201 Centennial

Yesterday after Betsy and I worked on the lesson plans some,  we checked Craigslist.  Sometimes checking Craigslist is just plain tedious.  I had been seeing the same machines listed and re-listed over and over again.  But yesterday we saw  a new listing.  I knew right away that it was a 201.  So I responded and made arrangements to fetch it tonight.  Betsy had to work and I had to work but we met on the way and drove over in Cherry the Sewing Machine Chariot.

I have surprised more than one seller at the number of machines I can fit into this little VW  Jetta Sportwagon.  I name all my cars.  I always have.  When I was a kid and did not have a lot of money I believed that if I named my cars, they would treat me well.  It has worked so far.  Today though, Cherry did not look this sleek.  It snowed last night, just enough to warrant salt spreading.   She now has a blanket of salt on her nice red paint. It probably prevented that cop in Cobleskill form nailing me for 45 in the 30 zone.  

I use a Garmin to help me find my way.  I thought I knew right where I was going tonight, but let the Garmin lead me astray.  If we had been crows we would have been fine following the more or less straight line that the Garmin determined to be the quickest route.  We are not crows and so we ended up a bit lost and a bit late to our destination.  Next time, I will just ignore the blasted thing.  

I have no idea if these Centennials have more value than others.  The machine is in good shape.  The wires, THANKFULLY, are still intact and there does not appear to be any melting of the insultation.  the foot controller and power cord are not original.  The light works and the motor runs.  And  as my friend Andrea says , "The stabby thing goes up and down."   I am very pleased with this.  It came with some bobbins and in a library cabinet.  We looked at a treadle cabinet that was for sale.  It is a project and I am not into more projects.  Though it is lovely.  I think that we convinced the seller that she could, indeed, refinish it and enjoy it without much worry about devaluing it.  After all, it really is not a priceless antique.  

Betsy picked up a red head.  Not me.  A Singer 66 Red Head.  It is lovely and will, hopefully, fit into her orphan treadle base.  I would have bought it if she hadn't.  I love love love the Singer 66.  But it looks as if the 201 is my logo.  Not that there is anything wrong that. 

It stitches.....Really it does

Once I had the motor running I decided it was time to clean up a machine.  Yesterday I just put the motor on a dirty machine and I did not "stitch it in" as the lingo goes.  I was just thrilled to see the needle go up and down.  I know.... I know.......But you know what I mean.  The motor worked, by golly and I fixed it.

So I spent all day on this machine.   All right, not ALL DAY.  But most of it.   It was pretty dirty and it, too , has really bad wiring.

I could have cleaned up the machine that the refurbished motor was on.  But, I was going to have to take the motor off to work on it so I decided to take the motor off of this machine,  clean it and put the refurb on it.  This machine is cosmetically challenged, as the saying goes.  It is a good practice machine.

This is what the motor wiring from this machine looks like.  EEEEEEUUUUUYYYYYYY   


BUT  I am so not intimidate by this. 

 I can fix that, no problem......

This is what the bottom of the machine looked like.  It had some old dried oil everywhere.  So I cleaned it up with some degreaser and some denatured alcohol.  Purely cosmetic.  I assure you.  I
Tri-flowed everywhere and put new grease on the gears.  It did help to have a copy of the service manual. 

I was working on the gears in the back of the machine and I noticed that there was a catch as I turned the handwheel.  After I greased these gears and turned the handwheel it was so much smoother.  What in the world had I done?  Who knows.... maybe there was some lint up under the bobbin case.  So I took that sucker out.  What an ordeal.  I followed the service manual..  Rain had done a tutorial on this and it is posted on Vintagesingers but I did not have my computer close at hand.  I am sure his way is easier.  Just the same, there was dirt but no lint and the problem did not get better with the bobbin case out.

I don't know how I noticed it, but somehow the thread cutter had gotten repositioned.......

 And it was binding up on the needle clamp......So I figured that out.  GEEZ, what a simple solution.

