Singer 16-41?

[Darren Brosowski]

I generally suggest oiling AFTER you finish sewing for the day then clean it up next time you sew. ALWAYS run a bit of scrap through first.

The first thing I do with every old machine is a good clean up to get the built up oil, lint and crap out of the machine. Pull off all of the covers, take out the presser foot bar and needle bar and anything else easy to put back in. If the machine is really cruddy I also remove the two feed dog bars so I can clean out the bearing surfaces.

It might seem daunting but start with a Singer 15 class machine and if you can get that working again then you will have no problem with a 16, 17 or 18 class machine as they are essentially the same. Even the 31 is essentially a super heavy 15

 

 

[cdthayer]

5 hours ago, Darren Brosowski said:

I generally suggest oiling AFTER you finish sewing for the day then clean it up next time you sew. ALWAYS run a bit of scrap through first.

I agree.  It gives the oil time to leach where it needs to go, and any excess can get drained off for a wipe-up.  Test-sewing the machine on a piece of scrap to avoid oil contamination on the work also confirms that the machine is threaded right and the tensions are still set good.

I got to use my Singer 16-41 to make a little income for me yesterday.  I sewed a badge holder onto a winter jacket that has a squirmy lining inside of it.

CD in Oklahoma

Edited October 25, 2016 by cdthayer

[Cascabel]

After I oil my machines, I always place a piece of absorbent fabric under the foot, and lower it on top of the fabric, and in addition, I lower the needle into the piece of fabric to catch any oil that runs down from the needle bar.   

[leecopp]

Great Lubrication Tips Guys .. Some of mine see only sporadic use, so oiling at the end of the session would be a good idea. Needle down is also a good tip as I often see a drop of oil at the end of the needle when I startup (Hi , My name is Lee and I over-oil .. hi Lee).

Greetings from Central Florida where temperatures are finally getting temperate again. Last lawn mowing of the year is coming up .

 Of course I have been sewing polar fleece sleeping socks for the family,  having reached that cold feet age and stage myself.

 

Lee

[cdthayer]

2 hours ago, Cascabel said:

...always place a piece of absorbent fabric under the foot, and lower it on top of the fabric, and in addition, I lower the needle into the piece of fabric.....   

Good advice if you use your machine regularly, but be cautious if you’re in a high humidity environment (like Oklahoma) and only use your machine sporadically or put it into storage.  Unless the fabric is totally saturated with oil, and even then, sometimes the oil has enough evaporation that the fabric can absorb moisture out of the air and rust the needle plate, foot, and even the needle.

CD in Oklahoma

[Billroy1]

Hi folks, enjoying this somewhat recent thread and the info on oiling and operating these, since it applies directly to my 1924 16-141 machine.  I plan to put it onto my domestic treadle stand at some point.  CD did you change the pitman arm length for more leverage or slower motion (or both)?   My 16 also came with an original knee lift but I will need to remove the wooden drip tray on the treadle stand to access the machine underside.  Sounds worthwhile.

Now, a bunch of questions, so any feedback is appreciated.  

One thing I noticed was that the tension disc release lever 4378 actuated by the knee lifter is incomplete on my machine.  Looks like the hook extension on the "knee lifter bracket end" is broken off.   The machine also has a damaged tension disc assembly spring 2124.   Based on illustrations for the -141 variant here. http://parts.singerco.com/IPpartCharts/16-137_141.pdf 

CD, any images of these on your machine would be helpful. I am having skipped stitches which may be caused by poor adjustment of this spring.   I assume these parts are hard to find new.  I did find a decent used Simanco PN 3126 guide on the auction site.   The original one has failed rivets on one of the bosses so the outer foot would twist "pigeon toe" during travel.  We'll see how that replacement goes.  

Also, are the small flat outer feet I see on the 16-41 and the 42-5 labeled with a simanco #?  Mine has a jagged welting foot which is unforgiving to smooth leather, but instead of modifying it I wanted to replace it and then have a few options for material feeding.  That welting foot may work well for canvas and webbing.   Are the outer feet universal "low shank" or unique to this model (i.e. Singer 16,17,18,consew 18) like the inner foot is?

Finally, when the bobbin holder is removed, there is some wiggle in the hook.  It moves up/down about 1/8 in.  The race looked ok when I removed it and examined, but not sure how much slack there should be between the oscillating shuttle driver (or lever) and hook.  

Cheers

Bill

Edited July 18, 2017 by Billroy1

[cdthayer]

On ‎7‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 7:52 AM, Billroy1 said:

CD did you change the pitman arm length for more leverage or slower motion (or both)?  .....are the small flat outer feet I see on the 16-41 and the 42-5 labeled with a simanco #?  

 

Bill

The pitman rod (and flywheel) is from a domestic-use smaller treadle.  I had to make the pitman longer for the larger industrial stand.  I’ve since moved the 16-41 to a regular industrial treadle (16” flywheel) to use the Frankenstein treadle (12” flywheel) to run a 78-3 needle-feed machine to do straight-line quilting.  The smaller flywheel slows it down a tiny bit, but not much.

 

The outer foot on my machine is part #3136, modified by cutting the right toe off.

 

I don't know what number tension spring mine has.

 

CD in Oklahoma

 

[cdthayer]

Rant:  Billroy1, are you one of those east coast liberals that wants everything for you, and to hell with the rest of us?  Why don’t you put some information about yourself in your profile?  Your “About Me” says “coming soon”.  BS.  Put it in there or shut up.
I wish that I had checked that before giving you the photos that you wanted.  I’ve had it with the radical activists swooping in to turn a good forum into crap.  First it was a radical feminist in NY that wanted to take the stage, what is your cause?

CD in Oklahoma

[Billroy1]

CD, I appreciate your sense of humor!  Yeah, I have noticed that not as many folks on LW.net live in my neck of the woods, but this site is international, so what did I have to lose, right?  Seems like a nice crowd, even you!  Radical activist isn't what I was after in my post above, just sewing machine talk, same as everyone else on this forum.  I can't lay claim to being an eastern liberal nor a radical feminist either.  I will leave that to others to pursue.  While I have mentioned my interests in a prior post, you're right about also including that in my profile, which I can address.  But I do thank you for your great pix and info, and will post some in-process pix of my machine rebuild.  Cheers!