Mangled

As promised, I'm going to tell you all about my new-to-me mangle. What is a mangle? Besides the idea of something being mutilated or damaged, a mangle machine is a large iron that gets very hot and with a moving roller it presses fabric like no portable iron can. It's fantastic! How did I get this item and restore it to its original functionality? I answered an ad for a free item and even though I was second on the list I was still the one who went home with my first mangle.

Ironrite 85 mangle

It was stored in a large recreation center that also doubled as storage for antiques but there was an event coming up so some of the stored items had to go. No one knew if it worked, it takes up a fair amount of space, so they just wanted to get rid of it. It's pretty heavy but we got it into the Jeep on its back and that probably wasn't the best of ideas. Once I got it home and had a neighbor help me get it out and upright only a few hours later, it was leaking oil. It was suggested to change the oil every year (is this a lawnmower?) so we got the oil drained off and new oil and seals on, hoping that was where the leaking was coming from. It hasn't leaked since so think we've got a great machine if we can only figure out how to use it.

Gearbox with new seal

It took quite a bit of cleaning with my TR3 car wax as well as auto body scratch remover but it finally came clean and looks fantastic. The big roller itself has a pad that was in excellent shape but the muslin cover for the padding was pretty well scorched. It was easy to make a new one but on my first use I left the rolled down while it was heating and scorched it! Now I know better but at the time I hadn't figured all of that out. It's pretty easy to make a new one and I still have more fabric so that might be in order while I have the fabric in hand.

Roller with new covering

The way this works is to turn on the heat element to your desired temperature just like a regular iron BUT separate the roller from the heating element as in the photo above. That's done with the red lever that makes it look like an emergency brake but it's just to raise the roller. Once the iron is heated up, taking nearly 10 minutes, lower the roller and start the motor:

Mangle controls

It rolls at a steady speed, too fast when you are a beginner, but you learn how to feed the fabric and keep everything straight. Here's some of the fabric I pressed:

Pressed fabric with mangle

I even felt bold and confident enough to press cotton batting and the pieced wall hanging I just finished: that was brave but it turned out great although I didn't use the highest heat setting. I've gone back to  clean and polish the surface until it's as good as it can ever be under my care.

Ironrite 85 cleaned up

It can also be used as a regular iron with the roller not moving but you need to move the roller up to release and lower to press. There are levers underneath that also are controls so you need to be sitting for part of this but I find it easier to stand to direct the fabric. I'm going to have fun with this and just trying to decide if I can keep it or if it needs to find a new home. All in all, it's quite a find for the sewer and quilter just not very portable!

Ironrite 85 mangle

Manuals are freely available and there are even videos about how to use one of these "new and improved" irons. I'm sure everyone wants a mangle now, right? They are pretty cool to use even though they are hot!