Fleamarket find - Singer VS2 fiddleback
 

I found this tired old gal at a fleamarket yesterday. I've been wanting a fiddleback to add to my small collection. She's 125 years old, and no longer a beauty queen, but I think she is a good candidate for Glenn/Miriam's rejuvenation process. Its all complete and everything moves freely, so that is a very good sign. I recently bought a Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner for other uses, but would like to try it out on the gunked up bits as the come off for cleaning. Has anyone else tried this?

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It looks very nice, even in the state it's in! What a fantastic find, the cabinet looks very nice too. I hope you can get to look nice again. I'm in awe of what Glenn and Miriam can do to restore old machines like this.

Yes, I have tired ultrasonic cleaners, and they work very well. It's ideal for items with very intricate surfaces, hard to clean, lots of tiny grooves and indentations. They make the job effortles and very thoroughly. I have a tiny battery operated version of it for my contact lenses. You will love this thing, but I'm not sure how handy it will be for sewing machine parts. I get parts just as clean with out it though, by finding the right stuff that does the job. Sometimes it's the last polishing up that makes the difference. I have soaked smaller metal bits like chromed plates and feet in white wash laundry powder and hot water (not for long though), it loosens grime very well and when rinsed in hot water and dried off immediately there's no chance of rust. Hard to reach place turns out very clean.

She is a grand old lady. I would love to hear the details and see pictures of how and what you use to clean her up. I have a 27 that needs some tender loving care and have been hesitant to start because I just don't know what I am doing. Not everything moves on mine, but one day it will.

Thanks for the encouragement. I don't plan to document each step here, but I will show some highlights as I go. Today I started taking it apart and cleaning the bits and pieces. I used the ultrasonic cleaner with a 50% solution of Simple Green. I must admit that I was very pleased with the results. Here are two examples. The bobbin winder frame and the tension discs. The bobbin winder went through three 8 minute cycles and the tension discs had one 8 minute cycle. I'd say it removed 90-95% of the dried oil and grime. What remained was softened and easily removed with a toothpick or Q-tip.

Very nice. Two disks like that shine up in 1 minute with a good cream polish, and usually cleans and shine up a step further. Some metal polished does a good job on rough surfaces too, like Quick-Glo, others can leave a residue in the pitting or rough parts.,...some are better on tough grime than others, Pol Metal Polish and Autosol are two I have bought again and again, as well as Quick-Glo. I'm sure there are equivalents easily available most places.

Yes, I will polish all the nickel before reassembly. The ultrasonic just saves a lot of time and effort in the more mundane task of degreasing and cleaning. This is only the beginning, there is much more work ahead!

Beautiful! I can't wait to see how the rest of it goes!

Can't believe how it looks now. Be sure and show before and after photos.

Will do!

Here is my ultrasonic cleaner. Here I'm using a jar with the solution to hold the little screws and other bits. The jar is just sitting in water. For larger parts, I fill the tank with solution and lay the parts inside. The machine also has a heater that gets the solution hot which helps break down the hardened crud.

Ultrasonic is a really good tool for lots of industries. Dentists use it to clean crowns, bridges and dentures. It doesn't harm what's in it, I understand. However, chemicals can do harm in an ultrasonic.

All I can say is that I'm amazed at how well it works. I'm familiar with the tool, but never considered using it on sewing machine parts.

bk

I just got the ultrasonic recently for other purposes. This is the first time I've tried it on old SM parts. That hard, dried oil crud is usually a bear to scrub off, but this really makes it easy. I wouldn't put a painted and decaled part in it, but for bare steel or plated parts its great. I think its my new favorite tool.

Can you show some before and after examples of what that ultrasonic cleaner does?

Miriam - post #4 of this thread shows two before and after examples of the ultrasonic cleaning. No scrubbing or hand cleaning was done on them. I just wiped off the solution and took the pictures.

I'm a little dense...

Lol! Its early, have another cup of coffee...

She is a beauty

You don't have to tell me twice! *gets another cup of coffee* Don't feel bad miriam, at first I didn't realize those where before and after shots of the ultrasonic. He did say so but the pictures where so pretty and distracting ;)

As you can see in the first photos, the paint and decals are in pretty bad shape. But I'm beginning to work on it, very slowly and gently. The decals are starting to reveal themselves. I'm trying to find that fine balance between removing the grime but stopping before the decal starts to silver anymore. Here is an example.

I'm thinking Glenn can explain better than I can. The old shellac holds dirt and grime. The French polishing will clean the old shellac. The more you do the better it will look.

she looks like a beauty in the rough. can't wait to see what you do with her. the stand looks good too, just a little TLC,

I had an opportunity couple weeks ago to buy one at the flea market for $20 ..seller begged me to take it so he could quit unloading/loading back & forth . I just didn't have room/time for it 😢
If it's portable...I could have

I had an opportunity couple weeks ago to buy one at the flea market for $20 ..seller begged me to take it so he could quit unloading/loading back & forth . I just didn't have room/time for it 😢
If it's portable...I could have.
Show us your finished project when u can...it's a really decent one you saved!

excellent progress so far!

my husband did that by accident with a bobbin winder still attached to the belt guard. He realized his mistake right away, but it was already too late for the decals on the belt guard.

