Featherweight Case Facelift
 

I recently became the very delighted owner of a 1953 Featherweight. The case looks pretty good on the outside.. a little polish and it'll be good to go. The inside not so much... it smells, of course, and the side tray is detached. The fabric is not in good shape and I would like to clean it out and line it with something else. The problem is the foot controller bracket, it is held in with rivets. I have seen other case restorations and it looks like the bracket has been removed and reinstalled with screws rather than rivets, my question is how does one remove the rivets without damaging the covering on the exterior of the case? Any help appreciated...

The featherweight shop has a tutorial on how to refinish the case (outside). It has been a while since I watched it and I do not remember is they did anything to the inside.

My brother in law found a featherweight in the addic of my in-laws house (we bought the house when they passed) one of two things in the attic (why?). It smells so moldy! Case is in the garage, machine is in the basement even the machine smells things up. I’ve tried everything. Baking soda, sealed in a bag of cat litter, washed everything. Book and attachments even smell! Any other ideas to clean up the smell???

Crqltr, did you change out the oil pad on the machine? That was what reeked when I received my featherweight.

The video from the Featherweight shop only addresses cleaning the outside (works great too) From what I've read about the smell inside the cases it is from using the type of glue that was available at the time. That being the reason the only way I can see to eliminate the smell is to remove the lining clean out the old glue and reline the case. I did read that some people had success using heat to remove the odor but that doesn't help with the poor condition of the interior fabric. I can't figure out why the case is so damaged on the inside but the machine is nearly pristine. Other than a few surface scratches it looks great, even the decals aren't marked. Maybe they left the machine out and used the case for something else...

My stinky Featherweight case is in the basement and has been for years. I have tried EVERYTHING to get the smell out and nothing worked. It literally makes me nauseous (but I'm pretty sensitive to smells). I tried using a product I purchased and it just made the machine stink too but didn't help the case. The smell on the machine has faded a little bit and I keep mine in a "Husky" bag I bought at Home Depot that is the perfect size. I really want to buy a reproduction case for the Featherweight but they are pricey. So basically, I'm no help! :)

I finally got tired of the smell and sold mine. It smelled like a bad day at my Grandmother's house, sort of an oily smell too.

I am trying putting coffee beans in a dish inside the case and closing the lid. I'll wait about a month to see if it helps the "smell". If not......at least it's another thing to try!

I tried everything from deer kill cleaner to coal etc. On my 301, I finally ripped out all of the fabric and sanded down as much glue as possible. I then covered the inside with polyurethane. It needs one more sanding and poly, but the smell is almost gone. Then I will decide how and what to put on the inside. I may just decoupage it.

Have you contacted "the Featherweight shop" to see what they recommend? I get their emails from when I was working on my case. They are extremely helpful with videos too.

I am lucky. My two cases don’t smell bad at all. One case does need a new handle and I will get around to changing that soon.

Someone told me that the smell is from the glue they used on the cases...either rabbit or horse glue. The smell is the glue decomposing. I'm thinking about just disguising the smell with another smell. Those "odor bubbles" sold by Yankee Candle is what I'm going to try next. They come in a jar and are supposed to be used for small areas. Right now, I'm sticking with the coffee beans, but maybe I'll try these other gel/bubble thingies later.

I think cases go stinky from storage conditions, since not all cases have ended up stinky over the years. I'm just guessing it's not the glue on it's own. I think the Featherweight shop have found something clever, and I personally lean towards leaving the case open in a dry, heated and ventilated room. Leave it outside for a few hours on a sunny day, keep at it and it will air off. Sunlight can work wonders. I like the bamboo charcoal bags and satches they sell now, they are ideal for situation where the lid is closed. There is an old thread (or several) were we have gathered all the clever methods that have worked in cases like this. I had a very (!) musty smelly cardboard accessory box; I cleaned it lightly, and left it open on a book shelf. The worst aired off withing a few weeks or months, but it took two years before the smell was completely gone.

Hate to tell you this Nora, but I tried the Yankee Candle bubbles. No effect whatsoever LOL. Except now it smelled stinky and flowery, not a good combo. :)

Well I took the leap and drilled out the rivets... the controller bracket came off and the handle was retained on the outside...whew..was worried about that. So now my plan is to strip out the old liner, sand off the glue and replace the lining, replace the bracket and secure it with self tapping screws to make sure that handle remains secure, not sure what I will do if it still smells since I don't want to separate it from the machine.

I think we got a little sidetracked, my main question was how to remove the rivets holding the foot controller on the lid of the case. The lining needs to be removed one way or another due to its condition and I believe that will also take care of the odor. I don't know if anyone has drilled out the rivets or not, but it worked for me and now I can replace the lining without any obstructions in the way.

My friend who restores old cases did this. Get a light bulb, about 150 watt, put it in a small fixture from the hardware store with cord attached. Then put it in the case, close the lid and leave on for couple days in the Garage. According to him the smell is gone. I hope this helps.

Thanks DonnaC...I won't waste those Yankee "bubbles" on the case then. I might try that light bulb suggestion. But, I will do it outside so it doesn't stink up the garage! Thanks!

I had a case that was really stinky, but it was not a featherweight. I'm not sure it was the glue, as the manual was in it in storage, and the smell was similar to stinky old books. I tried cat litter, newspapers and coffee. That didn't work. I did not try charcoal. I left it in the car all summer (in Texas) stuffed full of newspaper and cat litter. I think it worked, as it didn't smell when I sold it.

bkay

I keep some Odor Eaters shoe inserts in the box and it has helped with the smell quite a bit.

Actually, I had information from the gentleman that owned the entire featherweight entity, until it was purchased and the people in the USA were trained. The site you know was April's 1930's did not have the machines nor knowledge until then.

The smell is indeed from the glue.

I understand the glue part.

Can you explain the other part? What I got was that some gentleman owned the featherweight (factory, franchise, sales force, all?) until it was purchased (by singer or are we talking about the Featherweight shop) until the USA people were trained (in the 1930's?)

I'm totally lost.

bkay

The people at the current featherweight shop, in the USA, formerly known as April's 1930's, had little knowledge / expertise about featherweights, until they were trained by and purchased the inventory from the singer- featherweight.com. when the owner retired.
Info I have is from the original source. So, while everyone thinks the featherweight shop walks on water, their knowledge is relatively new. Better?

Shortly after I bought my FW, I took a class on how to do simple maintenance on it. The instructor pulled out the pad in the bottom of my case and replaced it. I don't recall that it had a bad smell, but it was soaked with oil (grease?)

I store it with a full unwrapped bar of Dial soap in it, mostly to absorb any moisture, but it also makes it small like soap, not anything yucky. Maybe that would help you.

Good luck!

Thanks. I have lots of other bases & cases. Once I cleaned them will add a slice of soap, as long as I can keep it away from the machine surface.

My 301 smelled terrible, but it got it from the case. I changed the pad and 3 oil wicks that picked up the smell.