Wizard Update

Despite being disappointed with my Wizard sewing machine arriving damaged (the wood box, not the machine), getting it to sew with the automatic feature took some time and ... wizardry? I tried Triflow sewing machine oil, I tried a hair dryer blowing on old oil, and I even got up every morning to move the camstack while giving it another try. Nothing. Over the weekend, I turned it over and used the hair dryer blowing from the bottom up. With a penlight I could see the bottom of something that was covered in dark oil. Maybe that was it? I set it up again to run it and I couldn't get the camstack to turn. Oh no, what had I done? I went ahead and tried to just see if it would run at all and now....(drum roll here) it was turning automatically! I did it!

I don't know just what I did, but the automatic feature now works. This means you can choose one of the six stitch patterns, pull out the red knob for automatic, and the stitch is made automatically. No cams to insert, or lose, here's what they look like:

Wizard stitch sample

Okay, so they are not as precise as a Bernina, but not too shabby either.  I will have to compare it to the Brother Select-O-Matic since they are nearly the same machine. It runs quiet, but not as a whisper like the Brother but it's still a very nice sewing machine.

Since the box came in pieces, I had to glue it back in to shape and then covered it with a jaunty stripe fabric:

What's inside?

Wizard ready to sew in her newly covered base

Wizard with top behind (just showing off)

I use a spray fabric adhesive so it's not difficult but tedious. This is much better than the old covering and now she's all reinforced and looking spiffy.  I even covered the inside of the top so all of the old paper covering is gone now. I still need to gather up some attachments but she does have a new power cord and foot control since the old one would get too hot and it wasn't safe anymore.  I'm please with the end result and know it's a good machine after all. Print manual? I think I could write up one of my own that would be clearer than the Brother Select-O-Matic but not sure I want to spend the time to do so. We shall see.

Now my Brother has a brother that's not only functioning but easy on the eyes, too. Will she get sold? I hope so but it still needs a nose plate for the left side and that might take some time to locate the right one. But maybe someone will fall in love with it, flaws and all, as I did. Who knows? These things happen!

We're Off To See The Wizard

We aren't going to the Land of Oz, but we are going to look at a sewing machine called a Wizard.

Early on in my sewing machine adventure I was given a Brother Select-o-Matic that is just a dream to sew on. She is a bit shop worn but is still quite beautiful:

Brother Select-o-Matic

Yet, as with so many beauties, she is complex. No simple push of a button for her, you need to read the rather complex manual to figure out how to do even a straight stitch, let alone the wide variety of decorative stitches. there are three dials and two levers to make stitches! But the quality of those stitches is quite good and she is such a quiet worker so I was on the lookout for another one. Of course, in time I found one, a Wizard:

Wizard 2JC 8867 after cleaning

They are not quite identical but are certainly fraternal twins, don't you think? The only difference I could see was the lack of a needle position lever but you can't have everything so I went ahead and bought it from eBay. Now here comes the tricky part: it showed the shipping & handling was free but when I sent my payment I got a note back about when was the shipping going to be sent. Ah, it was free S&H. Oops, there was a mistake...so we agreed to split the cost of $57 for S&H (she's hefty sewing machine). I sent another note asking for the head to be wrapped in bubble wrap, take out the needle, put the presser foot down so the lever didn't get broken off, and to please wrap it securely since it was so heavy it could easily get wrecked right within its own packaging. Here's how it came:

Wood box in cardboard box

Added to the box were other boxes as spacers with only newspaper tossed in. There were 3 small pieces of bubble wrap that were just thrown in, not wrapped around anything. The wood case was nearly shattered:

Not much left of this case

but the good news was the machine seemed to be fine. Whew! It was one of the dirtiest machines I have ever seen but that's not impossible to clean up and I set to work.

Nose plate is missing (I didn't notice this?)

Hardened oil underneath

So much to clean up on the bed

 After so much cleaning and oiling, I finally plugged it into one of my new motor blocks and she ran like the wind. That was too fast so I checked over the wiring of the foot control and cords that it came with and they were fine so I went ahead and plugged it in: she was purring. This is so nice and I might even find that nose plate over time but it works fine without it. Even with all of the nicks and dings in the bed of this machine, it still cleaned up and had a very nice shine on its finish. My satisfaction was tempered when I found out I couldn't get it to do those fancy stitches, even though I used that difficult manual. So I placed my Brother Select-o-Matic and the Wizard side by side to see what the problem might be. As it turns out, the camstack isn't turning (pun intended) so I'm oiling and rotating it every day to see if the Triflow can work its magic.
I did manage to glue the wood box back together but there was a section of the cover that was missing so I used some indoor/outdoor filler compound to form a new piece in place. When it gets covered with new fabric it will look wonderful, so spiffy in her updated box. I'll post updated photos when she's ready and let you know if I get the camstack to turn just like the Brother sewing machines does.

So now my Brother has a brother (but it's a Wizard) and doesn't feel jealous. After all, it was here first.