The Machine That I Fiddled With Today
 

OK, most of us vintage sewing machine enthusiasts have several machines, and we try to accumulate even more. Some of us have machines that we fix and re-home, (or, flip for profit if you will). Some of us have machines that we have had stashed away from years ago, maybe received from a family member that “dumped” them on us, and we’ve finally decided to take a look at it. Some of us have been searching for and finally found that one machine that we’ve been coveting. Some of us have picked up a sewing machine at a yardsale and don’t know a thing about it yet.


Whatever the circumstances, let us hear about what machine you’ve been fiddling with today, and what happened..... What is going on with you and your machine?


I’ll start: It’s not a quilting machine, but lately I’ve been re-working a machine that I came upon that once belonged to a long-time upholstery icon within the neighborhood. His name was Jim, and he did re-upholstery in my small rural town for a long time. He did the community upholstery work from 1961 until 2008. That’s 47, or 48 years, depending on how you look at it. That’s a very long time!


I got my hands on one of Jim’s old walking foot upholstery machines. It’s a German-made 1959 Singer 111W156. After going through it, I think (hope) that it was a machine that he must have bought from someone to help them out, and that he never actually depended upon it for his work. His main machine (that I saw him use) was a Pfaff Industrial. This Singer machine was a basket-case, and he never could have sewn on it in the condition that it was in (at least, its condition when I received it). The timing was out of whack , parts were missing, cheeshe! It couldn’t have sewn as it was, but I am certain that he owned it at one time, and that he had it in his shop.


Well, today, after weeks of tweaking this and tweaking that, then searching for help and waiting for parts, it sews! I had test-sewn it a few days ago, by simply hand wheeling it. But today, even though it was possibly the coldest day of the year in my Bikeshop, I fired it up and sewed with it in a power stand! Whoohoo! It sews like Champ!


I love it when things come together! I’m going to put this one into my lineup of “go-to” machines!


Please share your experience of fiddling with your machine. Photos would be nice, but not required. What machine did you fiddle with today? Tell us about it!


CD in Oklahoma

I too just love it when they sew like a charm or are better than we expected. Good save.

Yesterday I had to get my truck oil changed, tires rotated etc, so I did a quick run through my favorite Redding thrifts trying to beat the fast approaching snow storm home..LOL. So today I fiddled with a Touch and Sew. I wasn't really looking for one but after reading the threads here about them just a few days ago I was intrigued. So when I found one for sale cheap...I bought it. I thought what the heck I will play with it and see what all the hoopla is about. It is a Singer 758.

Well, it IS different. Took me awhile just to get the top and bottom off. My 758 fortunately is like new, I really lucked out with it. I never know what to expect from thrift stores. It was just a little dusty and cleaned up spotless. I need the cams, the feed dog cover plate if it came with one originally, bobbins and the spool cover material stuff is shot.
I downloaded a manual so now I will try to find the other items so I can see how she sews. I want to find the vintage bobbins that came with the machine if I can. If not I will try the aftermarket ones but so far most peeps haven't liked them. She has all kinds of unique and fun differences for her time and so far I like her...a lot. I really like how to store the foot control inside the case cover. It is probably the quickest, easiest and neatest one I have so far.

Hoping to get this Hamilton Beach motor rewired and running
 

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Need some brake cleaner, and new brushes, and decide whether I should turn down the armature as it's grooved pretty deep, probably won't. Do you know what happens if it gets turned down too far? and the gunk built up between the sections, should it be cleaned out? I have in the past and they worked after...

I haven't played with any today. Yesterday I fooled around with the Wards machine I just picked up. Found the problem with the bobbin winder. It was a loose screw so the spring wasn't engaging correctly. Found out the buttonholer function wasn't working and fixed that. That one was a combination of being frozen a bit and the knob was spinning on the shaft so it looked like it was working but was really just sitting there. The frozen knob for the feed dog release is still thwarting my attempts to free it. The set screw for the knob is stuck-I broke a screwdriver in it- it's in a reachable but awkward position making it difficult to get on it securely enough to get any leverage. I'll get it eventually. I also scrubbed the top of the plastic carrying case down with some soft scrub. That got rid of about 90% of the crud and scuff marks on it. I still need to scrub down the base.
This evening I may do some sewing on the quilt I'm making on my Singer 66.
Rodney

Jim you posted at the same time as me. That's a beauty of a New Home.
Rodney

I haven't 'fiddled' with it for a few weeks now due to space restrictions and cold weather ( painting isn't a good idea in the cold in an un-insulated garage) but, I'm in the middle of my first ever restoration. I jumped in with both feet onto a 221 and have it all apart. I took 'before' pictures and will take 'after' shots when I'm done with it.

