I couldn't stand it. After supper I headed back out to the shop. Last night I had read up on the Singer 201-2 motor. I read the adjuster's manual which on page 26 it instructs one to fill the grease tubes with about 1/4 of a tube of Singer Lube. I had put NO WHERE NEAR that much lube in the grease tubes. Even the second time around with the different armature I had not put that much lube in.
I also went to Sew Classic blog and read about lubricating the motor bearings. In my mind a bearing is a ball bearing. I asked Steven. He thought a bearing was a ball bearing. There are no ball bearings in the 201-2 motor. He looked it up in the dictionary. "the support and guide for a rotating, oscillating, or sliding shaft, pivot, or wheel." There you go. What I called bushings were bearings. It all made perfect sense to me.
The noise all along had sounded like a bad bearing. I have been around enough bad bearings in my life to know what one sounds like. So the fact that I thought that winding on the armature was causing the problem proves that I am an idiotic moron. I was worried about that winding and was convinced that was the problem. Instead of paying attention to all of the EVIDENCE I jumped to a conclusion. Sort of like some politicians in the news.
I had noticed that when the worm rotated, it sort of "caught" Tonight I took the worm out and polished the ends and then I polished the ends of the bearings in the motor. Then I cleaned them and replaced the armature, tightened the set screws on the worm and lubed up the grease tubes. I loaded those tubes right up. I also melted some vaseline with the trusty old hair dryer and primed the new grease wicks.
Boy, when I look at it now, it sure does look like a boat load of grease. I hooked it up to the machine and it is quiet. No screeching, no groaning, no problem. So, if I had read the adjuster's manual I would have saved myself a boat load of trouble. But I didn't. Now, however, I know.
So, in all of this mucking around, I did break that little tab on the grease wick clip. Now that I know the original armature might be ok, I don't have a parts motor. I wanted to fix that little clip.
All that tab does is hold the spring in place. I had to fashion a tab somehow. I did try soldering a wire to the edge of the clip. That was another moronic idiotic idea. I cannot braize with solder. So I made a tab with some stranded wire. I soldered it because I can and tried it out in the grease tube.
It fits.
Tomorrow I may work on this motor. It belongs to a Singer 15-91. I could work on the machine as well.
Only you could do something like that. You're amazing!!
ReplyDeleteNah. I am just "plucky". Who knows if it will really work? Find out today.
DeleteYes, please work on your 15-91.
ReplyDeleteI ended up breaking the little clip on the grease wick clamp thingy too. I just left it alone though because it seemed to hold the spring okay without it. But now that you made a new clip with some wire I may have to try it out. I didn't have a parts machine and you can't order that part for whatever reason. Once I greased up my 201 it ran completely silent. Like whoa quiet! I'm having some motor issues with my 221 that I just can't seem to shake. It has that startup hummmmm that my 201 had and I don't remember what I did to fix it. Blerg!
ReplyDeleteMeg, I haven't tried it out yet. But if the spring is staying put, good for you. I used about half the strands of AWG 18 stranded wire. Then I braided it and mashed it with a hammer to flatten it. Seems to fit but it is tight.
Delete