Is this something I should consider, or forget about?
 

"Louise" recently came to visit "Thelma", and we all agreed she was a good fit for the group. "Louise" is a 1948 Singer 128-23=godzilla, sewing machine. She has a vibrating shuttle, and will be complete when my next package arrives. She is 3/4 size machine, but weighs a ton ( sorry Louise), and has her Bentwood case.
Her wiring is hideous, and likely is the original, so I have not plugged her in. all the parts move freely and togehter the best I can see. She has a potted motor on the back, and a light that is added to the motor, both could be removed.
I am considering making her a hand crank machine. In so doing I will have to replace her wheel to be able to add the crank. This is where I am second guessing the idea. Is this feasible, or just an absolutely stupid idea?
Is there any other changes that I am not thinking of that would also have to be done to make her a hand crank.

Why a hand crank? Becuase I want one!!! I don't need another straight stitch only ,electric machine.
So, Ladies if you have thoughts or suggestions, warnings or cheers, please let me know.

Here are pics for you to see "Louise". thanks to you all for looking.

Hi Barb! Louise doesn't have a potted motor, those are an intregal part of the machine. Her motor is removable, and with a spoked handwheel, you'd have a great canidate for a handcrank. :)
If that's what you're wanting, I don't see any reason not to go for it. :)

I got this same machine as a gift for Christmas, though mine is knee operated and in a tad better condition. Sews like a tank, is very loud but makes a very nice stitch.

Oh, I thought it was a potted motor as it sits behind the arm in a box. HA! But it is still doable to remove the motor... without major surgery?.... (on her or.... me?) Is that what Billy calls a "motor-ectomy"?
I didn't want to ruin the machine, but it has lived a hard life as it is. I'm not sure I could deplete its value too much more, unless the hand crank idea would do that.
DH isn't understanding why I'd want to not have her electric. Don't know that I can explain it to him in terms he would understand fully.

When you say, a "tad" better, please tell me you can see what it is. Ha! In the picture the name Singer shows up better than in life!! I don't know if this model actually had decals with the wrinkle finish, but I was certain that the name Singer was decalled on it. I know that the wheel had decals, because parts of them are still visible on one half of it.

The decals on mine are in good shape..all except the one on the bed and all the blackside finish and machine finish is very nice on mine. I would tell your hubby that the hand crank will make it quieter. I did notice mine scoots all over the table from vibration of the machine and possibly the knee control. It' s a nice conversation piece and I used it for a whole weekend, but I doubt I'll ever use it again. It sits on top of the antique piano in it's case now. It was the first shuttle machine I've ever used and I enjoyed it. But, I have so many other vintage machines that don't create that noise level;>

I found a pic I took on Christmas. Here it is.

geeez....louise.

Candace, your machine is very pretty. It is nice to see what the machine is supposed to look like. Thank you for sharing your pics.
I thought that since "Louise" is so heavy that she would be a good candidate for the hand crank.
I think that I'll just go for it. I still need to clean her up more, might as well change her out at the same time.
Thank you all for your comments.

Tell your husband that it is wise to own a working hand crank machine in case an emergency causes an extended outage with your region's section of the national power grid. At least you could sew in the dark.

Will her lid still fit with the hand-crank on?

You can purchase a handcrank that bolts onto the original wheel. They work great! Do a search on Google, that's how I found mine.

Power outages happen.....I have a treadle for that reason. And I have oil lamps and battery operated lamps too. Heaven forbid that I can't sew because of lack of power. Also, on a nice day, you could take a handcrank out and set it on a picnic table and sew outside if you wished. I sew on the deck of our trailer sometimes, with my featherweight. It's kinda nice when the weather is good and the birds are flitting about......

I converted two electric 99s to handcrank. It is really quite easy to take the motor off. Just follow the wires where ever they lead and remove them. One of mine had a really old electric "thing" where storage would normally have been in the case. It took a lot more screws to get that one out (some from the bottom of the case) but it was still pretty obvious. I bought my hand cranks from Cindy Peters (look her up on Google). She was very helpful. I also bought a spoked wheel from her (I had one but not two).

My husband just smiles at my people-powered machines. He understands how neat it is to create items truly all by myself. The funny thing is that have worked all my life in high technology as an engineer and manager! I also like to have a handcrank to take camping since we camp at least half the time without electricity. I love having the option to sew if the weather is nasty or at the end of a long day outside. I'm not a very good treadler, but I can do a handcrank without problem!

My bentwood cases will not fit on the machine with the handcrank on, but it is quite easy to take it off with a single screw bolt. I keep saying I'm going to make a little padded bag so I can just store it on the bed of the machine, but I haven't done it yet ...

Pam

Pam, you and I put a hand crank on a 99 for the same purpose...camping! My DH thinks it's a crazy idea, and we haven't gone camping since I did the conversion, but this next summer I will be going with or without DH!! LOL My DD and grands want to go, so we will go. Anyway, the hand crank conversion is not difficult to do...I had lots of help to do mine, but I would be so willing to do it myself next time. If there is a next time.

I want to convert mine also, just haven't done it yet. Never know when the power goes out and heaven forbid I not have a sewing machine. Power went out several years ago and we were without power for a week. I thought I would go nuts.

Mary

I like the idea of having a machine that I can put on our porch in good weather and sew.
While I know that power outages happen, and they have here, it is not the aguement I can give my DH. He put in a whole house generator that runs on our LP, and I already have a treadle I can use.!
I still want a hand crank though, regardless if he thinks its a silly idea.

