dikman

hyttogpine, it's helpful to know where someone is from when offering advice and/or help, because there are many products that, while common in one country (the USA in particular) aren't available outside that country. For example, Johnson's Floor Wax is widely referred to on model-making forums, shooting forums, woodworking forums, just to name a few, but it is impossible to get here in Australia. DuPont Teflon spray is very popular amongst motorcyclists for lubing chains, but again it can't be bought here. If we know where a member is from, then hopefully information can be given that is relevant to that person.

Sounds like you did well with finding that lot. Whilst I used metal to make my housings, there's no reason that you couldn't use wood to hold the bearings. Like I said, it's a lot of messing around, but I consider it a challenge.

Sorry about the smiley in my post, it's not supposed to be there! Apparently if I use a bracket and lower case b it inserts the smiley instead.

I just remembered that when I was buying a belt at my industrial sewing machine place they mentioned a belt material that is circular in cross-section and you buy whatever length you want and then use a special joiner to make it one piece. It's some sort of synthetic stuff. I must ask again (and write it down this time!).

Uwe is right, it's a lot of messing around building pulley reducers - pulleys, suitable shaft, bearings of some sort, mounting for the bearings, a method of making the support adjustable. Those commercial ones might seem a bit on the expensive side, but they're neat, compact and relatively simple to fit. As to size, if it's home-built it could be anything, depending on a) what the builder has lying around or what he can buy that's suitable. One of mine uses the typical 4"/1 3/4" pulleys that are commonly available on ebay (3/4" shaft). Another uses an 8" that I had lying around coupled with another 1 3/4". As for changing the handwheel, it's not that difficult, although it will obviously depend on the machine - my Singer 211G166 is a problem (which I'm working on). I'm a great believer in the handwheel option, although it may mean widening the belt slot on the table.

Those frames certainly look stable enough! One thing about that type of cylinder arm machine - it makes it easier to mount when you don't have to make a rebated cutout in the table.

I see what you mean about info, the manual I came up with mentions 17-25 on the front but nothing about it inside! Nevertheless, looks like you did very well and picked up a real bargain there. Well done.

Actually, Darren, my experience has been that shipping within Australia is often on par with overseas rates, but yes, I should keep your store in mind too, thanks for reminding me.

It's for sale on Gumtree (our local ebay site) so I don't know if you will have much success getting the info you want. This is the link - http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/west-richmond/miscellaneous-goods/sewing-machine/1099259648

Thanks Constabulary, it's worth knowing which places have Singer parts. I'll keep a note of them.

Constabulary, do you have any company names for suitable suppliers in Germany, please? Most of my searching comes up with US/UK suppliers. So far I haven't needed to order parts for the Singers to get them going, but at some point I probably will. Lumpendoodle, part of the enjoyment, for me, is getting these things going again, it's all good fun. I've made the lower thread guide (I had a devil of a time getting the retaining screw loose!! Probably hadn't been touched for 40 years) so now I just need to thread it up and see what happens. Yesterday I saw an ad for a Singer 188K for $50, advertised as a light industrial. Came with a nice old treadle table but had been motorized. I was very tempted, but 1) I've got nowhere to put it and 2) I have no need for a "light industrial" straight stitcher. Going to have to watch myself.......

The upper thread guide proved to be a simpler solution than I expected! Amongst the few bits that came with the machine were two short pieces of rod, one with a thread on the end (which fits the upper mount point) and the other has a hole in the end and a big blob of weld on it!! A closer look and it is (was?) the upper thread guide, which had snapped (!) at the lower guide hole and someone had attempted to arc weld it together. I ground off the weld and cleaned the metal, then silver soldered the two parts together. Drilled another thread hole, polished out the burrs and I now have an upper guide. Yay! Now to make a lower guide when it cools off, too hot outside for now.

He does indeed have an eloquent turn-of-phrase, and it made me chuckle a little. And yes, I have three clutch motors (including a very old Singer) kicking around. One of them will be used on one of my Singers, albeit with a rather large speed reducer, as I want to see if I too can develop an "educated foot"! (Ever the glutton for punishment, it would seem).

