LoveToLearn

but can the 111w-155 do everything the 66 can do?

I dont want to end up with a lot of sewing machines. I have three now and Im getting scared. I have a small house and want to stay minimalistic. Is it safe to sell the 66 and keep only the 111w-155? I also have a Singer 500a rocketeer. thanks LoveToLearn

I have the manual but its hard to see exactly how the spring on the knee lift lever goes on there. Can someone post a good clear close up pic and what is the purpose of that thing anyway? Also there is a wooden cone shaped peg coming up out of the table. It is an official part and it is in the parts book but I have no idea what its purpose is? Can someone enlighten me? Thanks LoveToLearn

Ok so loosening the belt so it slips a little will also help give more control? So vaseline. Slightly slipping belt. small motor pulley big handwheel pulley. What is the biggest handwheel pulley available? The motor pulley looks standard. Thanks LoveToLearn

what do these motors have in them?, just windings and stator? The man specifically said brushes. I mean they did tell me about the reverse thing but they played it off like it was rare and it happend just once or twice. They said the cap was replaced also and it does say made in china so it probably is newer. Maybe he didnt understand or maybe the tech said brushes to charge him more and actually did nothing to the motor. Now where do I put that vaseline exactly? Thanks LoveToLearn

nice. Will that make it easier to feather the speed and not so 'off or fast'? Thanks LoveToLearn

Guess Ill be making some calls tomorrow. Thanks for the leads guys.

sounds great but Im in Florida. When you come here to escape the cold this winter just bring the parts with you. Simple. Today I went to turn the motor on and it wouldnt come on at all so I took the cover off and looked at the wires. I noticed that the nut on the black wire from the cord had fallen off and the wire itself had also come off the post. So I decided to put a new cord on since it was an ungrounded cord and I like things to be grounded. So I put the new cord on make sure the connections are good. I looked at the capacitor with a suspicious eye but could not see anything obviously wrong with it. I dont know how to test them and the lady I just bought this from said that the cap was changed and the brushes were replaced. I dont actuallly know when that happened. It may have been a year ago. The cap says, made in china. Maybe I should get a cap and put it on. Seems very simple. How much are they? So got it all back together and everything works fine again, except it randomly starts in reverse more than half the time it seems. I tried the trick where before you start it you spin the handwheel in the proper direction and then star t it. That worked, or appeared to, until it didnt. So I think it might be the cap. Sure I would love a servo motor but the $$$ I just spent $400 on this machine,111w-155, table, motor, light, attachments, knee raise, bobbin winder, spool holder, this whole set up and it was local. I had been looking a long time for this. It seems the clutch is a bit chatterey. Do the clutches need to be replaced like in a car? or are they cone type like on a coaster brake on a bike? There is fast and off. That's it . No middle ground. If you feather it you can get it to go but no torque or power unless you completely let the clutch out.. I can kinda tap it to get a few stitches then tap it again and like that but there has to be a better way. Still great men and women sewed great car upholstery with clutch motors so Ill assume the problem must be me. Would bigger pulleys on the handwheel and tiny pulley on the motor give me a lot more control? Or would it just slow down the top speed? I have a nice 2 hp treadmill motor that I have been saving. I put one on my drill press with the controller that came with it and its really nice but I don't know how I would adapt that. It would be cool if I could use the treadmill motor and have a switch with like 5 speeds on it. Super slow, Slow, medium, fast and insane. Then have some kind of foot control where I can toggle it on or off. I just don't know how to make controls like that. Maybe could be done with just 5 different strength resistors and a 5 position switch. Then a rectifier to convert ac to dc and the foot toggle switch. Clutch motor? I don't know any more. Servo motor? Ill have to look into it.. Good ones are $$$$ and do they even include the controller? or does it just bolt on and use the existing clutch linkage? Bigger handwheel with knob on it for going slow and leave the motor on for all out long straight runs.? Treadle table? Take the motor off and be happy with 300 stitiches per minute and enjoy the health and fitness benefits. Then I can use the sewing machine to alter my right pants leg since it will become much bigger than my left from working the treadle. Thats about it for options.

