I have been eyeing up 222Ks for ages, watching them slowly rise in price sooo accidentally bid for one on Ebay! And got it!
Looks nice and shiney but really mucky when you look properly.
Lots of very old fluff, no sign of any oil on the other moving parts. The drip felt underneath was like new with just a couple of dried oil marks which tells me it hasn't been oiled much at all.
When I plugged the lead into the machine, it ran on its own. Damm. Googled and found the solution, phew.
With the power and machine unplugged I took the foot pedal apart by undoing the screws in the rubber feet, then turn the pedal over pressed the button which pushes the cover off the controls inside.
p
There were 2 noise suppression capacitors in the foot which can fail and cause power to operate the foot without pressing the switch. They originally stopped the sewing machine interfering with the TV but modern tellies aren't affected anymore so these are no longer needed anyway.
All clean, polished, oiled and ready to go. Came with its original feet and a Singer rubber mat.
Made a new Liberty fabric bag for the foot control and leads.
I tried it out, the bottom tension was way out so adjusted that. The motor seems quite powerful, its faster than my 221K, its definitely quieter. The 222K is lovely to use.
The bed slides off so you have a really neat free arm. There also a lever next to the stitch length lever which lowers the feed dogs. How cool is that?
There was an original label from the shop which sold it in 1954.
I refurbished the case, the inside is in really good condition. One of the lock catches has been bent and is starting to crack, I was going to try and straighten it but had second thoughts, it might snap off so left it alone.
Told my sister Sandi that I had bought one which got her going and she accidently bought on as well!
She brought it over for me to see so had a quick check over it. Its in super condition and has been oiled and looked after. But when I checked the gears, they were covered in what looked like axle grease! Errr, big clumps of it, good job we looked, if that lot had got warm and melted it would have made a huge gooey mess inside. As usual I forgot to take a photo. Got it all cleaned off. Gears do need lubrication but use Singer Motor lubrication, if you can't get it April's Sewing Shop in the USA sells it. They do really good tutorials on how to look after your machine. Here is a link https://singer-featherweight.com/blogs/schoolhouse/tagged/maintenance
Happy Days
Sharon
You are very fortunate to get this machine. They are very rare here in Texas. I have only seen one in person. I didn't know Singer made a mat...something new I learned today.
ReplyDeleteHi Deborah, they were only made in Scotland and not in huge numbers like the 221, they are always available on EBay in the UK but again, not many. They did export to USA. They made the mat for the early machines, I think originally they went on the treadle pedal? They were black ones, this brown one exactly fits the base of my 201 which is loads bigger than the 22K so I think that its just been an added extra rather than sold with the machine. X
DeleteLooks a very nice machine! Good that you didn't have to do too much to it. Like the bag too!
ReplyDeleteFamous last words! Got it sewing lovely then it stuck solid with a thread jam so ended up having to take the hook apart, there was a tiny weeny bit of old thread. It was working with that huge nest of threads before I serviced it. I should have been brave at the beginning and took it apart! The hardest bit was getting the feeddog screw out, it had rusted in a bit. Had to get help with that. Its working again thank goodness. Take care. X
DeleteYes it's not easy taking the hook apart, but you can feel proud of yourself now for doing it...!
DeleteYou're such a skillful restorer and engineer! What an amazing job you're doing brininging life back to these gorgeous machines. Your sister must also be very grateful :) xxx
ReplyDeleteThink the title of engineer is a step too far but I am good at cleaning and polishing! These machines are so easy to work on. X
DeleteJust had the same problem with the Jones I'm working on, of the machine running by itself! I knew about this problem but your blog post served as a useful reminder. Capacitor removed and all is ok. Now on with the rest of the job!
ReplyDeleteGlad to be of assistance, good luck with the rest of the machine. x
DeleteAll this accidental sewing machine purchasing going on - however does that keep happening!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely that you've got this working.
I love the thought that sewing machines used to interfere with the tv, I had no idea!
To be honest, it was quite a bit less than it should have been so I left a bid not expecting to get it, no one else bid on it. So lucky.
DeleteMy 201k does affect the telly when I start sewing, just for a second. Not sure why but as I don't have the telly on when I sew haven't done anything about it.