A Frozen Kenmore?

Last Saturday another machine found it's way onto the workbench. - Thanks Greg.

This Maruzen/Jaguar machine was manufactured in 1965 and has the Kenmore identification number of 158.160 or, if you wish: a first-year Kenmore Model 16. The outside shape is similar in design to the earlier model 87.

It should straight stitch, back tack, zigzag and there is a set of cams... but it wasn't anywhere near ready for that yet. When it arrived, it wasn't ready for anything at all, maybe life as a bookend, or a doorstop, or holding a small boat in place in a lake. The machine wouldn't turn at all - and what I mean by this is that the hand wheel would not turn. This would be what some people might call frozen.

The entire process of: oil, wait, wiggle and oil again began in earnest. It's always helpful to have the manual and to be able to check instructions and illustrations for all the routine maintenance oiling points. I should say, however, that when a machine is frozen, the 'normal maintenance' procedure is only a primer for me, usually I get a bit more expansive.

Here's photos showing the the atypical little round holes that is often the maintenance guide spots for oiling when a machine is up and running. More often than not these spots ask for one drop of oil.  When a machine as locked up as this one... it should expect a little more from me than one drop of oil in those designed points.

What I look for when trying to free up a frozen vintage machine is any place at all where one piece of metal links with another piece of metal... or one metal bit is surrounded by another. Linkages are always a concern esp if there is any oxidation or rust around the unions. A little extra oil never seems to bother the metal parts at all, but it's not good for vinyl or plastic parts - over oiling can cause serious damage to non-metal materials: parts like cam stacks, worm gears and timing belts. I've seen these parts cracked, broken, and stained with over oiling.

There's usually a lot of spots where one metal bit meets another. Sometimes it's the end of a metal arm that connects one piece to another, and sometimes it's where a round piece of metal passes through a solid piece.

Exactly which lubricating product is best to use when trying to free up an old machine is a subject of great debate. Some people advise using only time and sewing machine oil. Others confess to soaking machines down with kerosene, or thinned sewing machine oil. Some suggest more modern products: like the spray can of Triflow that I like to use. Other products such as Wd40, PB Blaster, or Kroil Penetrating Oil are also frequently mentioned. No matter what initial product I use to loosen a machine, it seems as though everyone agrees that sewing machine oil must be used after the machine has become free.

 

The first thing I do with a machine as stuck as this one, is to check the bobbin area. I'll make a note of the mounting direction of the needle, and remove it. Then the slide plate comes off. There's often a trick to getting slide plates on and off but the one on this model 16 was easy to remove. It pops off and pops right back on.

Next on my list was to remove the bobbin carrier and bobbin. The bobbin carrier on this machine gave resistance and worse yet, everything had a light coating of oxidation - meaning it was beginning to rust. The assembly did not want to come out.  I was going to need a clean replacement bobbin if this machine came back to life. The light rust also meant time spent with emery paper and/or super fine grit sand paper (320 or higher) and sometimes a little 0000 steel wool. I removed all the oxidation from the inside and outside of the bobbin parts. - Wish I'd taken a 'before' shot here, it looked awful and after I finished, it looked nearly new.

My purpose in removing all the bobbin bits is to check the entire area for stray thread or material that might hinder movement while making sure all the parts are clean enough to function correctly. When I finished cleaning off the oxidation, I went over the surfaces with a drop of sewing machine oil on a cotton cloth.

It took two days before I could coax this machine into a full revolution by hand. As usual the hand wheel finally moved a tiny bit and I kept working it until it finally made a rotation, I went back and lubricated it again when the wheel was in the stiffest place. When the hand wheel finally went all the way around with little effort, it was time to check the wiring.

Every inch of the outside wiring was checked, and checked again. Typically I'll visually inspect the wire as I run my fingers across the surface, looking and feeling for any breaks in the insulation. The exterior wiring on this machine was intact, but very hard. Sometimes this stiffness will ease out of the wire when I clean it with a rag and mineral oil... sometimes it takes several swipes before the old coatings begin to soften. On this machine... I'll probably replace the exterior pedal and plug wires. The insulation layer is so hard that I'm afraid it's going to crack under any duress.

The next step before testing the motor was to inspect the inside wiring. Again, I rolled the machine carefully onto its side being careful not to damage anything on the back (spool pins, connectors, etc) and made a visual inspection of all the internal wires making sure the insulation had not been compromised and that bare wire wasn't showing. On this model, it was also a chance to consider the condition of the belt.

The wiring didn't have any breaks so I carefully plugged it into my fused power strip. I've learned to not replace the needle or bobbin assembly on a first test in case there's an issue with timing. This habit keeps me from breaking needles. When I tried out this machine, the mechanics turned, and it did spin, but the motor made a horrible noise.

