Very nice work Rodney. the case is great and wonderful job on the machine too.
Skip

Very nice work Rodney!! I keep saying I'm going to do some work on cases, but it's getting too hard to get to the table saw! :hunf:

Depends upon the amount of rotating mass and how much of it is out of balanced, as well as if there are precise bearings or bushings. My first go with one arm and a pin, spun nicely, but it was severely out of balance, it would still spin after I let go, but the imbalance was noticeable and annoying. When I went to an arm with a pin on each end to engage the spokes, it ran much truer. Most of these are like sewing machines and don't have bushings or bearings, so over the years the abrasive dust can leave a lot of slop. They could probably benefit a llittle by having bronze or lead bushings fitted. Oh the gear adds inertial mass also, and the one that came with a 6" wheel, will coast for quite a while. hope I answered your question.:sew:

Oldnsewnsew - that's brillant! What a great idea.

Direct to handwheel could use this 2 pin attachment.[ATTACH=CONFIG]481151[/ATTACH]
dern sideways view, sorry Joe.

Wilbur and Walter came over today. Walter 'helped' grandpa and Wilbur and I tried to fix a Morse. The machine was barely moving - just about an eighth of an inch movement. We oiled and we oiled. No movement. Well we decided to clean out the bobbin area. Once we took it apart the machine moved. Wilbur was elated. So I asked him how to put it back together. He knew but couldn't manage it. We got it moving. Now it needs bobbin winder parts. It is missing some screws and the shaft the bobbin rides on. I had enough though. He is 4 and can read but he can't manage the screw driver most of the time - he's left handed so everything is harder. I showed him that a pencil has to be held just so or it doesn't work right. My DD was amazed that he would listen. I just compared it to a screwdriver...

I'm still messing with the 99K. I can attest to the power of shellac for sticking things together.
I managed to glue the needlebar into it's hole. I had the bright idea of turning the machine "a little harder" to break it free again. Not the best thing I could have done. I broke one part of the linkage for the needlebar and managed to bend the needlebar too in the process. So a perfectly good running machine now needs mechanical repairs along with the cosmetic repairs I was working on. I have another older 99 here that I will see if the parts are the same or not to get this one running again.
Live & learn.
On a better note I was up in Tacoma a couple days ago with a little free time on my hands so I stopped at a thrift store there that I like. I found another briefcase to rob the hardware from. For $2.00 I now have latches, a handle and feet for the case I'm making. It turns out the briefcase is the same brand as the first one I bought with nearly identical hardware. This one even has a key for the latches so the lid won't be able to open accidentally. As a bonus I have a couple hinges and lid supports left over for another project.
Rodney

Rodney, how do you re-use those latches? Can you do some kind of tutorial?

I already took them off the briefcase. I decided to destroy the briefcase before my daughter could claim this one too. :) The hardware was held on with little rivets. I just pried the latches off. I'll replace the rivets with little brass screws. The handle was held on with rivets that appear to be part of the handle. I ground the ends off the rivets to get the handle off. That one is going to take more work if I can make it work at all. The plan is to drill straight down the pegs of the handle then tap the holes for some appropriate sized screws.
Here's the hardware I plan to use.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]481559[/ATTACH]
I can't buy the screws today. If the hardware store is open, they shouldn't be.
I'll be happy to post some progress shots as I work on it.
Happy 4th of July!
Rodney

I'm pretty much done with the case though I'm thinking about taking the hardware off and giving it one more coat of shellac. If I do, it'll get cut back with some #0000 steel wool then waxed.
Here's a few more progress shots.
I built a small jig to hold the handle while I drilled out the rivets. It's very important that your work is held securely when drilling something like this. I was lucky, this went a lot easier than it could have. I had some concerns I wouldn't be able to use the handle's mounts before I started.
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Tapping the posts for screws to hold handle on the case. I ended up using #6-40 screws due to the small size of the posts on the handle.
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Interior of the top showing the screws for the handle in place.
It also shows the brown felt I glued to the bottom edge of the top. when I installed the latches I lined the edges up with the edges of the case. This allowed too much play so the top would slide around and rattle. The felt took care of the slop and rattling. It should help slow down the inevitable wear on the finish at that point too.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]481859[/ATTACH]

