Saturday, July 5, 2014

Three more to clean

    Another woman from my guild asked if I would clean and service three of her machines. One, a Kenmore, was her first machine. One White was her mom's and another, her sister's. Elizabeth gave me a thread guide and screw so that I could fix the Kenmore, so hopefully it only needs cleaning which I started. It is a pretty black with red pinstriping. The two Whites are that kind of crinkle finish so it will be a challenge cleaning them. I started on the older White with a tooth brush and Greased Lightning. Lo and behold, the machine is green, not gray. If you look carefully at the top in the middle, you can see the color change. Lots of scrubbing needed. This White has a needle centering problem. If I can't figure it out, then there is no point on going further. Good thing she is not in a rush.

The oldest and green paint showing around the middle spool pin

This is where I don't know how to adjust the needle bar to center.
It seems all closed in, unlike a Singer

3 comments:

Dre in PA said...

The crinkles I'm pretty sure you can spray with foaming upholstery cleaner, and let the goo drip off. (Test under the bed, and mask off the bright bits). I've previously scrubbed with a toothbrush and any grease dissolving detergent and come away relatively successful. There is nothing you can do to it though, to make it look "polished". I've treated it with a light wipe down of orange or lemon oil based furniture polish, but then you're just adding more oil to trap the dust and start the process all over again (arguably, not for years though,right?)
Does the needle bar need to be moved front to back or side to side? First new needle, then see how much play is in the feed dog cover. Also remember the needle doesn't truly come down in the center of the hole. It should be slightly off center to accommodate the increasing girth that bigger size brings.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

I had never seen a black Kenmore. I wonder if Singer was making them for Sears in the beginning.

Elizabeth said...

That Kenmore is a Japanese made machine. I have many like it. Straight stitch class 15 oscillating hook. The Japanese made them and sellers "badged" them. I had a White that looked exactly like that. I loved that machine but it is being used now. Had I kept it it would be sitting......145