Mrs. SewNSew

Is that a hand crank pencil sharpener? You are really working out a neat adaptation. I love the creativity of it.

oldsewnsew

Not pencil sharpener, think knife, scissor, drill bit, tool or sickle bar...

Rodney

You may not have been the first but it's still a neat idea. I see them every now & then, usually pretty cheap.
Does it stop when you stop turning or freewheel for a while when you let go?
Rodney

Rodney

I've been slowly working on a Singer 99k for my daughter as the mood strikes me. I did a little more today.
It's the one I've mentioned before with the severely bubbled and lifted top coat.
Alligatoring is when cracks develop in the finish. This was sort of the opposite. There were ridges between the flat portions and it had started lifting so the shellac also had an overall gold tone.
I ended up using #0000 steel wool and alcohol to carefully strip off most of the old failed shellac between the decals and flatten out what was left being very careful not to scrub over the decals themselves. It wasn't going to dissolve enough to re-adhere and blend in by just coating over it so it had to go.
I wiped on a new coat of shellac straight out of the can and it's much improved though there are still a few bumps where some of the old shellac remains. Now I just need to keep building the coats until everything is smooth again.
Here it is after the first coat of shellac.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]481062[/ATTACH]

I also built a new box for it out of some scrap mahogany I've been carting around for years.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]481063[/ATTACH]

Both still have a long way to go before they're complete. The box needs a few more coats of shellac and I bought an old briefcase last fall with intentions of robbing the hardware. It has nice brass latches and a decent handle. My daughter has been using it but last time I asked she said I could tear it apart for the new sewing machine case.
If not, I'll have to find something else.
Rodney

Mrs. SewNSew

Looks nice Rodney! Do you have any before pictures that show what the coat was doing?

SteveH

nice! well done!

singerguy

is that the cover at the back (square) that you also made out of mahogany. nice job.

Rodney

They're pretty bad pictures (suitable for selling on Craig's List and Ebay bad) but that is the top for it. My daughter prefers to keep the briefcase so I'll be hunting a new source of hardware for it now.

I have one or two other machines that can use cases too.
I have good intentions of doing a how-to on them. My next one I'll make out of wood that any hardware/home improvement type store would have in stock. I have a fairly complete woodshop but my intent is for others to be able to duplicate the case if they want so I'm going to stick to methods that most people would have the tools for.
Rodney

ThayerRags

So far, the handcrank attachments that I’ve ran into have been 3:1 (Singer mostly).

I bought a hand crank grinder at that auction site, but not for modification. My Grandma had one on the back porch of the farm house she rented back in the 50s, and I spent a lot of time playing with it as a kid. I mounted mine in my SM repair shop right above my work bench, and give it a spin every once in a while for Grandma. This one has the v-grooved wheel that is about as worn out as the one at Grandma’s house was (no thanks to me).

I also point to it and answer yes when folks ask if I sharpen scissors, just to see the expression on their faces (my fancy electric scissor sharpening machine is down under the work bench on a shelf).

I also bought a handcrank centrifuge thinking that I could convert it into a high-speed wire wheel spinning device (think Dremel-size wire wheel). Then it dawned on me that I didn’t have enough hands to hold a sewing machine part, hold the spinning brush, and crank it all at the same time. I’m watching for an old treadle Dentist Drill to continue with that project....

CD in Oklahoma

ThayerRags

Nice looking project going there Rodney. I like the box.

CD in Oklahoma