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<p>[QUOTE="Shangas, post: 111720, member: 360"]God, this dude must have no life!</p><p><br /></p><p>Yes, it's ANOTHER sewing machine. What we have here is a Singer 201 from the early 1950s. I bought this at an annual, country-town antiques fair...God...2...3 years ago? I have no idea...Ages!! That's all I remember!</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://scontent-hkg3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/12631427_1687184918206654_6072466333115792726_n.jpg?oh=8827251cb4f1c60bc98cecb315e3e925&oe=57321365" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>It sat in the basement for all this time, rotting away, until I had the equipment I needed to start breathing life back into this puppy.</p><p><br /></p><p>This machine started out life as a Singer 201 electric knee-lever domestic sewing machine. It had sat in someone's barn for the better part of...I'd say 30-50 years, and of course, the electrics and the case and everything else had quite literally rotted away to nothing. In fact the machine fell apart from the housing on the way home!</p><p><br /></p><p>A few months back, I acquired a handcrank attachment for this machine, and the necessary securing-bolt, and a new slide-plate, and so the restoration began.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first step was to pull apart the crank and wash out as thoroughly as possible, all the decades of grease and oil inside it. This wasn't some Chinese-repro handcrank (yes, such things exist. Check eBay), this was a real Singer-made crank from the 50s or 60s. But it was frozen solid with gunk!</p><p><br /></p><p>After flushing out all the filth and getting it running again, I found a bolt and secured the handle firmly onto the machine. Then came the marathon of cleaning the machine of gunk and relubricating it, and checking and testing all the moving parts and putting the new slide-plate back onto the machine.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now comes the real challenge - Building a new case and base!!</p><p><br /></p><p>I have all the necessary hardware - now comes the hard bit - building it! I still haven't figured out quite how to get that done, but something will occur to me.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://scontent-hkg3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlf1/v/t1.0-9/12552566_1687185001539979_214192523138406491_n.jpg?oh=2237bf2263f3297e87199db4ed6b3efd&oe=5740DBAE" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><b>The new slide-plate doing what it does best - sliding back and forth <img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/smile.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=":)" unselectable="on" /> The Singer 201 takes ordinary 'Class-66' domestic machine bobbins. </b></p><p><br /></p><p>I want to do it as properly as I can. The Singer 201 was the last great pre-war domestic Singer. It came out in the mid-1930s. It was sleek, modern, easy to use, extremely robust (this thing has to weigh 40lbs on its own without the woodwork!!) and very popular.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sadly, the Second World War forced Singer to cease manufacturing machines. The cast iron and the steel that went into their construction was too valuable, and the wood used in the cases could've been used for other things. That, and during the war, the 'Clydebank Blitz' hit the Singer Manufacturing Company's factory in the area and their entire timber-yard, where the necessary wood for case-construction, table construction etc, all went up in flames! As a result, many Singer 201s were made AFTER the war.</p><p><img src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45563000/jpg/_45563679_bltizseven466by300.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><b>Singer's Clydebank factory burned to the ground after the Clydebank Blitz.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Due to the vast reserves of timber and metal at the factory in Clydebank up in Scotland, the Singer factory was a deliberate target of the German Luftwaffe. Clydebank was so far north that it was believed to be untouchable, and well out of range of German bombers. In one night, almost the entire factory was razed to the ground.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/12540994_1687184938206652_6454013498160461529_n.jpg?oh=669d385eaf3d9cbd4258971f8baf9740&oe=5738E776&__gda__=1463410941_bb5d633cb56bc9edeaf7fef46cbe7483" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><b>Forward-Reverse + Stitch-length Selector Lever.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>This really was one of the last great Singer machines made in the traditional black-and-gold style. It had easy stitch-selection, it had forward-reverse movement, a very smooth action, and proving that Singer moved with the times - it had a very angular, minimalist Art Deco decal-pattern on the machine (called "Paperclips") which scream the 1930s. A machine like this when it was new back in the 30s would've come out during the very height of the Jazz Age, with big band and swing on the radio and flashy suits and impressive dresses being the rage.