.

The funny thing about it is that I've never purchased or used Tri Flow, just petroleum jelly and old (red/green) Singer lube until it ran out. I thought I'd read recently about using it in motors, so that's why I mentioned it.

I can only respond by suggesting a search for "sewing machine needle chart" or something similar which will give you many results including something like this

https://littleragamuffin.com/choosin...t-size-needle/

As to brand, I have no opinion, but you could try several and if you're sewing heavy material you'll want to have plenty of needles on hand anyway!

Yeah, after I posted that I started researching more yesterday. All of the numbers associated with needles was confusing me quite a bit, but I think I've got it sorted out. Thanks for that link though!

So it just arrived!!

I bought this for $99 on ebay because it was free shipping. If shipping was about $30, I figure I paid about $70 for the machine.

After plugging it up, the lamp lit right up and the machine did run. However it is extremely dry, caked up with lint and other dirt and dust, and the motor smelled a little. You know that old electrical kind of smell. The finish is in amazing shape, there isn't a lot of rust, barely any actually. The belt actually seems to be in good condition, but I'm going to look for something a little more sturdy.

Tomorrow I'll start tearing it down. A guy named Bob Fowler on youtube posted a series of videos rebuilding a 66 and I feel like I can completely take this apart with the help of those videos, and clean/buff all the parts before reassembling and oiling everything. I'll tear the lamp down as well as the motor and the foot pedal and replace all the wiring as well.

I'm super excited about this project!

Two more of the bottom side...

I have about 10 machines headed your way for clean up!!

Have fun with it, and report back.

If there's any 66's you might only get 9 back!! LOL

I've already got the lamp, foot pedal, and motor disassembled and prepped for cleaning. Tomorrow I start breaking down all the internal pieces!

I think I’ve gone as far as my little coffee table workshop will allow me to go. I was hoping to get the needle bar out, as well as the main and vertical shafts but, they are moving freely a s smoothly so I think I’ll leave them alone. The needle bar can be buffed where it’s at with a Dremel and this way I won’t have to redo timining, I don’t think. Tomorrow starts the cleaning, buffing, shining, and I’m going to repaint the back/tack lever.

Looks as though you removed the hook assembly ??, holds the bobbin case, so you will be learning to set the timing anyway.

I use a bore brush with sewing machine oil to clean out any holes which have shafts moving in or through them.

And there is a set screw in the body to the right of where the tension assembly is which allows you to remove the housing which holds the tension parts, if you want to clean it which it looks as though you might.

THATS WHERE IT IS!! Thanks!

I had a hard time seeing things with the inadequate lighting last night. I’m going to get a head lamp today to see better. I’m also going to set up my laptop and rewatch Bobs videos.

I've got everything put back together, but this BZ 6-8 motor is apparently shot. I took it apart yesterday and cleaned it up but there is a TON of grease and carbon on the windings. When I wired everything back up it spins but it is heavily bogged down and barely moves the machine.

Since they're so cheap, I'm just going to replace it with a new motor. And since I'll be sewing canvas, something with a little more power will be good anyway.

Any suggestions? I've seen a few videos on youtube where Vincent put a 1.2a Alphasew motor on. Everything looks pretty universal.

I hate to see motors end up in an early grave, so I gotta ask: with the belt removed, does the machine spin freely by hand? And by freely I mean when you give the hand wheel a spin it should go for multiple revolutions before it slows down and stops. When you spin it by hand, is it stopping at the same point in the machine cycle each time? I just finished a 66 and had to adjust the feed dogs ever so slightly as there was some binding and the machine stopped in the same spot every time I spun it up. Does the motor spin freely detached from the machine when you power it up? Don't step on the gas and stay there but see if it spins up by itself.

If the machine spins freely and the motor spins freely, you may have a belt problem. You should have a proper v-belt to test it. I posted about the World's Best Sewing Machine, which I happen to own, and the motor ran well, the machine was smooth, but when I hooked it up with the cogged belt that came with it I couldn't get any RPMs, but with a new v-belt and the tension just so, it took off the way it was supposed to.

And if you end up ditching the motor feel free to send it to me!!

There are some fine adjustments that need to be made with the machine because it’s not as smooth as it should be, and maybe I just need to oil it more than I have since it’s been dry for who knows how long, but the motor has issues to. I took the belt completely off the machine and ran the motor without the belt and it’s spotty, and bogged down. It’s makes a whizzing noise that’s not normal and sometimes even more towards grinding. It doesn’t spin at full speed either, and as it ran it got slower and slower and slower. Almost to a full stop. It also has that old electrical burnt smell.

Hmm it sounds as though the motor could be a problem...https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/smile.png

As it turns out, I had the large screw under the wheel that holds the stitch length lever on, too tight. It was causing the fork to not move freely around the cam. I slightly loosened it and now I have a full range of motion. If I “flick” the wheel it will go a few revolutions on its own before stopping.

I also put the new Alphasew 1.5a motor on and at full throttle the machine bounces! It’s crazy fast. Too fast!

Now I just need an extremely good quality rubber V belt.