Singer 301 with gouges
 

I have a Singer 301 with areas where it looks like the machine was beaten. There are rough gouges in the metal. I am looking for options to at least smooth the area. But since I live in a humid climate, I think it should be painted in that area as well. Any suggestion or advise is greatly appreciated.

No suggestions other than to also ask this question on Victory Sweatshop Forum as you'll also find folks there doing repair
work of all sorts on old machines.

Thanks. I’ll take a look.

That does look like it was beaten. I don't remember how I actually smoothed out a gouge in the bed of my sister's machine, but I do remember using Testors paint and a microbrush to keep adding layers to fill it up. I may have used a nail buffer to smooth the edges a bit. I know now that Dupli-Color DE 1635 is used for the old Japanned machines. I'm thinking that by the time the 301 and being an aluminum body the paint is probably different. Since yours is a black machine, I would think it would work.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

It's victoriansweatshop.com.

It looks to me like there was some solvent spilled on it. Of course, I'm not seeing it in person.

It's aluminum, so you don't have to worry about rust. Good luck. I love my 301.

bkay

There is some areas where it looks like paint was splattered on the machine and some of the clear coat is hazy. But the area in the photo is sharp and I can see the metal.

Aluminum won't rust, but it can and will suffer from corrosion. Rust is also a type of corrosion, but it is specific to iron and steel. So in effect, Aluminum is subject to corrosion, but the chemical reaction during oxidation is different and much more resistant than iron and steel. Still, I would highly recommend once you have repaired the gouges, that you protect the bared aluminum so it does not corrode.