I’m switching industrial power stands to make use of a better motor setup, so I took the dual-wheel trolleys out from under the Singer 111W153 stand and put them under a stand that I’m going to put my Singer 111G156 machine into. I got those dual-wheeled casters at a yardsale from a woodworker and built my own trolleys under each end of my power stand.

While I was doing that, I had to move a tote-full of scrap vinyl, and had been thinking about a Christmas project using a little bit of it. I figured that I had better get it done if I was going to do it. I set the Singer 31-15 treadle up with black thread and made two little pint-sized billfolds for a couple of my pint-sized grandsons.


CD in Oklahoma

I have some parts for those machines.

I'm missing a screw but you already knew that.... When I took the screw out of the tension end of a Singer 401a it went flying across the shop. No telling where it went. Why is it the smallest screws fly the farthest and the fastest? I crawled around with a magnet and still never have found it. Maybe I should shake the machine up a little... see if it falls out... I'll have to rob something else for the set screw. Maybe I can pay a finder fee to Wilbur and Lovie next time they are over. LOL Teach them what 'real' sewing repairs are?

Ok back to what I worked on. I had 3 machines yesterday with buggered up tensions. It was the end of the day and I was exhausted. Before I went to bed I had a little brain fart - maybe I forgot to get the dried up oil off the little tiny pin that never sees the light of day and gets lost when you pull the tension off a machine. So when I got up I messed with the first tension. Pulled it off the machine, re-cleaned and oiled it. I had not pulled the pin out - my bad. The tension works just fine on straight stitch. On zig zag no matter what I do the thread pulls to one side. The machine zigs and zags like it should - the needle swings fine - no crud in the system. I took off all the jewelery so I could see the hook. It is nabbing the thread so it isn't out of timing. I have to go back and explore. I had another Singer 401a with a buyer showing up in a hurry and it's tension wasn't working either - same dried up crud. So that one tension is gone to the machine that is now out the door. The quick fix for the one out the door was the tension off the messed up machine. Now I have the tension for the machine that is out the door missing a set screw and the machine still doesn't zig and zag with good tension. I may pull a tension off a Fashion Mate and see if it works. I'm thinking somebody jimmied up the machine somewhere. Parts were all in a box. The tension was put together wrong. Other parts were pulled from the machine. The other machine I was having fun with was a Brother Flairmatic - it's problem was dried up oil on the little pin that goes in the center of the tension where it never sees the light of day. I got it cleaned, oiled and returned. I like that machine. The Brother Flairmatic seems to be a good solid machine. It would be great for learning to sew! Three tensions with dried up oil on the pin. :thumbdown: Does that tell me something? NEVER LET A SEWING MACHINE KNOW YOU ARE IN A HURRY.
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I don't ever oil those tension release pins. I run'em dry.

CD in Oklahoma

yeah, but...
 

smashed to smithereens no doubt!?

Thanks Miriam, right now I am all set except for original 1970's ish? bobbins. If you have some of those talk to me..LOL

nah - I have a good box full of parts - I bought out an OSMG recently - He was prepared for planned obsolescent machines. The crush and sow was from before I could do much with those - that one sat under a leak on the porch and rusted the insides pretty good. The older machines can be made to work with rusted insides but all that stamped metal was not going to revive. It served it's purpose.

They seem to march right up to my door pre-oiled. Running them dry is good if they are already dry. If they are already oiled I clean them off and try to avoid oil. I don't see why they would need any. If I oil them it is with Tri-flow since it isn't going to gum up in the future.

Today's machine was an Elna Zig Zag. I think it's the predecessor to an SU. I don't think the thing has -ever- been cleaned.

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I'm doing it as a favor, she wants to give it to her granddaughter for christmas. I'm starting to wonder if she likes her granddaughter. I'm now 4 hours into it. The ZZ finally does. The needle position selector is no longer a 2 hander to move, but its not smooth, and I have a significant tension issue still because currently this machine is a great ruffler, besides the odd skipped stitch. I do believe it will be a tomorrow's machine too, and possibly Wednesday's machine. *sigh* I sure hope I can get it off my bench before Christmas.

Tammi, I'm surprised it doesn't have cracked gears under that bobbin.

