Bought a Singer 211U567B Need Help With Drip Pan

[Kellen]

Hey guys. I'm so excited that I finally have my Singer 211U567B in hand. I bought it off craigslist and had it shipped for $350. Came with what's in the picture below. I also purchased a new Singer Industrial Table off Ebay for $150. I'm lucky that here in Boise, we have a gentleman who is amazing at servicing these machines. Before he comes over to tune mine up, I need to get it all set up. I have a Reliable Sewquiet 5000 mounted to the table. I've ordered a thread stand, new needle plate and screws, new right slide plate, belt, oil, bobbins and rubber machine rests and hinges. 

The last piece I'm missing is the oil drip pan. I have found it impossible to find a reproduction or used one online. I am a metal fabricator by hobby and have the ability to bend and weld sheet metal. I was just hoping to get some thoughts on what you've done if you've made your own. would also love to see some pictures. will upload a pic of my complete setup once I get all the parts in. Thanks in advance for your advice!

[Yetibelle]

Is it an self oil machine?  You really don't have to have the drip pan, I don't have them on any machines anymore.  But I don't care if my pants get dirty. 

 

[Uwe]

You can order a drip pan online from http://www.singeronline.com/drippan.html for $40. There are subtle differences between various drip pans, especially with the location of the knee lift access hole, so you want to make sure if you spend money, you get one that is designed for the Singer 211 series.  

I'm sure the usual suspects in the banner ads carry them, too.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Uwe

[Kellen]

3 hours ago, Yetibelle said:

Is it an self oil machine?  You really don't have to have the drip pan, I don't have them on any machines anymore.  But I don't care if my pants get dirty. 

 

I'm not sure what's considered self oiling. I'm like you though. If it's dripping all over my pants, I probably have too much oil on it anyway. 

27 minutes ago, Uwe said:

You can order a drip pan online from http://www.singeronline.com/drippan.html for $40. There are subtle differences between various drip pans, especially with the location of the knee lift access hole, so you want to make sure if you spend money, you get one that is designed for the Singer 211 series.  

I'm sure the usual suspects in the banner ads carry them, too.

Thanks for that. I'll check it out. I have the parts diagram and can't seem to find one that matches it. 

[Kellen]

[Kellen]

Don't have it hooked up to the motor but just turning the handwheel, I noticed that when I rotate the handwheel correctly (counter clockwise) the needle and feed dogs are moving in reverse and when I hit the reverse lever, they move forward. Weird issue. I have my repair guy coming after I get all my parts in so I probably don't need to worry about it too much but it's a curious problem I would like to figure out.

[Yetibelle]

Some machines have a sealed pan on the bottom (looks similar to the drip pan) that is filled with oil and the machine has the ability to circulate the oil around the machine, sometimes referred to as "self oiling" machines.  Like the Siger 241. 

[dikman]

Kellen, the pan doesn't have to be anything fancy. I needed one for a table that I modified (existing pan was too short for the new machine) so I used a flat piece of aluminium plate that I happened to have, screwed some timber beading around the edge and then screwed it under the table. I then measured for the lifting rod that goes to the foot pedal and drilled a hole (which I had to make bigger 'cos it was scraping). Works for me, and it was cheap ($0).

[Darren Brosowski]

I make drip trays from sheet metal, perspex or even leather (domestic machines).

Unless you are setting up a sweat shop a piece of leather will do the job but you may  have to replace it every couple of years

[Constabulary]

9 hours ago, Kellen said:

12 hours ago, Yetibelle said:

Is it an self oil machine?  You really don't have to have the drip pan, I don't have them on any machines anymore.  But I don't care if my pants get dirty. 

 

I'm not sure what's considered self oiling. I'm like you though. If it's dripping all over my pants, I probably have too much oil on it anyway. 

 

Some Singer 211 have an oil bath in the hook saddle and an oil tank on top for wick oiling parts of the machine. I have a 212 with 2 hooks and it has the "self oiling hooks" too. I´ll pots some pictures in a minute. The wick oiling is an excellent oiling system for low speed sewing in my opinion. However - I have no oil in the hook saddles and oil tank I´, still manually oiling the machine. Stupid, huh?

EDIT:

I have a German Singer 211 brochure and it says that the G567 subclass has a self oiling hook - I guess the U567 is petty much the same machine but made in japan instead of made in Germany. Your even should have a large capacity hook.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Constabulary

[shoepatcher]

C,

The 212 rebuild looks fabulous!!.  Great job.

glenn

[Wizcrafts]

When I acquired a 31-15 and table that lacked an oil drip pan, I made one out of Naugahyde and stapled it to the edges of the cutout in the table. I cut a hole for the knee lever lifter. The material side faces up and absorbs oil.

[Kellen]

So here are some better pictures of my machine. I've been reading through several manuals trying to figure out the oiling process. The picture from the manual below seems to be the closest to mine. As far as filling the reservoir, my machine does not have a sight glass as indicated in the picture nor do I see the oil filler hole for the saddle reservoir. What do you think? 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2017 by Kellen

[brmax]

Nice! big bobbin machine it looks like.

I would take some dry air psi. or heavy paint brush and clean up the area around the saddle and hook area first very well.

Then take off the top with the few screws retaining it to have a look see, Just where oiling is best or most useful. Maybe a engineers manual somewhere vs ops may help.

