Old sewing machines (pic heavy)

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Macaroon

A bemused & bewildered
Jan 5, 2013
7,209
362
73
SE Wales
The Merritt machines are Indian-built Singer clones, and fairly well thought of, IIRC. That looks in very good condition and if it were offered to me for £20 it'd be in the sewing room already; how can you go wrong with that,
and all the zig-zag jazz as well!
 

leaky5

Maker Plus
Jul 8, 2014
752
49
Basildon
The Merritt machines are Indian-built Singer clones, and fairly well thought of, IIRC. That looks in very good condition and if it were offered to me for £20 it'd be in the sewing room already; how can you go wrong with that,
and all the zig-zag jazz as well!
The only reason I did not pick it up last night is was because I could not verify the model (internet not working on phone), they put it aside for me anyway and I picked it up this morning.

Just need to work out the threading route and tension, the thread keeps coming out of the needle. It all moves as it should and I really like the control of the foot pedal, much better they my OH's modern machine.

Will fiddle with it later today and pop some pictures up when its all working.
 

leaky5

Maker Plus
Jul 8, 2014
752
49
Basildon
Ok, about an hours fiddling and it all seems to be OK. Needle is a different way round in this machine, side to side threading not front to back.

The maximum I am aiming to sew in one piece is 2 layers of 1000d material, 2 of 500d, 2 thicknesses of binding tape and 1 piece of webbing. The 2nd picture is 4 1000d, 2 binding and 1 webbing, so I am very happy.



 

singteck

Settler
Oct 15, 2005
565
6
52
Malaysia
www.flickr.com
I have one that looks like that but it's not a Singer!

The needle used is not the universal needle either. I have one installed on the machine when I got it and I cannot find replacement for it. It's slightly longer and very thin with the diameter of the needle being almost the same throughout the length.

Would be great if I can get needles for it because the sound of the machine is so sweet!

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On her excellent blog Turbogirl posted a great article about old sewing machines, and suggested that we start a thread showing old sewing machines. That's exactly what I'm trying to start here.

So, here is mine. Bought in a charity shop for a fiver, it isn't in working order as it is missing a needle and a few other bits, and needs some tlc, but the mechanism is still nice and smooth and I hope to see it restored to use as my wife would love it. I haven't been able to locate a serial number despite going all over it (including inside and underneath) with a torch, but from the weblink Turbogirl posted in her blog, I think it is a model 12.

Anyway, here are the pics.
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I can't be the only person with an old machine, so let's see yours.
 

leaky5

Maker Plus
Jul 8, 2014
752
49
Basildon
Took a bit of a chance on an old Singer table on Ebay, worse case I thought I could use the machine on top of it.

But it fits perfectly at the business end (almost, you need to tilt the machine to get to the bobbin), I might give it a quick rub back and some varnish.

£4 for the table.




 
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leaky5

Maker Plus
Jul 8, 2014
752
49
Basildon
I was having my lunch yesterday, had left the machine plugged in up stairs and noticed the machine was running on its own. Saw smoke coming up from the back of the table and at first assumed it was the motor.

Then started to think and realised it must be the foot pedal. As I had a fair bit of sewing planned for the weekend (now probably curtailed due to the thread issue I have) I did a quick bit of Googling to see if there were any local repair shops. Found a local one, with a replacement pedal for about £20, which I was pretty happy with.

Called them up and explained the issue and they said it was probably just the capacitor in the pedal and if I came down they would sort one out for me.

Turns out they had a nice modern workshop and retail shop (lots of thread, just not the one I needed) and came out with a capacitor and spare drive band for £3.50.

Machine now all up and running again and will never be left plugged in again when not in use.
 

ozzy1977

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
8,558
3
46
Henley
The capacitor went in one of our old singer pedals, I removed it problem solved, its only use is to cut interference.
 

Angst

Full Member
Apr 15, 2010
1,927
3
51
Hampshire
www.facebook.com
hi.....a very valid point there leaky and one i've pointed out each time i've passed an electric machine on.....unless you have totally rewired your machine and are a qualified electrician do not ever leave your machine plugged in and unattended.....and even then, dont.

i've had a couple of similar issues including a motor that just went bang!....made my heart speed up i can tell ye....smoke, sparks, the lot.

as for capacitors......as ozzy says below, its my understanding that they are totally unecessary in this day and age and can simply be taken out of the foot pedal.....and that comes from macaroon (its all his fault) whos a lifetime 201 user and qualified electrician. it also states the same on sid and elsies famous 201 blog.

there are guys on ebay selling diy capacitor kits.....i bought one, spent time doing it.....and its nonsense and unecessary....dont waste your money.....take your capacitors out and away ye go.

regards

s
 

twyforge

Tenderfoot
Feb 23, 2013
90
0
23
Winchester
as for capacitors......as ozzy says below, its my understanding that they are totally unecessary in this day and age and can simply be taken out of the foot pedal.....and that comes from macaroon (its all his fault) whos a lifetime 201 user and qualified electrician. it also states the same on sid and elsies famous 201 blog.

In an exploding footpedal is the capacitor often the culprit? I have a Jones Model 365 foreign that blew up under my foot a fair while ago that I'd love to get working again. I seem to remember that when afterwards I took the foot pedal apart what appeared to have let the magic smoke out was a medium sized brown rectangular component, and I did think about replacing it but the thing was so covered in burnt electrolyte I couldn't make out the part number in order to look for a new one. I really enjoyed using that machine so if its as simple as bypassing the cap to get it up and running again that'd be a blessing.

Cheers,
Thomas.
 

Macaroon

A bemused & bewildered
Jan 5, 2013
7,209
362
73
SE Wales
In an exploding footpedal is the capacitor often the culprit? I have a Jones Model 365 foreign that blew up under my foot a fair while ago that I'd love to get working again. I seem to remember that when afterwards I took the foot pedal apart what appeared to have let the magic smoke out was a medium sized brown rectangular component, and I did think about replacing it but the thing was so covered in burnt electrolyte I couldn't make out the part number in order to look for a new one. I really enjoyed using that machine so if its as simple as bypassing the cap to get it up and running again that'd be a blessing.

Cheers,
Thomas.

Just snip it out, Thomas, it certainly can't cause any damage and as Sonni says it doesn't serve any purpose anyway; just be sure that that's what you are removing though! :)
 

BushBob

Tenderfoot
Nov 24, 2013
85
5
East Mids
My first Singer 201 went full auto on me a few months back. Very similar story to others. Went downstairs to make a brew and came back to find the machine snarled up with thread; strong smell of electrical burning and smoke coming out of the back. My first thought was that I had been lucky because it hadn't set the smoke alarm off, woken the baby or alerted Mrs BB ( who would've probably made me get rid of it). On reflection, I was lucky it didn't set the house on fire.

My understanding is there are three ways to solve it; either snip the capacitors away; replace them with modern ones or replace the whole foot switch. On my first 201 I bought the kit off eBay and replaced the caps. On my second the caps had been snipped already. I swapped the foot switch on a 357 that I've got (I'm not bothered about originality on that one).

In future I'll probably snip the capacitors out and not bother replacing them. We haven't got an analogue telly anymore.

Keep sewing and keep safe.

Bob
 
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