</p><p><br /></p><p>With luck and a whole lotta patience, you'll see this turned back into something resembling its original appearance...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Shangas, post: 111720, member: 360"]God, this dude must have no life! Yes, it's ANOTHER sewing machine. What we have here is a Singer 201 from the early 1950s. I bought this at an annual, country-town antiques fair...God...2...3 years ago? I have no idea...Ages!! That's all I remember! [IMG]https://scontent-hkg3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/12631427_1687184918206654_6072466333115792726_n.jpg?oh=8827251cb4f1c60bc98cecb315e3e925&oe=57321365[/IMG] It sat in the basement for all this time, rotting away, until I had the equipment I needed to start breathing life back into this puppy. This machine started out life as a Singer 201 electric knee-lever domestic sewing machine. It had sat in someone's barn for the better part of...I'd say 30-50 years, and of course, the electrics and the case and everything else had quite literally rotted away to nothing. In fact the machine fell apart from the housing on the way home! A few months back, I acquired a handcrank attachment for this machine, and the necessary securing-bolt, and a new slide-plate, and so the restoration began. The first step was to pull apart the crank and wash out as thoroughly as possible, all the decades of grease and oil inside it. This wasn't some Chinese-repro handcrank (yes, such things exist. Check eBay), this was a real Singer-made crank from the 50s or 60s. But it was frozen solid with gunk! After flushing out all the filth and getting it running again, I found a bolt and secured the handle firmly onto the machine. Then came the marathon of cleaning the machine of gunk and relubricating it, and checking and testing all the moving parts and putting the new slide-plate back onto the machine. Now comes the real challenge - Building a new case and base!! I have all the necessary hardware - now comes the hard bit - building it! I still haven't figured out quite how to get that done, but something will occur to me. [IMG]https://scontent-hkg3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlf1/v/t1.0-9/12552566_1687185001539979_214192523138406491_n.jpg?oh=2237bf2263f3297e87199db4ed6b3efd&oe=5740DBAE[/IMG] [B]The new slide-plate doing what it does best - sliding back and forth :) The Singer 201 takes ordinary 'Class-66' domestic machine bobbins. [/B] I want to do it as properly as I can. The Singer 201 was the last great pre-war domestic Singer. It came out in the mid-1930s. It was sleek, modern, easy to use, extremely robust (this thing has to weigh 40lbs on its own without the woodwork!!) and very popular. Sadly, the Second World War forced Singer to cease manufacturing machines. The cast iron and the steel that went into their construction was too valuable, and the wood used in the cases could've been used for other things. That, and during the war, the 'Clydebank Blitz' hit the Singer Manufacturing Company's factory in the area and their entire timber-yard, where the necessary wood for case-construction, table construction etc, all went up in flames! As a result, many Singer 201s were made AFTER the war. [IMG]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45563000/jpg/_45563679_bltizseven466by300.jpg[/IMG] [B]Singer's Clydebank factory burned to the ground after the Clydebank Blitz.[/B] Due to the vast reserves of timber and metal at the factory in Clydebank up in Scotland, the Singer factory was a deliberate target of the German Luftwaffe. Clydebank was so far north that it was believed to be untouchable, and well out of range of German bombers. In one night, almost the entire factory was razed to the ground. [IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/12540994_1687184938206652_6454013498160461529_n.jpg?oh=669d385eaf3d9cbd4258971f8baf9740&oe=5738E776&__gda__=1463410941_bb5d633cb56bc9edeaf7fef46cbe7483[/IMG] [B]Forward-Reverse + Stitch-length Selector Lever.[/B] This really was one of the last great Singer machines made in the traditional black-and-gold style. It had easy stitch-selection, it had forward-reverse movement, a very smooth action, and proving that Singer moved with the times - it had a very angular, minimalist Art Deco decal-pattern on the machine (called "Paperclips") which scream the 1930s. A machine like this when it was new back in the 30s would've come out during the very height of the Jazz Age, with big band and swing on the radio and flashy suits and impressive dresses being the rage. With luck and a whole lotta patience, you'll see this turned back into something resembling its original appearance...[/QUOTE]
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