the finished project. I bought a $2.00 Jo-Anns big shopping bag to carry it in, I'm terrible at doing small projects
I took the turning handle to a quilt show and had Rick from Off The Wall Quilts, that makes such great seam rippers make me a cheerful handle.
I cut the wooden base down and covered it with decorater cloth

Every time I see this machine I grin. What could be better than that?

I love what you did with it!
Rodney

Great job Kalama. It looks so cute. Good idea about the shopping bag to carry it. I've got a couple soft sided rolling coolers from thrift stores that I use for machines that don't have a case. The square ones are the perfect size for a serger and I bet your Bantam would fit.

Cari

Can you link me a image?

"The Singer hand wheel was the same size as the mounting post " ..... can you explain? Where did you buy the hand crank?

Congrats on a very cute machine. I know I found mine heart-stoppingly irresistible when I happened to see it at a thrift shop ---- and it was the one that got me started wanting to collect more!
I had been very happy for years with just the 201 :o (and originally the 99 that was my first machine).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...r_1_37&sr=8-37

This is similar to what I have. It's like a rolling sewing machine case except it's square. I got mine at a thrift store for less than $10 and a serger fits perfectly inside it.

Cari

Sews, the crank hole and the mounting post were identical in size. All they would do is kiss. So I took the machine and crank to a machinist place and they fixed me right up.

I bought the crank apparatus off ebay. They are made in china now. If I had the patience to watch I expect I could have found a vintage one, but probably at a price I wouldn't be willing to pay.


thank you Cari for that link. I have no desire to be a collector of anything. Having had cancer twice in the last few years just enforces that peculiarity of mine :) But if those are small enough they look like they'd really do the job.
Since I fixed this up to take fishing I want to be mindful of keeping everything on the simple side.

So if I understand this right, the main shaft on the BelAir Bantam is larger in diameter than the Singers, soooo you had to have the machine shop hone or bore the hand wheel out so it would fit.

If I've got this right I just might try to make a HC out of my SEWMOR 303. I just happen to have a spoked hand wheel that's a loosey goosey fit on the Singer shafts. Might not be too hard to hone it to fit.

Joe

Hello, I know this is an old thread but I'm currently looking for a Bantam for myself.

Does anyone know if the A at the end of the serial number denotes Bantam in the Bel Air line?

I've seen a few on line with dodgy pictures and hard to know if it's only a Bel Air or the bantam I want.

if it is a bantam it will be on the logo under Belair. My understanding of the Japanese look alikes, there were none of the records kept like Singer has. I expect you could spend a life time in pursuit of the mfgr. tag like I have. At a total guess the A might relate to the Nagaoka plant.

The difference is size, much like the Singer 99 and 66..and the aluminum in the bantam, making it a perfect travel machine.

Joe, you asked "BelAir Bantam is larger in diameter than the Singers, soooo you had to have the machine shop hone or bore the hand wheel out so it would fit. " The holes were identical, and yes, that is what they did.

LOVE this machine.