In classes related to Featherweight maintenance, I can count on the fact that I am not going to get out the door without touching on the subject of how the owners can clean their machines. “Getting them to look like new in five minutes or less would be nice”.
There are degrees of cleaning and there are degrees of urgency for a “Saturday night bath” with your machine. It will take a little more than five minutes to get your machine back to “like-new” condition though. A rule of thumb I employ is that some things residing on your machine’s paint respond to soap and water and other deposits need a solvent of some sort. Start with the gentlest approach; soap and water. Nothing harsher than you would use on your face. Dry the machine and then spray a fine mist of WD-40 (as a mild solvent) over the entire exterior of the machine. Do not oil the machine using WD-40 (EVER!) but you can use WD-40 to clean the machines’ exterior while grinning. I used the word “solvent” but don’t substitute some other rude solvent instead of WD-40. (Alcohol, acetone, lacquer thinner and stuff like that are not to be used!) Leave the WD-40 on the machine for ten minutes and then vigorously rub the machine down with a soft terry-cloth rag. Let the machine dry for awhile and apply wax. You’ll know you might be a red-neck if WD-40 is considered a great after shave, like I do.
If you want more of a shine, we have some work to do. First, evaluate the condition of the paint on your machine. If the decals are worn there is something I would like to elaborate on. The paint finish on a black machine is in multiple layers. The base layer (the black) is baked enamel over the aluminum castings on our Featherweight. Enamel paint was sprayed on and the machine was put into what is basically a continuous conveyer belt pizza oven to bake the enamel finish hard. Then the decals were applied, although they were called “transfers” in 1933, and the machine went back to the paint booth to have a “clear coat” of shellac sprayed over everything. If your decals are showing wear the shellac over the decals was compromised first. This is why I recommend you use a wax containing Carnauba wax as it leaves a film over the decals that will protect them from additional wear if waxed every six months.
If you want to ramp things up a bit, use a “fine” (grade) polishing compound that can be found in automotive parts shops. I use a cream based polishing compound by Turtle-wax, but there are others. A rule of thumb thing is in order again. As you use polishing compound, if you cannot easily see the color of the compound while you rub, you are doing the work and not the compound. Begin with a three inch by three inch square of terry-cloth that is damp. The moisture keeps the terry-cloth from soaking up handfuls of polishing compound. With a cream type of compound, put a US quarter sized blob of compound on the base of the machine and lay your rag centered on it. Work in circles for a full two minutes in an area about 3 inches by 3 inches and then wipe the work area clean with a paper towel. Buff the area a while with the towel. Looking better? Does it need more of the same? A 3 X 3 work area must be worked in a firm circular motion for about five minutes (typically) to get a great a shine on. Move on to the next 3 X 3 area of the machine. The polishing compound does not remove scratches.
To polish the arm of a Featherweight I put a quarter sized puddle of compound on the base, again, and work on the arm from that surface. Dip in and polish. The polishing compound can be applied to the rag to use and Q-tips will clean out the oil holes.
If the decals on your black machine are compromised; rub vigorously up to the edge of the decals (in circles) but not over the decals. I find it easier to polish a machine with compromised decals on its base by reaching through and under the arm of the machine to the far side of the machine and rubbing parallel to the edge of the decals. When done polishing feel free to wax over the decals.
The white (pale celery) Featherweights are painted with baked enamel, but they do not sport a coat of clear shellac as there are no decals to protect. You can do fantastic things removing scuff marks and crud from a white (green) Featherweight using acetone, and I promise acetone will not damage the paint on the body of the white machine. EXCEPT it will instantly trash the black lettering on the lampshade and to the left of where the electrical cord enters the machine’s base. Work up to this lettering by making yourself a finger puppet from terry-cloth over a vinyl gloved finger to be used while working details with acetone. Again, do not wipe over the black lettering. Q-tips are your friend. Oh! The motor of the white (whatever) machine is painted with a different paint that does not like acetone either. That really does leave a lot that can be cleaned using acetone on your white (pale green) machine, especially the brown scum line at the bottom of the arm where it mates with the base.
OH, yeah. Put out your cigar and work in a well ventilated area when using acetone.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Alternate uses for a pocket knife and stuff like that
What do you do if you want to check your motor brushes and the plastic cap (the black screw) broke off? Singer did us no great favors by making the screw for access to the brushes out of plastic. They can be replaced but at a price you might not like. There is only one place in the world that makes these screws and they can dictate the price accordingly.
