grayhare

Wow! what a difference! The case looks great. Great tutorial, and pictures! I have a case that i have to tackle.
I agree cases are expensive, so they are worth saving.

irishrose

Joe, how do you repair the broken corners on the top of the case? My second 301's case left the East coast in good condition, but arrived with the top corners broken. The seller refunded all my shipping which I considered more than fair as I was after the machine, not the case, but I don't feel right throwing it away.

J Miller

Caroline,

The clamps are from Sears, CRAFTSMAN and somewhere else, QUICK-GRIP. They open up to just about 4 1/2". If you get some don't buy the cheapies like Harbor Freight sells, they'll break on you real quick..

The spray glue is 3M Super 77 Multipurpose Adhesive. Bar code # is 021200212109, I couldn't find a part number on it. It's the first time I've used this brand and version of spray glue. It doesn't have the horrid odor that gives you a migraine like some of the others do.

My wife says: "Tell 'em where we got it from". OK, we got it at either a True Value or Ace Hardware.


Joe

J Miller

For that it's kind of difficult but here's what I do. If the covering is torn I carefully peal it back and then spread the broken cracks open as far as I can without making them too much worse. Then I put the glue to it. Sometimes I push the glue in with my fingers other times I use an old credit card. But the glue has to be pushed in as far as it can be. Then when the glue is still wet I push the fabric back over the damaged areas and clamp or weight the part down.
Sometimes I'll also add a nail or two if I can do without being obvious.

Joe

Caroline S

Thank Joe. Ace and Sears are my favorite go to places for tools and stuff.

Caroline S

When I received the sewing machine and unwrapped it the case sort of exploded. While it was packed rather well in the box, the machine was not packed well in the case. It must have bounced around a lot inside the case. The last pic shows how the case was fastened with brads. Basically brads, glue and the fabric holds the case together. The spool pin also made an indentation on the top of the case. Now, I am off to go shopping for supplies and tools.

J Miller

Caroline,

That case is mostly masonite. The bottom, ends and sides are any way, and I'll bet most of the top is.
On cases like that I take them completely apart, remove the staples and clean the areas I'll be gluing.
Then I use the larger clamps to hold it together as I put new nails into the holes the staples left. It's much less damaging to the narrow edges of the end wood if you can use the original holes. The barbed paneling nails work wonders here.

Once you get it glued and nailed, clamp it, clamp it, clamp it. That's about all you need to do on that one.

The top is gonna be a big pain. As broke as it is, you might as well just take it all the way apart and start over.
I've had to do that with a couple and it's really better than just fixing the separated areas.
On the inside use a sharp blade to cut the inner covering where it's not already torn. That way you can glue it back down when the wood is fixed.
On the outside you can carefully peal the covering away from the wood, then fix the broken wood and reglue the covering.

Joe

AuntieD

Thank you so much for showing how you repair these old cases. I never thought about trying it. You do excellent work!!

blueheavenfla

Thanks so much for the photos and your clear explanations of what you did to repair the boxes, bases and the wiring.

DanofNJ

Outstanding job...you're a master...and done right!