The 66 is Finally Finished!

  I spent most of the day putting the finishing touches on this machine.  All I had left was the tension assembly and the bobbin winder and it would be ready for testing.  The bobbin winder went without a hitch. I love those old bobbin winders with the guide finger that precisely positions the thread winding on the bobbin so it comes out perfect. I'm sure that economics was the reason they were replaced with the lower quality contraptions on later machines because there are  many more parts and moving parts on the older winders.

  On to the tension assembly - when I separated the tension discs, there was a piece of thread lodged between them, possibly the cause of some previous tension problems.

  I cleaned and reassembled the tension assembly and installed it. It regulated tension all right, but did not release when the presser foot was raised. Do you see anything wrong with this tension assembly component?

  Neither did I the first time around but I knew there should be some piece with a bar passing between the sides of the split stud. The pin in the tension assembly needs something to push against to release the spring pressure from the outer disc.  The part should look like the one on the right here

  I threaded it and found that the upper thread would not pull up the bobbin thread.  The hook was a bit out of time from being disassembled for cleaning. After re-timing the hook, the machine seemed to be binding. I had adjusted the feed dog centering and tightened the screw back down too tight. with the machine running smoothly and sewing like it shoud, I noticed that one of the motor wires had a gap in its insulation so I had to replace the motor again and find a belt to fit. It seemed like it was one thing after another and took all day. We are in the middle of an ice storm, so I wasn't going anywhere anyway, but I could have found other tings to do with the time.

Here is the finished product. Not the best looking machine I have ever put out the door but considering the condition it arrived in, not too bad.

Singer 66 Update

Progress is happening on the 66 I blogged about earlier.

Step 1 - I stripped it down to bare bones

Step 2 - Cleaned all the old brown scum off and polished any brightwork that couldn't be easily removed.  Notice the many rust spots on top, I'll get back to them later.

Step 2 - Cleaned up all the removed parts and reinstalled.  See the red felt in the hook area? That is there as an oil reservoir to supply lubrication to the hook. Many owners think it is a ball of lint and pull it out. Some day I will work up a tutorial on how to replace that felt.

Step 3 - I don't think I'll reinstall this motor, that wiring looks like an accident waiting to happen.

 I'm sure I have a comparable motor in my motor tub.

Step 4 - I applied rust converter to the rust spots.

This converter is advertised to turn rust into black primer. While flat black spots are not the most desirable, they are better than rust spots. I think the rust converter would have done an even better job except that I had wiped down the head with sewing machine oil before applying the converter. I wiped the paint down with degreasing wipe but that wouldn't get the oil soaked into the rust. If I had thought, I would have done it in the reverse order.

I still have to clean and reinstall the tension assembly, bobbin winder, and faceplate.  Then comes the job of testing and adjusting. I think it will be finished soon, glad I didn't have any other machines show up for servicing while I had this one in pieces.

What Have I Done to Deserve THIS? Singer 66

A lady brought her Great-Grandmother's sewing machine into the shop for servicing this afternoon.  She said it had been stored in an unfinished basement for fifty years more or less.

 It had originally been in a treadle cabinet but was converted to electric somewhere along the line.  The Great-Granddaughter has the original treadle cabinet and wants to eventually de-convert the sewing head back to treadle configuration.  For now, she wants to use it as an electric machine until the wood cabinet is restored.

My first thought was that any machine stored in an unfinished basement for half a century would be too rusted to ever put back into sewing condition but Looking at the hook area, the rust appears to be light and I think it will buff off.

The electricals are shot

The stretch rubber belt is cracked in many places, the spring that holds the slide plate is missing

And the bobbin winder looks like a fused mess of corrosion and dirt.

On the bright side, I have parted out a number of 66's and have lots of spare parts in the parts bins. I think I can get this old lady sewing although it will never look new again.