An Ebb and Flow

This really is a hobby for me. I suppose that there may be a way to make money doing this, but I have yet to figure out how. What seems more important to me than anything else is getting a working machine to a person that needs one, so I try to donate machines as often as I can.

The Bamm-Bamm table and chair with a working Kenmore and attachments and cams 

was sent off to a local church sale.

The strange thing is that every time I get rid of a machine, 

another floats in to take it's place:

Morse Fotomatic II 4300.

I went to drop off a Singer 301a to another vintage sewing machine fan and messed up my timing and missed her.  She called me and since I was there in her driveway, she asked that I set the machine under the carport where it would be protected from the weather.

"Next to the white Morse?" I asked.
"You can have that if you want it." she said.
"I dunno if I have room." I kidded.

After setting the 301a and all it's associated bits in the carport, on my way out I reached over and playfully tapped the hand wheel of the Morse. It didn't budge. I stopped, grabbed the base with one hand and the hand wheel with the other and tried to turn it and it still didn't budge. Like a sad-eyed puppy in a pet shop window, I was hooked. It had to come home. It's like some sort of addiction. I can't turn my back on a viable machine in need.

The Morse was not difficult. It took about three hours of oiling and cleaning and cleaning and oiling, and wiggling and jiggling and then it finally freed up and then that loosened more and after a couple of good runs I threaded it up and it began sewing. The rescue process gets a lot shorter when there isn't any rewiring needed.

One machine drifts out, another drifts in.

I wasn't getting anywhere when it came to thinning the herd.

*     *     *

Among the many in the garage was a short row of modern plastic machines. All three had drifted in at no almost cost to me... and all three went out at once!  Given away to for missionary work in Central America. (Thank you Dawn!)

Those three machines out gave the work shop some open space, but not a whole lot. I didn't help myself when I found an ad for 1891 Singer VS2 fiddle base with an asking price of 25 dollars. Sure, it's way out of my wheel house, but learning something new is always good, right?  Yes, it needs a little help and it's not the prettiest or ugliest machine to grace the workshop... but it's a challenge.

The VS2 was cleaned and serviced and even though I can't find the new treadle belt that I know I have somewhere in the garage... I managed to find some aquarium tubing that worked as a belt. There seems to be some sort of presser foot issue (besides my own foot's inability to keep the treadle moving steady). There's an adjustment that is off because the machine keeps puckering the material. It sews for a few stitches and then puckers to a stop. One of these days I'll figure out what's wrong. It's close though, really close to working.

The weird thing (?) is that the machine came with the needle, shuttle and foot that was on it and that was it. So, I went looking through the shop at all the odd bits I've picked up over the years.  On a shelf, gathering dust, was a Singer puzzle box. It's not complete, but it appears to be made for an Improved Family machine which means everything should work on the VS2. It's the only puzzle box I have, and it came completely by accident;  hiding in the bottom drawer of the Kenmore Lady 89 cabinet.

Call it a bizarre coincidence if you like... but I have a lot of those.

Last Saturday Sis and I left before it was light again. I stood in the cold waiting for a 730am estate sale and after checking the packed sewing room, I didn't see a thing we could live without. We moved on to a sale near Avalon.

My interest had been peeked by a photo of a Pfaff 130, a workhorse even at sixty years old. The only weakness on these is the timing belt. If it's degraded, then they just aren't worth fooling with - since no one makes a replacement. Even if someone did make a replacement timing belt... it would take hours to replace.

The 130 was still there and the timing belt looked good, but it was priced a tad more than I had in mind. There was also a Singer 127 with Memphis decals in a treadle. I was checking it out when a sale worker and I began talking about sewing machines.  I mentioned my likeness for the forlorn machine, and how I redo them and end up giving so many away.  The sales person's eyebrows lifted and she yelled upstairs to see if they still had that old machine in a cardboard box...

