manicmike

Come to Australia then Rodney. There's one on eBay listed for $50 start price and hasn't sold in nearly four months! It's a 96K41 and comes with motor and bench. I paid $100 for mine and bought a spare head for $20. Ridiculous!

miriam

I just dragged home a junk Singer 15-30.
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So far I have the bobbin area cleaned and the tension. I would like to see the nose a bit more polished up. The slide plate is a hopeless cause. The bobbin winder needs a part off some piece of junk around here - I doubt if a crush and throw would be of any use. OH and when my DH mounted a new electric box on my table he lost a screw to the tension. bummer. BUT I have a neat outlet with a dimmer - runs a machine or my Dremel.

Rodney

I just moved my foot controller on my Rodney machine to the cabinet. The rubber feet that should have been on the bottom of the foot controller disappeared long before I got the machine so the controller just slides around on the floor. I got tired of hunting it down and I prefer a knee controller anyway for just that reason. Even without the extra arm I've seen on some controllers it works surprisingly well as a knee controller. I also took a few seconds and mounted the plugin box inside the cabinet and zip-tied the wires to keep things neat. It took maybe 20 minutes start to finish and makes me much happier.
Rodney

Rodney

Miriam I like your idea for the variable speed control on your dremel.
Rodney

miriam

I just got two black line machines working - finally and I worked on an old Singer 15-30 with a small hand wheel. That small hand wheel drives me nutty. There is no motor mount so it can't HC or treadle or have a motor. If I put a large spoked hand wheel on it won't wind a bobbin.

Rodney

Your small hand wheel model 15 sounds like an old electric conversion where they probably hung the motor off a bracket fastened to the rear inspection plate. You could probably rig your own bracket to work.

Manicmike, I'd love to see Australia with or without sewing machines. Where I live I don't think there was ever any sort of large textiles industry so there are less old industrial machines floating around than somewhere like our east coast where there used to be different textile mills and clothing manufacturers everywhere.
Rodney

amcatanzaro

There are sooo many industrial around here. Honestly if there is no picture for a CL ad here I have a 1 in 3 shot of it being an industrial.

Sunflowerzz

I am currently working on three machines. Two 15-91's and a beautiful MW Signature 15 clone. I got the newer of the 15-91's up and running and gave it a test run. Didn't like it at all, stitches were not that great, noisy and just didn't gel. So now I am hoping the older one is better and will be cleaning it today. I think it has never been cleaned because the layer of grime on it is taking many many washes to clean off, the grime is stuck like glue. The few areas I have cleaned reveal a super shiny black underneath.

I will test the Signature sometime today. So far I am not impressed with any of the non zigzag machines. I am sad about that because I was hoping to really love how they sew. I like the early zigzags and the zigzag machines that use cams. I tried out my 1888 treadle and didn't like it much either. Both the 15-91 and the 1888 VS2 did sew FMQ nicely though. It is amazing how different how different these machines sew even when they are the exact same machine! My dining room table is a MESS so I'am off to hopefully get it cleared of sewing machines and to have more sewing machine repair fun, exasperations and revelations . LOL

miriam

Wilbur came over and we worked on a White. I let him undo all the screws and carefully put them on the ends of magnets with their pieces. He had them lined up just so on the bench every time we took something apart. He used a lint brush and a squeeze bottle to get lint out. He is so proud of his own tool box. I have to watch so my little tiny screw drivers don't end up in there. Then we oiled and he has that down. I told him he must not go home and take anything apart. I am always amazed at how much the kids know and remember. He knew exactly how the bobbin area came apart and went back together. He had a bit of fumble problems but he knew. He loved watching while I turned the machine to see what all moved. Oh and there was a burr on the hook so he learned about burrs and how to fix the burr. I'm not sure he understood everything...

Then we had a few minutes left so I let him look at the Countess pictures. He loved that. Now he wants to strip her next time he comes over. What have I done??? The worst of it was that he read the file 'naked countess' when I opened it - I never said she was naked but he picked up on it right away....

Rodney

If you really want some fun let Wilbur take his screwdrivers home.
Rodney