Nuts and Volts - August 2015

by Bryan Bergeron, Editor by Bryan Bergeron, Editor

DEVELOPING

I’m in the middle of overhauling a vintage Singer 201-2 sewing machine, manufactured in the US in 1940. As I expected, the motor brushes need replacing, the old-fashioned leaf switch controlling the light is — at best — intermittent and needs a good cleaning, and the cotton-insulated wire is begging to be updated to fireproof silicon insulated wire. Old appliances — void of microcontrollers or even simple semiconductors — are a pleasure to tear down and rebuild. They’re fun as a solo weekend project, or, if you have someone you want to teach basic mechanics and electricity to, they make a good two or three weekend project. Even bringing an old toaster back to life can provide a sense of satisfaction.

Back to the Singer, there’s always more involved in a vintage repair than meets the eye. These old sewing machines require regular lubricating and cleaning like any other fine metal equipment. I’ve tried just about every grease on the market, and have come to rely on Tri-Flo clear grease. It’s a synthetic grease that’s fairly odorless, relatively inexpensive, and easy to come by. Just make certain you remove all of the old organic grease before you apply the Tri-Flo. The combination of old and new grease doesn’t perform well. One of the unfortunate characteristics of lighted appliances from the middle of the last century is that they relied on inefficient 110V incandescent bulbs. The Singer uses a miniature 15W bulb that gets extremely hot — hot enough to blister the paint on the bulb holder. I’ve solved that problem by replacing the incandescent with a more efficient, much cooler LED version. An unanticipated PERSPECTIVES