ISMACS says this is a 128? is it? + other things:
 

So yesterday i went to my favorite antique shop, because they were hosting an outdoor sale from local folks in the area. sewing machine there wasn't much... although if your in the market for a feather weight that was the place to be. but i already have one, so i wasn't interested in one and nor was it in the budget to spend 250+ on a new machine. So after browsing around outside. (i picked up a wall mirror that had my favorite artist Alphonse Mucha designed on it) i went inside the store and did a quick browse through... more feather weights. but outside in the outdoor warehouse there was a broken touch and sew and lurking in the shadow's was a singer box. my mother saw it. Note she had cataract surgery a few days prior and was complaining about not being able to see... yet here she was pointing out the box to me. "Did you see this?" I had not and went back to look. i finally got someone to retrieve it for me because it was kind of on a back table that had things in front of it. I didnt know what it was. it uses a long bobbin, and has what i assume is referred to as the shuttle? (the bullet shaped item.) The box however was brittle and falling apart. i used this to haggle the price on it and ended up getting my asking price of 45... originally they wanted 65 (which i know 45 is probably still high to some folks in some areas, but where im at its a pretty good deal because old sewing machines tend to go for a lot.)

I saw it had a motor and instantly thought of the hand crank that now i was aware would not work on my 66. what i didnt notice is that the machine is smaller then my 66 and thus will not fit in the box made for the 66! Go me for adding to my collection without research and without solving my prior problem of wanting a hand crank and the machine intended for it didnt work. I did however put the hand crank on the 128 and it seems to work just fine!

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(The 66 on my new sewing area! it all folds up to hide all the fabric.)

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(Any idea what this is? she also came with no cables so i had no qualm installing the hand crank. :P )

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(Grapes!)

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(The hand crank where the motor was... i removed the motor because it was so dirty i wasnt certain if it would work at all.)

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(Hand crank installed! she turns super well!)

So the box and cover are really brittle... is there a way to fix it. Also i have no idea how a long bobbin works? advice on this? It had 3 bobbins, the "shuttle"... so i think all the pieces are there. I just didnt want to leave her behind. I've named her Shadow since she was lurking in the shadows of the store! and i will leave you with a picture of the "warzone" mess were i was fixing and cleaning them up. the 128 cleaned up really well. im impressed!

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Looks like a 128 to me. That electrical gizmo I believe is the control box for a knee actuator that would feed through the hole in the front of the box.

If the box is falling apart you should be able to reglue it without any problems. A fresh coat or three of shellac should make it all look much nicer, too.

that is what the white motor thing says... and there was a metal bar thing inside that i had no clue what it went too... but after looking at it i thought it might be a knee press or something. I'm going to have my dad look at the case and see if its fixable with some glue... though all the triangles that sit in the corners that hold the machine have falled off! so we'll see. :) i need to see if i have a copy of the manual some where.

The corner blocks were just glued on to start with - regluing is the ticket there.

Lucky you to have the knee lever since they're frequently missing.

i just have nothing else except the motor/light and the control box and lever... no cable or anything. i dont know if id trust it just yet so i wont plug it in yet. :P

The box glues back together very nicely. If you're missing the triangles, cut a piece if 1/2" by 1/2" wood to the correct length. Like a square dowel. My bentwood top is in good shape, but I think the machine sat on a damp basement floor and the box looks like it's been damp and needed regluing. Bungee cords held it together until it dried. Mine is a 1952 and the electrics seem okay, though I'd like to handcrank for my GS if it doesn't sell. It's for sale, but I won't ship it.

I keep hearing everyone say glue as well. Any recommendation on wood glue brand? This one the bottom was falling out too the gentleman who does the shops repairs tacked a few tacks in so at least the stuff inside wouldn't fall out the bottom. I will ask my father what he thinks. :)

Any idea on how to remove the control box?

Do all 128's have the long bobbins?

All 128's use long bobbins. Wood glues vary by purpose - for repair use I'm fond of Gorilla Glue but Titebond is well thought of, too, and works better if you will be refinishing.

Ok. I thought the long bobbin was older then the average common bobbin and was surprised to see it on an electric machine. I need to see if I have a digital manual somewhere do I can see about threading her up and seeing if she works. :) she turns easily and all the bobbins were threaded so I guess maybe they didn't use her too much.

Any special needles? (doubt it singers tend to use the same stuff. :) )

Singer and I think New Home were still making vibrating shuttle machines into the 50's. After all - the design had been working for decades and the tooling was paid off! Same thing as keeping going with the oscillating hook machines when rotary hooks have become so popular.

Ah that makes sense and I figured it wa the case. If its not broken why change it? :)

It's fun watching you collect all these machines. I'm right with you...have a Singer 28 hand crank with the shuttle bobbin but don't have time to clean her up and learn to use her.

Lynn. I can't help myself! I enjoy cleaning them up and tinkering with them. But also feel I'm saving them from scalpers who see something "old" and think they can put a Hugh price on it. Then they go and dupe some poor soul who just wants to enjoy the machine out of their money. It's like a rescue mission!

Kitty, I don't see myself as saving them from scalpers, more like saving them from fates like that of he 15 clone that got smeared with paint in a pseudo-camouflage pattern. That and saving them from landfills.

True. I hope none of the ones I've seen on Craigslist hvnt found their way to the dump. Hadn't thought of that. :< poor machines!!

All 128s use the long bobbin. The user manual is available from Singer, free for download. One of the first things in the manual is how to convert to electric motor. They take 15x1 needles, so you can use the modern 130/705 needles that are readily available. The thing is the box is the innard parts of a controller.

Thank you k9 dancer for the advice on the needles and stuff. :)

Glad to help!

