I serviced a Singer 401A during the past few days, that the owner said has been in storage for over 20 years. I had no reason not to believe her, and was not looking forward to getting everything “un-stuck” to operate again. It is in a portable Singer snap-on case. Boy, was I surprised when I popped the case top off and began “feeling” the movement of things, only to discover that there wasn’t anything that didn’t move freely. Even the two cam controls slid easily full travel!

Now, cosmetically, the thing looks dirty with oil stains nearly all over it, inside and out, and you can tell that the previous user was “Old School” about keeping the machine oiled, but that may be what kept this machine in such good operating condition. I wish that I knew what kind of oil had been used liberally on this machine. Twenty-plus years ago, I don’t know that Tri-Flow was quite the rage that it is now, so it was probably some other type of oil.


I wonder if it was 3in1 Oil.....?


CD in Oklahoma

"
"I wonder if it was 3in1 Oil.....?"


It may have been whatever oil Singer was selling at the time. A little went a long way.

Singer potted motor re-hab
 

Went to work on seeing if I could help a 201-2 that ran slowww. Someone (previous owner was a SM collector who liked to repair them himself) had filled the brush ports with grease.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]454356[/ATTACH] Removed motor, replaced wiring that had crispy insulation by the windings, used brake cleaner and compressed air to get the grease out, extra attention in the brush holders. Turned the armature down a hair on my Taig lathe.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]454357[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]454358[/ATTACH]


reassembled the motor, I used a salvaged cord with a plug still on it to test it with Variac.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]454359[/ATTACH]

Then I shortened and put connectors on the cord. Soldered them on to keep corrosion from working it's way in, and used Liquid Electrical Tape, to further insure it.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]454360[/ATTACH]
Replaced the grease wicks and fed them some Singer grease, looks more like vaseline these days, and did not go too heavy on the gear at the recommendation from my OSMG to keep lube from working back onto the brushes.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]454364[/ATTACH]
Put it all back together. And then gave it a test run.

Well done! :)
How did it do?

It was still slow, removed the brushes and recleaned them, and removed some little brass washers the previous owner stuck between springs and brush caps. Testing with a photo tachometer, I got the speed with the clutch disengaged at
1200 rpm and engaged at [ATTACH=CONFIG]454365[/ATTACH]
For comparison I checked a couple 15-91's and a 15-88 and a 1934 FW. Guess which one ran the fastest?! (Hint -not the 201-2)
It gets going faster the longer its running, but it's a long ways from 1200SPM. And t head itself turns very freely, been thoroughly TF'd). I'm going to order brushes from Sew-Classics and see how it does.

My wife uses a Singer 401A every day at our shop. We have two 401A machines, so that one is on the shelf ready if a problem arises with the one in use, and also gives me time to service one while the other is being used. One of the machines has sort of been a little “problem child” from the time that we found it at a moving sale. It hadn’t been used in a very long time, and the motor bearings were dry and complained loudly when I was getting it limbered back up. It got the nickname “Weenie” because of the loud “Weeeeeeee-Neeeeeeee” sound that it made when initially speeding the motor up and letting it coast back down. It quieted down after a little oil worked its way in, but the nickname stuck.

Weenie has been a fairly good sewing machine, but has been giving us a recurring problem on occasion when it suddenly starts breaking the top thread at the bobbin case. I’ve fiddled with the clearance setting of the position bracket several times, and it will be problem-free for a long time, just to act up again. This time, I’ve swapped the position bracket out with one from another machine. The one that was in it is unlike any that I’ve seen before, so I’m wondering if it came from a different model machine or is a reproduction. Anyone seen one made like this? (see arrow in photo)

CD in Oklahoma

" on my Taig lathe"

...and jealousy rears it's ugly head! hehe

Jim,

Neither my 15-91 or my 202-2 will run at 1200 rpm / spm but they both run great.
Try cleaning the brushes and tubes with denatured alcohol. I had to do that when the brushes and commutator on my 201-2 got so dirty it wouldn't start unless you nudged the hand wheel. Works great now.

I agree with Steve, I'm jealous of the lathe. :)

Joe

ok so it isn't all the way done yet but it looks a ton better AND it sews real nice now, too.
This first pic isn't really the before - it is after a massive clean up but before it was done...
[ATTACH=CONFIG]454433[/ATTACH]
and after - still needs a lot more TLC but I KNOW it sews!!!:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]454434[/ATTACH]

Good job Miriam. I’m more into function than looks, so in most cases I could care less what one looks like, as long as it works good.

CD in Oklahoma