It's sat in storage for 20 years, maybe that's how she got lucky? I better check closer tomorrow though. Damn. It's an open arm, I'm not looking forward to this check. I saw the one set (all metal and thought I'd seen what I needed to)

I've been doing glamor with the Singer 27:
Before:
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and so far I need to do a bit more - this is well worth the time:
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and so far:
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I also acquired two more machines then spent time just looking through drawers, trying to get the redeye out of its entrapment table and inspecting the old Singer motor.
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The motor was fastened to the Redeye's motor boss. It swings away when you want to put the machine away. Someone managed to foul things with the motor and the lift so that the machine would not go all the way up. We had to dis-assemble quite a bit to get her free. Here is the motor:
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I have a Viking 6020 on my bench that I think has a sticky shaft or gear in its transmission, so I’m going to be learning more about a Viking transmission. It has considerable belt dust going on with it, but I need to make sure there are no broken parts in the transmission before I worry much about the belt. I don’t see many Vikings.

I installed a speed reducer on the shop Consew 225 combination feed industrial last evening. Wrestling with that industrial head and power stand gave me a few aches and pains that I’m feeling this morning. Test operation indicated that the installation will work, and will give us a lot more slow-end speed control that’s been needed for the short-run type stitching that we do with that machine. Seldom do we sew more than a few inches before we need to make a turn or the stitch line is completed. I can’t wait to do a project on it to give it a real test. I know my wife will like it tamed down a little too. She’s been handling it ok for 7 years without a runaway, but she has always been concerned about it getting away from her.


CD in Oklahoma

I fiddled with an Electro Grand Japanese badged with cams (cams missing) Some of it is not intuitive. There is a dial on the front either doesn't work right or I am missing something. I'm sure when I post a picture someone here will know. But that isn't what I had to do. It was not turning. I started oiling and came to the nose area - there was thread wrapped around the some of the moving parts or not so moving parts. I got the thread and a ton of lint out and the machine turns nice. Then it was missing the bobbin case and the needle clamp so I dug through parts and fixed that. I set the tensions and the machine stitches a nice stitch. I also had to free up the feed dog drop & buttons. Now I need to figure out how the cams and zz work. What is B - A - M - it has to do with the cams but nothing stands out at me on this machine. The zz dial side levers seem to be a bit gooey inside, too. There is a cam in there but the stitch did not resemble the cam at all. The cam is seated as far as that goes.
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Finished repairing similar motor, cleaned up the armature on a mini-lathe, replaced shot wiring, a little cluging on the reversing contacts and brush holders. As much as I had trepidations about working on this motor, it actually went okay. I put it on a Variac and turned up the voltage, and it ran fine. Then hooked it up to it's original foot control.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]451534[/ATTACH] I put it back together and had a wee bit of stitch trouble, due to bobbin tension. On a whim, I decided to look and see if one of those little discs of lint had formed in the bottom of the shuttle bobbin case, like what happened on my 127 and 128. Sure enough, picked it out of there and cleaned the end out with Q-tip and alcohol and the bobbin tension smoothed out! 3 out of 3. Grab a flashlight and look down those shuttle bobbin cases, maybe you'll see a similar situation! I took a short video of the New Home Free Running, running cause I was so happy!
Jim

Aren't those old motors cool? Mine does not have a cool foot petal - it looks like somebody changed it out.

I got the Viking 6020 sewing again. The transmission was kind of “stuck in neutral” with no damaged parts. The set screws had backed off of the BW shaft. I’m sending it back out with the existing belt on it. It’s still got some life in it.


I got to do a small job with my Consew 225 that is freshly outfitted with a Speed Reducer. I sewed an embroidered patch onto the front of a baseball-style cap. It’s like having a completely different machine! The added control is wonderful.


I cut out some recycled billboard vinyl to make of couple of small hip bags for my grandsons, and planned to sew them up with my Singer 31-15 treadle one day this week, but it’s been a little too cold in my bike shop to enjoy messing with them. We’ve had snow on the ground and below freezing temps for over a week straight, which is really unusual for here, and I have the bike shop curtained off from the rest of the house so it only gets enough heat to protect the water system to the clothes washer and water heater.


It’s supposed to warm back up in the next few days, so once I finish the hip bags, I want to start disassembly of the rusty Adler 205-64 to see if I can get it cleaned back up and working. I gave it an oil soak over a week ago, so it should be ready to start removing screws and parts. I’ve never messed with a stitcher this big, so I’m anxious to get into it. It will make a really nice addition to my machine herd if I can get it going.


CD in Oklahoma

Once you get into the big machine you will see that it is about the same as anything else.

i got a big machine project also. it's a singer 16-188 that i got for practically for free. i have oiled it and looks to be running smooth and have not tried it with motor running. i still need to get some minor parts. i tried the motor and it's running good also. i am currently refinishing the cabinet/table.

I have a 241 I tried to sell. I kept testing it and decided to keep it - I just love it. The motor is noisy but the machine just whispers. It still needs a set of corks for the oil pan and I am not liking the old belt. People kept wanting one that sews leather. I haven't tried it at extremely high speeds but it goes as fast as I can keep up with out any effort.

