Singer 51W59

[dikman]

A friend rang today and said he had an "industrial" sewing machine, was I interested? Of course, says I (although I was aware that many so-called industrial machines aren't. Anyhow, turns out it's a Singer 51W59, a bit the worse for wear and unused for a long time, as he said that "something broke" on it. I've got the machine itself and just have to arrange to pick up the table and motor assembly (I could see the Singer label on the motor underneath the table),

So, can anyone enlighten me on this particular machine?

Just noticed that the thread tensioner is missing.....

[Ferg]

If you type the model number into Google you will get numerous sites offering parts manuals among other things.

Wiz can tell you most if not all the information regarding what this machine is capable of.

ferg

[Wizcrafts]

This is a light duty, roller foot, post machine. It is meant for sewing shoe and boot uppers, ball caps, Cowboy hats, moccasins and other thin, light weight leather items. The maximum thread size is #69, using a #18 needle. It can also sew in zippers and patches on vests.

The stitch length is changed by turning the knob in the center of the flywheel. Turning it clockwise shortens, while turning it c.c.w. lengthens the stitches. The normal range of adjustment is from about 20 stitches per inch, down to about 5 or 6 per inch.

[dikman]

Thanks guys. I've spent a fair bit of time searching the 'net, and there's not what I would call a lot of info about this particular machine. I've got the user instructions (which at least tells me how to reset the shuttle timing) and a parts list, but I suspect that this isn't going to be much use as I haven't been able to find any spares listed anywhere. I know it was made at the Bridgeport plant in the US, and is rated to 2500 stitches/minute!!!

I got it hooked up to the motor (beautiful old motor) and had it running briefly - until the leather belt snapped! My biggest problem is the missing thread tensioner assembly. I will have to try and find something from an older Singer and adapt it to fit.

The owner said something was broken, but it turned out that he was wrong (he admitted he doesn't know anything about it mechanically), I found that there is a locking collar (for want of a better description) on the top shaft, and this had been tightened to stop any rotation. I'm guessing that this is to help with re-timing the shuttle, which I have to do as I removed the drive belt while trying to figure out whether the problem was in the upper part or the lower shuttle area (at least this showed me where the problem was).

It's a bit of a beast, but should do nicely for my needs, once I get the missing tensioner sorted. Plus the price was right, nothing but a lot of effort dismantling it all to get it home - that motor is heavy!!

[Evo160K]

FWIW

http://dixiesewingmachine.tzo.com/MANUALS/SINGERPARTS3/51W59.pdf

[dikman]

Thanks Evo, that's the same as the one I already found .

[Constabulary]

I got it hooked up to the motor (beautiful old motor) and had it running briefly - until the leather belt snapped! My biggest problem is the missing thread tensioner assembly. I will have to try and find something from an older Singer and adapt it to fit.

Maybe you can take parts from the standard tension unit you find on most sewing machines - like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SINGER-111W-SEWING-MACHINE-THREAD-TENSION-COMPLETE-CONSEW-206-PART-240446-/110914591225?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d30659f9

[dikman]

As the saying goes "great minds think alike", Constabulary . I have a Singer 201K hand-crank unit, and looking at the tensioner assembly it looks pretty similar, so I'm going to remove it today and see what it will take to fit it. The only other thing I don't have is the thread roller which fits below the tensioner, but it may not be necessary for my needs. If I do need it, then I'll make one.

[dikman]

For those who may be interested, the tensioner from my 201 has the same mounting system, i.e. a shaft extends from the rear of the tensioner assembly and slides into a hole in the machine body, where it's held in place by a locking grub screw. Main problem is the shaft is too short to lock in place. I located a used Singer 201K today (this is a later model than mine and has an electric motor) for $20 (!) so I went for a drive to grab it, as I figure just buying a tensioner assembly - if I can find one - would cost me more than that. I'll strip it for parts and dump the body, as it has no real collectable value, and this should give me a good supply of the various screws that Singer use. Extending the tensioner shaft is going to be a bit tricky, however, as the rear shaft is steel and is pressed into the front part, which is aluminium!!

A bit more pondering is in order........

[dikman]

So, I've got it working - almost.

Made a suitable tensioner from the 201K I bought, fixed the thread guides (missing springs), re-timed the shuttle and re-adjusted the needle hook, made a new drive belt from neoprene, fitted a larger pulley to the handwheel to try and slow it down a bit (original is 2" diam, new one is 4"), re-connected the pedal for lifting the roller wheel and gave it a good oiling. Oh, and I took to the table with a circular saw (much too big!).

Running without thread it punches through leather quite nicely, and while it will do 1/4" it's really at it's limit doing it. I loaded it with thread (the bonded stuff that came with it) and ran it by hand to see what would happen. The needle picked up the bobbin thread ok, and watching the shuttle it appears to be working ok, but for some reason it seems to drag extra thread down into the shuttle (through the needle hole) from underneath the material. I can get a row of stitches, but when I remove the material there are about three lines of thread disappering down the hole!

I'm a bit perplexed at the moment.......