Singer 211w155 oiling questions

[Steve855]

Hi, I'm new here, recently bought a 211w155 at an estate sale.  The guy who was selling knows very little about any sewing machines, and I'm not too far ahead of him.  He's a good dude and was just helping sell stuff for a friend, he was very up front about not knowing details on the machine.  I feel like I got a good deal on the machine, came with table and clutch motor, and a few extras.  There were some other machines there, and a lot of parts that neither of us could determine what machines they might fit.  None of the other machines were anything that interested me.

I chose the 211w155 model based on reading the excellent info on this site, and generally looking around online to see what machines have good parts availability and general knowledge base.  As I understand it, the 211 is the successor to the 111 model which is one of the most-copied designs of walking foot machines.  Mine doesn't have reverse but I'm ok with that.

I'm trying to get this machine tuned up and make sure it's reliable.  Seems ok so far, I messed around sewing some leather and vinyl just getting used to the machine and trying to learn the adjustments.

I'm still trying to figure some things out, one of the most important is oiling.  I bought some proper sewing machine oil and tried to read up on oiling procedure in whatever manuals I could find for the 211 series, but there's not much detail that I could find.  There are diagrams showing a bunch of oiling points- that part is fairly straightforward.

What's not so clear as this-in the top of the arm, there's some type of oil reservoir.  On the underside of the machine is an octopus of brass tubes with wicks inside leading to various moving parts.  I've seen  mention in one of the parts lists of felt that goes in that top reservoir.  I removed the top cover to have a look, my machine has no felt in that reservoir well.  There's no gasket on the top cover, which I think is normal.  It's unclear to me how the oil travels from that reservoir to other parts of the machine.  There's no wick touching that oil reservoir.  Maybe a wick is missing?  One way oil leaves the reservoir is when you tilt the machine back, oil runs everywhere!  Learned that the hard way. 

If anyone can shed some light on how the reservoir/wick system is supposed to work, I'd appreciate it.

Also saw mention of green felt somewhere around the bobbin case, but I can't find it on my machine.

The table this machine came with had no oil drip pan.  There was a random drip pan laying around where I bought the machine so I grabbed it, but it's not for this model, slightly too small.  After getting oil all over my knee, I screwed the pan to the bottom of the table under the machine.  Not the way it's designed to fit, but it seems to work ok.T

The other mystery to me is the stich length adjustment.  I'm able to adjust it shorter or longer and it works ok, but the numbers on the handwheel make no sense.  They go from 6 up to 24 maybe?  You'd think 6= 6 stitches per inch, but 6 produces much shorter stitches than 24, so the numbers must mean something else.  OR something is assembled incorrectly

 

The machine sews pretty well.  I tried the 92 thread it came with, and also some 138 size that I bought, works well with both sizes after adjusting thread tension.

I have a servo motor on order, this thing is just too fast off the jump with clutch motor.  I'd prefer more control at low speed.

thanks for any insight

 

Steve H in PA

[Wizcrafts]

I have the 211g156 with reverse. The 211s are tough machines, but have small pulleys for high speed sewing of upholstery, boat/truck covers, tarps, tents and banners. My machine is at my shop. I'll take a look under the oil filler cover tomorrow and report back. I squeeze oil into every hole that isn't tapped for  screw. You'll need the proper oil pan. You can probably get one from Toledo Industrial sewing Machines, who are advertisers here.

[Steve855]

Thanks Wizcrafts! I don't plan on sewing any thick leather, more auto upholstery type projects, so this machine should work out ok. I appreciate you checking under that top cover.

When you say I'll need the correct oil pan, is that required for machine longevity?  I thought the pan was just keep it from dripping all over the operator and the floor. I have that part sorted out.  The pan I installed is large enough for full coverage under the machine.  It has a drain hole that I mounted a little clear cup under so I can see if it fills up.  Maybe I have it all wrong-is the oil pan designed to function as a sump, like the oil pan on an engine?

[CowboyBob]

@Steve855 It's called a drip pan all it does is keep the oil off of your pants & floor that drips off of the machine.

 

[dikman]

If the pan you've fitted is working at keeping the oil off you then I wouldn't worry too much about getting the correct one. As for oiling, you don't have to use the wick system, just oil it manually. Basically just give any parts that are rubbing/in contact/sliding etc a drop or two of oil.

If you can master that clutch motor then well done but life will be easier if you swap it for a servo.

[Steve855]

Thanks for the info guys.  I figured it was just a drip pan to keep the mess contained, that makes sense.  As for the missing felt in the oil reservoir, I'm curious I guess.

Still trying to figure out those stitch length markings.  I can adjust the stitch to the length I want by watching the feed dogs for travel and then with a quick test on scrap piece, mostly just wondering what the numbers mean.  

 

@dikman yeah that clutch motor takes off if you're not careful!! It would be fine I was sewing awnings or something with long uninterrupted seams, line it up stand on the gas pedal!!  Too hard for beginner to control for smaller stuff like I plan to be doing.  And I've been driving cars, heavy trucks, motorcycles, tractors etc with clutches for most of my life.