New White Peerless Sewing Machine

A couple of weeks ago I added a new baby to the collection.  Trawling through gumtree aimlessly, as I am apt to do, I discovered this sad-looking machine, covered in dust but with absolutely beautiful lilly-of-the-valley decals.  A few years ago I was at a machine vendors house and he had a beautiful machine with lily-of-the-valley decals on it and I fell head over heels for it.  I think that man is partly to blame for my obsession actually but that's a whole different story.

Anyway, I ummed and ahhed over this machine for a few days and it still hadn't sold so I rang and enquired about it.  The gentleman was very helpful and more than willing for me to come and look at it.  Sadly, it didn't have a bobbin case (and they are very hard to find) but for $15- and with hardly a spot of rust in sight I couldn't resist.  The handcrank attachment alone was worth that!  I brought it back to Grandma's and spent the next couple of days (when time allowed) taking it apart and cleaning it.

From the front, exactly as I bought it.

As well as missing its bobbin case it was also missing the front slide plate (that should be relatively easy to make do without), the two screws necessary for holding the faceplate on and its wooden cover.  But I still loved it!  The patents on the back slide plate date it to 1890, so it is now officially the oldest machine in my collection.  That distinction was previously held by as singer 127, I think it was, that I haven't yet written about here.

Underneath the machine is very nice and I could watch this machine in operation all day.  I spent quite a while scrubbing caked on oil off but I never mind doing that as I know that is what has saved it from being a rust bucket.

The faceplate is separate at the moment until I find screws to fit it.  Here you can see the interesting tension assembly, which I think is exclusive to White sewing machines (don't hold me to that!).  The feet are also like the rebadged White we have, so no shortage of them!

Before cleaning.

The bobbin winding mechanism and stitch length adjuster are in good condition and still move freely.  It needs a new winding tyre though.

Bobbin winder (right) and stitch length adjuster (left).

Around the feed dogs and under the throatplate was rather dirty but all rust free and moving very well.  (No, I don't normally wear nail polish when I'm working on machines!)

Throatplate being removed.

As I mentioned before it did not have a bobbin case for it, which is very disappointing because I can't sew with it.  I tried another White case in it but it did not fit.  This machine is tiny, apparently a 3/4 size White machine and the other case was too large.

Shuttle run.

I have done a small amount of research and apparently this is the model 'B' of these machines.  I have to say I am very happy with it and it cleaned up very well.

From the front, after cleaning.

Singer 201K

Quite some time ago I bought a lovely Singer 201 from work.  However with study I never got around to cleaning it.  On Sunday I was bored and decided to get it out and play with it.  Every time I get this machine out I sit and look at it for a bit because it is just so beautiful and sleek.  This time was no different and afterwards I set in to cleaning it thoroughly.  There is no rust on it, excepting the hand wheel but a lot of caked on oil and dust.  This I set about removing, before oiling it and trying to set it up.  I started under the bed of the machine, because I always do.

Packed in its crate with its motor, as it has been for a year.

Under the bobbin area

Gear cover, to remove, remove circled screws.

Bobbin gear cover, to remove, remove circled screws.

Lovely metal gears.

Once I had finished under the bed I did the rest of the machine, starting with under the faceplate and moving through to the bobbin area and finally all the 'cosmetic' work, which isn't necessary for the efficient functioning of the machine but I like to know it's all shiny.

Under the faceplate, before cleaning

Bobbin and needle area, before cleaning

Hook, after the removal of the bobbin case.

Clean bobbin area

After some cosmetic work 

At the moment I have it mounted in the Singer 206's table, running off the industrial motor as its own motor needs a lot of work.  I am very pleased with it, it is very quiet and stitches very neatly.

A Vested Interest

The Vesta is finally finished.  It is nicely clean, although not perfect and it sews, which is good!  I do not have a leather belt to treadle it with but we fashioned a belt out of rope and it seems to work.  The stitch is decent and the machine even reverses!  Some more pictures from the process below.

The tension assembly in pieces before cleaning.

The tension assembly in pieces after cleaning.

The snake skin patterning was difficult to clean as I was paranoid about scratching the chrome.  I ended up coating them in oil and then carefully cleaning the grooves out with a machine needle, rather time consuming.

Back cover after cleaning.

Faceplate before cleaning.

When the back cover was removed, all the workings in that end of the machine could be seen, I could have spent forever watching them!

Under back cover.

Before I went to the extreme lengths of tidying off the Vesta's table I wanted to check the machine actually stitched, so here is a picture of it all threaded up and ready to go.  The thumbscrew holding the faceplate on is one borrowed from a tucking foot and the only one I could find that would thread into the required hole.

Not a very good photograph, I know!

The machine did indeed come with accessories, however I am not sure how many are original as there are no markings on any except for the ruffler which is labelled 'Singer' so is clearly not original!

Accessories and the piece of paper it came with.

