Jane's Singer 500

  Last week, Jane from LuckySewandSew emailed to say she would be bringing me three vintage sewing machines on Saturday to work on.  Her car must serve double duty as an incubator because when she arrived, there were not three, but four machines in there!

  She did pretty good for a beginning vintage SM collector - a Singer 99k handcrank she picked up in Scotland, a Singer 500 Rocketeer, A Singer 503 Rocketeer and - my favorite - a Necchi Supernova Ultra. Most collectors start with Japanese clones and work their way up to the Rocketeers and Supernovas but Jane didn't waste time, she started right at the top.

  I let them sit overnight because I had some boat curtains to finish and I just couldn't decide which one to start on.  Today, with a clearer head, I put the 500 on the bench because that looked like the one needing the most work. It has two of the three most common ailments afflicting the slant-needle singers, a broken hinge on the nose door and a broken bobbin winder spring.  The third is frozen cam selectors.

 It also had a wad of electrical tape the size of a golf ball on the power cord.  Fortunately, the 503 had been designated as a part donor and it had all three of the broken parts in good condition. After swapping the foot control/power cord, door and the spring, I swapped some cosmetic pieces - the upper lid, the lamp shade and a few more.  I have it looking pretty good.

Next, I plan to swap out tension assemblies and possibly motors.  The motor runs okay but is a bit noisier than I like. I haven't yet tried sewing on it, I am letting the new oil soak in tonight and will continue tomorrow.  More to come....