A find of a lifetime, a free Pfapp 130
 

"Free sewing machine, not working. Need gone ASAP."

It was only supposed to be a quick check of Craig's List before my boyfriend and I went to Fort Collins for lunch and to look at a few shops, but that listing caught my attention. A free sewing machine will always get my attention, but the three pictures are what really did it. Two of the cabinet. One of the machine resting inside, a black shape hiding in a dark nook in a dark picture, but unmistakenly an old cast iron. And a Pfaff sticker on the cabinet top.

I replied immediately, and less than two hours latter my wonderful boyfriend and I where squeezing the whole cabinet into the back seat. We hadn't looked at her closely at first 'cause I'll take an old Pfaff in almost any shape so it was only after we got her home that I had time to lift her up and my heart melted - a beautiful 130, a machine I've been dreaming about.

And I mean Beautiful! The decals are very nearly perfect, the japaning is so glossy, and the crome just gleams! There was the usual lint and the gears seemed a little dry, but the needle moves like silk when you turn the handwheel. Even the belt and bobbin winder tire look pretty good!

The motor looks like it's in good shape with no sign of malfunction, but my boyfriend did notice that the wiring seems loose in some of the conections. I also later found the bobbin thread had snarled. Hella thick thread, too, almost twine. Either the wires or snarl could have been why she was "not working."

Since she was fairly clean, I mostly just washed the gunkier spots with a little soap and water, gave her a quick wipe down with a little rubbing alcohol to kill the other people cooties, and oiled her up. Also found a manual for her for free online. I haven't stitched with her yet as I still need to clean around the hook race and inside the stitch width mechanism - all the scres for those are being stuborn.

Also still to do:
Clean the petrified tape off the needle plate.
Clean the cabinet.
Clean the electric cables and around the motor mount.
Check the motor and electronics.
Convert the knee control to foot control.
Make spool pin felts.
Replace the spool pin arm.
Get some more good bobbins (she came with just one and apparently new ones aren't as precise as the originals.)
Get a darning foot and a satin stitch foot (all of mine are rotary feet.)
Take lots of pictures and tell you guys all about her.
Sew up a storm!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]547562[/ATTACH]

Her name is Grazielinda (gra-tsay-lind-a), meaning "Beautiful Serpent" after the scale pattern on her back plate & hand wheel clutch knob and because she's soooo beautiful! And she wanted a name that started with 'G' or 'J,' but of course that was just me thinking that, because I don't talk to my sewing machines. Of course not. *cough*

you are one lucky lady and such a wonderful machine. Good luck, sew with her often.

Just realized I misspelled Pfaff in the title. *facepalm* Does anyone know how to edit the title of a thread?

I think that is the "I am excited about this" spelling

Yes. That is exactly what I'm blaming because I am VERY excited :thumbup: At the same time, I wouldn't mind an admin fixing it, it's really quite embarassing, like I don't respect the maker's of my new baby.

And what the mess-up does spell... :shock::D

Beautiful!

Watson

It's gorgeous and I love the cabinet. Hard to get much better than free to start.
:thumbup:

Fabulous!!!!!!!!

That is a lovely machine - what a find! I'm going to be in Greeley Friday - Thursday and will hope to find some amazing deals as well. Problem is, I'm flying in. I wonder how much room my brother has left in his garage!! Tee hee!

My boyfriend is very fond of the cabinet, too. You both have good taste! It's very sturdy and made out of a heavy plywood that would suvive nuclear war (clearly, this was meant double as a bomb shelter. 'Duck and cover' might have actually worked under this!) and he and I kinda like the '50s mod style handles. I see bit of an art deco influence in them. So despite it's obvious lack of treadling it's probably a keeper. But where are we going to put it?!? We already have too much furnature. Maybe it'll replace my computer desk?

If we keep it for long I'll probably refinish it, some sections of the wood verner are broken off and missing in back and several places could do with a sanding. I'd like change the color too, perhaps an inky black brown like some of our other furnature, or maybe cherry. And of course I'd keep the Pfaff seal! If the handles are brass plating over zink or steel, I'll probably polish them down to the zinc and go with black. Black and silver look so good together! Also the drawers don't fit well with each other and I need to see if rearanging them helps.

That is gorgeous!!! Lucky you!!! What a find.

I love it when I have a project like this!

