sewingdot

on the 31-15 , I typed out a long winded stroy ..

it takes 16 x 87 needles not those 125's , if your buying parts get the race, thats the most common part to fail on a 31. your calling it a shuttle carrier, a place on ebay sells the entire unit with free shipping.

the motor/clutch there's no springs inside. my guess is the motor is packed full of lint and grease and it takes a slight bit of time before the motor builds up to full speed..

it noisie because the motor is solid mounted to the wood table. new ones are rubber mounted and make almost zero noise..

sewingdot

your dail is a grease cup, old school method to lube bearings

The clutch return spring is the one you see on the arm.

your machine looks like a 1950's ??? is there a long threaded bolt hanging down on it ? most if not all by the 50's had that it's to adjust the belt

ArchaicArcane

Hi Sewingdot! Welcome and thanks for your comments.

The 125/20 is the size of the needle. The designation on the needles were 16x257 along with a bunch of the other ones, like 16x231, Sy 1955, 135x7, etc.

I was referring to the parts as sewingpartsonline referred to them but there are no pics on their site, so to be clear, they call this the race:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Shuttle-Race...-/280344245158
and this the shuttle carrier:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/SINGER-31-15-...-/260857378325

and I think it's the carrier that wears, yes? It's the part I'd posted in another thread that I think is worn, so I will definitely order one:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]469507[/ATTACH]

Check. I will tear into that motor then and give it the cleaning of its life once I get back from BC.
Is there any reason I couldn't replace one or both of the bushings with rubber bushings so it wouldn't shake the house apart when it starts up? Machines in bookcases were rattling before I took the machine to the basement.

ArchaicArcane

Oh! I'd wondered if there were any on this motor. It's weird then that the top was so loose as to feel like it was a knob turned half in and half out instead. What a terrible spot for a grease cup! It will have the iron right in the way. Does that mean the other "cap" right on the left end of the motor might be a grease cup as well?

You're correct on the date. The serial number was allocated in 1952.

I'll have to go look at it again in the morning, the only long threaded bolt I can think of attaches the motor to the pedal, so basically clutch control is how I think of it... I saw no belt adjustment, or didn't recognize it as such anyway.

Mizkaki

Tammi,

Interesting! I see sewingdot had the answer. Bumper is what I also had in mind.

Cathy

sewingdot

in the photo that parts is the shuttle driver...

Here's the place I talked about, call them up on the parts, they do have stuff not listed. The free shipping is a win

http://stores.ebay.com/SHARP-SEWING-...=p4634.c0.m322

go to a site named leatherworker ... then sewing machines.. there the guy who knows these 31's I think called Bob or cowboy Bob ?? anyway he owns toledo sewing , not sure of that name either. anyway it's all industrail machines. I have a 31 - 20 with a worn out race. This guy has said to others " I have never seen a 31 series machine that didn't have a wore out race." Now he's talking about a shop rebuilding and selling machines..



yes I have that same belt it sucks I'll never buy any more of those. one of my machines came with a old car fan belt (v belt) cut to fit and stapled together using a 6 penny nail shaped into a staple. It works so well I have made others. otherwise I find natural leather Belts for home machines, these red chinese belts are not all that good lolol aka crap

sewingdot

The 31 _ 15 I have sitting right here is a mid 40's but looks like yours. I checked there isn't a adjustment for the belt.

I believe that grease cap really greases the bearing for the clutch hub. That one on the left ( silver) does look like it's there for lube. I don't see anyway to remove it without a singer tool #????? I have not taken this motor apart.

How ever I did remount it using a very thich piece of an old computer mouse pad. This was a rubber pad not the foam type, close to a 1/4" but the bolts were just long enough to be reused, another machine I had to counter sink the bolts

100 $ down is the norm for a 31 series machine any thing over say 350 better have all these parts brands new along with a new servo motor or there blowing smoke. That talking about those 5 to 600 ones

ArchaicArcane

Thanks sewingdot! I will get in touch with cowboy bob. I had registered on leatherworker I think Friday to poke around a little more, but haven't posted. Shipping is unlikely to be free to me, Canada almost never is. So Sharp and Toledo are the same people?

I will probably take on this work after I get back from BC in 2 weeks. The machine stitches just fine right now, but I'd like it 99% if possible so I know that there's nothing imminent.

It's funny, I'd called a friend/neighbor of ours who works for a car parts place and asked about belts, but he said he thought if I split it then joined it, it would just tear apart at the join. What you describe is what I wanted to do from the beginning. DH also said that when it comes time to change the belt again that we'd join the 2 belt holes on the table and not have to cut a fan belt at all.

I balk a little at that, even though it's not an attractive table, but it's defacing it, and providing a spot that will help me store my scissors on the floor, but I do see how it makes more sense, especially for an industrial machine that was never really meant to be a gorgeous show piece, even if I do find that I have to touch it every time I walk past it.

The grease cap greasing the clutch hub would be in keeping with its location and certainly would be similar to the way Singer dealt with their potted motors and the worm gear in them.

At least one of the silver caps on my machine is a little askew, and looks like I could slip a blade screwdriver under it.

These sorts of things, and the race specs are exactly why I was hoping for a service manual somewhere.


I have some rubber from a set of mudflaps we had to cut to size. I will check to see what the thickness is of them. I really like the idea of quieting it down some. That neighbor has tons of projects he's always asking me to do, and I'm thinking of teaching him to use the machine, but the vibration and noise might drive me batty(ier) if it's running for long periods of time.

I'm guessing that you're in the US. The prices I see for industrials in general are just stupid here. I guess in a way it makes a little bit of sense though if a fully restored machine is higher here, because we pay more for everything, including the parts. Even if I order from Cowboy Bob, I will pay exchange and shipping. I bet they're also cheaper to have services in the US too.

Rodney

If it makes you feel better I see very few industrial sewing machines in my market for less than $200. I doubt I've seen more than 2 or 3 in that range since I got interested in them.
Rodney

ArchaicArcane

I believe that Rodney. As far as surfing the Buy and Sells (Craigslist, Kijiji, etc), they're just not reasonably priced. If you can find someone who has one who isn't looking to get rich, that <$200 range is easier. The Singers pop up here sometimes because we had some jeans factories a bunch of years ago and when the factories shut down these machines were sold off. I -don't- think this was one of them though because I've seen the machines that came out of the GWG factories and they're the ones that Caroline mentioned: Rode hard and put away wet. I'm really not positive that this machine saw a lot of hard work at all. There's chipped paint on the leading edge, but otherwise, it's better cosmetically than probably half the domestics I have in the house. The low needlebar still baffles me though. The only thing I can think of is that someone stored something heavy on top of it. The gal I got it from swears she was told it was running when it was taken out of service. (The tailor passed away) I can see how it would have been if the needlebar was pushed down in storage.