Nice diagram. Thanks.. Do you know where the cheapest place is to get this part number? I have a parts manual. Im assuming the number is in there but where is the best/cheapest place to get a genuine singer part? Also I was wondering, is it normal for the bobin case to oscilate slightly? Thanks fellas. LoveToLearn

Hey Cd that was great. I may try putting the knob and the treadle for more versatility. The treadle for long runs and the knob for heavy parts. I also wanted to shorten the table like you did or make a short one and put it on wheels. Space is limited at my house and if I made it look cool and small enough I could keep it in the living room. Thanks again. LoveToLearn

Is no bobin tension a common problem in these old machines? I mean is it unheard of or, is it common that the spring gets messed up and needs to be repaced? Anybody know how that bobin case comes out? Is it just two screws on the hold down plate or is there more to it? Is timing going to be affected? Thanks LoveToLearn

I have adjusted the screw but even at maximum tightness there is ZERO bobin tension. Is it possible that little spring got stretched when I had a tangle and was trying to pull it free? I have taken the sliding plates off and the feed dog cover and looked in there at the little spring. How can I take the bobbin case out so I can examine the status of that spring and bend it back into shape? thanks LoveToLearn

so you are saying that I can sew and work out at the same time? Such a deal.

thanks fellas. What do you think reasonable max stitches per minute would/could be?

IThe motor is a consew clutch motor. It says High Power, LB 21236, 1725 rpm, 1/3 hp, model: cap-ds1, made in japan. I just bought this machine and the lady said sometimes when you turn it on the motor will run in reverse. So she shuts it off and turns it back on until it runs normal forward. Once its running forward it stays like that until you turn it off. When you turn it back on it may run forward or backward. You wont know until you try to sew. What could be causing this? Have any of you ever heard of this before? There is NO REVERSE on the machine. It is the motor itself that is sometimes running in reverse and sometimes forward. Its pure madness. Please advise. thanks LoveToLearn

Hello everybody. I have a singer 111w-155 and I was wondering if it could be used with one of the old singer metal tables with manual foot pedal, treadle where you have to continuously pump this pedal to sew. I mean how much torque do those pedals make and I dont need much speed anyway. What would the limitations be and would it be able to even make enough torque to sew small upholstery projects? Thanks LoveToLearn

Thanks. Where are they made?

So since it doesn't have the true walking foot feature it wont work for sewing layered upholstery. Maybe I can still use it for the camera straps and curtains though. I also bought a working Singer 500A from the same garage sale for $20. I suppose that one wouldnt be any better since it does not have a true walking foot either right? So far I have learned that I need a machine that pulls at least 4 amps on 120v, has a true integrated walking foot, not just an attachment, a reverse lever and be big enough to handle bigger needles and thicker threads and a motor/controller combination designed for low speed and high torque. I like old german or american machinery. Can you think of some old Singer models that have those features? Then I will know what Im looking for and where to look when i go out rummaging. Sure I would love to just make a phone call, give my credit card infor and a few days later a new or refurbished machine shows up at the door but I dont have thousands to spend. My search continues. Besides, its fun to find orphaned machines that are just sitting there abandoned and get them running again. I've dont that with a lot of workshop tools and learned a lot. Thanks for your help. Gary

Thanks for the link Colt. I have seen it before while googling. It might even be the link that led me to join this site. Did you do all that with the stock motor? That's nice. Is a walking foot attachment available for this machine?

I have wanted to learn to sew so I can make a new vinyl interior for my old car and reupholster the vinyl on some exercise benches I have. Will a 1928 Singer 66 18 be strong enough for that? What is the strongest ugrade motor I can use. The original one pulls .6 amps. I have seen ones up to 1.5 amps and I have read somewhere that you can put on a bigger pulley to increase torque. I recently found it at a garage sale for $10. The original cord has a short in it and the insulation on the wires is cracking and crumbling so that will need to be totally replaced. It looks cool, its heavy and its old which I like. It seems very well made. I dont see any plastic on it. It came with a very nice wooden singer box with a key on a string. So it is portable. Im not expecting to make saddles or gun holsters, catchers mits, work boots etc so maybe I dont need a machine capable of that. In addition to the one off upholstery projects, I would also like to make some straps for my old film cameras and sew some curtains for the house. It seems to be pretty complete and came with 7 attachments that I cannot identify yet because my knowledge of sewing machines at this point is still virutally non existent. I am a complete noob. There are also 7 needles that say Simanco 14 on them. The needle package says 15x1. What does these numbers mean? I posted photos of the attachments if anyone can help me identify the names of them and their purpose, that would be great. Thank you for your help. Gary