Lew Schiller

You can't go wrong by going big!

ThayerRags

What did you decide to do with your Singer 31-15 for power?

I have my 1939 Singer 31-15 in what I call my MUTTIN stand (Multi-Use Traveling Treadle - INdustrial). I’ve been using it to sew re-cycled billboard vinyl into fitted outdoor equipment covers. I made a pint-sized messenger bag (aka Indiana Jones) as a birthday present for my 3-year old grandson with it this summer, but the bag came out a little wonky. He didn’t seem to care though. I’ll have to make another one or three or four.

My MUTTIN stand is an old Singer Industrial Treadle with the 16-inch flywheel. I put a newer, shortened solid plywood industrial top on it, including the knee-lift, but left the top surface bare of mounted accessories. I plan to transport it resting on its top, so the thread tower, head-stop pin, and bobbin winder are all removable for handling. So is the combination thread-catcher/beer holder (red plastic coffee can). I use an auxiliary table or two next to it when I when I need it, since folding tables are getting so common now. I have a battery powered LED gooseneck light clipped to it sometimes, but I usually just use whatever lighting is around me. Sometimes, I use it out on the front patio and use sunlight for lighting black thread on black vinyl, but the white vinyl is pretty bright out there.

The Multi-Use part of MUTTIN is because I intend to experiment with other machines under treadle power, including my Singer 111W153 combination-feed machine. It’s in a power stand now, and I just haven’t gotten around to giving it a spin in the treadle because I’m having too much fun with the 31-15. I have an original Singer Roller Foot with matching feed dog and needle plate on it. I’ve also got a Singer 96-40 set up for darning that I want to be able to use in it. My wife used it powered for a while to FMQ, but I was slow getting a good darning foot for it, and she switched to a Singer 301A for her small quilts, and bartering her large quilts done on a longarm.

CD in Oklahoma

Edited to add: Photos are of the Singer 31-15 taken in my bikeshop. I'm using a motorcycle air table to extend my sewing area.

Mom3

CD,

I've been really really under the weather lately and haven't done anything 'yet'. I like the looks of your treadle
set up - gives it 'class'.

ThayerRags

Here are photos of the Singer 96-40 and the Singer 111W153.
I need to build a part for the treadle that the 96-40 is pictured in for that photo. It’s one of the Convertible stands that Singer made with a 2-piece pitman rod to quickly change from treadle to electric power and use the same treadle plate. I need the coupling nut that completes the pitman rod, and it’s a weird Singer thread. It’s part number 46660 if anyone has one lying around. The top on it is the one that I cut down for my MUTTIN stand, but I have another one in storage for this stand. I don’t think I’ll cut the second one down for length, just leave it 48 inches long.
The Singer 111W153 is nicknamed Ol Dirty. It came to me really dirty, and I use it for repairing dirty outdoor covers out on my patio where I can make a mess and not worry about it. Believe it or not, but the clutch motor that runs it is a 3470 RPM, and it actually can be feathered fairly slowly. I need the speed for the sewing that I do with it, although the machine is only rated at 2900 RPM max. I never open it up all of the way, but it will lay some stitches down.
CD in Oklahoma

ThayerRags

Thanks Mom3. Hope you get rid of whatever is ailing you soon.

The handcrank bobbin winder is more commonly used in spinning or knitting I believe, but it works well for winding sewing machine bobbins too. I just guide and tension the thread with one hand and crank with the other.

Do you have an industrial treadle machine too?

CD in Oklahoma

Mom3

Interesting motor on that 06-40 - how i it mounted / what hp is it?

I noticed that handcrank you have on there - I'm actually looking for something like that.

I have a 29-4 that can be either electric or treadle.

ThayerRags

I don’t have the specs on the little motor. It came to me on one of my Singer 29K70 boot patchers, and I took it off to return the patcher to treadle operation. It was mounted onto a small piece of angle iron, and one of the holes drilled in the iron mounted perfectly to the screw on the top of the 96-40 that held on the spool pin/inspection plate. All I had to add was a round rubber stretch belt.

I intended to power the machine with an under-table motor because my wife wasn’t ready to learn treadling the industrial and FMQ at the same time. Also, with the treadle foot plate in the way, she wasn’t able to use the electric foot control comfortably. She had some quilts that needed to be finished right away. It was only a temporary arrangement, and I’ve since removed the motor and put it away somewhere.

I hope to get the 96-40 set back up to operate by treadle so that we both can try it again this winter. Treadles take up a lot of room, and that’s why I made my MUTTIN, to be able to use one stand with several heads. We have 6 treadles in our home, and 5 of them are operational. (Singer 31-15 in the MUTTIN, White VSIII, Singer 306W ZZ in my MUTT, Singer 66-18, & Singer 29K70. The sixth one is a Willcox & Gibbs Automatic chain stitcher that I haven’t got up and running yet.)

CD in Oklahoma

Lew Schiller

As for my 31-15...
I acquired a treadle 31-15 since buying the powered machine in the OP.
I'd like to make a convertible top for the treadle that would allow me to mount either the 31-15 or the Adler 30-1 patcher.
As for a decision on the motor - nothing yet.

ThayerRags

That may be a tall order Lew. Are going to want to treadle the Adler 30-1, or just use it for a mounting surface to hand crank it?

The reason that I mention this, is that the Singer 29K70 treadles stands that I have are both equipped with dual pulleys that measure 8.5 and 10 inches in diameter. I use the smaller pulley on both of them to keep the speed down. The flywheel on my Singer 31-15 treadle stand is 16 inches in diameter. Is the flywheel on your 31-15 stand a 16” diameter wheel? If so, are you going to run into momentum problems keeping the sewing speed down to a manageable level with that big wheel?

Here’s a photo of what my MUTTIN stand looked like when I got it.

CD in Oklahoma

Lew Schiller

Hmm - yes - I'm bad at pulley relationships.
I see that you're right. My stand has a large wheel.
Easy to change it out for a smaller standard pulley (Grainger) but that will mean dedicating it to the Adler
Which probably wouldn't be a bad idea anyway.