The saddle gear box has parts for best oiling methods but with the usual slow sewing we may do sometimes a bit more oil splash may be a good plan. For the time being cleaning the areas mentioned, some good old towels on the bench will work just fine until the drip pan arrives, or you construct one. good luck it looks great

Floyd

[Wizcrafts]

From your recent photos, your machine is manually oiled. All of the holes with red dye need oil, as well as some that have lost the red dye. Oil after each use and place a cheap rag under the feet to absorb dripping oil. Put a rag on top of the foot pedal until your oil pan is constructed. Use white Lily oil sold by industrial sewing machine dealers (in quarts and refillable 4oz bottles). In an emergency you can buy 4 oz bottles of sewing machine oil at Joann's, Hobby Lobby, or Wally World.

[Kellen]

11 hours ago, Wizcrafts said:

From your recent photos, your machine is manually oiled. All of the holes with red dye need oil, as well as some that have lost the red dye. Oil after each use and place a cheap rag under the feet to absorb dripping oil. Put a rag on top of the foot pedal until your oil pan is constructed. Use white Lily oil sold by industrial sewing machine dealers (in quarts and refillable 4oz bottles). In an emergency you can buy 4 oz bottles of sewing machine oil at Joann's, Hobby Lobby, or Wally World.

The confusing part is that looking at the machine from the bottom, it has all the oil tubes which would indicate that it's self oiling. 

[brmax]

Yes that's a good eye there, and one of them older quality things on some machines. Though some do have a different pump and stuff like lines or splash directed designs. On many of these we see you can find the "wick" kind of material is housed in these lines/tube as on that. Again many don't have the old world type yours has rather clear tubing, some lasting forever other clears last maybe a decade. Another good reason to take a look at the top for wick and any oil pads and their conditions. I believe you could say the pump on this one is small and really keyed for the hook shaft assembly lubrication. With some old trusted wick ability for lube other places like some bearing/bushing journals so a good opportunity to find the reservoirs for these wicks they work well, imo.

good day there

Floyd

Edited January 12, 2017 by brmax

[Constabulary]

My 212 even has wick tubes made of brass. I think the oil for the wick system comes from the larger screw (next to the plunger for the stitch length adjustment) in the hollow part in the flat bed but yet I haven`t really examined my 212 closely for that .

Edited January 12, 2017 by Constabulary

[Wizcrafts]

3 hours ago, Kellen said:

The confusing part is that looking at the machine from the bottom, it has all the oil tubes which would indicate that it's self oiling. 

It has to also have an oil pump to be totally self oiling. The pump would be on the bottom and would sit inside a gasket-sealed oil pan. Unless there is a pump somewhere and an oil pickup and filter on the bottom, it is manually oiled. The wicks would distribute oil you squirt into certain holes and reservoirs.

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

Very interesting, I didn't know that Singer was first with that type of spring/weight upper arm oil reservoir on some 211/212 subclass machies.  I thought it first appeared on Seiko machines such as 255RB, 333RB, or 339RB type machines.

This most commonly called 'centralized lubrication', meaning that it's not automatic, but that it will help spread oil as the machine operates by lubricating one point that will carry oil through usually oil wicks.

Edited January 12, 2017 by Gregg From Keystone Sewing

[Constabulary]

2 hours ago, Gregg From Keystone Sewing said:

Very interesting, I didn't know that Singer was first with that type of spring/weight upper arm oil reservoir on some 211/212 subclass machies.  I thought it first appeared on Seiko machines such as 255RB, 333RB, or 339RB type machines.

This most commonly called 'centralized lubrication', meaning that it's not automatic, but that it will help spread oil as the machine operates by lubricating one point that will carry oil through usually oil wicks.

Hey Gregg, yes, I always wondered what in particular this thing does. I understand that it keeps the oil "in motion" while sewing but I don´t understand WHY since the wick is laying flat in the oil bath anyway. Maybe I´m just not clever enough My simple mind thinks that the oil system would work w/o this vibrating spring thingy as well - or is it just a "marketing feature" - like "we have in vented this new and clever oil vibrating pump thingy"

Edited January 12, 2017 by Constabulary

[brmax]

I think you nailed it

3 hours ago, Constabulary said:

"marketing feature"

That there probably changed the patent just enough.

They could have called it some cool names but we all know they didn't want to use the real ( vibrating sucker pump ) hehehe

though they should have to be clear  

Floyd

Edited January 12, 2017 by brmax

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

On 1/12/2017 at 2:41 PM, Constabulary said:

Hey Gregg, yes, I always wondered what in particular this thing does. I understand that it keeps the oil "in motion" while sewing but I don´t understand WHY since the wick is laying flat in the oil bath anyway. Maybe I´m just not clever enough My simple mind thinks that the oil system would work w/o this vibrating spring thingy as well - or is it just a "marketing feature" - like "we have in vented this new and clever oil vibrating pump thingy"

See attached, this is from the Seiko book for the same oil mechanism.  

If it works, and I can tell you has never been a service issue then it works.  It may be a keeping up with the Jones or marketing type of stuff, but if I can oil one hole instead of nine, then I'll take it!

[Kellen]

Thanks for everyone's comments. I spent some time cleaning up my machine today. Once I pulled the top off, I think I am starting to understand how the oil wicking system works. Everything seems to be in good shape!

 

[dikman]

Floyd, that's a pretty snappy photo you posted, looks a bit like it was sprayed with chrome paint. Very smooth!