Done list:
Clean the petrified tape off the needle plate.
Clean bobbin hook.
Reshaped bobbin winder tension disk spring.

She's had tape on her bed for a seam guide. No biggie, I'm guilty of that minor sin myself. But this tape was looong past it's prime. Peeled the scotch tape off and found the crusty remains of what might have once, very long ago, been masking tape. Eew. Soaked the plate in soapy water to soften it enough to scrub off. Took two soaks but it's clean now.

While oiling her last night she suddenly wouldn't move through part of the stitch cycle. She'd move most of the way through, then just stop at this one section. I carefuly inspected everywhere but the bobbin hook race and stitch width adjuster because the screws stubbornly refused to move. Nothing. Since the movement didn't feel or sound crunchy (indicating hard, gear mangling crud) I figured the oiling knocked some thread into the works around the bobbin hook. The range of motion had increased as I was moving the handwheel durring the inspection so I just gently worked the handwheel back and forth until she could run through the cycle again so I could finish oiling, though she still had a hicup.

The next day (today) I got the bobbin hook screws loose and the hook and it's race were strangely clear of everything but oil and small traces of that hard-packed flat gunk machines tend to get. After I cleaned and oiled the area she still had the cycle hicup, even without the hook back in place. Then I noticed a new symptom: a quiet squeek. Squeek = not good, squeek = friction. Hunted it down to an alignment guide for the needle bar that I'd somehow missed oiling. Oil = no squeek and hicup mostly gone. Mostly. She does hesitate a bit at that same point in the cycle, at the slight pause where movement changes from moving the needle up to moving it down. That sort of problem is pretty common with machines so I think the catch in the cycle was a combination of that awkward movement change and lack of oil and/or some tiny bit of gunk in just the wrong spot.

The spring for the bobbin winder tension was bent and stuck out. It would work, but it'd also catch on something sooner or latter. The pin is pressed onto the post and doesn't come off, but the spring can be partialy pulled in front of the disks where it's easier to reshape. Squeezing the spring gently around and around to tighten the coil was a bit fiddly but only took maybe five minutes. When I put the spring back it cheerfully hid behind the disks in the no-sang-um zone.

Before, spring pulled forward
[ATTACH=CONFIG]547581[/ATTACH]
The coil of the spring doesn't just look bigger than the disks, it was. Also note how the end is far out and loose. Far out and loose is good for a vacation but not for a tension spring.

After, spring still forward
[ATTACH=CONFIG]547582[/ATTACH]
Coil now smaller than the disks and end overlaps with the coil, all tucked in and safe. Is it just me or does it look happier?

It is so lucky for you to have a boyfriend who enjoys your hobby with you. :)

Good find!

Be very careful with the soap and water. I cringe every time I see that someone is using it, especially on a black machine. You're very lucky you didn't permanently damage the machine.

Cari

What a wonderful set, good for you, I didn't even notice the misspelling,lol.

You betcha! He kinda tries to act like he's not that interested because sewing machines are my thing and guns are his thing and we each try to give the other their own space, but he's having a hard time holding back on this one ;) I still have to figure out where it's going to go. We've been working on selling off and clearing out some of our stuff, then suddenly, a sewing machine cabinet. First world problems :\

Done list:
Clean the petrified tape off the needle plate.
Clean bobbin hook.
Reshaped bobbin winder tension disk spring.
Cleaned and oiled the stitch width adjustment.

Got the stitch width adjustment assembly apart. Turns out I had, ah, forgotten about the set screw at the base of the knob. *cough* All cleaned, oiled, and back together again now. Gotta thread her up and give her a test run!

Really? I've heard the opposite, that water and mild soap are usually the safest. Keep in mind that I didn't soak the finish, just ran a damp cloth or swab over it and quickly dried it with another, dry cloth. And certainly didn't use it on the mechanics!

Of course the scary truth is there's no garanteed safe way to clean an antique sewing machine. What works or doesn't work on one may not on the next.

Color me jealous on your find! I have bought two bargain Pfaff 130 machines and taken them to the OSMG, but he hasn't been able to make one working machine out of them yet.

That cabinet is really cool too. I like a lot of Pfaff's cabinets.

If you have never tried a knee controller before, you should definitely try it on this machine before you convert it to a foot pedal. I have one machine with a knee bar (Singer 503A) and I get much better control of speed, stop, and start with the knee bar than I do with foot pedals. You may find you prefer the knee controller.

