27-4 Cleaning. At Last.

Before getting side tracked with the Domestic, I had the issue of the 15-87's bobbin winder not liking the smaller belt ring on the spoken handwheel.  Since the motor will eventually be going back on the 15-87 along with the solid hand wheel it wasn't really a major problem.  I just needed to decide which machine would take its place in the treadle.

Since the treadle sits in the middle of the dining room (along with the 201's treadle and the table for the 403A) I figured it would probably be best to put it up to a family vote which machine was going to be mounted on it.  My candidates were the 66-1 and the 1908 27-4.  I went with the 1908 instead of the 1896 due to the '08's better decals at present.

It was a split vote.  Our son went for the 66-1.  I guess the red eye decals look more violent or something.  The wife went with the 27-3 because the colors match the carpet better.  Another valid reason for choosing a sewing machine.

It came down to me.  Since I already have The Wicked Queen, Black Swan and 403A in tables for use I went with the 27-4 to have a VS machine as well.

A Gift From The Universe

When I picked up the seven drawer treadle it had a lot of top clamping presser feet with it.  It also has some non-Singer bobbins and bobbin carriers.

Treadle Cleaning

Well we didn't lose power during the "Blizzard of '16", and only got about 3" of snow.  Instead of sewing by candle light I spent the day taking apart the seven-drawer and cleaning it up a bit.  The iron isn't in bad shape at all, a bit of dusting with a brush, a little rubbing compound and oil and it is presentable.  The wood took a little more effort.

I started by taking everything apart.  I left the drawer frames attached, I probably should have taken them off as well but I'm not a furniture refinisher.  I'll leave that for the wife when she gets time.

What a Difference a Day Makes

So I had a treadle sized hole in my heart and 6 square feet of un-Singered space.  What to do?  Buy another treadle, of course!

Well That Kind of Sucks

The straight leg treadle is going on the inactive roster.  Here's the last photo before it will be taken apart and stored at least through the summer.

Change of Plans

(Jan 20th, 2019 edit:  Needle+thread asked in the comments what the difference between a 15-87 and 15-97 was.  All in the bobbin winder.  Which I then noticed were the older style on both of mine so, tada, back to 15-87).

I posted before that I would probably start working on one of the 27s next.  And I was going to, really.  But then I was looking at the 15-87's wiring and decided to pull the motor off.  Then take the motor apart.  Then start cleaning the case of the motor.  Then start cleaning the mounting bracket.  Then cleaning the pedestal where it looks like the motor wiring caught on fire against it.  Well, then I just had 15-87 pieces all over the place.  The steel wood and Dremel came out.

The 27s are back in line as I tinker with the 15-87.  It has cleaned up nicely.  I don't know if I can get the badge discoloration from the electrical fire fixed, but I'll keep working on it.

Really. I can stop whenever I want.

I just need one more.  Just one.

The 1896 27-3 arrived today.  And it will truly be the last one for a bit.  It's in pretty rough shape.  It's all together but it's going to take some work to get it looking good again.  And it will be the next priority after the current restoration project.

I don't think there is a decent decal left on it.  So I'm not going to feel bad going after it with the paint removing.  It really looks like someone went after it with Drain-O or something with a ton of ammonia in it.  The first couple of photos aren't in the best focus, but you aren't missing anything.

Holy Crap, Dude!

So yeah, I'm imagining my friend Sheldon saying that as he looks at this picture.

First Machine From Today's Haul

I figured I would post the photos going from oldest to newest.

First up is a 1908 Model 27-4.  One of the important items about this machine is that it fills out the 00 decade hole in my collection.  Hey, that's kind of important.  I'm now covered from the 1890s to 1960s, with the exception of the 1940s.  Maybe I'll pick up a 40s 99 to fill in there.

The decals are excellent compared to what I normally get.  Not as good as Wicked Queen's, but they are in better condition that Black Swan's.  There are just a couple of specs of silvering on them.  Someone did put tape over the front slide plate, but I'll work that off gently.  I think this one will be the first cleaned up.  It won't get the straight leg treadle though, that's still either going to be the 1896 (that should be here in a couple of days) or the 15-30.  I guess I need to get a couple more treadle bases to house the growing family.

Machine #2 - 127-3(1?)

