While there a woman came in with her not black, not tan 221K. It looks white to me but in the right light it could almost be pale mint green. None the less, she wanted it serviced. Lucky me to have been there at that moment.
"What ever it takes. I have another one that I use. My husband bought this for me at an auction. I thought it would be good to get it cleaned up so that I would have another. The belt doesn't run the machine."
So I brought it home. The shop was warm (it's all relative up here in the North East.) So I set to work on it. Betsy had already come by so we were both working on machines. She had a Kenmore. Lucky her.
First I checked the wiring. Directly wired to a clamshell controller. No Three Pin Terminal here. It looked safe so I plugged it in. Nope, no machine action, but the motor sounded ok. The belt was moving but there was a mess around the pulley. Black powdery stuff.
I took off the belt.
"Maybe it's the wrong belt" chimed in Betsy as she looked over my shoulder.
"Nope, that's a 221 belt I recognize the part number," said I. Actually it was true, not that I have memorized parts numbers. Yesterday I searched through the mass of belts that came with the South River Inventory (SRI) and found several FW belts. Luckily they were labeled as such and I didn't have to look them up.
"Oh, look," she said, "the pulley is broken."
Sure enough it was destroyed. I managed to remove it by loosening the set screw and wedging it off.
"OH Darn ! I just sent in the Brewer order. "
"How much do we have to spend before we get free shipping?" Betsy asked.
"One hundred and fifty dollars."
"No problem. I will buy more thread." she said.
Well. I am thinking that more thread is the last thing she needs. So instead, this morning I sent an email to Glenn Williams who has an abundance of FW and 301 parts. I bet he has one. Better that, than trying to beef up our order.
Yes, I did search the SRI for the pulley but had no luck. "See, that's what irritates me about this stash of parts," I whined. "All this stuff and not what I need."
As long as I had the motor off (part way off, it was still all wired to the controller). I checked the brushes. Oh my. I had never seen motor brushes this low.
"Big noise," I warned Betsy as I plugged in the compressor.
The air around my work bench looked like the last scene in Ghost when that evil spirit was blown away. Remember? It was just a black cloud rushing out of the room. That's what came out of the motor. Black soot and more black soot.
I dropped new brushes in and tested the motor. Sounded good. No ozone odor. Good.
I set about servicing the rest of the machine. I took off the bottom. I looked again. Something seemed wrong. Where are the gears?
I had heard that the later model 221s lacked gears and instead, utilized a drive belt. Another indication that Singer was cheapening the machines. This belt looks good, though. Another reason to avoid the white FW. Now I don't know if they all have belts. Glenn would know.
"Oh boy, I sure don't want to pull the hook to get that out. " I muttered.
It really isn't that hard to pull a hook on a FW or a 301. It is a matter of loosening two screws, for heaven's sake. I just didn't want to do it. You have to pay attention to the flat and position the hook correctly when you replace it. If you don't mark the screw that tightens into the flat, you can put the hook on the wrong way. AMHIK.
I completely removed the screw that tightens onto the flat and loosened the other one enough to remove the hook. Of course the hook was glued in with old oil. Nothing a little denatured alcohol couldn't release.
In order to remove the looper, I had to tighten the left behind screw completely and remove the screw holding on the looper. Don't loose this screw.
I polished the looper and the back of the hook. I checked the hook or burrs and reassembled everything. Because I had been a clever old lady I was able to pop the hook on easily and not have to fart around with adjusting its position. The machine stitches. I can't test it with the motor yet. Gotta wait for the motor pulley.
There is more work to be done. It turns out that it was a good thing that I removed the hook. There was another thread wrapped about the shaft. I cleared it, and the rust, away before replacing the hook.
This poor little machine has been well used. It has some battle scars. I think it will still stitch but I doubt the stitch will be as nice as the FWs with gears. Who knows?