To remove the motor brush cap (screw), I use a pocket knife. I like a pointy blade style of pocket knife that I feel naked when I don't have it in my pocket. Open the blade (it took me years to learn that trick) and point the tip of the blade at the center of what is left of the cap on the motor. You need to try to "drill a hole" in the cap using the tip of the knife blade. The knife is to be turned to the left, counter-clockwise while pressing fairly firm (but not hard) on the knife tip. After about twenty turns you are going to be asking what Dave is talking about. The tip of the knife blade is not the best drill, but it becomes the ideal tool shortly. You've made a dimple in the plastic stuck in the hole by this time and sometime shortly the knife blade will start dragging (scraping) in the hole as it is turned. Then the blade will start jamming (sticking) in the hole you are trying to make. Add a little more pressure, turning to the left, and what's left of the old cap in the hole will unscrew and it can be removed. It takes but a minute in reality.
Use care when installing the new cap as well. It breaks easily. I don't know why the new caps are not made out of a superior plastic. My cure is simple. I use my thumb nail as a screw driver and I never get them too tight. But then I use my car keys to scratch in my ears too. If I use a screw driver I do not hold it by the handle but turn it by holding only the metal shank of the screw driver and I sing a little song about it "ain't got to be tight" as it doesn't hold the machine together. And you can sing the next verse about "Dave don't need no more of my money". I don't work for the Government.
Your questions are welcome. My answers are long-winded. It's the price you pay when the answers are free.
To remove the motor brush cap (screw), I use a pocket knife. I like a pointy blade style of pocket knife that I feel naked when I don't have it in my pocket. Open the blade (it took me years to learn that trick) and point the tip of the blade at the center of what is left of the cap on the motor. You need to try to "drill a hole" in the cap using the tip of the knife blade. The knife is to be turned to the left, counter-clockwise while pressing fairly firm (but not hard) on the knife tip. After about twenty turns you are going to be asking what Dave is talking about. The tip of the knife blade is not the best drill, but it becomes the ideal tool shortly. You've made a dimple in the plastic stuck in the hole by this time and sometime shortly the knife blade will start dragging (scraping) in the hole as it is turned. Then the blade will start jamming (sticking) in the hole you are trying to make. Add a little more pressure, turning to the left, and what's left of the old cap in the hole will unscrew and it can be removed. It takes but a minute in reality.
Use care when installing the new cap as well. It breaks easily. I don't know why the new caps are not made out of a superior plastic. My cure is simple. I use my thumb nail as a screw driver and I never get them too tight. But then I use my car keys to scratch in my ears too. If I use a screw driver I do not hold it by the handle but turn it by holding only the metal shank of the screw driver and I sing a little song about it "ain't got to be tight" as it doesn't hold the machine together. And you can sing the next verse about "Dave don't need no more of my money". I don't work for the Government.
Your questions are welcome. My answers are long-winded. It's the price you pay when the answers are free.
Greasing a Singer 301 motor
Another customer asked me about lubricating the motor on her 301. She wanted to know if this can be done by the owner of the machine or does it need a service tech to do it. Here's my reply:
Greasing a 301 motor is very easy, or not at all. I am not sure of the year, I suspect it was around about 1960 at the time Singer changed to the white colored Featherweight motors, Singer went to a different bearing within the motor. The year is kind of academic and my trying to guess the year is probably just trying to show off. At any rate, somewhere about 1960 Singer incorporated a Porolite Bronze bearing (bushings) that does not require grease. The machines prior to that did. With the poor records keeping of Singer during those years it's a little like nailing Jello to a tree to find the exact year of your 301 according to the serial numbers, but the really important thing is "does your motor require grease?" Which is kind of what you asked and I've just wasted a bunch of our time saying nothing to help you....
Remove the drip pan from the bottom of your 301. Lay it over on its back on a towel or padding of some sort. The motor is right there in the back corner, kinda big and obvious. Look at the bottom of the motor. By bottom I mean bottom in relation to the machine, not in relation to the room around you.
