![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
It's Alive!
Jan. 12th, 2020 03:36 pmThe sewing machine works!
We have blasted the dust off the treadle with a compressor, washed the table and treadle with soap and warm water, oiled the entire treadle and then tightened up the bolts that were apparently only being held together by rust, removed the shoddy aftermarket cabinet thing under the machine, installed new drawer knobs, replaced the belt shifter's missing screw, de-rusted the extension table stabilizer bar until it moved, tightened the extension table screws, epoxied the cracked wood at one of the sewing machine hinges, added more screws to the sewing machine hinges (there were only three per hinge, though there were supposed to be four), glued down the flapping veneer slices, made new wheels out of plywood, and installed a newish leather treadle belt (a sprightly 20 years old).
We have gently washed the outside of the machine, shucked rotten thread off the bobbins and scrubbed em up, de-rusted and oiled various parts including the fancy plates and bobbin race parts, removed and cleaned the entire upper tension plug before resetting the spring (I knew it), oiled whatever mysterious things are in the body of the machine, scrubbed the crap out of the teeth of the bobbin winder cam, cut a spool pin pad out of some red felt, made a new oil wick out of felt and a spring, sandpapered the rust off the hand wheel, and faked up a bobbin winder ring with some leather and a rubber band until the proper rubber piece arrives.
The bobbin winds. The machine sews.
About the only thing we haven't done is touched up the shellac, and that's because I am terrified of scrubbing off the decals. My dad and I have learned a lot about the machine, mostly from YouTube and specialty forums. This has been a labor of love. Now, to find a project that isn't particular about stitch length and doesn't involve braking...
We have blasted the dust off the treadle with a compressor, washed the table and treadle with soap and warm water, oiled the entire treadle and then tightened up the bolts that were apparently only being held together by rust, removed the shoddy aftermarket cabinet thing under the machine, installed new drawer knobs, replaced the belt shifter's missing screw, de-rusted the extension table stabilizer bar until it moved, tightened the extension table screws, epoxied the cracked wood at one of the sewing machine hinges, added more screws to the sewing machine hinges (there were only three per hinge, though there were supposed to be four), glued down the flapping veneer slices, made new wheels out of plywood, and installed a newish leather treadle belt (a sprightly 20 years old).
We have gently washed the outside of the machine, shucked rotten thread off the bobbins and scrubbed em up, de-rusted and oiled various parts including the fancy plates and bobbin race parts, removed and cleaned the entire upper tension plug before resetting the spring (I knew it), oiled whatever mysterious things are in the body of the machine, scrubbed the crap out of the teeth of the bobbin winder cam, cut a spool pin pad out of some red felt, made a new oil wick out of felt and a spring, sandpapered the rust off the hand wheel, and faked up a bobbin winder ring with some leather and a rubber band until the proper rubber piece arrives.
The bobbin winds. The machine sews.
About the only thing we haven't done is touched up the shellac, and that's because I am terrified of scrubbing off the decals. My dad and I have learned a lot about the machine, mostly from YouTube and specialty forums. This has been a labor of love. Now, to find a project that isn't particular about stitch length and doesn't involve braking...