Thank you all for your encouragement. It helps to bounce off these ideas with people who have an idea of what I am talking about

Or tell your husband you will be saving on the electric bill by using the hand crank. :)

Candace and Barbara Sue; I have the same machine - how funny! I am donating mine. How have you cleaned, if you had to, the slide plates? Mine are blackside and have rust so am looking for cleaning options for them I do have Barkeeper's Friend but am leary of using it and removing the blackside finish. My case is in sad shape so DH and I are cleaning it up some but don't have enough time to strip it and refinish it.

Graham Fordyce, a well-knownFeatherweight expert, recommends TuffStuff for cleaning the machines. It is an automotive upholstery cleaner that I had great results with. Spray it on and gently wipe it off. It had no impact on my decals but cleaned up a couple of real old Singer 27s and White rotarys.

Pam

I would hand crank her! Speaking of that, I was visiting a friend last week who was given her mother's machine that is just like the that Candance shows. Only she has NO knee lift, so it won't work. If anyone wants to sell a knee lever let me know. THough I also suggested she turn hers into a crank as well!

Wow, thanks for the information. Have you used it on a blackside finish? That is when all the parts are black, even those normally chrome. This is my current dilemma.

What a great addition to your collection - not sure what a potted motor is, could someone please explain - thanks

Junec, a potted motor is a motor mounted behind the arm (the wheel end) of the machine. It runs the belt that moves the needle bar. Many of the old treadles were models that were made later and electrified by this means of adding a motor on to turn the belt of the wheel. And lights were added sometimes through this box to shine on the needle plate from the back of the machine.
A "potted" motor is extra to the machine and is therefore easier to remove. You can make a hand crank or go back to a treadle easily if it is a potted motor.

chris-quilts, all I have jused so far is sewing machine oil to clean my machines with. It really takes off the dirt, and doesn't hurt the decals either. Although thinking about that makes me wonder why I worried about that--she has no decals!!
I know you have to be careful with cleaning products. Check out the tutorials available on cleaning. Muv has videos. LostN51 (Billy) has tutes in the archives in this vintage section.

I am glad I found this thread, may I ask how much you paid for yours??? I am looking at getting one, she in in really rough shape and I have a post asking about her. They lady is asking $125, others have recommended $35-$50. She looks like she needs a lot of work.

Jacquie, finding that knee lever is not easy. They are listed on ebay in the $30-$35 range! I wouldn't pay that.... and would probably rationalize it even more to turn it into a hand crank. But, from what I understand, original hand cranks are up there too!! So, either way one would go, would be a fairly large expense unless you have a parts machine.

My blackside finish pieces don't have rust so..... I've used just regular chrome cleaner on my other machines for any rust. I would just test a small inconspicuous area to make sure it doesn't do anything terrible to the finish. I don't know if the blackside coloration goes through the metal of is just a coating.

So, if I would eventually like a treadle, I could turn say, another 15-91, into a treadle since it has the potted motor (which I could remove)? Would be nice to find a treadle that is already a treadle, in a table - but nice to also have options of creating it myself, more or less, if I can't find what I am looking for.

Is this the same idea of turning a machine into a hand-cranked machine? I know with a treadle one cannot sew in reverse. Can you go in reverse with a hand-crank? Ideas floating through my mind...

Thank you. I did test hte backside of one and some of the coating does come off. Don't know what to do re rust.

I'll let you know when i derust mine, the coating is a form of 'bluing" the same finsh that is used on many firearms, and there is a product available in a small bottle to do 'touch up" work on old guns that should restore it nicely. when i get around to doing mine I will post a little picture tutorial.

Your gal looks just like mine!! I haven't played with mine much yet, but I'll get around to it. Everytime I think I will have a break in the line of quilts needing to be made, someone asks for one. So (sigh)....hopefully over the summer I can play with my machines instead of just sewing quilts.

Sorry, but that's not correct. Potted motors are an integral part of the machine, with the gears of the motor enmeshed with the gears inside the arm of the machine...so the motor is in a little closed "pot" at the back. The motors you are talking about are bolt on motors with a belt that goes to the hand wheel that can be put on or taken off easily, and the machines can be made into hand crank or treadle by simply removing the motor.

Dawn, you need to find one with a motor that is bolted onto the back of the machine with a belt that goes to the handwheel. A potted motor is built into the back of the machine, and you cannot take it off at all. Information given above was incorrect.

Kay, I got my 99 for $32. Don't pay anything over $45 for one...especially if it doesn't have the knee lever (on older ones) or in rough condition. They are common!! You can find them all over the place.

Gosh Ladies, of course you can get the case on. Bend the handle back.

Don't ask me why the pictures have come out enormous. They are to show how to get the case on - just bend the handle back. CanoePam - no need to unscrew the whole crank. All the cases and bases were designed to accommodate either a hand machine or an electric machine.

If anyone can tell me how to make the pictures smaller I will reduce them...

Muv,

I use a separate program to reduce the size of my pics to 640 x 480 before I post them to photobucket or the forum.

The program I use is called: Photompression 5. There have been updates but this one works for us so we haven't gotten them.

Joe

Sorry Joe, haven't a clue what you're talking about. I can do sewing machines, but computers just aren't my epoch. All I know is that this has never happened with any of my pics before and it's nearly midnight so it will have to wait until another day. Good night!