The start of having a hand crank
 

Today I picked up a 1933 Singer 99k13. It is in a decent bentwood case and has the spoked hand wheel. My plan is to convert it to a hand crank. When I asked the seller about attachments and bobbins, I was told there were none. When I got there, we opened the side compartment in the base and surprise! attachments and bobbins and needles. That made me happy plus they let me have it for what I offered which made me happy. I have a line on a hand crank, so once that come through and a good spa day, I should be cranking right along. Made for a good day:-)
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Awesome find! It all looks on very good condition. You're going to have so much fun!

You'll love it as a hand crank! So much fun...

I gave one of my 99s to a friend who did the same thing, he put a hand crank on it and uses it for his kids 4H group. Good find, it looks to be in pretty good shape.

Cari

Very nice.

Am I remembering correctly that when adding a hand crank to an originally electric machine that the top won't fit? Seems like I had read that the hand crank machines that came that way originally had a wider base so the hand crank will fit inside.

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

It must have been written in the stars for you to have such a lucky day. I've never owned a hand crank, but imagine it would be fun to have.

I'm guessing yours once was a hand crank. My 99K (1934) looks exactly like yours, but it has the smaller solid cast hand wheel. It was common to covert to electrical, and often expected that it would happen at some point. A 99 is nice enough to work on in general, I rewired mine and kept motor and lights. I'm still not sure I would use a hand crank much.

If you have the pedal and wiring looks intact enough, you could do some test sewing :- )

Welcome to the fun. Iris and I have Handcranks : Singer 99s, 66s 28s, 128, Davis, F and R and another German one.

We love to take them to demos. https://www.quiltingboard.com/member...653-576699.jpg

Janey, most of ours will go into the cases if the arm is folded under in the right place.[ATTACH=CONFIG]584705[/ATTACH]

Mickey2, I had wondered when I first saw this machine if had been a hand crank originally. I tried the motor, it hums but does not move anything so I am not sure what is happening there. I will probably take the motor apart once I take it off, i would not have a problem being able to switch back and forth from hand crank to electric. It seems like an easy enough change out. I just love these vintage Singers :)

leonf, I love the demo picture, that is great:thumbup:

Can you turn the balance wheel by hand? Needle moves up and down? If it's been in storage for ages the motor pulley is known to be a bit slow at first too, turning the hand wheel by hand can help making sure the pulley turns a few times. A lot depends on oiling and cleaning the machine in general. The motor can take a single drop of oil on each of the grease wicks; it will hopefully reach the ends of the motor axl. It's a bit worrysome to oil a motor like this, and it really should not be oiled in general, but a single drop can work wonders on old dried up grease wicks.

I don't know if you know the 99 well, but there is one thing with the bobbin case; slide the bobbin cover off completely, lift the lever slightly up and towards you, it will release the bobbin case for cleaning and oiling. Don't mess with the screw in front of the bobbin case unless you have to and are prepared to spend quite some time with the service manual for aligning parts correctly. It will mess up tread tension if it doesn't go back right.

Ha, I just figured out the problem with the motor. As the old saying goes, all else fails, read. It is a 220/240 volt motor which is why my power cord and pedal will not work. It did not come with a power unit.

So, since I do not have the power cords for the 220 motor, is there anyway to convert this to a 110? I am not sure where to go from here.

You have to replace motor and usually pedal too. If it has a Singer lamp, they are identical for either Voltage, except the bulb. I think there are step up converters, a small square box to go from 110V to 220V. They can be found many places where they sell electrical equipment and is the easy way about it. Here step down is the most common challenge, but I'm sure it's standard procedure in the US. From what I have heard, a 22V motor often runs with US 110V, but very slowly. A 99 is not a particuarly slow machine, it stitches along speedy enough for most jobs.

Yes, replacing with a 110 motor/ controller isn't a big job. Tscweaves did you click on the link? We were preparing for an onslaught of 1400 kids coming through a history museum. Many of the kids came by several times to sew scraps with us.

This year we should have a total of 4 helpers at out tables. hmm Which machines to take???

Thank you, Leon. This is the one I couldn't remember on the other thread. It looks like the 66 red head in your link needs to take the handle off to get the lid on. That is unless you altered the cover.

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

he he Janey, That 66 doesn't have a lid at all. Not a problem with that. I should have fessed up on that one.