White Family Rotary, complete with dead spiders
 

I got this thing today for $25. Motor doesn't work (i plugged it in and all it did was make a spark, yikes), but the wheel turns, although not very well. It needs lots of cleaning. In the compartment at the side of the table was the bobbin case and that bent nail looking thing, not sure what it is. I tipped the machine back and found dead spiders, so that's great.
http://i68.tinypic.com/2wd0nzq.jpg
http://i63.tinypic.com/33mc4jt.jpg
http://i63.tinypic.com/imnd7d.jpg
Serial number is FR5039006, but I don't know the model.

Do I really have to call Husqvarna to find out the model/year?

I don't think they do that any more. I don't see that high of a number for the "FR" machines at http://www.treadleon.net/WhiteSM/whites.html

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

Husqvarna? I thought White were bought up by Brother? I don't really know what happened to all the old brands. Your White is US made though. These old motors often needs rewiring and maybe new brushes and grease. They usually run fine after a thorough repair. I have seen a few post on this model here on QB, with a bit of luck they will reply. The part to the right looks like a bent spool pin. If some of the holes on top or on the base isn't oil points, they might be for a spool pin. The round part to the left looks like it belongs to the parts behind the bobbin case, in relation to hook and race. Is the bobbin case intact? Does every look like it turns and moves as it should? The rotary mechanism on these models seems to run very smooth and effortlessly. Don't worry too much about the extra part if everything seems intact, they might be for another machine, or replaced parts.

Nope. Brother has never owned the White name, SVP does. AFAIK, Brother did build some of the older White embroidery machines but more recent ones were built by Janome. Brother and Janome also build the Bernina Deco line of machines.

Cari

I vacuumed out the spiders and spider webs and cleaned and oiled it and found one more dead bug. It needs a new bobbin winder tire, right now it has a singer one which was too big so theres a bunch of thread wound under it to keep it on, and its cracked and stuff. Everything turns well now, especially after taking the motor off. I’m gonna put a crank on it for now but I’m keeping the motor in case I decide to fix that some day. I need to clean the cabinet next but i think most of the spiders were in the machine itself.
http://i67.tinypic.com/21o63gw.jpg

In case you haven't figured it out yet, a Singer hand crank won't work.

Cari

Because of the mounting location, or because of the measurements? Cause drilling and tapping a couple holes or making a custom bracket is no big deal for me cause i can use tools from school. And i dont think theres any reason why they wouldnt be able to spin the other direction

I ordered bobbins and the bobbin winder tire and crank today! :)

You should take a look at the motor. There is some advantages to having two hands free when maneuvering seams and fabric. The hand crank can give precision stitching, but in the long run it's usually the machine with motor and lights that gets any use. Your machine looks like it's in very nice condition and it will probably polish up further, it's wirht to have it intact. Needle and presser bar polish up like new with the right stuff (like quick-glo). Be a bit careful when handeling the top tensioner. White had these very fancy tensioners on some models, and it has turned out very difficult to get them back together if taken appart. Cleaning and reassembling tensioners are usually easy, but yours might be an exception. There aren't any tutorials or service manuals available for how it originally was done either.