The bottom of the bottom showing the feet that I robbed off the briefcase. The red area on the bottom middle is where I sanded thru the outer layer of veneer. Modern veneers are less than paper thin these days. If you don't pay enough attention this is what happens.
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A shot of one of the latches. I ended up using #4 wood screws due to the small size of the holes where the rivets used to be.
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A quick shot of the basically complete case on top of my very cluttered tablesaw/workbench.
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There's plenty of mistakes but it'll hold the sewing machine just fine. The briefcase was completely destroyed in the process of removing the hardware. I used a screwdriver as a chisel in the wood around the rivets to get the hardware off. I didn't want to mess up a good chisel. I have more time than money so it made sense to me to scavenge the hardware from something like a briefcase. (I've probably angered a briefcase collector somewhere.) Latches and suitcase handles add up pretty quickly if you buy them new. I also wanted a more vintage look than most new handles offer.

In the near future I'll do a tutorial on building a very basic base for a sewing machine.
I bought a piece of 1x4 hemlock trim board yesterday. I chose the hemlock because there were no knots in it though cheap pine will also work. I wanted a wood you can find anywhere for this project so no nice hardwoods for this one. I'm not making a lid this time. I plan to use methods that most people can do using pretty basic tools. Many of us have plenty of sewing machine heads but no base or case for them. The new plastic cases can work but are relatively expensive and don't look appropriate. Vintage cases can be expensive if you find one at all.
Rodney

Very nice Rodney!! Looks beautiful! You sure those tiny wood screws will hold up to the stress of the hasps? Hate to have 30 lbs if iron land on your foot! Thanks for sharing your work

I'm thinking I would want to pick it up by the bottom anyway. Some of the old bent wood cases have places for your hands to grip the bottom as you pick it up. I think that would be a nice feature for your cases or frames.

I think the screws will be fine. It's a sideways pull on them. If the forces were on the end like pulling a nail I would have found another way. There may be enough metal in the latches where I could drill and countersink them for the next size up too. I did give the case a brief test by putting the machine in then lifting it a couple inches and giving it a few good shakes. It may not be a really scientific test but things seem to be fine. I don't expect it will see a lot of carrying anyway. It's more just to protect the machine.

The finger holes on the bottom aren't a bad idea.
Rodney

I shot a picture of the finger hole on my 201 case - it's sitting on an old sewing table.
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Still fiddling, I made an aluminum pulley to drive a Singer belt. Need to reduce the diameter of the pulley from 2.5" down to 1.5" (or smaller) because it's harder to turn than I'd like. And it would still be plenty fast enough for me. In addition, when I use it on an Eldredge/National/Davis, it will be proportionatley smaller still, so even easier. In the end, I will probably put the hand crank more to the front.
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I was wondering about that reach on the hand crank, Jim.
There was a man in Florida welded a tool handle/hand crank part to his clutch knob or maybe just the balance wheel... I should have taken pictures. It turns an industrial Singer 15. It is also on a treadle. He uses it both ways to sew alligator hide.

Thanks Miriam, I did fasten it with the attachment with 2 pins, (direct drive) but like I said, the step up gear ratio was over 9:1, which might not give me enough mmmph. (did he have arms as big as an alligator) With the belt and a pulley mounted, it's kind of universal, I can move it up and down the arm to get it to fit "some" belt or another. I have some 1" diameter aluminum at work. Maybe I can try it tonite. another view[ATTACH=CONFIG]481928[/ATTACH] shows that yes it is back a little far. A grandson would be likely needed to crank it, which would serve dual purpose!

Fun little setup Jim. Looks like you've just about got it nailed.

I took a little time and block sanded the bed on the 99 this morning. The new shellac was pretty rough from just being ragged on straight out of the can. I used some 320 wet dry paper and mineral spirits as a lubricant to keep the paper from gumming it up. I went over the machine lightly and carefully, wiping it down and checking my progress often so I wouldn't cut through the new shellac and into the decals. I sanded just enough to flatten out most of the high spots.
Next step is more shellac. l'll probably do the shellac then sand routine a couple more times before I'm finished building up the low spots. I'm going to have to see if my good shellac brush is still good. If it is then I'll switch to my brush and thinned shellac so it'll lay on smoother. Once the shellac is at an acceptable level of smoothness I'll buff it out and wax it.