Now when I put my ad up on Craigslist this is the type of machine I was expecting to get.  Decals pretty much gone.  Paint well chewed through.  It's a 1913 Model 127-3.  It's possibly a 127-1, the models are identical. The ISMACS website specifically calls out 1913 at the year of the 127-3 though, so I'll trust the experts on it.  I do get chastised pretty often for taking other people's word on Singer history.  I go to the books as well, but since I don't have decades of experience a lot of the descriptions in the parts manuals go over my head.  The 66s and 15s are easier because the later parts manuals have drawings of what each model looks like.  I haven't found that for any of the vibrating shuttle machines yet.

This one is beat up enough that I think it might actually slip to the front of the restoration line, ahead of the 15-30.  I still have no experience doing the transfer decals and the 15-30 is in good enough shape that I don't want to screw it up by making a mess of the decals.

Machine #3 - 66-4

So I had toyed with the idea of converting the current rebuild 66 machine to be a treadle.  I guess that's off the books for now.  This 66-4 is from 1925, a year older than the rebuild one.  I'm up to three 66s, same number as I have of 15s.  I'm thinking I'm keeping all of the 15s though.  The 66s will go to the back of the restore line after I finish with the current one.

Machine #4 - 66-6

Here's another 66-6 to go with the current rebuild machine.  This one is from 1931.  I guess I'm going to start adding years to the machine tags now.  I'm not sure why I keep having these 66s fall to me.  It's not like I'm the world's biggest 66 fan.  They are great, sure, but I'm more of a vertical or rotating hook kind of guy.  Maybe one day I'll stumble on a 115 and be in Singer Nirvana.

Last one (for now) - 15-87

Lastly, here's the 1937 15-87.  This one I offered back to the seller because I really think I got too good of a deal on it.  It has the RAF decals and it's a 15-87 with it's cool, funky reversed stitch regulator.  The seller was happy to have had me take it though, said it sounded like it was in my "wheel house".  So I'm keeping it.  I thought briefly about converting it over to a 15-86 for a treadle, but I need to get a lot more treadle tables before thinking about that.  So just into the cleaning line now.

Yay! More stuff!

Oh look, the treadle fairy came.

Another Before And After

I was sewing some 1.1oz ripstop nylon and insultex again to day.  When I needed a break before setting fire to the whole project I decided to give the 66's badge a quick polishing with some Eagle One Never Dull.  I was pretty impressed with the results.  Here's the before and after, of course.

It's hard for the camera to really do justice.  The badge is not washed out like it appears, it has a nice brass glow.  Though the camera does pick up some areas where I can give it a bit more polishing.  I'm really happy I got the badge removal figured out and didn't have to damage it or the pins removing them.

Also if you like old sewing machines here's a link for a film to watch

- Birth of a Sewing Machine - 

It's seventy minutes of silent footage of the Singer plant at Kilbowie shot in 1934 and is hosted by the National Library of Scotland.

Back to sewing ripstop.  Grrr

We Have Pin Extraction!

The 66 is stripped.  Finally!  After a couple of weeks of trying overly complicated expansion systems for badge removal, including an attempt at locating the worlds tiniest hydraulic ram, today I was struck with a simple idea.  Why not use a c-clamp to press the badge pins out.  Now right away it's a non-starter because most c-clamps have too much of an arc in them to be able to maneuver around inside the pillar.  But those aren't the only options.  While at the hardware store today I found a small bar clamp that fits the bill perfectly.  It's has a 2 1/2" deep throat, which is just deep enough to reach both pins.  The brackets were only 3/4" high, which gave room to work them into the pillar with a little bit of play.

Black Swan 101 Wheel Guard Installed and Darn-it!

Happy New Year!  So what did you do for New Year's Eve?  As for myself I spent the evening cleaning the 101 wheel guard that came in the mail yesterday.  It wasn't in too bad of shape, but it needed a bit of Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound to not look completely decrepit attached to Black Swan.  Once it was polished up I noticed the 15-30's hand wheel, which I had just given a quick nylon brush cleaning to previously, was looking a little grungy.  So at 12:00am New Year's 2016 I was hand rubbing a spoked hand wheel.  Par-Tay!  And yes, I have the most understanding wife in the world.

Black Swan And The Sounds Of Silence

Black Swan is purring like a kitten now.  But it wasn't easy.

A little backstory.  When I bought her, she had a broken needle.  I had just assumed that sometime during the years of neglect something came along and randomly snapped it off.  I assumed wrong.