I'm not sure what the piece at the top roght is off, I think maybe a ruffler again but I'm not sure, however the others are as follows:
Middle row (from L to R): Binding foot, two thumbscrews, the lower one is not original and does not fit the machine, the upper one is to secure the machine to the table and finally top foot is standard straight stitch foot and the bottom foot is a rolled hemmer.
Bottom row (from L to R): Hemming foot and Tucking foot

Next on the agenda is a Christmas shirt to wear on Sunday, I think I may be pushing it a little but who knows?

Elna Supermatic

Due to the amount of studies I have had recently, I had about a week were I did not work.  When I went back in on a Saturday morning there were three machines awaiting me.  One was a modern Brother overlocker, with no pedal (I'm yet to decide what I'm going to do with it), one was a Singer 5528, the second of them I've had in as many months and I keep meaning to devote a post to them and the third was in a very square metal case.  There was only one machine I knew for sure came in a metal case (Elna model 1) and this was the wrong colour, so I was extremely excited when I took the machine out.  It was a gorgeous Elna Supermatic, complete with ~11 cams plus the buttonhole attachment, a few feet and the cover plates for the feed dogs.  Half of the case forms the flat bed for the machine and the machine is a knee control (I love knee controls!).  This machine is made in Switzerland and has all metal gears and parts, that I can see, the body is aluminium and consequently the machine is not all that heavy.

It wasn't until a week later I found time to take it home and look at it, there is no way I am selling this machine, I am BUYING it!

Firstly I removed the cover from the free arm and the throat-plate just sprung off, the bobbin loads from the back, I then removed the feed dogs so that I could get the bobbin holder and the hook apart, for ease of cleaning.  The surfaces here have been de-rusted at some period in time as the chrome is less than shiny in parts.

To get the bobbin holder free from the hook there are two little screws (with little springs coiled around them) that need to be removed, they are directly opposite each other and the holes can be seen in the photograph below.  Just be aware they are very springy and are very easy to lose if they spring away somewhere.

 
The next thing I did was remove the base of the machine (remove screws circled in red in image below) so I could see up the pillar, it is incredible.  The motor and all the necessary electrical parts to control the speed of the machine through the knee control are mounted in there.  The motor is geared into the machine much higher up the arm and cannot be seen in the following photographs.

Finally I checked and oiled all the moving parts under the faceplate and cam door.  The faceplate cannot be opened unless the foot is down.  The machine is threaded by passing the thread down the back of the faceplate, through the tension, from back to front, and then through the take-up lever and then as usual.

Whilst I was oiling this machine I noticed it had a hard spot, I thought maybe something wasn't oiled properly but despite oiling all the usual spots the noise persisted.  When I actually plugged the machine in and ran it the noise increased with the speed (as was to be expected) and the machine clunked dreadfully.  It wasn't until a couple of days later I found enough time to go and look at it again.

It came to my attention that the noise was not always in the same place in the machines rotation, this implied the motor was at fault.  Eventually I disengaged the machine from the motor as for bobbin winding and the clunking continued, definitely the motor.  With the base removed it became obvious that every time the machine clunked the entire motor was moving, which it definitely was not supposed to do.  The problem was, how to see up the arm to see the gears?  I did not have the appropriate circlip pliers to remove the handwheel and try and see in that way but eventually remember we had a camera for seeing in confined spaces.  This worked and I can now say that to all intents and purposes it looks as if the gears up there are chipped and resulting in the machine not running smoothly.  When I am finally finished for the year (another 4 weeks) I intend to go through the painstaking process of removing the motor and actually being able to personally see the extent of the damage.  It is annoying to have such a beautiful machine, complete with accessories and be completely unable to use it!!  At least I only have to pay $10 for it as it is completely unsaleable.....!

Saturday Morning

On Saturday morning I was recovering from a nasty cold and didn't feel particularly like going to work.  However, someone must have decided it was time I had a nice surprise because when I got to work there was a sewing machine table with a machine inside.  The pedal hanging out at the time told me it had to be an old Singer, so buzzing with excitement I lifted the lid and saw.....

This looked very interesting so I quickly set it up,

Yes, it is a 201.  I share Elisabeth @ mysewingmachineobsession.blogspot.com  passion for 201's.  They are fabulous machines although I have never seen the cast iron version before only Aluminium ones.  This one is very dusty but looks like it has hardly been used on the 60+ years it's been around.  The serial number dates it as approx. 1948.

Someone has stored this machine for a long time and it is covered on cobwebs, however there is very little rust, which is nice.

The face plate is stained but not too badly and is very like the one on my 206.

 

The chord must have been wrapped around it for years, when I unwound it, it was set in that shape.  The power chords will need replacing as they are only cloth covered and not in very good condition.  There is very little wear to the decals, which is fabulous!

 

 

201's have drop-in bobbins and this one has no bobbins with it.  However I have a heap of 201 bobbins that came with our Ali so that is fixed.  Now I just have to set about cleaning her, I can't wait!