We also got a tumbler with steel pins, and that helps to shine them up after they are clean.

By chance is you husband a reloader? I have similar equipment for that purpose. Cleaning up a machine by going from the ultrasonic, to Evaporust (I needed), to polishing makes it a lot easier.

I've slowly been working on all the bits and pieces. Here are a few of the larger pieces. They certainly don't look like new, but they look much better than they did. I did a little preliminary cleaning of the paint, but I've not yet begun the French polish routine. Maybe I'll start this weekend on that. But I'm under no illusions that there will be a dramatic transformation. But hopefully I can improve it a little.

Lookin' good.

With French polish, remember you are removing dirt and putting on new shellac. It is a chemical process.

What is it you call French polish for sewing machines? I was tought French polishing for wood furniture. In the class I took the high gloss finish you see on guitars and violins was not called french polishing, but it's the same process; multiple layers of shellac dissolved in alcohol, and inbetween layers we sprinkled on a very fine milled stone dust to fill in the grain in the wood, sort of buffed up between applications. Shellac dries rather quickly. French polishing was finished by sanding down the gloss with the dust we used. It gave a flawless silky smooth finish which made the wood look very nice. The high gloss shine was made exactly the same way, but finishing of with a layer of shellac. We used woven cotton fabric, made into a ball for the buffing up between layers. On the web now, I have noticed they use the term French polishing for shellac treatments in general. These cabinet restorers had all kinds of traditional recepies for different polishes, waxes and treatments. I suspect Singer only dipped the machines in black dye and spray painted layers of shellac solution (there is a video on the web some where, but I have never found any detailed description of the process).

Mickey2 - Miriam explained it with helpful photos in this thread:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage-antique-machine-enthusiasts-f22/lloooonnnngggg-over-due-before-after-singer-redeye-make-over-t235747.html

Glenn has info in his sticky specifically how to French polish an old sewing machine. You can use all your class methods if you don't have decals to worry about. Besides decals, shellac is what you are dealing with on the antique machines. Glenn is speaking from YEARS of much professional experience and he was taught in Germany by a master. A class is only going to show you how to do one project and give you some vague idea how to do something - same with sewing machine repairs. As you know, a class doesn't necessarily give you a whole lot of experience. A class can only give you knowledge, experience will give you wisdom. Wisdom goes a lot farther than knowledge in my book. You can spout off knowledge all day long with out exhibiting very much wisdom.

Actually, I am only responsible for the photos. My husband did the writing. Our attempt was to capture some of Glenn's wisdom. Since that time I have used that method to refurbish a few derelict machines. My efforts are not as good as the beautiful results I've seen Glenn get but I am happy with most of the ones I have messed with. I do understand the process. There is a learning curve involved here. Until you have done this process you cannot really understand how it works. If you want additional information look for a copy of "The Furnature Doctor" by George Grotz.

She looks like a fun project!

You are doing a wonderful job , I love restoration posts , can't wait to see it all done

I don't doubt your expertise at all Miriam, neither Glenn's, I hold them in great regard. I always assumed metal and s*e*w*i*n*g machines required slightly different methods than wood. I still find it a bit scary to refinish a table top or other wood surface. I only get a chance to do it now and then, not every year even, but I like the challenge and the result is usually nice. Luckily shellac is something that can be used by amateurs with less than a cabinet makers experience and work shop :- )

Well, the old girl was in pretty rough shape. But I got her cleaned, lubed and polished as well as I could. It runs smoothly and, while not the beauty she once was, she is presentable and runs smoothly - so I'm satisfied.

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You are a kind and brave soul! Best of luck with this adventure and I hope you'll post pics.

:thumbup: Very impressive. You do beautiful work.

Care to share techniques and products (besides ultrasonic)? I'm guessing that a tumbler wouldn't be good for the hand wheel and that looks really nice and shiny (along with the other metal bits).

Also I noticed the bumper on the back. My 15 fiddle base didn't have one. Could you give me the measurements (even approximate) of the wood and rubber piece??? I'm thinking that for the top rubber that maybe something like this would work http://www.amazon.com/Sorbothane-Hem.../dp/B0042U6ZDU

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

I used TR-3 Resin Glaze on the paint after the usual cleaning. I worked carefully over the decals trying to remove grime without wearing them down. I did lose a little decal, but not much. Then I did the French polish technique to add a fresh layer of shellac over the paint and decals. The plated parts were mostly rusty, so they were soaked in Evaporust. Then they were polished with Mothers Aluminum polish. Regarding the hand wheel. it was petty rough, so I set it up in a lathe so I could spin it. After the Evapoust I used 220 , 320, then 400 grit sand paper with oil to get it pretty shiny. Then with it spinning, I used the Mothers polish to finish I up. The last step was to coat all bare metal and plated parts with Boeshield T-9 to prevent corrosion.

I'll check on the wood post tonight.

Here is the bumper post on the back. It is 2.5" tall from the table surface to the top. The rubber on top is about 3/16" tall, but is a bit squished.