Have fun with your new toy.

This is a wonderful find for you. Enjoy! I have 2 machines waiting for me to learn how to refurbish, both acquired in the last month. Your machine looks beautiful & has me itching to start. Congratulations!

I learned to sew on a knee control and agree with Wesing.

I've been playing with vintage machines for years and I've never once heard anyone say that water or a water based product is the safest thing to use on a black machine. Quite the opposite. Sewing machine oil is the "safe" thing to use. Now, colored machines are a different story. The only time I've ever heard of cleaning issues with a colored machine is the tan Singers(301, 400 & 500 series).

That being said, if I get a particularly grungy looking machine, whatever color, my go to cleaner is a half dry baby wipe.

Cari

That is one nice machine. My neighbor in town has one, but it is in a different kind of cabinet. She sure is pretty all cleaned up.

It's gorgeous!!
Enjoy:thumbup:

Fabulous find! Oh, what fun you are having....

She's a beauty!

The knee control proponents cought me! Let me reasure you that of course I'm going to try it because you never know and I truely might like it better. But I know what works well for me and having and uneaven control like that usually gives me muscle cramps and feels awkward. I don't even treadle the usual way with on foot forward one foot back, instead I have both feet in the middle, my body's work load is balanced and it feels very natural to me and works very well. Now if I could easily switch the knee control it from right to left when I need to, or even better move it to the center so I could squeeze it with both knees, that might work well.

But since I want to be able to take her to things like sewing meetups, and I don't have nor want a car and can't take a cabinet on the bus, it would have to be something I'd strap to my knee. And squeezing a strapped on bar between my legs in front of others would probably earn me a lot of giggles ;P I'd probably just giggle along and go about my buisness, but all told it just seems more practical to have a foot pedal.

I guess I should have been more clear about it, but my original post was already kinda long.

Holy smokes, the cabinet alone would have been a great find! Congratulations, she was meant to be yours!

Beautiful machine. Glad you found her.

Finding Hidden treasures makes great stories! Can't imagine the muscle it took to hoist and shove it into the backseat! Gracielinda is truly beautiful, and I'm glad she's yours.

Dragon I love using a knee lever, I much prefer it to chasing a foot controller around the floor. I have two cabinets with knee controllers. One for my vintage Singers and one for my other vintage machines. Both have a very good controller in them. It's so much easier for me to have complete speed control with a knee lever.
I don't know how you deal with packing around such a heavy machine, I hate just loading them in the car to go somewhere. There's no way I could carry one around on a bus. :thumbup:

Cari

Good to know. As I wrote, I am going to try the knee controler.

And yes, it is a pain to lug cast iron sewing machines around on the bus. I usually put them in rolling luggage though I think I hauled one in a backpack once. Back in my musician days I'd haul two or three bags of recording equipment on the bus and since the bus routes never went quite where I needed them I'd take my bike too. Yes, hundreds of dollars of recording equipment in bags on a bike! Compaired to that, carrying a sewing machine and a project in progress isn't too bad *laughs* :D

It looks great. Hope that you can get in working order. Enjoy!

What a fun find! Congrats, and happy stitching~

What a great find! I have one nearly like it that was included in the purchase of a large garage/shop and property we bought about 4 years ago. I had it serviced and it sews better than any other machine I own. Mine has a box-like mechanism on the top that can do some embroidery stitches - seems to be very rare. A previous owner must have been a heavy smoker and I couldn't get all the nasty yellow smoke stains out, so I painted it white and updated the drawer knobs (old knobs were partly plastic and broken). This machine is my first choice when I sew. I also got all the attachments, manual and several boxes of notions and sewing tools with it. The seller of the property was so excited that I was a seamstress, he just started adding all of his deceased mother's sewing items to the sale - no extra cost.

As a "p.s." - we are building a house on the property this Summer and about half of the basement will be my new sewing space. It will be a dream come true.

Wow firstlhilt, you're so lucky! I would have loved to have gotten the model with the extra stitches but they are rare. A machine with them was the first video I saw when researching my 130 and it looked great. But I am NOT compaining, Grazielinda is more than I ever expected to get!

And all the extra sewing items you got, and a new sewing space soon?! I'm so envious!

I'd love to see a picture of you 130 if you have one to share.