Would Appreciate Your Advise On Restoring This Singer 45K25

[Evo160K]

Constabulary, Darren, Jimi, TinkerTailor,

Thank you for your thoughts. Like always, I appreciate them. It has to be the thread, like you suggested. I put it in my Claes 8345 and it broke, so that's it, I'm finished trying to sew with it.

However, just to satisfy my curiosity, I am going to contact the thread manufacturer and discuss shelf life and storage with their technical people. It seems counterintuitive to me a fiberglass thread would deteriorate, but may be. Thanks again.

[Evo160K]

So after all of this time, I started painting the metal stand the Singer 45K25 sits on and the Singer reducer clutch. I used the electrolysis method mentioned in one of the LW topics to remove the rust and paint........it worked well.

Although I took a lot of pictures of everything before disassembling anything, I can't tell from the pictures if the reducer clutch was painted with a gloss black or a semi gloss black. Does anyone know what the correct paint should be on the Singer reducer clutch that's mounted under the stand?

Thank you very much.

[CowboyBob]

Gloss

[Evo160K]

Thanks Bob

[shoepatcher]

Al,

Singer used black lacquer on their machines and stands.  If it is not shinny enough when you finish painting it, spray some clear lacquer on the stand. 

glenn

[Evo160K]

Good suggestion, Glenn, I will.  Thank you.

What is your preferred brand of black and clear lacquer?

[shoepatcher]

 Both Krylon and Rustoleum make a black lacquer gloss in a spray can.  Both have worked well.  You might also try automotive stores as I know they carry black lacquer in spray cans as well.

glenn

[Evo160K]

Thanks Glenn, thank you very much.

 

The stand and reducer clutch are going back together pretty well.......they don't look too bad, I'll post a pic when they're finished.  One part that may need replacing is the reducer clutch material, (it's very thin maybe a 1/16"), I believe it's cork.  Would anyone know for sure if i's cork and where I might find a replacement.  Are there any installation and adjustment instructions for the clutch material?

Thank you good people. 

[shoepatcher]

Al,

It is cork  You can get cork where they sell  gasket material.  Contact cement will hold it on to the round metal clutch plate.  Glue both sides and let dry before installing and make sure you have it lined up when you put it on.  Only get one chance to get it right!

glenn

[mikesc]

Umm..I think that is glue both the metal surface and the cork surface ( allow to dry and press them together ) .."glue both sides" would be glue both sides of the cork..which I don't think that is what one would want to do ?

[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