I finally got around to trying one of my combination feed machines in my industrial treadle today. I’ve got a little project in the works (sewing a leather western belt to billboard vinyl) that is probably more than JR (Singer 31-15) will want to handle. So, since Ol’ Dirty (Singer 111W153) was setting on the airtable out of his power stand, I stuck him into my MUTTIN to see how things looked.

I had to adjust the knee lift stops to get the lift finger out of the way under the machine. The lift won’t work for the larger machines anyway, since it’s a different setup. I walked the leather drive belt on and it’s tighter than on JR, so I’ve probably stretched it out of shape for JR now, but I can shorten it easily.


I could treadle Ol’ Dirty fairly easily with nothing under the needle but air, but when I put some leather scraps about the thickness of the belt (hand tooled on Oak Tanned leather) under the feet, it takes too much effort to keep the treadle going. I was pushing hard enough that I became concerned about breaking the pitman rod ear off, so I quit. I might be able to treadle Ol’ Dirty for sewing vinyl, but not dense leather. That was what I wanted to find out. The too-tight belting could have a little to do with it, but it’s probably better than a too-loose one for leather.


CD in Oklahoma

It sure would be the bomb if you could HC that one...

Fiddled with my Singer treadles this morning (31-15 & 29K70). I finished up my two hip bags with them. I intentionally waited until the end to sew the back loops and Velcro onto the bags. I needed an excuse to use my Singer 29K70 for part of the construction. (hehe)


With Christmas presents done, maybe I can get started taking my Adler 205-64 apart this afternoon.


CD in Oklahoma

CD, I'm enjoying your quick notes on what you're "fiddling" with. I will participate time and machine permitting. Any lack of participation doesn't mean we're not interested. Keep them coming.

Ron

Stripped the “outer” parts off of my Adler 205-64, and have it soaking with more sewing machine oil. I’ve nicknamed it “Big D” because the friend’s first name that I got it from starts with a “D”, and well, the danged thing is just BIG! It doesn’t take much wrestling this thing around to play me out quick.

All of the outer screws came out without so much as a whimper. It sure helps to let everything soak with oil for a while before ever laying a tool on them. Even the shuttle assembly came out with no force, including the 4 little tiny springs behind the shuttle. I have the stitch length lever making full motion forward and reverse, which moves a bunch of parts including the needle bar, feed dog, and the linkages attached to them, and today I got the presser bar freed up. I’m making good progress.

I believe that they call this machine a “needle feed - jump foot machine”. The needle and lower feed move the work while the single large foot raises and falls to allow the movement. I found a 10-pack of needles for it in my stash. They’re System 328. The ones I have are some of the smaller ones of this type (size 180/24), so they’re not much bigger around than a round toothpick, but they’re 2 3/8” long.

I’m still not getting much movement with the hand wheel. Just a tiny bit. Although, after getting some of the parts off of it today, I was able to get oil further into the workings, so oil should be able to find its way into the rest of the machine now. So, for the next few days, my job will be watching the oil soak in. I’m qualified for and like this kind of work, even better than watching paint dry. I suppose it’s because of the added excitement!

CD in Oklahoma

how do you clean rusted parts ? i tried soaking them in vinegar overnight but didn't quite work? you've got so many nice machines. quite nice to have them as they will surely come in handy anytime you need to do some heavyweight sewing. i didn't know 29K is rare and so expensive. otherwise i could have jumped on the one that is listed on my local CL. oh well, next time i should know better. i am a newbie as far as antique/vintage sewing machines are concern. thanks a lot and do let me know how you polish and clean your rusted sewing machine metals.

OMG!!!!!

I think that I just witnessed oil seepage and probable oil transfer from part number 105 15 006 3, to part number 065 00 168 0!!!! How cool is that?????


It doesn’t get any better than this! Whooooo-Hoooooo!!!!!


CD in Oklahoma

LOL CD. just LOL !!

ThayerRags, you -do- know how to have a good time! ;-)

Ditto what Ron Vridar said, by the way. Fun thread you have here. Like Ron/Vridar, I am too busy to tend to my on-the-go tinkering at the moment, but very soon hope to catch up a bit.

I've been busy selling bench top thread injectors... One guy came and stayed for hours then came back yesterday and stayed for more hours - he brought his girl friend the second time. Another guy was buying a machine for his DD and DGD and stayed for hours.... My shop is becoming a regular attraction... Should I charge admission?

Folks, I am in need of a power cord/foot pedal for a touch and sew 773. Please PM me if you have an extra one. Tks, Carolyn