But first there was also a user created problem.  Last night I just ran paper practice targets though her.  This morning I actually loaded her up with thread.  And... no stitches.  The hook turned, the needle went in an out, just the threads were not locking.  I was bummed.  Something was seriously wrong with the machine.  I KNEW! I had done everything correctly.  Well I hadn't.  In my excitement I had managed to put the needle in backwards.  D'oh!  Once that was resolved, with much blushing, the stitches came out just the way they are supposed to.

Treadle 201

It's like Ed 209 from Robocop, but way cooler.

201 Cleaned Up

Well it took just over two days, but here she is.  All clean, new grease and oil.  Just got an eight amp electrical cord for the pedal I'm going to put on and then give her a few revs to get the lubrication flowing.

It Followed Me Home, Honest. Can I Keep It!?

So I stumbled (while digging maniacally) across a little treasure today.

Taking Out The 66 Needle Bar Cap

After spending the evening pining over some 201's for sale that I can't let myself buy until I show progress on the 66 rebuild I decided to take out some frustrations on it. Specifically the needle bar cap, which has stubbornly refused to budge even after repeated drenchings of Blaster PB.

End Of The De-rusting Phase

I finished with the Evaporust yesterday.  I admit my expectations are probably a bit high.  But since I spent more on the Evaporust than I did the actual machine I'm de-rusting I figured I'm allowed.  Just to be fair though, for folks out there who might not be expecting miracles, here's what the bobbin winder looks like before and after Evaporust only treatment.

66 Derusting Begins

With the 15-30 put back together I had a tray's worth of Evaporust just laying about.  So it begins.  Still don't have a plan for the repainting; it's getting cold in Connecticut and I don't have a proper indoor painting space identified yet.  Also I'm waffling on what to do for decals.  My options are:  Wait till I'm back in Oklahoma next summer and see if a printing company a friend owns can handle it, print the waterslides myself on a cheesy laserjet (not very likely), order a set of the mixed reviewed waterslide decals that are on the expensive side or buy a set of NOS Chinese decals.  The last option would be the right one except the Chinese decals I've seen for sale are only Sphinx or Seagull style.  I have yet to see NOS Filigree. Decisions, decisions.  I'm leaning towards the Chinese Sphinx. Maybe.

Oh yeah came this close (' ') to buying a 1200 last night.  It was beat to death and even though it is basically a 201 with an presser foot mod I just couldn't see paying a hundred bucks (or 70 quid) for another machine that isn't exactly what I want and that needs restoration when I have the 66 in pieces and the 15-30 on deck.  Still keeping my eye out for a later 201-1 though.  I would love to have a machine with reverse on the treadle. 

Here's the Evaporust doing it's thing on the first batch.

A Little Cleaning on the 15-30

I've been using the treadle pretty constantly.  It gave me a chance to really get annoyed with how dirty I'm leaving it.  Yesterday I decided that as a test of how I'm going to do the cleaning for the 66 I should do a pre-run with the 15-30.  Made sense at the time.

I didn't do a complete breakdown on it.  Just the bobbin area, the face plate, oil cover and bobbin winder were what I started with.  Here's the before picture of the parts I expected to see the biggest change in.

The Herd

I've been doing underquilts for our hammocks today.  Insultex and 1.1oz ripstop are pretty annoying to work with so I decided to take a bit of a break and post photos of the machines.  The 66 is still in pieces and the treadle 15 is in the last post so I'll skip them.  Here are the rest.

The Sew-Maid.  A Japanese reproduction of a Singer 99.  I call her "Imouto-san" (Little Sister).  It was old when I got it in the 80's but I don't have a year on it.  It's a solid sewing machine  I've done tons of work on it.  Would even go back to it instead of using the 328K at times just because I can trust it to do a dead straight stitch.  Boxed up with everything it comes in at 19lbs.

This one is the wife's.  A Singer Sewhandy 50D.  When someone talks about their Featherweight I imagine them paying a couple hundred dollars for this.

Next up is the 328K.  We have two of these.  Each of us had one before we got married.  Not sure whose this one is.  The second one is in storage or lost in a move somewhere along the line.  It's a workhorse.  The only two complaints I have about it are that it will never do a truly straight stitch and it requires more pampering that all the other machines combined.

And now the 403A.  I got a deal on this one because the zigzag and the needle position selector weren't working.  Took some doing (I had never worked on a zigzag machine before) but after a day of wrestling with, including a retaining clip shooting across the room at one point, it decided to zigzag and let me set the needle.  It has pretty much replaced the 328K as my primary zigzag machine.  Doesn't see constant use though, just not perfect on straight stitches and a little on the loud side.