Well I needed to learn how to take out the bobbin case.  It was pretty dirty in there, yes it was.
I did not take out the hook.  I have done enough advanced stuff on this machine and as I have been told, 9 times out of 10 the machine is not out of time.  What would make it go out of time??????

I oiled and cleaned it and finally was ready to put the refurb on.  OOPs.  No foot pedal.  Oh, yeah, now I remember.....that foot pedal needed new wires.  The poor dogs were getting hungry, it was past dinner time and I showed no signs of letting up.  I got that foot pedal re-wired and new ring connectors soldered and then, dinner.

Add just enough grease to make the gears look wet. Anything more is plain wasteful.

I always wondered how much grease to put on gears.  Now I know.  I still don't understand why some Kenmores have so much grease, but according to the guru, Ray White, just enough to make them look wet.

Once I got it all connected, and I must admit I was pretty pleased with myself, I put the power to the machine.  First, I made sure that everything worked by hand.  The handwheel was a bit tight, but I thought that maybe it was due to the fact that it just hadn't gotten all the grease and oil where it needed to go.  But something was wrong.  I tried running the motor for a bit, but it would not pick up speed.  So, I spent the next hour trying to figure that out.  I sanded the inside of the handwheel,  I sanded the shaft  I ran the  motor without any load, just to be sure (I had done this yesterday but what the heck).  Finally I noticed the problem.....the bobbin winder was engaged.  OK so now I am dumb.  Maybe just tired.  Something is still not quite right.  I cannot get the stop motion knob to release so that the machine doesn't run when I am winding the bobbin...... Probably something simple.  I tried a million different configurations of the washer and stop motion knob.  Who knows.  I gave up.  I needed a drink.

 
I understand the appeal of this machine.  It is quiet and I think it makes a fairly decent stitch.  I want to try it on some thicker layers.  But that is for another day.  I'm beat.  It was a long day with lots of lessons learned.  But how the heck was I to know that the stupid bobbin winder was engaged?  Gee whizz.

It runs

 I finally have a 201 that runs.  I made the wire ring connectors tonight after supper and tried out the motor.  NICE.  The machine is dirty and I have hours of work to get it stitching.  I can't afford to sell this machine.  I have HOURS invested.  I have three of these machines... I pulled the motor off of the third.  It does not look hopeless.  The brushes are not soaked with oil but the motor was glued to the shaft from dried grease.  The handwheel came right off, though and the textolite gear looks ok.    So I think that this motor can be used on the better of the two remaining machines. 

Happy New Year.

I DID IT !!!!!

Well folks, thanks to Rain at The Vintage Singer Sewing Machine Blog  http://vssmb.blogspot.com I rewired this 201 potted motor.  I would not have been able to do it without his VERY VERY EXCELLENT step by step instructions on his blog.  I was so excited that I did not photograph the process of re-assembling the motor.  I just put the sucker back together.  I did, however, take  photos of the soldering:

Before trimming the wires

Mechanical connection (aka braid) and alligator clip as heat sink

Soldered

Mechanical connection and heat sink white lead

Soldered

 I did put heat shrink on these connections and I found that the hair dryer frightened me.  I was afraid that I might get the whole motor too warm.  So I tried the butane lighter trick.  That was nerve wracking as well but I managed to get the stuff shrunk down and tight.

I also tied my underwriter knot and put the whole thing back together.  See how tidy it looks inside?

I am so proud of this project.  Here is the underwriter knot all highlighted:

Very Nice.  Next, I will put some shrink wrap on these leads to make them one and solder some connecting rings.  I can do that, easy peasy.  I would have done that tonight.......if I hadn't felt guilty about never cooking a meal for the best husband in the world.  So I made some parsnips and tofu for dinner......yum......Hey, the guy likes it, what can I say????

Now I am ready to clean out this 201 and get it stitching.....Wooooooo hoooooo.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE.  Such was the advice of my guitar teacher when I was a kid.  We all know that I did not practice because I have not been to Carnegie Hall.  I have been practicing soldering.

