Unusual Singer Featherweight

A friend picked up a Singer Featherweight at an antique shop (first mistake).  The seller told her it had been recently serviced and was good to go.

The first thing I noticed when I flipped on the power switch was that the light did not come on.  There was no light bulb in the socket.

The presser foot installed was a gathering foot.  That is not what you want for straight stitching.  There was no straight stitch foot in the box of attachments.

The installed needle had a burr on the point.

The motor belt was too tight.

There was thread caught in the bobbin case base.

There was a considerable amount of lint around the feed dog.

The bed cushions are all completely squashed.

The gears are in dire need of grease and the rest of the mechanicals need oil.

The good news is that it does sew.  It might need a slight hook-to-needle adjustment, but that is minor.

I have seen hundreds of Featherweights but this one was unusual in one respect - it had a generic motor installed.

I understand why someone would want to do that because replacement motors retail for well over $150 while generic motors can be bought for around $20.  The problem is that Featherweight motors have much different mounting provisions than all other sewing machines, making it impossible to attach a generic motor in place of the original motor.

The previous owner overcame this by designing an adapter plate.

  The motor attaches to the adapter plate and the adapter plate attaches to the Featherweight motor mount.  It is a very simple arrangement, just a flat piece of 1/8" steel plate with two holes to attach the new motor and an anchor nut at the FW motor mounting point

Unfortunately, the motor is mounted so high that the belt would hit the belt guard. 

 Instead of drilling a couple of holes to lower the motor and using a longer belt, the designer added an idler pulley to push the belt down to clear the guard.

I have searched the internet to see if this is a commercial product and have found nothing even similar.  I have a FW with a weak motor, maybe I'll design a similar adapter and install one of my spare motors.

Ed

Old Sewing Machines Shop on Etsy

Drowning in Feathers

When we opened the quilt shop, I loaded up on Ebay Featherweights, planning to clean them up and sell them in the shop.  You know the rest of the story - the shop is closed and now I have more Featherweights than I want to store!

This week, I decided to start getting them ready to sell online.  Last night, I finished the first one and listed it on Etsy.  It wasn't easy on the wallet, it was missing the bobbin case, feed dog, foot control and light bulb; the bed cushions were all mashed down; and the needlebar was slightly bent.  After a week's work, it is all assembled, tested, and ready for someone to enjoy.

Now, only three more to go!

I'm Afraid to Open This Featherweight

The covering is coming off the box, both latches are broken, it is held closed by an old belt and the owner warned not to pick it up using the handle.

Well, lifting the lid was a pleasant surprise - a nice assortment of accessories

 including a hemstitcher with all the associated parts.  You often find these missing the special needle plate.

  Now to look inside OH NO!!! IT'S MUMMIFIED!!!

  Turned out that was just a homemade cover to protect the machine below.  Not that there was much to protect, it has seen lots of use over the years.

The cords had been replaced and the power cord was a full twelve feet long. I wonder if they were plugging it in to the neighbor's wall socket. On further inspection, I see a bit of dirt but no rust, thank goodness.

Cleaning and some Oil and grease got the old gal to spin freely and some minor tension tickles and it sews like it's supposed to.

By the way, you always clean before you lubricate.  If you do it in reverse order, you clean out some of the new oil/grease with the lint.

Not a lot of mechanical work to be done, a new motor belt, new bed cushions and new cushions on the foot control were all the parts needed.

Rusty the Singer Featherweight

Remember this Featherweight?  Frozen solid and rust on every component 2" from the bottom.

After I gave the owner an estimate for a new motor, new hook assembly and new bobbin case, she decided not to have it repaired and it has been sitting in the shop for almost two months waiting for her to pick it up. Friday, I called her to remind her it was there and she told me if I could use any parts from it to keep it.  While it would be prohibitively expensive to rebuild it, the body is nice and all the exterior components (bobbin winder, spool pin, tension) and the foot control and power cord are all in usable condition, so I was tickled silly.

Of course, the tinkerer in me would not be satisfied to just start ripping off parts and I decided to see if I could get the machine to sew again. Hours of soaking the shaft in Liquid Wrench finally got the motor to break loose and Liquid Wrench/sewing machine oil also got the mechanical parts to spin freely again.

But, a Featherweight won't sew without a smooth hook and this hook had lots of rust on it.

The hook needed to be removed and disassembled for cleaning but the setscrews securing the hook to the shaft were some of the more corroded pieces. It took lots of LW to break them free and I made so many attempts that the screws were damaged and had to be replaced.

I wish I had taken photos of my hook cleaning attempts, I removed it three times to clean, smooth, and polish and, after borrowing a bobbin case from another machine, finally have a half-decent stitch forming. The machine is still not ready for prime time, it has to be started by hand if it sits overnight, isn't running as fast as it should, and is noisier than a Featherweight should be. It will take some more fiddling to make it right, if it ever can be made right.

Singer 221 Featherweight

Today, a lady dropped off a Singer Featherweight to be cleaned and oiled. At first glance, it looks pretty good - decals are fairly complete, only a few paint chips on the balance wheel, I think it would clean up nicely.

Then, I tipped it over and saw that the bobbin case is missing and the hook is quite rusty.  I tried to turn the motor shaft with my fingers and learned it is frozen.

I took it home and removed the bottom plate and saw that very part made of steel is coated with rust.

When I called the owner to inquire about the bobbin case and to give her the $481 estimate for repair, she told me that the machine had been in her barn for about six months.  I think she needs to recalibrate her calendar. -Ed