Everything in the box was covered in a layer of dust. Here's a photo of the attachment case and just how much cleaning I had to do. The pedal was there and so was the manual and all the cords and even more important than all that... the front and top doors still had viable hinges:

This brown box Singer 500a made me work. I cleaned and oiled and it still wouldn't make a full turn. I removed the motor, checked the electrics, greased the gears...  hours ticked by and the hand wheel refused to turn 360 degrees. I was about to give up when one of my cohorts in vintage sewing machines stopped by for the first time in months, and we talked and traded machines.

Greg finally got his two Singer model 66's back, and I noticed how empty the back of his truck appeared and saw an opportunity... I slipped in a Singer 15-88, and then another 66 with reverse... and a complete 328k package and then gave him the 111w151 industrial. (Six machines out!) He noticed the 500a on the workbench and I confessed that I was a little stumped. He pointed out how to remove the bobbin carrier and it wouldn't come out.

It was stuck.

"Oh," he said, "you'll need a special tool for that."

"Special tool?"

"Yeah, a hair dryer."

There had been hints: small globs of dried oil and gear grease that had turned into hard yellow chunks that looked a lot like broken plastic bits laying inside. He left with that advise... and a nearly dead Kenmore 158.161. (Two machines in.)

Here's the key to removing the bobbin carrier on a slant needle machine:

 The black colored metal brace lifts slightly and slides back into the deck.

 

Then the carrier will slip out with a wiggle or two.

When Greg left, I ran upstairs for a hair drier. I turned it on low and carefully warmed the 500's bobbin carrier and within minutes it popped right out (btw, it was quite warm). Then I extracted several strands of thread wound tight under the carrier before aiming the hair drier to the cam stack. I could sit and watch the hard yellow plastic grease chunks slowly melt and drip away - and that's exactly what this machine needed.

When I turned the hair drier off, the hand wheel turned all the way around. After several minutes of back and forth and around and around, I felt comfortable trying the motor and it ran! By then it was late and I planned to return to the machine in the morning.

Except for one major interruption...

The lady from the estate sale on Saturday insisted I take a business card and to drop her a line when I got home.  I had sent her an email before working on the 500a.  She wrote back Saturday night saying they didn't sell either of the other two machines on Saturday and was wondering if I'd like to have them. Two sad, lonely, unwanted machines... I'm such a sucker for a machine in need. So, as well as I had done with Greg taking six and leaving one... I'd brought the 500a in all on my own... and now two more!

The first is a Singer 127-3. This is a shuttle machine made in 1930. The cabinet needs help but the bones are all there. I may have to finally purchase a sheet or two of veneer and the woodwork is going to take days. The second machine was the 1950 Pfaff 130. Overall it was in pretty good shape. The hand wheel turned, the wires appeared to be in good shape. The mechanics looked okay. I pulled it from the cabinet and set it on the bench for a test and a good cleaning. The light came on and the motor ran and after looking up the threading, it also sewed.

The cabinet needs lots of little touches on the outside. Spots of varnish have peeled away from the drawer edges. Some of the runners need glued back on. The harder part will be the sewing area. The screw mounts are nearly stripped and there's an occasional scratch that I should be able to color so that it fades into the rest. I like to leave the wear where I can, but the sewing area still needs to be smooth, and a forty pound machine must be well anchored.

The cardboard-O-matic below took a lot more cleaning and oil and a new needle and new thread and two days after coming home the 500a finally laid down a very nice straight stitch.

After reading the manual and slipping in the correct disc, the zigzag came to life as well.  I will need to repair the brittle plastic wiring harness that's too loose for my liking in the base.

The 130 is getting the detail cleaning treatment as well, and I've gone over the 127-3 with the oil cloth. The two electrics are looking pretty good. The cabinets are going to take more time - and I still have too many machines. Looks like maybe this weekend I'll give my favorite non-profit a call and see if Yvonne has room for five or six machines.

A special thanks to Kim at Reclaimed Memories LLC

Thanks also to The Machine Lady,

Greg for having an empty truck,

and all the amazing people at the Victorian Sweatshop.