Sammie1

So, I still had my work cut out for me.

I made sure I hadn't missed anything while cleaning, used more oil and let it soak. I kept turning it over by hand and sometimes with the motor. It wasn't improving that much.

Okay, time to dig into the motor. I decided first to see if the motor was lubricated. Opened up the area where the grease wicks are located and found hardened grease and wicks that were like rocks.
I carefully removed them from the springs and put new wicks in. Then filled it back up with vaseline.

Tried it again and it was still lugging but it was getting better. So I ran it for a few minutes to get the motor warmed up and the vaseline to melt.

And then she woke up from her quarter century (or more per the previous owner) slumber.

https://vimeo.com/153419383

nannyrick

WOW!!! You did a fantastic job. It is beautiful.

Sammie1

So then we come to why this thing isn't the typical 201-2.

It's a blackside machine from 1941. The black head plate isn't painted. When I first looked at it, I thought perhaps it was tarnished, but it isn't. Best I can tell is because of WWII, Singer couldn't chrome metal because of shortages. So, they went with black. And they used up their current stock which is why some pieces aren't black.
In the pictures, you can see all of the black items that are normally chrome or nickel. Pictures don't do this machine justice. I've included a better shot of the black headplate because it's difficult to show in pictures while on the machine.

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]541376[/ATTACH]

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And she's keeping up with the times. Got her new LED bulb.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]541379[/ATTACH]

Tom W

Lovely, simply lovely. Congratulations on a fantastic job and on your beautiful 201

Cari-in-Oly

Beautiful, nice going! A word of caution about using Simple Green though. You were lucky, your clear coat must be in good condition. You could have very well destroyed the decals. Any water based cleaner is generally a no-no on the black Japanned machines.

Cari

liking quilting

Bravo! Great job on the 201. Love it.

sewbeadit

Okay, what is rare about it? It looks awesome, great work

Sammie1

Check out post #13.

Sammie1

I have a feeling that no matter what you do to these things, someone will say it was the wrong thing to do. :P

As always YMMV.

steihy

You can't argue with success. And I noticed in your before picture that the base center and paperclip decals where in pretty good shape. The machine looked worse - not for wear, but storage.
Where did you source the led lamp?