Joe, here's the half breed singer
 

There's a long story here. these will show what this looks like.


S/N LA 820342 singer sewmaster 179
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Didn't you show us an ad saying those machines weren't real Singers but are Philippine counterfeits instead?
They've done everything possible to convince people it's a Singer. I think it would be more accurate to describe it as "Sewmaster" brand with the model being "Singer". I would hate to try to convince someone selling it of that though given how reluctant most sellers are to change ads to reflect the truth.
Rodney

Can you share an of the "long story"? I happen to have a Singer RAF 15K and it looks very much like this. It has the knob on the bed to drop the feed dogs and the same style Singer badge. So many people say that a knob on the bed to drop the dogs means it's not legitimate Singer, but mine has a serial number that does check out on the website.

I would love to hear what the story is here. Here is picture of my machine for comparison.

What does that model plate say, under the Singer badge? Looks to me like it says 15K.
Well, duh, after I hit post, I scrolled up and sure enough, that is what it say. Doesn't it mean , if it has a K, that it was made in the UK? I have a 185K, made in Great Britain.

10X,

I have never seen one of those in person or in a pic. That's a strange looking beast for sure. I don't know enough about the foreign made Singers so this is just my personal opinion.

It's either a Chinese or Indian made Singer, or a fake that someone's gone to extraordinary measures to convince people it's a Singer. Either way ... I like it.

The head looks like a 66 like you said and the rest a 15. Really cool.

Now, how does it sew?

Joe

is everyone getting all the pic's of this thing ? I must have put to many in a single post.

Joe it's sewing of to fair at this point, That tensioner is homemade, it's not getting the take up spring action it needs, after the link you posted I now know it should have a 201 style tensioner.


with the LA s/n it should be made in philipines according to web sites. a call to singer USA and I get " we have no records of that number " but looking at singers web site sometimes at the very bottom it will have LA made after 1959. Then look an other time and thats not there.


I should have taken the face plate off this and a 66 and shown that, inside again it's half and half

last night I did find pictures of two of these, one is on needle bar, The other was some blog, those could have been the same machine, both looked unused. but both don't show the face plate well enough to see the bent over top section at the take up lever. The blog say it's made in Hong kong, neither give a S/N

now every part has the word singer on it, under the bed singer is cast into the bed.
now go to the nostalgic machines ( there all 15's) a friend has one , she got in the early 80's and had never been plugged in. That machine has singer cast in the bed and singer on every part.

now on this site, in the past any time arguments came up on these nostalgic machines. There words was if it has singer cast in and on the parts. it's a real singer. with no singer then it's a clone. ofcourse this would be over the sphinx design .

Then some would bring up the RAF design, only a few knew about those. some would say the RAF's were 66's
this came from the FRED stash, Mrs fred was a wd 40 user, most all the gold is gone, there is no silver backing.

As soon as I saw the cabinet I knew what part of the world used the door design, it was falling part and tore up, plus the top painted gold and had a 15 clone inside. This was the very first machine to leave that trailer. next was the black singer with the small red S badge.

In the weeks of researching this thing, I looked many time at Philippines web sites.. I did find cabinets like this, but with what they call a 15ch 179 machine (15 clone. 179 = drop feed)

The day after calling singer USA, I went to singer philipines web site and bingo as soon as the site opens, up pops a red screen Basically saying any machine under the names used there as in sewmaster ect and 15ch was a fake / bogus by day 2 the red screen no longer pop'd up. There was something on that screen giving the impression that it came from the real singer co.

I kinda wonder because of there employee using the terms fake / bogus , those just don't come off as a legit term LOL.

something odd is the paint job, in the pic's you see it very rough/scratched up each area has a whitish look. This was primed then painted black
on top the arms the words are " The singer company "
anyway I'm hoping it is a fake, It's not a clone, so would it be called a fake ? I called it a half breed, but is more like a 3 breed. so far it uses parts of 3 different singer design's.

so in todays world after this singer sell out, it could be that different singer co's don't get along to well.

O today, you can buy a brand new singer treadle in a cast iron stand for $235 USD

10x I didn't even notice the 66/15 combined head piece. That is one really odd machine. It sure has to be frustrating not finding concrete answers for why it is what it is.

finding the answer is a part of the why we do this.

sewnsew I did a post on asking you questions, I don't see it here

your machine whats the serial number mostly the letters

whats the wording on top the arm


do the parts under the bed have the word " singer " then a part #

Remember the Johnny Cash song "I got it one piece at a time" about a Cadillac cobbled together from various years? This may be a one-of-a-kind.