On the bottom of the earlier 301 motors, sticking out the side of the motors bottom will be a chrome tube about an inch long and a quarter of an inch around. Pointing down, again in relation to the machine not the shoes you are wearing, will be a hole. Like the Featherweight, grease should be forced into that hole by pressing the Singer lubricant tube's nozzle against the hole firmly and squeezing the tube firmly for five seconds. It is impossible to determine how much grease you have put into the grease tube but only so much can go in and in five seconds you will have had enough squeeze time to know you have put in enough.
So, if you have a grease tube sticking out the side of the motor's base, grease it. If not, at least you can dust the thumb screw that holds your rip pan on. Please use Singer Lubricant.
Greasing a 301 motor is very easy, or not at all. I am not sure of the year, I suspect it was around about 1960 at the time Singer changed to the white colored Featherweight motors, Singer went to a different bearing within the motor. The year is kind of academic and my trying to guess the year is probably just trying to show off. At any rate, somewhere about 1960 Singer incorporated a Porolite Bronze bearing (bushings) that does not require grease. The machines prior to that did. With the poor records keeping of Singer during those years it's a little like nailing Jello to a tree to find the exact year of your 301 according to the serial numbers, but the really important thing is "does your motor require grease?" Which is kind of what you asked and I've just wasted a bunch of our time saying nothing to help you....
Remove the drip pan from the bottom of your 301. Lay it over on its back on a towel or padding of some sort. The motor is right there in the back corner, kinda big and obvious. Look at the bottom of the motor. By bottom I mean bottom in relation to the machine, not in relation to the room around you.
On the bottom of the earlier 301 motors, sticking out the side of the motors bottom will be a chrome tube about an inch long and a quarter of an inch around. Pointing down, again in relation to the machine not the shoes you are wearing, will be a hole. Like the Featherweight, grease should be forced into that hole by pressing the Singer lubricant tube's nozzle against the hole firmly and squeezing the tube firmly for five seconds. It is impossible to determine how much grease you have put into the grease tube but only so much can go in and in five seconds you will have had enough squeeze time to know you have put in enough.
So, if you have a grease tube sticking out the side of the motor's base, grease it. If not, at least you can dust the thumb screw that holds your rip pan on. Please use Singer Lubricant.
Lift out tray for Featherweight case…..
Well, this blog thing is new to me, so I thought I’d start out by sharing my answers to some of the questions I’ve been asked recently....
I received an email from a customer who had purchased a lift out tray for his 221 case and could not figure out why the tray did not fit. Have any of you ever noticed that FW cases are not all the same size?
There were three cases made for the Featherweight 221 machines over the years. An A, B and C case.
The "A" had the lift out tray. There were slight changes in the class "A" cases design in the very early years ('34 to '37) but you have to be pretty sharp to notice them. In 1948 Singer discontinued making the lift out tray cases and went to the "B" case. The "B" case has a small metal box secured to the left interior side of the case. This held the odd stuff you personally used and had a narrow slot for holding bobbins on the outside edge. The attachments were in a green box set into the bottom of the case under this metal box and the controller was put on the base of the machine under the machine's arm. The "C" case is like the "B" with the addition of a metal bracket secured to the inside lid of the case that the controller slides and latches into for travel.
The "A" case is taller than the other two cases to accommodate the lift out tray, the "B" "C" cases are longer than the "A". An "A" case's lift out try which will fit any "A" case, but it will not fit the other two models of cases, the "B" and "C".
I received an email from a customer who had purchased a lift out tray for his 221 case and could not figure out why the tray did not fit. Have any of you ever noticed that FW cases are not all the same size?
There were three cases made for the Featherweight 221 machines over the years. An A, B and C case.
The "A" had the lift out tray. There were slight changes in the class "A" cases design in the very early years ('34 to '37) but you have to be pretty sharp to notice them. In 1948 Singer discontinued making the lift out tray cases and went to the "B" case. The "B" case has a small metal box secured to the left interior side of the case. This held the odd stuff you personally used and had a narrow slot for holding bobbins on the outside edge. The attachments were in a green box set into the bottom of the case under this metal box and the controller was put on the base of the machine under the machine's arm. The "C" case is like the "B" with the addition of a metal bracket secured to the inside lid of the case that the controller slides and latches into for travel.
The "A" case is taller than the other two cases to accommodate the lift out tray, the "B" "C" cases are longer than the "A". An "A" case's lift out try which will fit any "A" case, but it will not fit the other two models of cases, the "B" and "C".
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