Restoring Singer 101d
 

I'm new here and this forum has been a wonderful resource and great reading. As many of you, I sew and love the best tools - vintage sewing machines have provided me with unsurpassed sewing precision. Over the years I've happened upon vintage Singers and have rewired, cleaned, and refurbished potted motors. I have my aunt's and my mother's featherweights which are my most cherished possessions. I'm currently working on refinishing a featherweight card table which was a freebie on craigslist.

My next project is restoring a Singer 101. These are a bit different than what I've worked on prior and not a lot of info is available online that I can find. I can handle the potted motor and rewire but don't know how to restore the oil wicks under the bed that lubricate the feed dog mechanism. Also, I need to get a new light and install - have not done this before.

If anyone has a Singer 101 or has done any work on one I'd appreciate your advice and sharing your experience. I'm really looking forward to getting this 1929 beauty up and running.

welcome to the board Chaly, you are way ahead of the game being willing and able to restore motors, well done.
While waiting for a Real answer :) please post images of your 101 if you can, we love photos.

Thanks for your welcome and here's some pictures. I couldn't resist including my current project although I know it's off topic for this thread. When the featherweight table is complete I'll summarize my project.

The Singer 101 need a lot of work but I'm confident I can get her running and I hope this machine will be one I will use often for my garment sewing. I'm very interested in this model since it was the first one designed solely for electric purposes, has an interesting stitch length control, and the oil wicking system is unique.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]613027[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]613028[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]613029[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]613030[/ATTACH]

I wish I had a table for my Featherweights. The search is on!

You even found a Featherweight table! Wow: have fun.

Sounds like a great project. You are very fortunate to find a Singer Featherweight table - they're very hard to find and I haven't had any luck.

"SteelSewing" has restored more than a few 101s. You may want to do a search here for either 101, or p.m. him.

the 101 is a really pretty and interesting machine! I wish it were more common and I could snatch one :p Have fun with it!

Chaly: Welcome from Vancouver Island

Yes, I'm very excited to have found this one. I would love to find an original cabinet for it from this era as well. But one project from me at a time!