And finally The Wicked Queen, Grimhilda.  The 15-91.  Even though she's cruel and tortures me at every turn I can't help but love her.  Since I bought her I have done two tops for the wife and three camping hammocks, about a hundred yards worth of stitching.  I keep her on 12 stitches an inch so that's right around 45,000 stitches and not a single miss. The only mistakes are when she punishes me for not giving her my undivided attention.  I bought her from a Goodwill auction for $50, including a bentwood case.  I was expecting a project machine to rebuild.  I was stunned when I unwrapped the box and she still had a receipt and test stitch cloth on the bed from the last time she was serviced in the 1970's.  Other than a quick oiling I did nothing.  She looks like a museum piece.  She's in the cabinet that the 66 came in right now.  I toyed with the idea of converting her to use on the treadle, but it just seems wrong to take a drill her and tap a hole for a belt drive.

Addition to the quiver

So I use the machines to making camping gear. One problem I was running into was control at low speed, just a couple of stitches per second. With the 15-91 and 403 I tend to get a little heavy on the foot pedal after a few seconds and start racing. Well to fix that, today I picked up at 1915 treadle model 15. Sweet.

It took about 8 hours of work to chase away all the spiders that had moved in, give it a good cleaning and oiling.  Lots of rust on the working parts had to be worked off.  Yeah the rope-drive isn't period correct.  But why spend 20 bucks for a leather belt when 15 cents worth of Home Depot rope does the same trick.  No slips yet.  Sews solid, holds tension and stitch length perfect so far.

Adjustable Hemmer Foot Demo

Did a quick video for the adjustable hemmer foot I've been messing around with in my quest to make DIY hiking gear.

When worlds collide

Picked up the Evapo-Rust this morning.  Getting my plan of attack together for the cleaning that's next on the agenda.  Besides sewing machines I also tinker around with my motorcycle.  I decided to combine the two and here's what I came up with

Finishing parting out the 66

Another supply run today.  One thing I knew that I needed was a gallon or two of Evapo-Rust (makes me thing of Rusteze from Cars).  The blog http://mysewingmachineaddiction.blogspot.com sings the praises of it, so I'm going to give it a go.  I went to the local (somewhat) Fastenal.  They were out of stock but ordered me two gallons to pick up tomorrow.

Back to the machine.  Working on removing the arm assembly today.  First thing was to get the stop motion cam bushing off.  I have a three arm puller that made short work of it. It's always nice when you find a new use for tools you bought for a single purpose years ago.  The photo here is of the puller attached to the bushing.

Next I loosened (with a hammer and a couple of dowels) the feed cam.  I had removed the set screw yesterday and it had a good soaking of Blaster PB over night.  Still, it split two dowels before breaking free.  I ended up wedging a piece of wood between it and the arm rock shaft then tapping lightly on the end handwheel end of the arm shaft to get it completely loose.

Next came time for the arm shaft itself and today's lesson.  Never blindly follow someone else's directions.  They might leave out little things like... oh... set screws.  For half an hour I tried tapping out the arm shaft.  It would always get to the same point then completely seize up.  I would tap it back and try again.  I began rotating the arm thinking maybe the arch in it was binding somewhere along the machines neck.  Same results.  I looked back at the instructions.  I accounted for all the pieces in the instructions.  Finally I took the whole head back onto the porch and gave the bushing that sits behind the needle bar crank a good spritzing with the Blaster PB, thinking something was binding with it.  I came back inside and pulled out some original Singer documentation to see what they say about the arm shaft.  While looking at the Form 20004 Points of Wear sheet I saw a strange little smudge.  Zooming in, sure enough, the Bushing has a set screw! D'oh!  Apparently the writer of the instructions I followed was missing his, he called it an oil hole.  After digging the smutz out of the hole I was greeted by the slot for the screw which came out remarkably easy, probably loosened from the thirty minutes of banging the bushing against it I had just finished.

With the set screw out, a few taps on the hand wheel end of the arm shaft popped the bushing out.  Though the feed cam became snug on the hand wheel end as the arm shaft slid though.  This one is a bit trickier.  The arm shaft is loose now, so just whacking away at it won't do anything but jostle things around.  But there's really no place for the puller arms to grip to slowly force it though.  So it's back to tapping, just with lots of wood wedged around to hold things steady.  And just let me sing the praises of Blaster PB once again here.  A few spritzes, let set for an hour and the arm shaft more or less slipped through the feed cam with moderate taps from the hammer.  The trick is, since the feed arm is free and sitting at angles to keep turning it between taps so I'm not wedging it the same angle constantly.

