Caroline S

Progress, aches and pains for both of you.

Candace

I've had to get rough a few times too...it happens! It looks much better.

ThayerRags

I know that I’m not completely out of the woods with this machine yet. The lower shaft and bearings may be worse than I had hoped. But, I haven’t found any pitting in the other joints that were locked up, so I still have hope that the damage is minimal. I’m going to continue throwing the oil and penetrating oil to it for a while longer before I consider pulling the lower shaft out. Most of the time, the oil will eventually flush the rust out of bearings, but the damage may be more extensive than others that I’ve “brought back from the dead” (Singers 66, 99, and 27). We’ll see how it goes.

Thanks for the understanding and encouragement.

CD in Oklahoma

Rodney

Good to see you're making progress. Sometimes a little force is necessary.
Rodney

HelenAnn

I just have to say that I love the tray you work on. I am always worried about marring the tables I work on. I have no set place to work in the winter. I am enjoying the journey on this machine. I am working on a singer VS and got everything moving but now I can't get the darn thing to make a stitch everything gets bunched up underneath. I had to walk away for a while.

ThayerRags

Hi HelenAnn,

My wife gave me some old metal cookie sheets a few years ago that I generally use as “drip pans” for the household machines that I give a sewing machine bath to when I first get them. They have a short rim and work really well. They’re easy to clean up too. I initially used them to catch oil drips and corral parts when working on our motorcycles, but they double for working on sewing machines too. I like to soak the old cast iron machines (motor & light removed, if any) before ever touching the screws or thumbscrews of the plates and fittings to begin removal. I’ve found an oil drench helps keep from damaging the fasteners. After a day or two of soaking, I remove the plates and give the inner workings additional sewing machine oil before I go any further.

For the Industrial-size machines, the cookie sheets are not large enough to catch the drips. I have a couple of fiber cafe serving trays that were in the “free” box at a local Antique Shop moving their business, so I grabbed them. They’re almost big enough, although not quite, but they’re a little larger than my cookie sheets. The surface that I’m using is my steel motorcycle airlift table that’s had plenty of oil on it before, so if the drip pan doesn’t catch all of the drips, clean-up is not a problem.

At the shop, I have an old butcher-block Industrial Serger Power Stand that I use for working on sewing machines. I nailed an old rotary cutting mat to the surface of that bench to reduce damage to both the bench and the machines that I’m working on. I use a cookie sheet under the machine when I’m doing a soak on that bench too.

Make sure the flat side of the needle is to the right, and that you’re threading left to right on your Singer VS.

CD in Oklahoma

HelenAnn

You gave me a great idea, my brother in Law owns a bakery and I have some fiberglass sheet pans i can put to work.

I do have it threaded left to right ,flat part of needle facing right, new needle so I keep thinking maybe the shuttle is funky I will keep working on her.

ThayerRags

Needle positioning and threading is the biggest problem-maker I have, so it's the first thing that came to mind. No offense.

CD in Oklahoma

ThayerRags

I have decided to nickname my 1937 Singer 31-15 machine “Randy”. The amateur “picker” that I got him from was named Randy, so I’ll know which one it is when I’m talking about it. My other 31-15s are named “JR” and “31-cent”.

I’ve been turning Randy by hand now for a couple of days, and he’s turning fairly good now. He still needs some rehab in his new home, an H-leg Power Stand with a 1725 RPM Glaco Clutch Motor to run him. He got to take a test ride in it today (just setting and posing for a photo), but I need to get some hinges for him. Then, I’ll put a belt on him and let the stand finish limbering him up while we wait for some other replacement parts to come in. I’ll be alternating between running him with the motor for a while, and pulling him out to re-oil everywhere. The oil should eventually flush out the remaining rust and contaminates so I can wipe them off. I’ve decided not to do the kerosene bath. It’s better for grease and dried oil removal. Randy just had rust in his system, and the oil is better for removing that IMO.

Several of his original parts will need slicked up when they go back on, and that along with his new parts, I think Randy may turn out to be a decent sewing machine, considering what he’s been through.

CD in Oklahoma

ThayerRags

I found a couple of hinges at the shop this evening and put them on Randy. Then I trimmed the belt (the belt shown in the photo above) that I’d taken off of our Consew 225 (nicknamed “The Preacher”) when I installed a Speed Reducer on it a few weeks ago. That modification required two belts, so I just cut two new leather ones. The 5/16” leather belt that had been on the Preacher is nearly new. I think I installed it on it about 6-8 months ago.

Then, it was time for an “Oil Fest!!! And boy did we have oil!!! The Glaco Clutch Motor and stand came out of a local Dry Cleaner Shop, and they hadn’t used it since they bought the place 15 years ago. It came with the place, and it had been setting unused for that long (with no machine in it), so the clutch is dry and not very responsive to “feathering”, but the motor runs like a rabbit. I’m telling you.......me and Randy slung oil all over the bike shop! There was a streak of oil dots the full length of the motorcycle air table, all over the floor, and I have a streak of oil dots on my shirt up the right side of my chest. What fun!!!! I’d pour oil into Randy until the oil hole was full, then fire up the Glaco and run Randy for about 5 minutes flat out. Then I’d stop the motor and oil him up again and run another 5 minutes. We got a little bit more chocolate oil out of one joint, but otherwise, the oil being slung out is looking pretty clean. I shut him down and removed the belt for the night (don’t want to saturate the leather belt with oil) to let Randy set and drip (and me too). We’ll have another go at it tomorrow. I’ve got to get some Stain-Stick on this shirt.....

Yes, I’m in a small rural town, and no, it doesn’t take much to entertain me.

CD in Oklahoma