Happy Birthday to Me! (Part 2) - Singer 95-40

 This one was more of an adventure for the wife than the 107.  And even more of a double surprise.

So my birthday went like this.  The wife told me for a week or so beforehand that she really hadn't been able to find anything because of the whole 'can't go outside' thing.  So birthday arrives and we do the party thing.  After we finish the boy slips off and she 'remembers' that there was one more thing.  She leads me to the dining room and there is a pretty large box.  I'm thinking, maybe some fabric or something.  I proceed to unwrap and then go gaga when I see the 107 inside.  Lots of hugging ensued.

So I get the 107 out, she tells me about how she got it from Norm, him setting it out on the driveway to do a no-contact pickup and everything.  And I proceed to play with it like an eight year old with a new set of Legos.  She lets me go for a bit then says, "Oh there's more." Really!?

They take me out to the truck and the bed is full of something covered in paper.  I dig in and find an industrial table.  Sweet!  "You got a table for the 107?" I asked, kinda bouncing around.  "Nope," she says, and leads me to the passenger side of the truck. I open the doors and in the back floorboards (it's a Silverado Extended Cab) sits the 95.  My wife is the best enabler ever!!

Quick aside before I continue the story.  Notice the notch on the left of the faceplate  in the above photo and the mounting holes on the head. I haven't actually seen a photo of one, but I believe that those are for the trimmer for the 95-42.  The actual 95-40s I've seen other than this one do not have the notch or the mounts.  This one is definitely badged 95-40, so just a bit of weirdness.  Anyway back to the narrative.

But wait, there's more.  This one was a Freecycle find.  Yep, you read right.  A Singer industrial put out as a 'come and get it'.  That never happens around here.  Domestics, sure, on occasion.  But industrials.  Complete with table? No way.

And just not the table, but with the motor!

We had a snowstorm coming in, so me an the boy had to lug it up into the sewing room right away.  It was a tad unwieldy since it was getting late and I didn't want to be out in the cold taking the motor off the table.  But we managed. 

Giving it a quick once over I couldn't find anything wrong, other than the standard half a bobbin of threat wrapped around the hook.  Everything moves freely, motor fires up and doesn't scream bloody murder when its engaged.  Just a machine that wasn't needed, passed on.

The last owner's mom was a professional seamstress and this was her machine.  After she passed they just didn't have a use for it and wanted it to go someplace where it would get used.  My wife assured them that it would definitely see use.  And it will.  Though I might be at a point now where I need to start looking at replacing these clutch motors with servo motors.  I don't think having three of them spinning at a time (and they will be) would be a healthy thing for the sewing room's power bill. Well the 96-10 will probably keep its Singer motor.  But the other two industrial tables will get servo motors.

Other than putting the head back in the table and making sure all the spinny parts spun, I haven't really touched it at all yet.  Dead of winter without having heat in the sewing room yet... going on year 3, I know... doesn't lend itself to doing a lot of work out there.  But hopefully the end of next month when we start popping up into the occasional 50 degree day I'll get to go through it thoroughly.

Final thought.  How she got out of the drive with the pickup without me noticing is pretty darn impressive, since my little desk area in the house sewing room where I spent a good chunk of the day has a window that looks right out onto the driveway and it's not like that truck is quiet.  The woman is a gift giving Ninja I tell you.