Emergency 221 Purchase. And Happy 50th Singer day.

 I've spent the last couple of days trying to get the blog entries caught up.  This morning I was working on the entry for the VS2 I picked up a couple weeks back.  When I'm at the computer I pop over and check Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and Shopgoodwill just incase any 'must haves' show up.  In this case it was this guy popping up on Facebook for... $75!!  What the frack!?

I know, I know.  I'm supposed to be all cool and just laugh it off as 'just another featherweight', but I couldn't.  Instead I ran into the wife's office and gave my best puppy eyes.  She gave it a look and agreed that the price was just too good to pass up.  I IM'd the owner who responded immediately.  The whole find, show, negotiate took about 90 seconds and I was out the door.

Turns out it was even better (and worse) than advertised.  Better being that this is what I actually got.

Tons of cool doo-dads, a  'tune up kit" from The Featherweight Shop and even a zigzagger.  The extras themselves were worth about $75.

Of course with the good comes the bad.

It's taken a few hits over the years.  All those blotches in the paint are where it's been repainted.  As well as quite a few places where chips haven't been touched up.  The owner advised the throat plate screws were seized as well. So dings, stuck screws and no case.  Still about a $150 machine before all the addons, I'd say.

Of course if it had been posted at $150 I would have passed.  I didn't need another 221 badly enough to pay what I think they are worth.

All that white stuff on the motor gave me a second of worry.  I though someone had dripped white paint on it as well.  But it turns out that it was just wax that wasn't buffed off at some point.

Normally I don't bother taking pictures of the plug/wiring/foot pedal. But in this case I thought that splentabulous electrical taping job on the plug should be recorded for posterity before I pull it all off and re-wire everything.

The next bit is more frustrating than anything else.

A couple years back the owner took the machine into what I think is Connecticut's largest local chain of 'sewing centers'.  They charged her almost $100 for a service where they checked off the following.

Someone want to tell me that this hook has seen service anytime in the past 30 years?

The sad thing about the hook is, that it's simple to remove without taking off the throat plate.  You just have to take off the Bobbin Case Position Plate from the bottom of the throat plate.  Two screws it and two hook set screws and the hook will slip right off to be polished.  

Just from that I can tell there are four things on their list they checked off but didn't do.  And since they put a note on it that they couldn't get the throat plate off they for sure didn't do the 'feed system' either.  From what I can see, they oiled under the faceplace and the arm shaft.  

The decades old dried grease around the gears suggests they didn't do any thing other than squirt some new grease on them without cleaning them first.  The cone bearings for the rock shafts were bone dry. If I were to guess I would say that the drip pan hasn't been removed from this guy in a couple of decades.  

In my opinion they blatantly ripped her off.  That's one chain I'm avoiding for sure.

Once it was stripped down I went for heat on the throat plate screws to start with.

As you can see below I did get the bed hot enough to scorch the tape on the throat plate. But not luck, screws are still stuck.

The chipping around the plate was a preexisting condition.  As are the stripped screws.  After no luck with the heat I went ahead and began soaking it with Blaster PB.  Hopefully that does the trick.  I really would prefer not to have to drill out the screws.  It will be a bit of a pain separating the arm from the bed, which if I have to drill I probably will.

But hey, for $75 bucks I'm still thrilled.  And it's my 50th Singer counting the VS2 I still have to finish the post on.  It would be 51, but I'm not counting the 331K4  I donated to Philmont Scout Ranch.