Ah, the joys of buying an old used machine. I shifted it to my Singer 211's table. First problem, no hinges so it listed badly to the rear! I swapped over the hinges - looks like I'll have to make another pair - and at least it then fitted properly. I had to fit a longer motor adjustment bolt to get enough adjustment to fit the belts. Next problem, the knee lifter didn't do anything, the connecting rod on the machine was too short. Looking at the 211 I noticed that it had an "extension" piece fitted to the end of the lifting rod and it had a small roller wheel on the bottom to ride on the lifting plate. Rather than simply fitting a longer rod I decided to make a similar fitting, using a bearing salvaged from a hard disc drive as the roller. Works well. Problem #3. Using the knee lifter I now had just over 3/8" clearance under the foot, but with the normal lifting lever I couldn't even get 1/4" of leather under it. I re-adjusted the presser foot, as it appeared to be out of adjustment relative to the vibrating foot, but that didn't help. I then noticed that the lifting lever had a lot of loose play in it so removed it . The lever had an awfully big hole compared to the pin that held it, so I guessed that it should have had a sleeve fitted around the pin. I made a suitable brass sleeve and now have over 1/4" clearance when the feet are lifted. I then ran the machine, but without thread, and it ran fine. The stitch length adjuster also worked. Next problem is the missing thread guides. The lower one will be easy to make, but the upper one is a problem (yes, I can get it overseas, and it's pretty cheap, but the shipping....). The problem is the same one I ran into with the Pfaff - the (metal) thread size, in this case, is US and I can't match it with anything I've got, including some of my US dies. I figure I'll find the closest fit to the thread on a piece of rod, drill the guide holes and then either use plumbing tape to pack out the threads or use Loctite. I'm still not quite sure what I'm actually going to use this machine for .

Unfortunately, some of us don't have that sort of timeframe available to us anymore......... .

Wiz makes a good point, clutch motors are pretty basic technology, with not a real lot to go wrong. I'm with Uwe, however, the technology is there (and most electronics are pretty reliable these days) so it makes perfect sense to me to utilise it and be able to concentrate fully on learning how to actually sew, rather than trying to tame a runaway sewing machine at the same time!

Up close (real close) yeah, I can see some "funny things", but from a distance it has an incredible used, aged look about it!

I'm not a fan of basketweave myself, but yours looks pretty good to me! Considering how cool the knife handle looks, I reckon a plainer sheath would have set it off better - but that's just my opinion, and I'm the first to admit I don't know much. And if your mate likes it, that's all that matters.

Amen to that, brother!

I too was raised on a clutch car, and ride (clutch) motorbikes, but the first time I fired up my clutch sewing machine it seemed uncontrollable!!! With practice I guess I could master it (eventually) but for my needs I couldn't see the point in fighting it. I need slow speeds, rather than fast, so anything I can do to make it manageable - servos, speed reducers, bigger pulleys - I will do. My hats off to you guys who can get such delicate control from a clutch sewing machine motor.

Yep, that's what I figured, Sovran, I find ATF is quite handy to keep around .

Go for the biggest you think you can fit, it all helps. I fitted an 8", along with a servo fitted with a 1 3/4", to try and control my Pfaff!

Your other option is to remove the handwheel and replace it with a larger pulley - 8" or even 10"! The shaft is 1/2", I think. You would need a longer belt and may need to open out the slot in the table that the belt goes through, but that will slow it down and still give you lots of grunt.

I hadn't actually thought of it from that perspective, I was only going to do it temporarily just to run it. Hmmm. The only problem I have is that on that particular table I fitted a pulley reducer underneath so it's a bit of messing around changing things. I might have to modify the reducer adjustment to make it quicker to change over, I reckon that will work. It will also save space in not having to fit in another table. Plus that table's fitted with a servo. Thanks for the idea guys.

I downloaded a parts list for a 152 and it certainly appears to match up. I also realised that the handwheel has been fitted back-to-front (!) and figured out how the adjustments for the stitch length adjuster work, so backed it off a fraction and now it's much easier to adjust. I've also realised that the base plate is the same size as the 211G that I have, so I should be able to swap this one onto the table and get it working.