Motor work

This is the motor that came with a Singer 66 that I bought at a yard sale for 10 bucks.  The machine is a beauty and I love sewing on it.  I had put the motor and light from the 206K debacle on this particular 66.  Now, though, I have decided to try to fix the 206K.  I have the part courtesy of eBay and some cash.  Hence, I will need a motor for the 66.  The black wire (goes to number two on the block) is in pretty good shape.  The red wire is in good shape but the insulation was gone.  I decided to put on a new connector and slip some shrink wrap over the wire and call it done.  Sounded simple.

The shrink wrap would not shrink well enough and stay put near the body of the motor.  I took the motor apart.  Carefully.  I did not take the brushes out first, you should.  I pulled the motor out of the housing and gently pulled the wires through the hole in the motor housing.  That freed up the motor and allowed me to inspect the commutator .

Kind of dirty.  I cleaned it with a soft cloth, first, then used  the common rubber eraser.  

 

 Nice and shiny.

The next step was repairing the wiring.   First I unwound the paper wrapper and cleaned the old wire gently with some 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol. Then I made my mechanical connection and soldered it

Next I put some shrink wrap over this connection.

Then I put some larger diameter shrink wrap over the whole thing on down to the body of the motor.

It's not gorgeous, I know.  It is, however, safe.  No bare wires.

Next I tried to crimp on a connector.  I am just not strong enough to crimp the plastic coated connectors.  I tried, but it didn't stay.  So I eased the red plastic insulator back from the connector and soldered it to the wire.

Then I eased the red plastic insulator over the connector.  It did not go back all the way, but it went far enough.  So now I have a red plastic connector to identify that this lead goes to the red connection on the block.

I was able to slip these wires back through the hole in the motor housing but I was unable to get the motor housing back together.  I was lacking about an eighth of an inch.  I wondered if it was the "underwriter" knot so I took that apart and tried again.  No go.  I fiddled and fiddled, then I understood that there was something in the way where the shaft of the motor entered its housing.  I looked in there and saw the oil wick.  For the life of me, I could not get it out.  I tried tweezers, a dental pick, tweezers again. I looked at the motor housing itself and saw a cap.  I wondered if that should come off.

But since it did not have any slot, as did the brush covers, I figured it was not designed to pop off. I confess that I did try, none the less.

I finally was able to get the housing screws started and decided to just try to tighten them in hopes it would compress that oil wick.  As I was tightening the screws, the cap popped off in my hand and spit out the felt oil wick. 

I thought some of just leaving it right there under the cap.  But I checked and there is still some felt left behind so I did not.  I believe it will be ok.  The motor is back together and mounted on the machine now.   I seem to have misplaced some of the electrical connectors, but, as Ingrid always says, "They will surface"