Once the arms shaft was pulled through the needle end of the machine I was easily able to remove the needle bar set screw.  I highly recommend waiting until the shaft is out before attempting to take off the crank.  I tried to do it through the screw-hole while it was still in the machine and could never get a good purchase with the screwdriver.  I'll need to buff down some burrs I created in those attempts.  With the screw out I used the puller again to pull the crank free.  Then once more to get the bushing off.  The bushing just needed to be turned with my fingers to get it over the ninety years of grunge build-up.

So here's the 66 all parted out.  The only pieces still in the machine are the tap in spool pin on top and the upper arm rock centering guide inside.  I haven't seen any information on removing the guide and since unlike later models this one doesn't have a screwdriver slot, I'm thinking it wasn't meant to come out once installed.  I didn't include every little screw in the photo.  Mostly because I didn't want to lose them all.

So tomorrow will be cleaning up the small bits.  The probably a break for a while until I find a place to work on the with the toxic sludge stripping and painting will create.  To be honest the machine came apart way faster than I thought it would when I first started looking at it.

For paint I was thinking about royal blue with red flames and "Singer Sewing Machines" done up like a Harley bar and shield.  The wife and other interested parties rejected that idea.  So it'll stay black.

First Post

My first post on my first blog.  I'm starting this to document the refurbishing of vintage Singer sewing machines I perform.  I've just started my first full disassembly and rebuild of a very icky 1926 Model 66 (show in the photo).  I picked it up Yesterday (November 29th).  I just about have it fully taken apart.  Once I do I'll post the complete machine laid out.  My first lessons learned are this:

1.  Get penetrating lubricant.  I was stopped cold last night when I got to removing the presser bar assembly.  The bracket was frozen solid to the presser bar.  I went to Autozone and picked up some Blaster PB.  I gave the entire front of the machine a fair spritzing and let it set for five hours.  I was planning overnight but curiosity got the better of me.  I used two dowels, one to hold the bracket from shifting and another to take the impact from a hammer.  I started out with just the mildest of taps and the bracket let go immediately.  It didn't fly out, but it was no difficult at all to work it out with some tugs and twists.

2.  Get a organizer.  My wife took me to Jerry's Artarama and we picked up at artist's box with lots of little cubby spaces and a few long ones that looks like it was made for holding the innards of an old Singer.  Everything is nicely organized and easy to close up/put away at the end of the days session on the kitchen table.  Home Depot has some nice cases as well, though I couldn't find one with spaces for the long parts from the bottom of the machine.

3.  Get ready for a mess.  I picked up two machines this week.  One was a Singer 15-91 that is immaculate.  I might give it a little cleaning but that's it.  This thing still had the receipt and test stitches in it from it's last service.  The second one I picked up was the 66.  Great Scot! what a difference.  The 66 was coughing up hairballs just loading it.  Add to that the lubricant to loosen the bolts and there is a steady stream of sludge dripping out of it.

4.  Have documentation of the specific model you are working on.  I've spent weeks planning a rebuild.  I looked high and low for my first candidate.  I was planning on it being a 15-91 and had found lots of stuff online about working on them.  Then I got one at a great price and it turned out to be a great machine already.  The 66 kind of fell into my lap and I jumped on it.  Yesterday was mostly a game of catchup once I got home, trying to find the right instructions.  Like I said, this is the first time I've ever taken a machine this far apart and I have no idea what I'm really doing.  So documentation is key.  Luckily someone from http://www.thesewingforum.co.uk pointed me to Steven Dingle's step by step instructions on assembling a 66.  They are a life saver.

5.  You'll need more tools, even if it's just an excuse.  I've been to Home Depot a couple times already.  Tomorrow I'll be going again to get a bearing extractor.  Sweet.

So that's my first post.  It's late and I need to get to bed.  Once I get the 66 fully broken down I'll post some photos of the parts spread out on the kitchen table.  (I told my wife she should be happy it's not an old Shovelhead motor, which it easily could have been.)  I won't promise when that will be.  I'm hoping tomorrow, but who knows what gotchas are still inside the machine.

Until then here's what it looked like before I started in on it:

Cheers,
Dave