Cleaning Sewing Machines

I purchased 3 vintage sewing machines in October.  Because of my father-in-laws bypass surgery, then the holidays, I haven't had time to clean these machines up and test them.  Today, I made time to clean 2 of these machines. 

This is the first machine I cleaned (yes, these are BEFORE pictures).  See how dirty this Singer 99 from 1925 was?

tape on the base of the machine

tape and lots of dirt

scratches all over the bentwood case

There was lots of lint in this machine.  It took me quite a while to get all the lint out before I could start cleaning the machine and oiling it. 

this is the bobbin area BEFORE (minus most of the lint)

these are some of the cotton balls and the pipe cleaner I used

cleaned Singer 99, the tape came off with lots of work

cleaned bobbin area

lovely faceplate on this machine

view from the back

doesn't this look much nicer now?

key that goes to the bentwood case

 Yipee!  One machine done.  I still need a slide plate for this machine, and a hand crank.  I had a spoked hand wheel.  I will try to rewire the light for this machine.  Not sure when I'll get around to messing with that.  I haven't rewired anything before. 

Now for the 1949 Singer 66 that I got while in Arkansas in October.  This machine has a crinkle finish as the paint job.  I personally think that crinkle finish paint jobs are ugly.  Still, I went back and purchased this poor machine. 

Here are some BEFORE pictures.

dirty machine

 

told ya it was dirty!  This was under the motor area

dirty bobbin area

I took the motors off both of these machines.  I didn't even test the motor on this machine, the wiring scared me too much.  The motor worked on the other machine, but, needed to be rewired.  This machine also had a light, but, the way it was wired, I could only use the light if I used the motor. 

Here is the cleaned up machine.

clean, but, with this type of paint, she'll never be shiny

clean bobbin area

see how clean the back is now

This machine also needs a face plate and a hand crank.  I used my last spoked hand wheel on this machine.  This machine also needs a base.  She didn't come with a base.

I tested the stitches on both machines.  The Singer 99 worked right off.  It was harder to change the stitch length on her, and, she doesn't have back tack because of her age.  That's ok.  The Singer 66 has back tack and the stitches are much easier to adjust.  It helps that she is a much younger machine.  I had problems with the tension.  I got it partly adjusted, but, I'll have to work on her tension more after I get a hand crank.  It's hard to do just by turning the hand wheel.  These machine both use the same bobbins, too.  I can get a dozen metal bobbins for these machines for about the same as the cheap plastic bobbins from the store.  I'd much rather the metal bobbins. 

Tomorrow, I get to go back to Letty Mae's Tea House in Morris.  Some of my friends are celebrating my Birthday early, since my Birthday week is very busy, quilting wise.  We are also going to visit 2 different quilt stores while we are out (of course).  I'm looking for some white on white fabric for an upcoming project.  I'll try to take some pictures.