The serial number is ET 046515 dating the issue of the serial to 1961. The web says it's a 15k110. The top of the arm says "The Singer Manufacturing Company" and it's made in Great Britain. Parts all say either Singer or Simanco and have numbers.

in world wide manufacturing co. it is common place, when the major plant stops producing a item or part. to send the die to make this to a lesser plant and star over. targeting sales in that area of the world. Then the new plant ( user) would combine pieces to make a newer style machine,

as with Volkswagen and there VW Buses made in Brazil. look at the very last VW made which was last year.. it's 2015 model year. but it's a combination of a 60's model and a 70's model, same thing took place with there south africain models

So, if it were in the modern "dog world" it would be a "designer breed." Now babies may be composed of three parent's DNA, so your machine must be a special breed!

I wonder if Singer sourced their modern 15s from the same plant making the Sewmaster machines. That would help explain how this issue got as confused as it is. Half or more of the parts on your Sewmaster may have made with the exact same machines and tooling as the parts found on a machine that was actually authorized by Singer.

To me your Sewmaster is like a 15 clone with the top tension moved to the front. The bottom half of the machine and the stitch regulator are certainly based on a model 15.
Rodney

rodney did you notice the take up lever. I'll post a photo of what behind the face plate

on parts interchanging. on this machine there was a problem of it changing stitch length, and the lever not moving, plus ever once in a while it would bind. I found that in the column at the stitch length lever/rod. and at the slider, the square pivot ( bearing ? ) would try to walk out of the channel it slides in. at that point the bearing ( ?) would get very sloppy. did some adjusting which make thing not so great.


I have an old 15 clone, so I took all those parts from that machine and they now live in this one. There a direct fit, The difference was, a better quality steel, larger wear surfaces and a longer pivot post for that bearing.

the japanese clone was all heat treated fasteners , the Ph machine is all mild steel fasteners

The donor is a occupied japan machine ( 1947 to 54) this one is made in Philippines (?) and made after 1959

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I just wanted to say that I love that faceplate! And while I've seen a a machine before with the sew master emblem on it, never really paid much attention to it.but this machine looks pretty clean and all.

Sewmaster named machines have been built all over the globe. I have one that is a carbon copy of the Singer 834 and it was made in Poland. My local SMG told me it was made in the old Singer plant there. Most Singer parts will interchange in it. I have seen other machines made there that have different names on them.

Joe

Very much different from a 15 or a 66 on that end. The arm casting is a different shape along with the faceplate. The bottom half looks to be straight up 15 or 15 clone though. Still, I wouldn't rule out the idea that at least part of yours came out of the same molds as the authorized Singers. Mrs.SewnSew's machine is just as confusing. It appears to be an authorized Singer machine but shares many of the same features as yours.
Rodney

you right that take up arm and links are not from a 66

I thought the tensioner was from a 201, but it's from a 237 style I didn't check the take up arm as a match to the 237 . The only difference between a 201 / 237 tension system was the location of the mount screw for the take up spring stop.
I have the machine working well again , I knew it must have worked good, it has seen a lot of use, it wasn't a closet queen
when I test sew, again this is a treadle. I use old bed sheets, so that 7 feet long, yes the in strips. using these 10 or 12 inch piece doesn't really tell you much. doing this I've used over 300 yds of thread it sews as good as any.

so two nights ago what the hay, I get out the hoop and a hopping foot ? the spring thingy that attaches to then needle bar. another full spool of thread 300 yds, ( 30 yr old thread)

This is about the 2nd time I've tried this and first ever using the spring deal..

I have to say it's kinda fun, I stopped and rewaxed the table top,(in hopes the hoop would slide around smoother ) and now am doing this using a 15 clone ( treadle)
butt what the hay..


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I'm still working on it's cabinet, building inner shelves that were mostly gone, and rebuilding it's lid, which is now soaking in water, thats to get the thing apart to reglue, the entire lid

Nice. Better than a lot of my attempts at free hand embroidery or darning. Maybe I should start using a hoop too when I can.
Rodney

That is very cool, 10x

thanks I know it doesn't look good and that's the reason I post it. I'm trying that's my story ..

I can't do it right " The first time" so try try again. after 10 x's it still isn't right but by that time "who cares !! "

I think I may have been doing better using an electric machine LOLOL


If you haven't seen Hungarian lace video watch this, when I get this good I'll quite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr4jioQv3bs

I change machine to a early 15 clone . This is what I called a hopping foot. Thats wrong. it's a spring needle darning foot. or maybe needle spring darning foot...


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one more try at this tonight. trying to figure out a good tension to use. here it was rat nesting like crazy.
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This try I did draw a pattern. the one with out a circle was done on a 15 clone treadle
with the circle was a 15-91 electric. I did an other last night, with the 15-91 , which is much easier to control a constant speed. which helps in figuring out the wiggling motion. in the Hungarian lace vid. They made it sound like she does a back and forth wiggle, it seems to me it's tiny circles ?
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10x, I can't thank you enough for sharing this video. It is wonderful and very inspiring! She is in fact using a combination of straight stitches and very tiny zig zags created by her micro back and forth movements....not really circles. I loved looking at your work also. You are way ahead of me. ;-)