I really suck at french polishing like Glenn does. If you can master Glenn's technique you can get good results without all the sanding.
Rodney

I got to service a Ferguson Model 134 this past week. It’s a nice older Japanese-made machine with left-homing needle, “on-the-fly” zigzag width (or lock the width for constant width), and user inserted fashion cams. Still chugging along very nicely!

CD in Oklahoma

Other than using my Singer 834 Stylist to sew 99 patches onto uniform shirts at the shop (that kept me busy for a few half-days), I haven’t been sewing much this Spring. I stored “JR”, my Singer 31-15 treadle, in a spare room over the winter, using my little “bikeshop” as a triage area for incoming auction finds over the winter and for working on motorcycles this spring.

But, a couple of weeks ago, I moved the treadle back into the bikeshop ready to sew something, but I didn’t know what. A couple of days ago, I got a request for some vinyl covers made out of surplus billboard vinyl to make dust covers for some kind of equipment that is used in the local bus company to maintain their buses. Test-sewing with JR indicated that the handling during the winter had tweaked things to the point that it took me a while to get everything back where it needed to be.

I’ve made the smaller pair of covers (9x6x15) and still need to make the big one (72x36x52) to cover the computer console. The irregularity of the larger unit is causing me to take another look at how it’s going to fit, so I’m going to cut out the top of the cover, take it down to the bus shop Monday, and see how it’s going to hang before I decide on the length of the “skirt” to enclose the unit. I’m afraid that a square cover without full support will sag down unsightly on the floor and be a hazard to rolling the machine around. I use a computer program to calculate the size of fabric that I need to make a certain cover, but it works best for perfectly square, rectangle, or round objects. This one has all kinds of irregularities.

Boy, it sure felt good to get to treadle old JR again! And I look forward to him sewing up the large cover with both of us immersed in salvaged billboard fabric.

Let the sewing begin!

CD in Oklahoma

I did some more mending with my Singer 319W Treadle this morning. It’s not quilting, but it is fiddling with a vintage machine.

I had a hole worn in the front of my oldest denim apron. A very nice Dutch friend of ours made it for me about 8 years ago, so I want to hang onto it. She makes aprons for a hobby. I had a roll of the old-style heavy blue denim, gave her a chunk of it, and she designed and made an apron for me. I’ve since replaced the neck strap and the waist tie straps, and then later I designed and made a second apron myself out of the same fabric, so this one has been retired to my bikeshop at home.

With the hole mended and some of the worn strings cut off of the neck and pocket top, it should still have several miles left in it. I used the multi-zigzag key on the 319W to make the stitches.

CD in Oklahoma

Very cool! That apron is really developing some character. Something that's missing in these days of toss it if it has a hole in it clothing.

I've been quilting on my Rodney machine the last several days and my daughter Olivia has been sewing some bookmarks on her Singer 101. The machine seems a little slow and underpowered even after cleaning and re-greasing the motor but it makes a really pretty stitch.
Rodney

While using my little MUTT Treadle Stand, I noticed that I had some clanking going on that I need to address sometime. In trying to eliminate as much drag as possible, it sounds as though I may have left the foot pedal a little bit too loose when I serviced it last time. It runs effortlessly, but it sure makes a racket!

Are you quilt piecing or quilting on your Rodney machine?

Is Olivia using cotton fabric, or some other heavier fabric for her bookmarks.

After cleaning and re-greasing the motor, did you run it flat-out with the clutch disengaged for a good long time? Sometimes doing that helps to get everything “ran back in” after having things apart.

CD in Oklahoma

I love it. I think "character" is a good word and just love patched denim. I am a denim girl since my tree climbing days.

I've been away from sewing machines for a bit, but about 3 weeks ago a gal contacted me to work on her mom's featherweight. She said it wasn't running (hadn't for about 10 or 15 years) and when quizzed further she said it was "the bobbin". In speaking with her more, it actually turned out that someone had removed the hook at some point and it was sitting in a margarine container inside the case.

Sure I said, I can reassemble it and give it a cleaning, etc.