I used the forsaken motor.  As you can see the wire to one of the brush holders is beginning to fray and the connection is definitely in peril .  I wanted to practice working in this small space and I wanted to see how close I would have to work to the field core.  Pretty close, but it did not get hot.  Here you see that the "original" repair is almost desoldered.  I tried to free the white wire up some more, but could only get about another 1/4 inch freed up.  

I apologize that the wires are out of focus.   I'm an amateur.  I had about one half inch of wire.  It was not flexible and I had to use a hemostat to help me make the mechanical connection.

This is my whole set up:  At the bottom of the photo you can just see the hemostat holding the wire steady.  With the motor up on blocks I have plenty of room to get underneath the wires and solder.  I have the alligator clip there as a "heat sink" to keep the heat from traveling to the field core.  That is not an original idea.  I am following Rain's advice (http://vssmb.blogspot.com/) 

Again, sorry for the blurred photo.  Here it is after soldering:

 The black lead was easier for me.  I had more original wire and the mechanical connection was, therefore, easier to make.

I am surprised how easy the actual soldering is.  I guess I am now ready to solder the "good" motor.  After working with this one for the past few days, I see how much better that other one is.  Maybe one day I will have a running 201. 

Another 201

  I have decided to give up on this motor. It just requires TOO MUCH WORK.

  The armature is filthy with something yellow and sticky and I am guessing it is dried oil

I tried some denatured alcohol on a q tip and made it stickier.  I scrubbed some more and got it a bit cleaner.   You cannot really tell in this photo but the copper windings are darker and dirtier on the armature on the left.  Believe me, its true.

I have to give up.  I have shelves to paint and put up, a sewing loft to clean, a window treatment to make, dogs to walk, sewing machines to clean and repair, cabinets to refinish,  ipad covers to sew, sewing machines to use, sewing machines to sell, sewing machines to clean and oil and service.........

HOWEVER......

I do hope to use this motor to practice on.  I tried de-soldering today.  I removed a whole lot of excess solder and some electrical tape glue.  It was good practice to work inside the motor and pay attention to how the soldering iron is positioned.  You can see the broken original lead wire and how frayed the insulation is at the connection to the field core..  However, now you can actually see wire, instead of only solder.  This could have been a decent job if he/she had not gone crazy with the solder, had used shrink wrap and had been gentler with the connections. 

I also discovered that the electrical connection one of the brush tubes is fragmented. I had a bad feeling so I got out the magnifying glass and confirmed my fear.  I might try to re-solder that.  OH that would be tricky, now wouldn’t it?  If I knew how to use the Photo shop program i just bought I would circle the connection to which I refer; it is on the right side of the photo...pretty scarey, eh?

I practiced soldering after I  tried the de-soldering thing.

The mechanical connection is key:

And not too much solder, please.  I was a bit skimpy here:

Practice:

Practice:  I really like this one...

 Just the right amount of solder.

I had been having a lot of trouble getting the wire hot enough.  I finally got the honing stick out and cleaned the soldering iron and bingo, big difference.  I do like the size of my 25 watt Weller, but the Radio Shack iron gets the wire hotter, faster, now that it is clean......

So, what's next?  More practice in this old motor and then I will try to do a really fine job with the motor that has a decent armature, solid brush tube connections and relatively long original motor lead wires. 

One more thing..... I learned how to tie an underwriter knot today.  It is easier than you would think.

Check out Rain's blog for it.  You know  the Vintage Singer Sewing Machine Blog.  http://vssmb.blogspot.com/

Another Singer 201

This past summer I drove to Balston Spa to fetch a Singer 201 in a number 42 cabinet.  That is another story.  It needs new wiring but the cabinet is so cool I didn’t care.  I already had a 201 that needed wiring so I figured I could do this one as well.  Since I was already 60 miles on my way to Granville, NY I figured I would drive the next 70 miles and look at a 201 up there.  I bought it.  The wiring looked good.  I was thrilled. 