Kittywolf, what you see under that metal plate in your pic is the knee controller. It looks different than the one that I have, it looks like it -might- be missing parts, but your dad might be able to rig it. It might also just be incorrectly assembled. Meaning, there's a chance that knee lever could work, it could be a convertible. :) The only "cable" you'd need to make her work, assuming the wiring is in good shape, is a regular single lead cord. Similar to tucci's, just not with a pedal attached, that's taken care of by the knee lever. If you can post a clearer pic of the inside of that box, where the controller is, I might be able to figure out what's there and what's not. I'll try to post a pic of mine tomorrow too, so you can compare.

I have boxes here that started out looking as bad as yours. In most cases, I wiped them down with a damp cloth, or in extreme situations, with murphys oil soap, and then applied Howards "Feed'n'Wax" - http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/in...kgu/R-I4548388
Oh I just had to post that link! It's canadian, and at a hardware store, instead of just at the antique stores where I usually find it. :)

That work though is after a little love with some clamps (I think the ones we have are "Irwin") and either wood glue (regular old elmer's etc) or Hide glue (it might be the Titebond brand that PCDH mentions). I have some here, so I use it. It's a modern version of the animal glues they used to make the cases in the first place.

Thanks for all the wonderful in put, Arcaine! I kind of thought the metal but might be a knee press but the controller in the box doesn't appear to come out? So I didn't know that would work. Could I attach a foot pedal to see if it works? Or would that blow the controller?

Kittywolf,

I can't remember if you are the person who has dial -up and so can't watch videos easily online...

Everything you need to know to get started with long bobbin machines is either on video on our Youtube channel (full threading instructions and tension adjustment) or on my blog (general tips, in particular about shuttles) - the links are below.

Great to see you are enjoying yourself so much with the old machines!

That's right, my first response (the one I deleted when I realised you had been into the cubby hole) had how to take the controller out. If you turn the box upside down, there should be 2 or 3 screws. remove those and it will come out. That said... without doing that, what moves when you put the knee lever in and turn as if you were sewing? (leave it unplugged for the moment)

I don't think it would "blow" the controller, there's nothing electronic here. But I'm not sure what would happen, so I'd like to try the other way first. :)

I'm out for the morning, delivering a computer network to a client, but when I get home, I will take that photo I promised.

Muv, I need to take a peek at your videos. I've heard so many good things about them. :) I just get distracted easily! Lol. But yes I am enjoying them emensly. It's a lot of fun!

Arcaine, I hadn't looked under the box since it was falling apart. Might need to take the bottom out any how so I'll take a peek at it one of these evenings and see if I can comendeer my father into helping Me re-glue it back together as well as take the controller out. At the moment I have a hand crank on it. So I'm not terriably interested in it being motorized, but it would be nice for it to work just in case you know? so I will try it. I assume I can buy a spare cable from sew-classic.

OK,.. sorry I'm so late with the pics. Yesterday we got a blizzard and several inches of snow while I was out. I was beat by the time I made it home.

Today I meant to take these pics 3 separate times, but forgot by the time I left the room. :-/

Yes, I think the cord you need is this:
http://shop.sew-classic.com/Cord-Sin...ORE-SCE122.htm
I've always heard of it referred to as a "Single Lead" cord. It looks right.

I always like my machines to work as intended, especially the knee levers, because they're a part of the case, whether I convert them or not.

Therefore, for your viewing pleasure:
This is what the controller looks like at rest:
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What it looks like when the knee lever is actuated:
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And here's the bottom of the case:
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The 2 screws you see closest to the top (where the knee lever hole is) hold the mechanism in place. The other three hold the controller. You do end up having to take all 5 out when you take the controller, if memory serves.

Wow. Yours is much much cleaner then mine. I can't even tell then if all of these parts are there. Do mind showing me a pic zoomed out? Like what the knee press looks like? Also do you happen to know what the large hole in the back side of the case is for? The small one I assume is for the key but big one?

HIya!

Mine is only cleaner because I've had it longer. It had its major clean up a couple of months ago. About the time I posted about needing to JB weld a bobbin winder, in fact. We have the stuff, we're going to try it this weekend along with twisting up some piano wire to recreate a spring.

I'm not sure what big hole at the back you're referring to. Is it the rectangular one beside the motor controller, in the wood? If so, it matches the one left of the needle on the other side. The 2 are for holding the lid on.

Here are a couple more pics.
The last pic is of the top upside down, showing you the pieces that connect to the base to hold the two pieces together. The yellow string holds my key.
Hope this helps.

Mine didn't come with a key, and I meant the large round hole. In your pic there is something metal? Protruding out of it? It's so cool to peek at a machine. I bought this one with out to much knowledge about it. I just made sure it had the important bits! At least one bobbin and the shuttle and wonder and stuff. Any idea what the clip inside the lid is for?

Oh! That hole is where the knee lever goes. (That's what you see protruding from it)
You can see the hole in one of the other pics.
The clip inside the lid is to hold an oil can.

This machine needs the winder fixed, or replaced, so that's why it's still on my bench, but it was whole when I bought it. The winder came apart in my hands when I was reassembling it after cleaning.

Sh very cool. Can you get a pic (whenever) of the knee lever? I think the extra metal bit is a light cover from another machine or something. It looks to smal to be part of the knee lever and is thin sheet metal or aluminum. But that's good to know that's what the hole is.

Can you post a pic of the metal? I know there's an aluminum insert inside the light, it's probably 2" x 3" ish... curved.

These links show what the knee lever looks like in its entirety:
http://oldsingersewingmachineblog.co...lid-of-a-201k/
http://oldsingersewingmachineblog.co...nee-lever-201/


I also learned last week that a 99 will not fit in a 128 case.
The base of a 128 (or at least the one I have) is too shallow, so the machine can't seat if the hinges are used, and there's no suspension room to keep the 99 mechanism off the base.