Painting the Town - Part 9 Finale

At long last, I have finally put the Singer 66 repainted sewing machine back together and got her sewing again. The last post on the repainting process had her back together but then I discovered I hadn't put the bobbin winder/wheel cover back on. It hadn't even been painted so I got it taped, primed, painted and decal in place but that decal was going over a curve and would not fit the contour of the wheel cover. It looked terrible and I was afraid to put the clear coat on it and have it bubble up so it sat for a couple of weeks until I said "Now or never" and sprayed it. Coat one was passable, coat two was terrific:

Wheel cover from the back of Singer 66

I know! Pretty great, huh? I spent several hours yesterday, avoiding trimming the tree for Christmas, putting the rest of the parts back on, mainly the motor, and getting it running again. This was a sewing machine that got rewired so I knew it was in good shape now but I was concerned about possible paint that might have gotten into the workings of the shaft but that didn't seem to be a problem. What I did find out was how I hadn't cleaned it out good and there was a whole big wad of lint in the bobbin area. Still made some noise but then I found about four chunk of wadded up paper that I had used to block the holes while spray painting under the left face plate under the tension mechanism. I just kept at it until it was only the stitch quality I needed to work with. There was quite a bit of adjusting the bottom tension, foot pressure regulator, and almost none with the upper tension. If I put the upper tension on 5 and then adjust the bottom tension, it should then be in balance and I would only need to adjust the upper tension if I was using vastly different fabric. But I found the tension was too tight no matter what I did so I got the foot pressure regulator involved and that seemed to solve the problem. I would show you the samples I made but they were just a mass of puckered rows of stitches with only a couple of rows at the end that were perfect so I tossed them. I also finished off a spool of thread, that's how much test driving it took!

Here she is in all her glory:

Singer 66 with new paint and decals

Singer 66 repaint from the back

Singer 66 repaint face plate view

Singer 66 repaint bed of glass!

To read about her progress, you can start with Painting the Town, part 1 way back in August and I have to admit that even though it has taken much longer than I had hoped, the time it sat around waiting for me the paint was curing so it's now a nice hard finish and I'm not afraid to use it. It is not perfect, the edges of the decals still can be seen, but from where it started to now, well, I'll let you decide:

Singer 66 before painting: note letter scratched onto the bed?

I'm glad to write the final chapter on this one but now I have the Pfaff 130 to finish up. It has the black paint done and just waiting for the decals but with winter firmly in place here in Minnesota I don't want to spray paint indoors. We shall see but I comfort myself with the thought that if the first repaint can turn out like this one, the next should be even better? Just like children, each one is different (and special) with its own unique problems.

Now I'm off for a few days for some much needed R & R. Sewing machine sales have been brisk, proving my theory that everyone wants to get ready for the big snow or cold and have projects to divert them from the snowy driveway. Sew away!