Substitute needles for the Minnesota and Davis, as well as others, machines
 

So you have a nice old Minnesota ~B~ or another machine that uses the Davis Long Needle or the Boye #10.

You have exactly the one needle that came in the machine and the tip of that is worn off. What to do?

Well, in the last 6 months I've been using several substitute needles for machines whose original needles are either unobtainium or rairium.

Rairium = really hard to get
Unobtainium = can't find 'em to save your soul

You want to sew with your baby, so what do you do?

Well, here's the story of Minerva and her happy ending.

I got Minerva, a Minnesota Model ~B~ from forum member bdshafer last March. Brought her home and proceeded to get started cleaning. Ewwww, I had to clean eons and millenniums worth of old varnished oil and gunk from inside and outside of her.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...aFront_web.jpg

Once that was done I proceeded to try and sew something. But ... sadly I didn't realize the needle clamp screw wasn't tight enough and the needle came out and was snapped in two when it was caught by the shuttle and feed dogs. OUCH!

mizkaki came to my rescue with a package of MTx190 size 12 needles. The original needles are flat shank but these are round. Other than that they are the same length with a scarf and full length thread grove on the side.

I tried the needles and they worked very well. But I prefer size 14 to 16 depending on what I'm doing. And I wanted to see just how big I could go with these substitute needles before I ran out of room.

The reason for this is the round shank needles sit farther to the left than the OEM needles do and I was concerned about the larger sizes having interference problems with the needle plate and the needle slot underneath.

Forum member jlhmnj came to my rescue with a package of MTx190s in size 14s. Those fit and functioned very well. Being a bit impatient I asked him if he could get me some in size 16 and 18 to try. Yep he did.
They came today and I've tried them both. There is very little room left when the size 18 needle is in, but there was no problems with it at all.

I also found out Minerva may not sew fast, but she'll go through eight (8) layers of denim from a standing start.
Nice tension too.

So even though the Boye #10 or Davis Long needles may not be exactly unobtainium, they are hard enough to get that the MTx190s are a viable substitute. If you have a machine that needs this size needle, give them a try.

Besides the forum members I mentioned above you can find these needles at:
jimtaly itemforever --- http://stores.ebay.com/jimtalyinc
And I'm sure other places as well.


Give these needles a try and make your old machines happy again.

Joe

Oh Joe, that is so good to know. As I collect more of these babies I am surely going to run into this problem some day. Just got two new oldies this past week: White Rotary brown crinkle finish in cabinet 45X81196 (on bottom of base 9801-4.) And a blue Universal Super Deluxe. (F/0009 The only nos. I can find) made by Standard Sewing Equipment Corp. Japan. Does that made sense? Will post pics, am charging my camera battery right now.

Did any of these come from GW on line auctions?

The numbers don't ring a bell, but I've not learned too much about non Singers yet.

Joe

White Rotary $15.00 from Salvation Army; Universal (Blue) from a church yard sale $15.00. Both in tables.

I have bought from Jimtaly on Ebay. Great service and prices - especially on treadle belting.

The Universal takes a 15X1 needle, I'm fairly certain. I say this because I had a Universal that took that size needle.

The MTx190 is only for OLD Davis Sewing Machines. Even Davis switched over to the 15x1 by 1910 or so. So if you have an old Low Arm, VF1, VF2, Minnesota or badged Davis before 1910 the MTx190 will replace the Boye 10 ($$$). Any other machine should not use this needle that I know of (maybe a White from the 1870's?) other than the industrial application the MTx190 was originally intended for.

Jon

Jon,

Do you have enough info on the Minnesota ~B~'s to determine the year of manufacture? I know mine is ancient, but I'd really like to narrow down the year at least.

I can't find a serial number on it anywhere. The only marking under the front slide plate is the letter "D".

......................................

Minnesota needle report..

I just finished off assembling 14 6 1/2" quilt squares from 3 1/2" squares of denim scraps. It worked great with the Organ MTx190 size 14 needle I used. The thread I'm using is C&C Dual Duty XP Heavy. I just could not see using a light weight thread on a quilt made from denim.

I only had one problem and that's when I stalled the machine as it tried to sew over 4 layers and created a thread wad. But that was my fault not the machines or the needles.

Joe

Good info, Joe. I have been hoarding Boye #10 needles for my Davis HAVF1, and I now have about 20 or so, I think. I am not sewing on her, as she doesn't have a treadle base yet, but hope to some times this summer. Need to convince DH that a treadle base that will take 2 or 3 different machines is a "MUST HAVE", rather than a "would be nice to have" item!! LOL

Jon; DH bought me a Davis Vertical Feed with the serial # of 573250. The plate info says Dayton, OH, USA, and another plate says "Manufactured for Bruce Sewing Machine Company, SPringfiled, IL". There are no dates on the slide plates but plenty of which size needle for which size thread etc and it was a treadle that someone converted to an e-machine. It came a big ole honking needle - not a 15X1 size needle. I assumed the needle was the elusive and almost unobtainable Boye #10 or #20. How would I verify that? I would love to sew with her but wanted more than one needle before I began a project.
Chris