Well, it turns out that the hook was off the machine because the tip was broken off it. My guess is someone disassembled probably due to a thread jam that the featherweights are known for, but they disassembled the wrong part.

When they tried to put the hook back on, they didn't time her and the tip of the hook was broken off in a collision with the needle and she went back into her box.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]484987[/ATTACH]

I ordered a replacement from Glenn Williams in Florida and it arrived last night. Today, I put the whole thing back together and she sewed her first stitches in more than a decade. :)

[ATTACH=CONFIG]484988[/ATTACH]

I do have one question though. Is there any chance that Singer mated these bobbin bases and the hooks to each other? The replacement hook did not fit the original bobbin base. It was way too tight a fit. The base from my painter FW fit the new hook, but with some tight spots. Oiling and basically a gentle lapping seemed to fix it, and the same thing for the original bobbin base in my painter FW's hook and everyone had working bits. The original bobbin base was way tighter than even a "it wasn't used very much" scenario could account for. I was scared I would break the finger off the base if I used enough force to actually turn it.

I just finished piecing and am now quilting-not free motion though. I haven't practiced that enough to want to risk it.
Olivia was working with scrap cotton
No, I haven't tried running it flat out with the clutch disengaged. I cleaned and lubed it last fall and mostly it just sits, so far we found some dried oil preventing the tension from disengaging and I had to loosen the motor just a bit then run the machine and tighten the motor back down. It was slightly out of alignment before.
It will most likely be a few days before I try working on it again. I need to get this quilt done and out the door by the 1st. I can do it but I need to stay focused on that right now. It's a 2 sided quilt, the front is done and I'm about 1/2 done quilting the back. When that's done I still have to join the 2 halves together and bind it. I figure I've got another 3 days to go on it at the rate I work.
I'll be posting pictures when it's done. It's all being done on vintage machines except the parts I'll need to do by hand.
Rodney

Tammi, I’ve heard that there’s a difference between the complete bobbin/hook assemblies between the models 221 and 301, even though they take the same bobbin and bobbin case. I’ve never compared them to see how they differ.

Any chance that it’s got a mix of parts causing the bad fit?

CD in Oklahoma

Thank you, I like the old-time “patched look” too. I agree with your term “character”.

I may be one of the few people around that actually enjoys mending jeans. I’m so glad that my wife taught me how to mend denim. (She is too, since I do much of her denim mending at the shop for her now.)

While I could have simply reversed sides of the piece of repair denim (the “back side” of the newer denim would come closer to matching the faded apron color), I wanted the contrast of the colors to show. It helps to highlight how much fading has occurred, and that it definitely has been patched up for more use.

CD in Oklahoma

Good. I’ll be looking forward to seeing them.

CD in Oklahoma

Thanks for bringing that up. I did know about some differences, but I went downstairs to survey the machines that I have here. For the record they are:
1. LBOW SB 301A
2. 1950 221
3. 1948 221 (my "painter" - it's disassembled waiting on a paint job)
4. 1957 222k
5. My customer's 222K

Here's what I expected to find:
All FWs share the hook and bobbin case numbers, with possible superceded numbers.
301 would have different part numbers for hook (I mean, it's a slant right? chances are the angle of the needle alone could cause differences) and bobbin base plate.

Here's what I found.

Bobbin Base part numbers:
221:45752
222:45926
301:170166

Hook part numbers:
221: 45827
222:170135
301:170135

Yes. I checked those last 2 numbers 3 times.

The parts charts at brewer sewing show that the 170135 is the hook number for the FW machines and their parts chart for the 301 doesn't show the hook number separately, but the one on the Singer site does.
http://www.brewersewing.com/StockIma...21K4,221K5.pdf
http://www.brewersewing.com/StockIma...uals/221K7.pdf
http://parts.singerco.com/IPpartCharts/301-1_2_3.PDF

I can only guess at this point that the 170135 supercedes the 45827 and has a wide enough opening that even a slant needle won't cause a collision.

So that just leaves the base plates. They don't -look- different to me, so it's at the micrometer level that they're different. I even compared fingers and for some reason, though I'm sure I've seen a difference at some point, I couldn't see it today.

