Singer 45D91 Restoration

[Constabulary]

A while ago I cane across some vintage machines that were used as garden decoration for a while. Some were exposed directly to the weather all seasons and some had a "roof" over their head but still outside all the time. I had 2 Singer 45 one was a 45K21 but that machine had too many issues like welded driving rod, missing and broken screw so not worth the trouble - I just kept some good parts from it. Fortunately the 45D91 (a pre 1945 German made variant of the 45K) had a roof over its head and survived in "quite" good condition but it has been oddly over painted. This is one of the few Singer 45 models that have a reverse function and I have been looking for one quite a long time.

... just reminds me of Billy Talent:  Rusted from the Rain  (kind of - not necessarily the lyrics but the Video)

I unfortunately have deleted some of the pictures I have taken so I just have a few from the machine as found. I wanted to post this earlier but other things crossed my way so here is the whole story at once.

Edited November 10, 2016 by Constabulary

[Constabulary]

Fortunately after some oiling the machine spun freely. Then I washed off the odd paint with paint thinner and stripped it as far as necessary. Lots of chipped paint and light surface rust on the lower arm and rust spots where the paint chipped off.

 

Parts turned out quite nice after a thorough cleaning.

 

Edited November 10, 2016 by Constabulary

[Constabulary]

Grind down all the rust infiltrated paint and smoothed the chipped of spots. Under the paint I even found the drill holes for the Singer badge. This machine originally came with a Singer decal instead of a Singer brass badge (Wartime metal saving I guess). Then gave the machine a good inside and outside paint thinner shower and washed out (hopefully) all the internal gunk of old grease, oil, dust....- what ever this machine has collected over the years. Then taped everything and painted it with hammertone silver.

Edited November 10, 2016 by Constabulary

[Constabulary]

Hammertone silver

 

 

Edited November 10, 2016 by Constabulary

[Constabulary]

Reassembling

 

[Constabulary]

Almost done! Now that I see the pictures I thing some parts still could use some TLC...    maybe later... 

Since there are no Singer Wittenberge plant badge decals available I have put a brass badge on. A member form another forum said thats still authentic as the machines from the Wittenberge plant also came with the "british" badge reading "THE SINGER MANFG. Co.. Well I had no other option anyway

 

Edited November 10, 2016 by Constabulary

[Constabulary]

Meanwhile the decals have arrived. I know the whole paint job is not authentic (obviously) but thats not too important to me. I think it turned out quite nice and I´m pleased with it. Next thing is the bobbin winder....

Once again I rescued some old cast iron

 

Edited November 10, 2016 by Constabulary

[CowboyBob]

Yes,all that hard work paid off.You have a great looking machine there.The decals add the finishing touch.I like that color,we use it a lot too.

[Uwe]

Wow, nice work! It's clearly a labor of love and it shows. 

[jimi]

Great job Folker! turned out like new! did you keep the part 91023 from the old broken machine?? (needle bar connection link)

[Constabulary]

Thanks folks! I´m now hopping to find my personal holy grale of sewing machines one day - A singer 97 head.

Hey Jimi - seems you can sniff 45K threads on the web . Just have checked the parts and yes I have one. Send me a PM

 

[billybopp]

Looks great, Constabulary!  Congrats on a great find and great work.   It gives me hope that I might one day find something similar.  I think it would be a great learning experience to restore an old machine AND get something usable at the same time.  I know I could do it with the fantastic help that you and others here provide.  

Thanks for sharing!

Bill

[MADMAX22]

Great job.

Anyone taking this on I highly recommend starting with an old machine like this except for the parts being hard to find which is the big drawback. Got my Pfaff 145 mostly taken apart and the parts pile is about 3 times as big lol.

[jimi]

Yes it smelled of new paint on the web!

[SARK9]

Absolutely beautiful and a great machine to find and preserve!

-DC

 

[Yetibelle]

Really nice work!  I really like the grey. 

 

[dikman]

Tut tut, I saw a couple of paint runs!

Seriously, a great job there, I reckon you can feel proud to have resurrected it.

[Evo160K]

Just beautiful.....you're an inspiration, Folker. 

Congratulations,

[bikermutt07]

Excellent job. Now it's ready for another 70 years.

Can you enlighten us newbies on this machine?

Sewing thickness, capabilities, and what not?

Oh and most of all.......how does it sew?

[Constabulary]

Thanks again

@dikman - I know but the few runs dried out quite well you barely can see them. Hammertone sometimes can be tricky. I cannot claim that my machines have a perfect paint job but I´m pleased and thats good enough for me - well, I have seen many worse

@bikermutt - I yet have only hand cranked it as I have no V-belt atm

Well, capacity depends. The foot lift with hand lever is 14-14.5mm. But you can tweak it a little bit when you raise the presser foot bar a little bit. But that depends on the presser foot you are using as you have to take care of that the needle holder is not hitting the presser foot when you have lifted the foot and spin the hand wheel. So with a bit good will you can probably get 1 or 2 more millimeters - but that does nor make sense anymore, I think. So 1/2" of thickness is the standard capacity I´d say but of course depends on how hard / dense the martial is you want to sew.

EDIT:

regarding tweaking - the max. is barely 17mm with a slightly shorter shank ADLER 5 presser foot (Singer 45K and Adler 5 feet are interchangeable but Adler feet as slightly shorter) and the foot is not touching the needle plate. Thats cheating (or tweaking) but that's how you can get the most out of it. If it makes sense is another story. So maybe you can sew 14-15mm this way - MAYBE! Some pictures

Edited November 11, 2016 by Constabulary

[Constabulary]

So after having the machine in a space saving manner mounted on the end of my 111G156 table I figured the idea is space saving but I needed the work space left of the machines so I needed another solution for my "Caliber .45".

Some pictures of the new setup for the 45D91

Stand is from a patcher and I have added a "pedal mount" from a flat bed Singer stand. Pedal mount is nearly flush with the ground but since the stand is on brake casters I still can easily move it. Still have to do minor modifications (ball caster on the left end of the pedal mount and so on) but it´s almost done.

I also made a flat bed attachment

 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Constabulary

[Constabulary]

The flat bed attachment is made from a IKEA bamboo cutting board and a piece of scrap metal. Slit right of the metal plate is because I made an odd move with the router  but I can live with it. I think I´ll fill it with some wood filler.

 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Constabulary

[Scoutmom103]

Nice.  I like how compact it is.    

Did you make your own speed reducer for this?

 

[dikman]

Nice job with the stand, looks good.

[bullmoosepaddles]

Awesome work Sir. Your an inspiration. 

I need to buy some sort of cheap machine. Then tear it down just to see if I have the mental and emotional fortitude to put it back together in working condition.