Mrs. SewNSew

Rodney that's a good find on the 401 and assorted bits! My 401 got me interested in all those beige Singers...401, 403, 500, 503... I haven't found my 404 yet! The 403 is still in repairs mode...today I plan to open the lamp and try and sort out the problems with the switch.

I grabbed 2 yesterday for cheap and will be taking a closer look today. One is a Singer 66 completely frozen, slide plate missing, no knee bar, came from a box initially because it still has the square knee controller hanging from it. The other is a Kenmore 158 series, straight and zig-zag only and appears the parts all move. The Singer is most likely toast (unless I really want to save it!) but it has a couple parts on it that I could salvage..the terminal is in good shape and the lamp cover and glass...maybe the faceplate but it has a large spot of rust. The Kenmore can probably be cleaned up but the value for me was in the plastic case. I've worked on enough machines to know how much work it is to get them clean and running smoothly so I offered 5 for Kenmore, nothing for the Singer and brought them both home. If I can get something working it's a bonus.

Edited to add: these machines were from a guy that buys out storage lockers and were sitting out amonst all kinds of "junk" in his backyard un-tarped and it's been freezing cold and raining this week.

Sewnoma

I ask a lot of questions, now I'm worried it's ME...I try not to be a pest, I try to research on my own and I do learn from what I ask... I'm not selling my machines or expecting great deals (though I do get really excited when I find one), I just am having fun playing with grease and gears. And accumulating old machines that I have no real "end game" plans for.

Not always! Some cats also shake their tail in that same way to indicate happiness/eagerness too, believe it or not. My oldest male shakes his tail like that and treads his feet whenever it's feeding time. It LOOKS like he's spraying, but he's not!! (Thankfully!)

I've had a female sprayer too though. We were fostering another female and she did NOT like that. Re-homed the new lady and our girl stopped spraying. She was fine with us fostering any number of male cats in the house but she was the QUEEN and was not willing to share her crown! She ruled our household for almost 19 years. I miss that crabby old cat!

Mrs. SewNSew

I got that Singer 403 lamp opened up--man those are a PITA to get open! Of course parts flew but there is an obvious problem. One of the wires is not soldered in place! No wonder the lamp switch was acting hecthy-sketchy. Besides that the insides are dripping oil so it's had a good cleaning and is getting time out to dry before I grab up a soldering iron.

HelenAnn

Mrs.Sew and sew I just got a 404 I didn't know I wanted. Was there to look at a 301.
i also picked up a feather weight because it was so cute and the case didn't smell bad.

My fixed male used to wiggle his tail all the time but never sprayed.

loving the wind on the prairie today.

Cari-in-Oly

LOL, my other cat Lola paddles her feet like she's swimming when she drinks out of a dish.

Cari

Quincunx

Around here the dim cat shakes his tail when he is trying to decide to be happy or not. Maybe I will get food? Tail shake. I want to flop for side and tummy rubs but brother is in a wrestling mood? Tail shake. (He loves side and tummy rubs and hates back pets.) This is a warm blanky but there might be a scary lap under it? Tail shake.

I never heard of a paddling drinking cat though. That one is new.

No fiddling today. The local store was out of heat shrink tubing.

ArchaicArcane

The Singer will be a character builder for sure but I bet you can save it.

The 158 series of Kenmore machines are some of my favorite. The ones I've come across have been some of the best maintained and easiest to put back into service of all of the machines I've worked on. Whenever someone asks about a good beginner machine I always suggest Kenmore if they want more than straight and zigzag stitches.

We're in such an arid climate here that I rarely have rusted machines to deal with, it's usually other issues. Right now, I'm fighting to keep the humidity high enough to quilt. My thread is snapping and causing grief. As soon as I get over 30ish% humidity the problems go away. I felt a little bad about yelling at Lucey when I figured that out. I told her she was taking the fun out of quilting with her behavior when it was really not her fault.

I don't think it was you Sewnoma. I think it was mostly a general statement where some frustration was being vented. It sounds like you're still in the catch portion of the Catch and Release program. It can last a long time for some of us.

Our queen twitches her tail around whenever you pet her or if she decides she needs to do a few laps around the house. Sometimes I find myself hollering "What's WRONG with you?!?" at her. She's half or mostly deaf at this point so it's gotta be loud. I'm guessing some of it comes down to if the cat is territorial. We don't have particularly territorial cats and we don't have marking problems.

LOL! I don't know that I've come across a Singer light yet that's been a joy to work on. I wonder how the oil got in!?!

That's a new one on me! I love hearing the stories of other nutty cats.

Today, I tried to sew a little but the Jester wouldn't let me - sleeping on my extension table on top of the fabric - so I went to play on the Longarm and smashed a needle - first one ever! - and decided it was time to lay down for a nap because it was obviously not a sewing day.

In other news though, the dishwasher I fiddled with (installed) the other day works pretty good, the industrial motor is back together and quieter and the french polished finish on the 201 is coming along.

Mrs. SewNSew

Tammi, No ideas on the oil but nearly every machine I have worked on has been oil soaked throughout. It can't just be the local service place either because these machines have come from multiple areas. I am constantly cleaning oil from wiring, plugs and lights. I have no idea how the oil gets in there but I am thinking those that DO oil, don't know where the oil holes are and just put oil in any hole they see!

I finally got that lamp back together yesterday. After all my work, freeing it up, getting the motor running smooth, and now the lamp works, I put the motor back in so I could run it hard and warm it up. I got it running well and then the tension parts fell off! I hadn't noticed someone must have taken that apart and put it back together wrong.
So I disassembled the tension, cleaned it and put it back together correctly. (there was oil dripping from inside there too!) I threaded up the machine and adjusted for a longer stitch and the stitch length adjuster came apart. *sigh

I am beginning to think someone tried working on this machine before and didn't have clue one what they were doing.

By the end of the day we finally did our first stitches. I can feel the bobbin tension is way too loose so I'll be adjusting that a bit today and getting the stitch length knob worked out.

Tammi, that is so weird about the humidity! I never would have guessed that possible! Low humidity causing thread to break? Wow.

SteveH

Does anyone care to guess what this machine is, that I had the honor and privileged of working on last night?
[ATTACH=CONFIG]505226[/ATTACH]

I spoke to the owner on the phone last night and verified his permission to clean this machine. I will be doing this tonight. Pics to follow

SteveH

ok, here is a hint.

1846 - Elias Howe "Invents" sewing machine (receives first patent in US)
1949 - Grover & Baker form company
1851 - Singer forms company
1858 - This machine was made
1861 - US Civil War starts