145w304 What have I gotten myself into? Singer 145W304 and 144W304

[Londonfog]

On 10/16/2018 at 12:18 AM, DonInReno said:

Great machine!  It’s on my wish list.  Refinishing advice online ranges from crude yet functional to super detailed show pieces.  It might help to decide where along the continuum you want to aim.  Many projects here in the archives are full of great advice and show a good range of products and techniques.

If you’re interested in a glossy custom paint job some of the best videos are aimed at custom cars and/or musical instruments.  The products used are somewhat different, but the techniques are quite similar.  Essentially the surface is stripped of all questionable finish, the existing surface is sealed with a primer, additional filler and sand able primer applied, color coats, decals and clear coat.  The devil is in the details and starting with the filler coats the entire surface has to be sanded  correctly and thoroughly in between subsequent layers.  The final color coat is sanded even further so all defects are removed and it’s  sanded to 1500 grit or so.  Decals applied then clear coats.  The final finish gets sanded to be perfectly flat up to 2000 grit or so, then a buffing compound removes smaller scratches.  The small automotive sanding blocks and other detail sanding products are perfect for sewing machines. 

Yeah, my first concern is all the old grease/oil and for one of the machines, rust.  I'd love to put the rustier one into a vat of evaporust, but it's not easy to do that with an almost 200 lb machine that's 4' long, lol.  I'm thinking some mixture of wd-40  to loosen the rust and other degreasers to spray it down with, and then using some paint/rust stripper wheels (Think scotch-brite wheels on a drill and dremel)  to at least strip the bed, which I'll later paint to have a clean working surface.

[DonInReno]

You can always dampen a cloth in the rust remover of your choice and Saran Wrap it to the machine - it won’t work as fast as submersion, but it’s easy to do. The wd40 won’t help the rust remover since it makes it more difficult for the chemical to actually reach the surface under the rust.  Harsh rust removers eat through anything, but one that’s more mild will take a little longer.  

[DonInReno]

Also there are many rust removers in gel form - even evaporust.

Speaking of evaporust, there seems to be a good amount is marketing hype about it - the product literature that claims it attacks rust yet doesn’t dissolve iron is a little hard to swallow since the safety data sheet lists the ph at “2 or 3”  It’s a mild acid and does things to metal about like other mild acids do unless there is a magic acid barrier protecting the metal.  Don’t get me wrong it’s good stuff, but $20/gal for something in the same ph range as white vinegar seems like $15/gal of marketing. :-)