dikman

Wouldn't be too hard to make a suitable horizontal spool holder. Reminds me of the difference between overhead/baitcaster fishing reels and the "eggbeater" type - the overhead type are effectively horizontal spools, so the line "spools" off with no twisting, unlike the other type of reel. Something to ponder.......

The other option is to use a servo and fit a larger pulley to the machine itself. This will have the effect of slowing things down and retaining torque.

The hook needed a bit more judicious re-shaping and polishing where I'd already worked on it, as there was an edge that looked a little bit sharp. That seems to have fixed it, as I can now handwheel a row of stitches in a piece of leather. While the baseplate is the same size as the 211G166 (so will fit the table) the belt, of course, is the wrong size and it's a fair bit of messing around to swap the machines. Also, the knee lifter mechanism on this machine doesn't line up with the table's lifter, so no knee lifter. Other than that, it's a goer. Total cost $45 - hook $26, paint $12, needles $7. Not bad for an industrial machine, I reckon.

Horizontal spool holder?

Those clutch motors are actually very nicely made motors, well balanced and with excellent bearings. They also have a very hefty flywheel inside, which is why, when you turn them off, they will keep spinning for ages and can still turn over the machine if engaged (in other words, be very careful where you put your fingers!). I have three servos, all the same brand, 2 x 550w and 1 x 750w. All of them stop dead when I take my foot off the pedal.

Good point, Constabulary. I suppose as long as I didn't use it..........nah, very unlikely. Black decals? All I've found do far have been gold ones.

A lightly tinted clearcoat over a silver base is an interesting idea.

TT, I thought I detected a subtle reference to a certain Mr. Scott (I hear there's a new movie due out soon, and also that there's a remake of the original series happening). Darren, based on my recent experiences, I would say your percentages are spot on. (It's amazing what a difference it makes when you thread the needle from the correct side ).

Coincidentally, last weekend I was talking to a member at my shooting club about this very thing - repairing horse rugs. He has horses, and knows people who repair the rugs. He said that if the rugs come in dirty then the cleaning cost is added to the repair, as dirty rugs do nasty things to a sewing machine! It was recommended on here by a member that for someone who repairs rugs it's a good idea to have an old, heavy duty machine just for that purpose, and keep the rugs away from good machines. I guess only you can decide which machine will suit your needs, based on what you do (or want to do), but a cylinder arm has to be more versatile overall, and with a table fitted, as you mentioned, should do pretty much everything that a flat bed will do.

They look almost brand new!

The black doesn't look too bad, maybe I should re-do mine black........maybe. To remove the paint on mine, I used a gel paint stripper first and was careful to keep it away from the body/bed join. Once it had softened the paint I scraped it off with a paint scraper and paper towels, used a chisel to remove what was left and then wiped it down with methylated spirits. Funny thing was, as the gel started softening the grungy green stuff it showed silver just underneath, with a grey primer under that.

Sorry, I thought you had sourced the decals in the past. This is the final result of repainting the bed. The first coat gave a nice hammered finish, the second coat smoothed it out!! The difference in colours is more noticeable in the photo, but I'm still happy with it as it looks infinitely better than the previous paint job. Whoever did the last one didn't make much attempt, if any, to mask off the main body - the overspray you can see is from the previous job.

Now THAT is one heck of a hijack!

Interestingly, it is available nearby - but only in black and white, no silver!! Where do you get Singer decals from? I'll only consider repainting the body if I can replace the lettering too. This machine might be a good one for me to try as a first attempt.

Picked up the replacement hook. Part number is the same, although no brand on it. Comparing them and it's obvious just how worn the original is! I fitted it to the race and it's a good fit with no slop and moved smoothly within the race. When I installed the assembly, however, something was binding slightly at one point in the rotation. After removing and replacing the race several times, with no luck, I noticed that the arm that's supposed to open slightly to let the thread past the shuttle wasn't opening. I pulled out the shuttle again and compared it to the original (again!) but it looked the same, so I started measuring it. I finally found the problem - below the hook itself the metal forms a "mouth" that the previously mentioned arm fits into. On the new one this "mouth" was significantly shallower, so the arm didn't have enough room to move. In other words, it could never work properly! I had to use the trusty Dremel, with a cut-off wheel, to deepen this "mouth". That did it, now it operated properly. Threaded it up (#69) and ran some stitches by hand, and it looks good, although at one point the top thread caught somewhere underneath and snapped. I don't think there will be too much wrong, so I'll hook it up to a motor and see what happens.

My replacement shuttle came in so I decided to find some paint at the same time, to save me making another trip. I ended up with a silver hammertone, not as close as I would have liked but I figured the hammertone texture should look better than a smooth finish. Anyhow, it's got to look better than the wrinkly green finish on there now! Constabulary, I know it's hard to get good photos when talking about colour matching, but that one looks pretty good to me.

My Singer is UK made, and is a silvery-blue (?) finish (I can't quite figure out exactly what it is). I'm guessing it's pretty much a standard colour that Singer used, so has anyone matched it to a commonly available paint?

I agree in that the needle positioning is potentially of great benefit, the rest....? While it would be very impressive in its implementation, I see little practical use for what most on this forum appear to use their machines for. And yes, in my opinion it would start taking the fun and enjoyment away. I can, of course, understand why Uwe would want to do it.........mainly because he can! Uwe, my servos make assorted noises at very low speed, the worst is the one fitted to the Pfaff, this one has a small pulley on the motor and an 8" on the machine, and at very low speed it grumbles along and at a particular speed almost seems to create a resonance with the table!! The one on the Singer 211 is connected via a speed reducer setup and this is quieter at slow speed. I'd say that the reducer has the effect of allowing the motor to run a little faster but still give low overall machine speed so is happier because the revs are up a bit. Makes sense to me, at least.

I've ordered the hook from my local (industrial) sewing machine place. Slightly dearer than off ebay, but I figure it should be decent quality. Hopefully it should work properly with it fitted, I'll know next week.

Depends on the paint that I find. A spray can will be a lot less messing around, but if I can't find the right colour I'll mix it myself and use an airbrush.

Brilliant! Can't wait to see the rest of it. (Speaking of steam-powered, the sound your machine makes when it's starting up is a bit like an old steam train wheezing as it first starts ).

Not all needle bars have the timing marks on them (one of mine doesn't). Usually the manual will explain how to adjust it if there aren't any marks.

When I first saw the chisel as the tool-of-choice I cringed inside, as it's a pretty crude way of removing paint, but then I realised you can't use normal chemical paint removers without completely dismantling the machine. Anyhow, you've got me thinking that if I get this latest machine working maybe I should do the same to the bed on it, as it's a pretty yucky greeny ripple finish paint. I just need to find a suitable match to the body paint (a blue-silver colour).

Sounds like the machine is working as it should, you need to hold the threads pretty tight, I have the same issue if I don't!

Depending on the servo, you may not necessarily need a reducer as well. The main advantage, I suppose, is that it lets you slow way down without losing much, if any, torque.