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[eviscerate3]

Sequence of events:

-Wipe the loose dirt off the outside with a damp cloth...
-Tilt the machine back and vacuum the cobwebs and dust...
-Open up the user's manual, go to section on oiling the machine and oil ALL of the places it directs you to and turn the machine over by hand to work the oil in....

Chances are the machine will turn freely and the motor will be able to do it's job. However, the grease in the motor housing will still be dried up and needs to be cleaned out and the commutator/brushes on the motor can be cleaned up while you're in there. If the insulation on the exposed motor wiring crumbled when you removed the motor, you know it needs replaced.


This link has good photos of the exterior pieces that are easy to remove for cleaning.

This link is the best one around for detailed instructions on everything that may need done to the motor/motor housing. Study and understand it before you start. It is the same for those with Singer 201-2's.

Be forewarned that motor brush caps are Bakelite and prone to breaking so get a large screwdriver that fits them well. Replacements are available here.

Here's the Singer Adjuster's Manual.

There is little to no chance that you will have reason to remove any of the shafts and linkages inside the machine. Just oil every place where metal moves against metal.

I sent you a PM with my email if/as you have questions.

This forum is amazing! and so full of knowledge. Thank you so much!

[Rat]

For new readers: The reason many or most of these 20-35lb sms can "run like new" is because the wearing parts --the entire drive train after the motor and the feed dogs -- are made of the same materials and with the same tight clearances as "commercial" equipment which was developed over three quarters of a century to run for thousands of hours. That's machine time, not operator time.

Whole different world today, recognizing that the number of stitches to be delivered by the machine, except for embroidery machines, is several orders of magnitude less.

IOW, they don't build 'em like they used to!

[DemostiX]

That's right. The market is differentiated, or segmented.

There was a last golden age of home sewing machines through the 1950s and into the 1960's, when Japan, with all the QC their companies were capable of, added to the already- capable array of US and European machines. When multiple stitches, done through cams and nylon gears were introduced as features to distinguish models and command a higher price, the old iron "economy" models were no less machines than they had been. Mfgs did not and could not differentiate between customers who were rare home sewists and home sewists who -- as had been frequent and traditional -- for the previous half-century, were doing piecework at home, using their sms constantly.

Not sewing curtains, seaming yard after yard of fabric, but assembling clothing, and doing repairs on clothing and other fabric items. I don't make belts or canvas bags at home. But, my Italian Necchi's will handle a size 20 needle; and if I set the thread tensions right, I can make repairs in canvas and leather goods with Tex 93 thread and bar tack straps with appropriately heavy Tex 50 thread.

This is not the time or place to disabuse the belief that these heavily used sm's were, as they are labeled at ebay sales, "semi-commercial." Theyare not. Motors are too small, and the SMs are not made more continuous high-speed production. Further, a professional tailor or seamstress will want, for day in and day-out year-after-year use absolute reliability -- their business and income depends on it -- of true commercial machines.

To give SailRite its due: They do make them like (somewhat) like they used to, and the price begins at about U$650. http://www.sailrite.com/Ultrafeed-LS...t#.Up-9X4JMkiw

[VictoriaGuy]

I just picked up this Pfaff 1222SE locally- $125Cdn.

I'm pretty familiar with the 1222E, after replacing a couple of parts in our 'family' machine, so it didn't take me long to get this one up to speed.
It came with a nice vertical lift cabinet (the pic doesn't show it properly).

I like Euro machines, especially the Pfaffs with the top feed.
The 1222 family have needle up and a threader, two things I also like.

Oh, yeah- broke my 'no more than $30' rule for this one!!

[gmcttr]

...Oh, yeah- broke my 'no more than $30' rule for this one!!

Good choice!

[gmcttr]

I just picked up this Pfaff 1222SE locally- $125Cdn...

I just watched a Pfaff 1222E go for $500 US + $40 shipping on ebay.

[VictoriaGuy]

I just watched a Pfaff 1222E go for $500 US + $40 shipping on ebay.

I'm a happy camper. Those machines sold for $1000 or so in the mid-70s.

Mine is running perfectly now - it took about an hour of work to get it 'loosened up' and lubed. I even got the needle threader working again- the prong wasn't broken, just bent.

Sewed up a silnylon stuff sac for keeping the inner tent dry if I need to pack it separately, just to make sure the machine was up to the job.

[DemostiX]

$125 is a lot to spend just so you can more easily sew the end seams and maybe line-pockets on a couple or few sets of snake-skins for your tarps.

Real sewists perform on wide beds.

(Yes, I am easy shipping distance from you, and will pay for extra packing material.)

[BackpackerGuy]

Here's my baby.
As sexy as they come.

[VictoriaGuy]

$125 is a lot to spend just so you can more easily sew the end seams and maybe line-pockets on a couple or few sets of snake-skins for your tarps.

Real sewists perform on wide beds.

(Yes, I am easy shipping distance from you, and will pay for extra packing material.)

You could get a flat-bed version of this one, in the day. (1221)...
When the machine drops down a few inches into the cabinet, it's flat-bed.
I also like the triple lock stitch and the ability to bar-tack/zigzag, and the needle threader, and the quick threading path, and the powerful motor, and the top feed, and the ability to sew thick layers without losing tension, and..........

The urban myth is that they used to demo these machines by stitching a (soft?) wooden ruler, but I've heard that story about several different sewing machines...
They are solid, though...the crankshaft is about 3/4" thick..