Even if I do say so myself

I now work part time at my day job.  I have every Friday afternoon off.  Which means that I usually get home by two o'clock, if I am lucky.  Today I was lucky.  I was out in the shop by 2:30 and at 3:00 I started in on the 15-91's motor.  I decided that I would just jump in and get it done. After an hour I had removed the brushes, grease wicks, worm and armature; cleaned the commutator and cleaned all the grease out of the body of the motor and grease tubes.  It took another thirty minutes to prep the motor leads for re-wiring and solder new ones on.  I did not tie an underwriter's knot.  I did not cut the old leads back far enough to allow for room to tie the knot.  I did, however, replace the grommet and crimp and solder new "U" connectors.  The whole thing took about two hours.

I usually use round connectors or make rings myself at the end of the motor leads.  Today I used the "U" connectors because I have about one hundred of them.  When I tried them out on Mr. TPT (three pin terminal) they didn't fit so well.  So I crimped them.  I thought that was a clever idea, if I do say so myself.  I like how the leads look with the heat shrink color coordinated. 

The light needed re-wiring too.  That wasn't so hard but I discovered that the bake lite switch was broken.  I guess I will just have to leave the light on all the time.  I don't see how I can fix that.

Next Project

What we have here is a faiure to lubricate.

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.

Back on the Bench

I always like to make a project when I finish a refurbish.  Today I took this 201 up to the sewing loft and made a tote bag for its foot controller and cord.  The machine sewed very nicely.  I was pleased as could be. I thought I heard that noise again.  The screeching noise but it was not as loud, not as growly.   Then, I set about making Wonder Wallet.  The aforementioned noise returned (see previous post).  I thought it was a gear.  Nope.  I tried to run the machine a full tilt, but it seemed to get better only to return.  Since the noise was random and not improving with time, I had to give up sewing for the day and return the machine to the bench.

My theory about the armature was wrong, clearly, since the motor continues to make the noise.  I suppose it could be that the grease wicks are not yet greasy enough to lube the shaft of the armature.  It really sounds like a bad bearing or a too tight belt.  Since I cannot find a bearing  or a belt anywhere on this motor, I have to start over.  I pulled the motor AGAIN and found that the worm does seem a bit tight in one spot on rotation.

Until the next time, I will keep you updated. 

Switcheroo, again. Hiho Silver.

 Please note:  This post contains erroneous information.  I have decided against removing the post because I am basically narcissistic and think that I have something to offer by keeping this up and explaining in a future post what the real problem is. If you skip this post and go to the next one, the story won't be complete without reading this one.  Suit yourself.


I finished re-wiring the motor leads to the 201-2 from 1940.  I installed the motor and fired it up.  What a racket.  The machine stitches  very nicely none the less.  The machine would zip along and then screech/groan, slow down and then pick up again.  I wondered if I had missed a spot with the oil and the grease.

I removed the handwheel and just ran the motor.  Same thing and this time I could see the worm slow right down.  I knew it was a motor problem and I was pretty sure what the problem was.

Look at the photo.  Look in the red circle.  There you see two wires that are unlike any of the other wires coming out of the windings and connecting to the commutator.  I have never seen any armature like this.  Every other one has those fuzzy thick wires winding out from the coil and onto the commutator.  I wondered about this when I took the motor apart.  The inside of the motor was a terrible mess with lots of debris and carbon.  The brush springs actually had grease in them and the grease looked oily.  I wonder if someone oiled this motor?  I am certain that these wires are supposed to be fuzzy like all of the others. 

So I just happened to have a parts 15-91.  I pulled the motor, took out the brushes, took off the worm and pulled out the armature.  Sure enough, that armature had all of its fuzzy connections.  I cleaned it up and switched it out for the other one. Which means that I had to take the motor off of the machine, remove the cover, take out the brushes (brand new ones), remove the grease wicks, loosen the set screws on the worm and pull the armature out.  In replacing one of the grease wicks I broke the tab on the grease wick clip.  I honestly think it was fragile from the start.  I wonder if I can JB weld it?  It only has to hold a spring.  It does not have to be INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH.  That will wait for another day.  But I had to have a functional clip.  Back to the parts motor, more cleaning of old grease and voila, a functional motor.  It sounds so much better.  Nice and smooth.  Though, for some reason, not as fast.  Who cares?

I did re-wire the foot controller as well.  I did not solder the little wire rings.  I am tired.  The machine is as tired as I am.    The decals are worn, there are many chips on the front of the bed, there are scratches and the clear coat is gone.  But the machine works and it sews very nicely.  It doesn't have to be pretty.  I am in love. 

UPDATE:  This was NOT the problem. Go to the next post.

Switcheroo

I have had a 1940 Singer 201-2 on the bench for a couple of weeks.  It was a mess and slowly it is being transformed.

The rubber insulation on the old wires had melted and run all over everywhere, including into the switch.  The clear coat was flaking and the thing was filthy.  The hook and bobbin case, however, were in great shape.  They were donated to another 201.  A beauty.

I took the switch out and started cleaning it today.  I used some denatured alcohol on a q tip to wipe away as much of the black gunk as I could.  I could tell that it was actually inside the switch mechanism because it had run out onto the darling little white toggle.  I cannot believe that I did not take a picture of it.

It really isn't so hard to get the switch out of the terminal block

The first thing you do is remove the collar.  Then you remove the nut.  Then the switch pulls into the terminal block and you can remove it.  I forgot,  remove the wire connections from the pins first.

Once the switch is out, you can re-wire it.

First de solder the connection.  I futzed around with a piece of wire braid on top of the old solder joint as I heated the connection with my soldering iron.  I just could not get it cleaned up.  Then I remembered that I had bought a desoldering bulb.  Oh did it work WELL.  (Max is sitting next to me and I must not use improper grammar but I so wanted to say GOOD.)

I heated up that joint and removed the wire.  Then I heated the solder up again until it was liquid and sucked the liquid into the blub.  I did it a couple of times.  Got it pretty tidy

Next I prepared my new wire.  I do like to make home made wire ring connectors vs crimping on the commercial connectors.  Personal preference.  I solder the ring just because it is so much fun.  You don't really need to.

Then I stuck that end into the switch and soldered it in place.  This one did not come out as neat and tidy as the "practice" one.  But it will have to do.

 I put some red heat shrink on the end to identify this as the red lead. 

Then I put it all back together.

My "practice" switch project was the switch that came out of this machine.  I tried cleaning it but it still did not work.  I figured I had nothing to lose so I used it as practice.  I was amazed that it wasn't so hard to de-solder and then re-solder a new wire.   Once I had it re-wired it gave a bit of a flicker so I thought I could just keep cleaning it. Still no go.  I was bummed.   I had a switch I had bought with some other 201-2 parts and I rewired it for this post.   And lo and behold, it works.

After the Bath

Max came home for the weekend.  It's raining here. Which is a good thing, really.  It is cold, though, which is not a really good thing. 

OK, so the one in the middle is a man

"Wrigley stinks, Mom"

"Yes I know."

"He needs a bath."

"Yes, I know."

Since we have to have a fire going all day, I decided it was time to give Wrigley and the poodles baths.

One down, two to go.

I am rewarding myself before I do the poodles.  I am going to the shop.