Holy cow - I wouldn't know where to start! Good luck to you!
Holy cow - I wouldn't know where to start! Good luck to you!
WOW!
Get a tub that is just big enough to hold the machine and a little taller. Buy a couple gallons of Lilly White (about $90 a gallon). Place machine in tub, fill tub to cover machine, place in warm location.Revisit about once a month to check progress.
This will be an epic restoration for sure!
"I aim to misbehave." - Capt. Mal Reynolds
Mind of a Rat Youtube Channel
Wow, thanks for all the responses and suggestions! I was about half expecting to hear, " Throw that thing back overboard!" So with your support, I'm gonna see what I can do with it . . .
Here's my situation: Free time & money are both in short supply. This thing was already discarded, so I figure there's nothing to lose and no love lost. All the "purists" will hate me for saying this, but I can't justify doing a true restoration on this machine. My intentions are to see if I can get it working again without dumping money into replacement parts and restoration products. From what I can see thus far, it is a complete machine (less the foot control), so it may be possible with what's there ---- If the individual pcs will free up, clean up, and function. Yeah, I know that's a stretch!
Last night I worked on it for a while and was able to get things turning again! I pulled the rods for the needle and presser foot, got the fwd/rev lever unfrozen, and got everything underneath moving again. The thread tension control is operating again, although the "spring loop?" has long since disintegrated. I spent almost an hour trying to figure out how to remove the needle plate. After searching online, it appeared that all variations of this model used two screws down through the top surface to attach this plate. Mine didn't have any--- or so I thought! after some careful scraping and poking, I uncovered the two screws that were TOTALLY hidden beneath the thick layer of rust & crust! Since these pics were taken, I got the bobbin housing out, but have yet to separate this lump into individual pieces . . . that'll be tonight's work.
Please don't hate me for it, but I think this project is going the way of "function over fashion." The housing itself and most of the components are rusted to the point of being deeply pitted, so I may just have to go with some camo paint to hide the imperfections and then black accents where it used to be chrome . . . How cool would it be to make gear on a "Klaussinator Black-Ops Thread Injector?!?"
-Klauss
My YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/rexmichaelson
"But hey, 2 trees anywhere is a bedroom waiting to happen, right?"
You're a braver man than I am Gunga Din.
Go for it! Camo paint is perfectly appropriate.
Some say I'm apathetic, but I don't care. - Randy
Purists won't hate you because there isn't any original finish left to save and there were several million 201's made. Candy Apple Red with flames would look awesome!
Take-up springs are readily available.
The disks on the tension assembly and the hook and bobbin assemblies are so critical to making a good stitch, that you may ultimately need to replace them and should be easy to find.
Let me know if you need any help finding parts or info. I think it is great that you are taking on this project.
You could name this "The Lazarus Project"! Good luck! I hope it ends up humming like a sewing machine!
Start filming and try to get show called "pimp my thread injector!" I'll bet it would make a better reality show than 99% of MTV shows.
Candy apple red with true flames...or a chip foose graphic!!
Seriously though out could probably replace the necessary parts for under $30 from ace sewing. Clean it up, time it and make some great gear!
--If a cow laughs hard, does milk come out its nose?
It's cool that parts are still available, and at reasonable prices. May have to start a short list . . . But I kinda like the challenge of trying to make it work with only what I've got. You know the old "desert island" scenario.
Yeah, candy-apple red & flames would look cool, but I'm afraid I'll be working with a very course surface. My son was looking at an old beat-up pickup with a really rough dented body, and I told him the best way to hide that would be a flat finish paint, preferably camo--- I'm thinkin the same applies here.
BTW Pag,
I had a good laugh at your sig line - That's funny!
-Klauss
My YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/rexmichaelson
"But hey, 2 trees anywhere is a bedroom waiting to happen, right?"
It's a quote from my then 2 year old son when we visited a relatives dairy farm.
No shame in bondo on a sewing machine though. I've done it to repair the bed of an old one of mine.
--If a cow laughs hard, does milk come out its nose?
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