My first Singer overhaul
 

A week ago, I posted some pictures of 2 treadle machines I recently bought at auctions and wanted to fix up. As it turned cold outside again this week, I decided to try my luck with the old Singer 27. I carefully followed the YouTube videos on servicing treadle machines, and the results were better than I could have expected!

Here are a few photos, but I've created an album for more to show the details.

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The best results came when I cleaned and oiled the moving parts; they're so shiny and smooth now, they practically look new!

I was hoping that under the dirt the decals would all be intact, but it looks like something corrosive damaged the main Sphinx design on the front. Still, the others turned out pretty good.

Some things went wrong: I couldn't get the throat plate off, so I finally gave up and cleaned that area from the underside. Also, I managed to lose the presser foot. That's a lesson to me not to place all the small metal bits in a dish and then balance them precariously on top of the detached cabinet, which was placed on top of the piano. I found all the other pieces, but that one disappeared. I feel sure it will turn up again some day, but in the meantime, since I have to buy a lower slide plate anyway, I'll get a new foot as well.

I'm very pleased with the way this turned out, and it makes me braver to take out my Singer 15 and give it a good spa treatment too!.

It turned out very nice, better than I hoped for when I read your first post :- ) I thought most of the decals were lost, but it looks very nice to work on now. The throat plate will probably come off, try and oil it from above and below, every time you have the oil bottle out anyway and let it work at the stuck screw.

Very well done! Looks like she will be fun to sew on.


Best of luck getting the plate off in the near future and with cleaning the next machine!

Very nice job. It looks wonderful.

Thanks! Oh, one little detail: naturally the felt oil wick by the shuttle was all dried up. I pulled it all out with tweezers. To replace it, I remembered that I had a piece of Victorian patchwork that was for hanging on a shelf or mantelpiece. It had ragged red felt along the edge, so I cut off a strip and used that to replace the old felt I'd removed.

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Does not need to be corrosive - just plan water will do a number on the decals.

The sphinx decal seemed to be rather delicate, it's one of the harder to find in good shape.

You did a great job with cleaning up your new purchase. My treadle has been unused for 30+ years so I need to get it flipped up and clean up the outside. What video did you watch that helped you the most??

I must have been lucky with my machines, but they were later 1934 and 1950 models. I have cleaned and polished carefully but I suspect there is a layer of shellac over the entire gilding. Wonder why the Sphinx decals have been less protected, they are certainly all over the machine compared to the simpler ones?

The post that's pinned right at the top of the board, the videos by Muv and Fav - the 2-parter on how to oil a vintage machine is really useful! It's a good tutorial on how to disassemble the small metal bits all around the machine. I had no idea how the bobbin winder or shuttle worked, as I've never had one of these long shuttle machines before. And lots of useful tips, like the advice about having tweezers on hand. I bought a pair from Lee Valley Tools just because she advised it, and they were a lifesaver! Better than normal eyebrow tweezers, I think they were for bonsai or something - anyway, they're long and thin, and can pull fuzz out of hard-to-reach corners.

I never would have guessed that machine would clean up so well. Nice work.