I checked my parts stash and found that I had an extra Kenmore motor with the same mounting bracket.  Perhaps I was slightly impatient and wanted the machine to run so that I could continue to diagnose potential problems.  Usually I'd make every attempt to get the original motor working, but this time I had an extra and just swapped them out. I will see what ails the old motor later.

The mounting/adjustment bolt had to be removed, the belt had to be slipped from the pulley, and two screws holding the wiring junction box were removed. Oddly, it's also a great time to see the condition of the internal wires.

This much was easy.

The more complicated part was identifying the motor wires inside the junction box, removing the correct screws and wires, and then replacing the old with the leads of the replacement motor. Once that was finished it was time to  reassemble everything. Then there was the issue of belt position and tension. The entire process took slightly over an hour before the machine could be flipped back up and plugged in again for a second test. The time spent doing all this was worth it because the machine ran without any howling noises. Actually, the machine ran quietly and the pedal was responsive. 

At this time I reassembled the bobbin area. Placed a new needle in the machine and did a rotation by hand to make sure the needle would go up and down without striking anything.

 

I hadn't spent any time at all making the machine any more attractive. All my efforts had centered on the mechanical parts. With the wires checked, the machine running, and the needle going up and down as it should... I wiped down the sewing area, slipped the top cover back on, found a good bobbin and a spool of new thread for the top and began the threading process. At this point I wanted the machine to sew, and if it didn't... then there would be more work to do on the mechanics.

It sewed a simple straight stitch on the very first try. The stitch length lever was working, and so was the reverse.  Since I was there, I tried the feed dog drop... and it didn't move at all. So much success... and still more to go.

The feed dog drop on many of the machines of this era is a knob on the deck that turns. This turning motion moves an arm underneath which is connects to a metal pin that moves in and out of the feed dog movement assembly. When the pin is in the out position, half of the assembly should move and the other half should not. When the pin is inserted the entire assembly should move. That's how it's supposed to work, but in this case the pin didn't move. The rounded tip of this pin is in the circle above.

I unplugged the machine, removed the pedal and power cord connections, de-threaded the machine and set the top cover off to the side. Carefully, and with props, I stood the machine on its hand wheel. Once I knew it wasn't going to fall over... I sprayed more lubricant at the tip of the pin allowing the liquid to drip down into the casing. I oiled the knob assembly as well. That's all I could do, and allowed it to stand over night.

 

The next day, the pin wasn't any looser than it was the day before so I found a long bolt that was thinner in diameter than the pin, and set it on the tip of the pin and rapped it once with a light weight hammer. That was all it took. The pin went loose, and the knob would turn as it should.

I've freed up a half dozen of these and that's usually all I ever needed to do. This one is stubborn. The pin will move in and out like it's supposed to, but the two assemblies appear to be slightly stuck together and the one half isn't moving freely from the other. The feed dogs are not dropping. It's going to take more oil and cleaning.

I set the machine back up on its feet, put it things together and tried a straight stitch again - and it still sewed. I went to attempt the zigzag. On this Kenmore it meant slipping in the No. 1 disc. Some machines will zigzag without a cam, but this one needs a cam. The zigzag cam was still installed when it arrived.

The first attempt gave no zigzag. The needle bar assembly was not moving back and forth. I took the cam out, removed the lid, and put the cam back in to watch what was going on. I tried adjusting the zigzag width by the dial to no avail, it wasn't moving.

Usually the lower half of the needle bar assembly would sway back and forth, but this one was stuck in a right hand position and not swaying.  I rotated the mechanics by hand until the needle had cleared the foot and then I reached over to see if it would move at all. When I put little side pressure on the needle bar I heard a rather unusual crunching noise and suddenly the needle bar swung to the left hand side. It was rather disconcerting...

I tried the hand wheel again and the needle bar began the swaying zig-zag motion as it was supposed to do. I peaked in the top and couldn't see anything broken, then rocked the machine back to look underneath and found this:

It's a first. Apparently this nearly whole acorn had been hidden somewhere in the insides and had just enough surface tension to stop the needle bar sway motion by rubbing against a connecting arm. My moving the needle bar by hand was too much for its dried condition!

This is as far as I have come with this Kenmore Model 16 after a week of tinkering every night. Once the feed dog drop assembly behaves I'll replace the wiring. I have begun to clean the exterior and it appears a whole lot better than it did.  The machine is running quietly and it's very smooth. There's still one thing I plan on taking apart and cleaning and that's the upper tension dial. It just looks like it needs a good cleaning.

So this machine is really close to performing the way it should. It has a few dings and chips and blemishes, but over all it looks pretty nice. I like the unusual styling and hopefully, someday soon, I'll find it a new home and some one will sew with it again. That's the goal.

One machine at a time. =)