Would Appreciate Your Advise On Restoring This Singer 45K25

[Evo160K]

Glenn, thanks for the information, I really appreciate all of your help.  I just ordered a small piece from the local gasket distributor, they didn't even want to charge me for it. 
 

Mikesc, thank you also for the heads up.  I wouldn't want to make that mistake.

Edited April 28, 2016 by Evo160K

[mikesc]

IIRC, there are a slew of posts about various greases etc to put ( or not *) on the cork after it is glued.. to maybe aid in reducing the "instant bite" of it..so you can "feather" the clutch ( go slowly ) easier ..
try searching for posts by Eric ( gottaknow ) with clutch disc in the text or subject..I don't know how good the site search here is ,but if you put the command /string into Google..

site:leatherworker.net gottaknow clutch disc

you'll get back at least some of them..whether or not one uses grease of some sort on one's clutch discs , and what sort, appears to be like whether or not one puts sugar in one's coffee or water in one's single malt :)

*lights blue touch paper and retires ;)

Edited April 28, 2016 by mikesc

[Evo160K]

Mikesc,

Thank you very much for your interest.  As it happened, a couple of days ago  I put clutch material, cork into the LW search and found gottaknow's comment as well as CowboyBob's. Bob said use bearing grease and I can't recall what gottaknow said (senior moment, I guess!!).  I tried the blue high speed bearing grease on the old cork and it worked like a champ,  And that's after the cork had soaked in the electrolysis stripping tank for three days.  I'm going to save the new piece of cork for a backup.

[Constabulary]

I think very hard leather could be an option as well. Maybe s/t like sole leather or the like.

[Evo160K]

Constabulary, when I first looked at the clutch material I thought it was leather, I even sanded on it and picked at it to see, it just didn't look like cork.  I'm about 90% sure it is leather, in any case, it's working well again.  Thanks for the suggestion.

Something else I stumbled onto while trying to adjust the "feel/grab" of the clutch was by preloading the return spring about 25 mm, it gave me great feel and control at startup and run.  It's sort of like how some people suggest putting a tennis ball or piece of heavy foam under the foot pedal.  I did that on the Claes pedal, however I find preloading the spring if you have it is much better.

Regards

[Evo160K]

Hi Constabulary,

Thought you might be interested to know, the local gasket distributor cut some clutch discs for me today....two out of cork and two out of 16 oz veg tan leather.  Based upon your suggestion, I installed a leather disc with the split side out, no cement (if it failed to work)......it worked really well, even had good startup control.  I'll leave it in to see what happens going forward.  Regards