Blue Ribbon for sure.

Beautiful!

Ameilia, did you end up getting a manual yet? I still need to scan my German manual for someone; I am happy to share it if it helps you. But I also recall that there is a manual in English available online for your 283, for free. Do let us know. :-)

The bentwood extension table or tray, that is lovely.

:-)

Hey Frudemoo, I've inherited the same machine from my gran who was a seamstress but we had a problem trying to get hold of the secondary belt so my dad took it to a shop and we have discovered today (even though the guy never managed to get us the belt) that the guy in the shop had pulled apart the tension knob and put it back together wrong so now we are struggling to set the tension on it and when it is machining instead of it being perfect as my grab has left it, it now keeps looping on the underside really badly. We don't have any instructions with the model and so am trying to get hold of some. I saw your post and that is why I have joined. I need help, please can you come back to me. Thanks.

Jo

Ps, we also had a bang and smoke so there is defo a a prob with the working even though we have a separate earth wire at the rear.

Hi Jo
Wow, must be super frustrating for you :( ... Do you want to PM me your email address and I'll try and send the manual through to you? Might be better via Dropbox or some other file sharing platform as I presume it will be a large file once scanned. TBH, this is what's stopped me doing it so far is that I know how to scan the pages but putting it together in some sort of shareable format will be tricky.
Anyway, don't worry. I have the machine and the manual and we'll get it sorted for you. I think there was a separate earth wire on mine as well but it wasn't actually making contact properly. Anyway, it's hard to know if they're identical without pics etc. I've only just had my first experience looking inside a motor and cleaning it so my understanding is very limited!! ;)
Cheers, Amelia

Well we both have one advantage now. My dad, who she taught to sew on it and also mechanically he watched and helped my grandad (who was a tacker (made shoes and slippers) on the same machine) maintain the machine and my gran taught him to tailor on it. My gran commissioned the machine direct from Jones' in 1952. They were sold in the UK as a Jones 283f. My dad thinks that somewhere in all the stuff from my grans he has the original docs. But I was unsuccessful last night. I managed to view a link to a 282 off the site and has a flashback to when I was 9 and my gran making me thread the thread through the hole on the clam holder for the spool. This was the problem with the looping and through trial and error last night we think we nailed it with the rebuild of the tension knob. I'll check it against yours though to be sure.

Ps I've taken a pic with it in the case for you but couldn't upoload it on here lastingly from my iphone

Hi, Frudemoo! Was very happy to see your post. My New Years resolution is to start learning to sew on my mother's Phoenix 283F. The picture you sent looks to be identical. A bit of history you might find interesting:

About 15 years ago I had this machine cleaned and oiled. The gentleman who worked on it said this model was very innovative for its time, and of the highest quality. He said it had "all the bells and whistles" and would have been quite expensive at the time. After my mom passed away, I found the sales receipt. My grandfather (a professional mens' tailor in Frankfurt) bought it on her behalf in 1953. It was described as "slightly used" and went for 450 Deutsche Marks -- equivalent of about $125 dollars in 1953. That's over $1000 in 2015 dollars...

For some reason the manual that came with it was a 282. The illustrations in it look slightly different from my machine. Too bad it's in German! (I can read it, but only with great difficulty.) I did download the 2-part pdf in English which is at http://rudolfcouture.com/service/sewing-machines/ but it's for a 282/282 F. As I said, mine looks exactly like "Fawkes", with free arm, foot pedal, original carrying case and molded wooden work table. At some point someone rigged up a converter for US electrical outlets. (My mom used it for years here without it blowing up, so hopefully it's safe...)

After my mom moved to the US around 1955, the store she had bought the Phoenix from sent her the address of a company in Chicago which they said might be able to assist her with parts and service. Roman Raichert is no longer there, but it appears a successor ( http://www.raichert.com/ ) is still in business specializing in imported sewing machines.

I hope this is of some use or at least some interest to you, and that "Fawkes" is still humming along! Happy 2016,
Diana Z
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"Here are some pics!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]423858[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]423859[/ATTACH]
The distinctive 'clam shell' bobbin area. It also has an eye on the bobbin case that you need to thread the bobbin thread through... I haven't seen that before.

My favourite feature so far is that you can wind a bobbin from the 2nd spool without unthreading the main sewing thread. The bobbin thread travels a different path which I think is very clever.[/QUOTE]

Welcome to QB, DianaZ. You are VERY VERY blessed. I had a Pheonix but I let it go to a little gal who deserved one. Yes those machines were way ahead of their time. There still isn't anything that cool.

Ditto what she said. He's quite the handsome dude.