There was no  goopy mess on the brass serial number plate which I took as a good sign.

Compare  it to the mess on the 201 I bought in Syracuse last winter.  Those dark stains on the serial number are from melted wire insulation.

Finally, I had a 201 that might run!!!!!!
I did not plug it in today. I decided to just clean it first.     I started with the motor because I wanted to follow Rain’s advice as posted in his wonderful tutorial   http://vssmb.blogspot.com

I had a hard time getting the hand wheel off.  Despite the fact that it should just pull off after loosening the set screw in the stop motion knob, it would not budge.  Thank goodness for Tri Flow.  I managed to free it up, finally, after some help from the persuader.  You can see the thick caked on grease that was gluing the hand wheel in place.

I was then able to remove the motor.  I was a bit concerned about the goop near the grease tube.  I told myself that it was probably excess grease and to stop worrying.

The lead wires looked pretty good but I did notice that the white one had some black sticky stuff on it.  The black one probably did as well, but I couldn’t see it.  I paid no attention to the fact that these wires were not housed in the black shrink wrap that indicates original wiring. 

I checked the brushes.  There is a bit of life left in them, but I know where I can buy new ones  http://shop.sew-classic.com/

 

I thought that I could just pull the armature, clean the commutator and pop the thing back together and get stitching.  When I pulled the motor housing off, I noticed that the insulation on the field core was a bit frayed.  I thought that this would be a good application for that liquid electrician’s tape that I had seen at the hardware store.

I hemmed and hawed, then, about whether I really needed to check the lead wire connections.  I decided to do it, what the heck.  The more experience I get with these motors, the better.

This is what I found: deteriorating electrical tape.

It was a mess.  I had to snip and snip and snip it away.  I finally got to the soldered joint and was so disappointed to see what a messy job had been done.

The black wire was worse but that lead has more original wire to work with.

We shall see what comes of this.  What do I have to lose?

Singer 201

Steve and I went to Syracuse just after the first of this year to fetch a Kenmore 158.1760.  While there we picked up this 201:

I knew enough, then, to be able to identify this as a 201.  I did not know enough to leave it behind.  The wiring is a mess.  Originally I thought that someone had tried to fix a  crack in the body because of the goopy stuff running down the pillar onto the serial number plate.  Later I learned that this was liquified wire insulation.

Here you can see that the wires are bare.  The insulation succumbed to over oiling.  It liquified and seeped out of the motor onto the machine.  I am pretty lucky.  This looks bad but I believe that I can repair it.  I am following another blog (  http://vssmb.blogspot.com/ ) and Rain is posting a series of tutorials on how to re-wire this very motor

I have to wait for the post about actually soldering new leads to these existing bare wires.  I  thought I might get to some soldering today.  No go.  The wood stove in the shop smoked too much and I just could not work in there.  This motor is apart and I don't want to handle it anymore than I have to because I don't want the wires that connect to the motor brushes to break.

So I wait for the next tutorial.  I did clean the armature today, though

I also panicked a little.  In reading one of Rain's posts, he mentioned a fiber washer that lives on the shaft of the armature.  I never noticed it when I pulled the armature and I looked for it earlier today.  I thought it was gone.  I looked again and it was there.  WHEW.  It is a little bit of a thing.  See Rain's  blog (http://vssmb.blogspot.com/) for a better description and photo.

Do I dare????

I dis-assembled a 201 motor yesterday.  This is bad.......  The lead wires are bare of insulation but they are not broken at the connection to the core.  If the wrapping around the core is good, I  will solder new leads on and re-insulate with shrink wrap.  Don't hold your breath (Dear Friend, "A" in the 'burgh)  this will be an ongoing project and I will be taking my time  .  I need to get really, really proficient at soldering. 
The armature looks good, however.  The commutator will clean up nicely.  (My fingers are another story....)  Please, those of you who would, don't fret about the position of the worm gear.  I just put it there to keep it safe last night.  I will place it properly when I get back to the shop on Wednesday.