So first the mistakes. Cleaning all the parts then setting them on the shelf for a year leads to a bit of rust build up. Not a huge amount, but enough that I spent the last few days re-cleaning a lot of the parts that would have been fine if I had just put it back together and oiled it up last year. Also as you can see in the next photo, I silvered the decals a bit more. They were not great to begin with but I was a little let down when I compared the machine to the before photos.
The throat plate and shuttle slide covers will probably get replated at some point. I skipped polishing with the dremel because they look like they are just begging to pit. The side cover plate and face plate didn't shine up as good at the 201 and 15 plates do. Not sure why that is, might just be I wasn't as aggressive on the after the decal issue.
The needle bar area cleaned up nicely, there are a lot less little nooks for dirt to hide in than in the other models I've broken down. Though I did have to install/re-install the presser bar and needle bar because the needle bar cam needs to slide into a guide behind the presser bar before the presser bar goes in. I had originally assembled the presser bar first. For the 27 pros out there, I did catch that I put the needle bar in backwards. Luckily I saw that before I drove a needle into the throat plate.
At first I was just going to throw the hand wheel and guard back on without cleaning them up at all. But when I got them on they looked like crap against the rest of the machine. So I spent a couple of hours with the rubbing compound and wax to get them presentable as well. The guard is a little duller than the rest of the machine because I was being extra careful on the decals this time. Still it looks a lot better than just wiping it down with Singer oil.
I was really happy with how the bottom cleaned up. I prefer the look of the clean metal to the brownish black, hundred years of cigarette smoke and bug poop, sticky 'patina'.
After it was all back together I gave it a thorough oiling. Right now I can get three stitches with a moderate spin of the hand wheel. Not bad considering all the motions that are go into making a singer stitch with a vibrating shuttle. That little hiccup motion at the bottom is really cool. Amazing how someone came up with that movement to complete a stitch. Per the family vote, I loaded the machine up in the Model 6 cabinet.
Yes, cheesy purple rope was on to start. I decided to go ahead and put on a leather belt. It made me appreciate the purple rope even more. All the trimming, running, stretching, trimming gets old pretty quick. First test stitches were a tad better than I expected. Rows go 1-4 left to right. I adjusted stitch length and added a bit of tension.
Considering I didn't make any adjustments on the bobbin shuttle tension and the bobbin thread might very well be 100 years old, I think the stitches came out pretty darn good. I need to ease the presser back up a millimeter or two but other than that I think we have a working sewing machine. I won't be making anything bespoke on it, but for a bit of here and there piece work it should be just fine.
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