The 222K currently has the older hook - the 45827 - it's what Glenn sent me - and a 45752 bobbin base plate. It's a tight fit to get it in and out - that could be a function of my sore hands too though because most of them gave me grief during this experiment - but it spins naturally when it's in place.

My painter now has the older hook and the 222K bobbin base plate and spins 99% properly. It's a little weird if turned backward, but is otherwise good. It's also not installed in a machine at the moment, so it may be weird just because.

I have a black Kenmore 15 clone - pretty generic. The whole thing was seized up when I got it. Wilbur, Lovie and I worked and worked on getting it some T-F and lots of clean up. I had to take off the pressure foot bar, clean it of dried up oil and re-assemble it to get it to move. Still after heat, T-F and a purchase of Kroil and a soaking with Kroil - the machine still didn't move. The needle bar seemed to be the issue more heat, oil, kroil... After considerable work, I removed that needle bar - never force it get a big hammer. Yes, I broke some parts. Yes I had donor parts. BUT when I re-assembled it the needle bar still doesn't move very freely. (With the needle bar out it turns very sweet.) Could be possible that the needle shafts don't quite line up on? It feels way too tight when I put it in. It also feels like I have to kind of push the needle bar forward to get it in. It is clean inside and out and has new oil. It is a 'new' needle bar off a donor. I'm wondering if the bottom shaft can be reamed out? HOW? Could that make it too loose? If it is off - it is likely only slightly off since it does install... How would you ever get it lined up? Do those shafts the needle bar goes through need to be tight or could the bottom one be loosened up? Nah - then it could be sloppy below about like Wilbur holding the pencil like a screwdriver from the top and trying to write. It turns very nice with out the needle bar, but could it be possible it has a bent place up where the needlebar attaches to the drive shaft? It is possible that I bent something trying to get that needlebar out. How do you know which way it is out? if it is out? It just doesn't move with real ease like most of the other clones. There is so much I don't know. I haven't timed it yet - I'm thinking something feels off. Then I worked on a nearly identical Mercury clone - talk about running quiet & slick...

amazing the precision that was achieved back when. hard to imagine the cast iron body getting that tweaked out of alignment without external damage. so when you put needlebar in, it goes through first bore okay, I assume. Then does it bind when you're pushing it into the lower bore? If so' sounds like alignment. refusing and line boring are possible, but not worth the cost. I wonder if if a teensy curve in the needlebar would work.

yes it goes through the top just fine - then it seems to not like the next hole much - real drag there.

& if rotating it a bit a time, it doesnt change? i guess. So ink it with magic marker and push it in some and it will tell you which way it's out of alignment. It might be close enough that a wee bit of filing with a chainsaw sharpening file can give ypu enough clearance. No guarantee that there wont be unintended consequences.

I guess unexpected results aren't any worse that a parts machine is it?

:thumbup: yupp, i guess.

Have you tried putting the needle bar in without the linkage to the upper shaft? Maybe the linkage is causing the bind?

CD in Oklahoma

Wilbur was just here and he is puzzled, too. He was excited to see the old one out & help put a new one in. I let him put it in and out. He got it in enough that he could do it up and down - it just doesn't like to move freely. I put it through the top shaft and it moves easily. I put it through the top shaft and the 'arm' and it moves nice. When I put it through the bottom shaft it does not move freely. So I pulled the 'arm' off and ran it from the top shaft to the bottom. It seems like something doesn't quite line up or is too tight. Ok so some time lapse... I too a picture of the needle bar attempting to enter the bottom shaft. I know it wouldn't be coming up this far but I'm seeing that it is does not line up. I wonder if it is the shaft since it was already very stuck or if I need to look at a different donor needle bar and hope it isn't as snug...... Picture shows the needle bar through the top and hitting on the top edge of the bottom shaft. ARGH. It IS just a bit off. It should slide easy.
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Yesterday, I got to use my Singer 29K70 Boot Patcher to ....well... use it as a Shoe Patcher! Every once in a while, someone will wag in a boot or shoe that needs some stitches put in it.

Don’t let the grizzled Ol Poop running the sewing machine distract you, and just be thankful that it’s a shot of my good side! (Now you see why I'm not in many of my photos.)

CD in Oklahoma

Here’s a shot of the completed repair. (Between the red lines.)

CD in Oklahoma