Success!!!

Remember my cool sewing machine I blogged about last time?  The one with the really scary wiring? Well...guess what came in the mail today??????

This!

This handcrank is one of the made-in-China models with the sloppy paint and terrible casting.  If you can get past the aesthetics, the piece is actually very solid and moves quite smoothly. Not bad for $15. You can buy them here. Also from that same site I bought the contents of the small baggie on the right. The contents include several red spool pin felts, long bobbins, and a replacement tension spring thread guide.

 Luckily my machine has the spoked handwheel - if you want to modify your machine from electric (or treadle) to hand crank, you will need a wheel like this one. Replacements can be purchased at the link I gave you above for the hand crank. Do you see the blurry silver shine below the handwheel on the pillar? That is the hole the crank attaches too. It's a really simple operation - when you see the machine and the crank, it is super obvious how to hook it up. It's sorta like a fork - just by looking at one you can tell which end to hold on to, and which end to stab food with. It is honestly that simple.

Here it is installed. It took me longer to take off the belt and motor than it did to hook this baby up. Did I mention it runs smooth as silk?

 Now onto the thread tensioner. Here it is with the screw off. 

 And here is the spring off

Here are the disks off 

Here is the new spring installed (incorrectly, I may add - I had to adjust it down towards the notch on the left) 

...and here is is all pretty and installed, and in place....

Okay - these pictures are lying to you -  they make it look like everything went together fast and easy...and it was anything but that. The new spring wouldn't catch onto the shaft, so I had to take some jewelry pliers and curl the end of the wire around the shaft more snugly. I should have taken pictures...but I'm just a rebel like that - I don't follow rules.

 The only issue with any of the bits and bobs I bought are these long bobbins. They don't fit into my bobbin winder fully - see how the right end fits into the hub nicely, and the left sticks out? I tried winding one (the winder still works - even with the belt gone), and it got all sloppy and weird on the end that doesn't fit right. I'll have to try my fiddle base and see if it fits that machine.

After some jiggery-buggery with the tensioner, and a new needle, this is the beautiful stitch it makes - this is the front

 Bobbin side - I used red and green thread purposely to see how balanced the stitch is. Click on these pics to enlarge and see how perfect and balanced they are.  All in all I'm really happy I got this machine working! It is such a cute 3/4 machine. I may use this as one of my portables when doing lessons. The only caveat is it skips a stitch once in a while - I'm not sure if that is due to technique (I've never used a hand crank before), or an issue with the machine. I may oil it more and try again. Also I plan to rewire the lamp - I like the crank a lot, but I really think it needs the light. Actually, the cool part about adding a crank is that it's totally reversible. If I decide later I want an electric machine again, I just re-wire in the motor.  Awesome, eh?

Okay - I think I'm over these "look how cool my machines are" posts. Are you ready to see some sewing technique posts?

Well....it will have to wait. A week, at least. I'll be out of town until the 7th of May, so you will just have to contain yourself until then!

Have you ever used a hand crank sewing machine? 

Would you consider using one as a portable? (think about it - I now have a machine I can use in the Festival parking lot if I need to).

Comment below!