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
Vintage Repair
6 August 2015
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