I cannot express how thrilling it is to me to see these parts come clean from following your guidance. This is my first attempt at cleaning any sewing machine and I just jumped in with both feet with my newly found 301a when I found your series. THANK YOU!!!!!
You are welcome! Yes, it is always a thrill to watch the transformation and it's so satisfying to do something productive with your hands! Good luck with your restoration, let me know if you have any questions!
@@SewingMachineRehab I actually do have a question. When I first bought this machine and ran it, it had a deep rubbing sound coming from the worm gear. When I first got the motor out, the wormgear turned, but definitely not freely. The casing at the bottom of the motor wasn’t very dirty - certainly not like the one you had with all the carbon dust in it. Now the worm gear spins a little more freely, but I’m wondering what ‘symptoms’ you would identify to decide if the bearing needs to be replaced or not. I don’t want to get this all back together only to find out it’s still making that low, rubbing sound.
To make using my ultrasonic cleaner even faster, I use the small strainer baskets designed for sink drains. Got a set of three for @ $4 at Walmart. Each basket can hold a full bag of parts, so I’m done three times faster. 😊
Love this series! You suggest oiling the cleaned parts (to prevent rust?) as the last step before reassembly. Should I just wipe them down with sewing machine oil on a paper towel?
Hi! It depends on what parts. The feed fork and feed connecting rod benefit from a wipe down with oil. As well as the screws. The plated parts not as much, just oil in all the pivoting parts. If you wipe parts down with oil a soft cloth or paper towel is fine, you want to coat them but excess is not helpful either. I hope that helps!
@@SewingMachineRehab make sure you've got a hold of it good LOL. Depends on which kind it is I use a buffalo wheel on a grinding motor. Good luck you can really make one pop
Thank you for sharing another well done video with everyone. I sure wish I had seen this a few years ago lol. As amazing as Krud Kutter is for cleaning anything and everything, I learned fast no using on machine painted surfaces. I used it on the black tensioner disks on a 201 and within minutes had lost all white numbers and some of the black. I am so happy to see the big difference in these motors than the 201s and 15-91 potted motors. I always seem to find the nightmare ones of those. These look way more enjoyable to do. Blessings
Deborah, my first black machine was a Featherweight. I learned what not to do on that one, sadly. In the end I was able to make it beautiful but there was a place or two that all of the lacquer ended up getting removed and I was literally polishing paint and waxing it. I agree, the potted motors are not as easy, I love that the 301’s are not hardwired. Less to go wrong and easier to replace a bad cord. Thanks for watching! Blessings to you as well! :)
Thanks for video! I just recently got a very rough condition 301 and wanted to start the cleaning process. These videos will come in handy. Hope I can achieve some type of shine!
When I acquired a completely locked up 66 treadle I used Tri-Flow and WD-40 to clean all the varnished oil and grease out of it. I also used Tri-Flow on a small stiff paint brush to loosen the dried grease in the gears of my featherweight then pulled out with a dental pick. Also, why can you crud cutter the tan machine in the sink but not the black one?
Hi! The finish on the black machines reacts very differently to chemicals than the tan ones do. Putting the tan machines in the sink is optional, you can also just clean them the way you would a black machine. And...I love my dental picks, they are very handy tools!
Hola Yo compré una máquina singer eterna y es color cajeta y con 30discos y algunas patitas por separados y tenían arrumbada esa máquina toda cochambrosa y prieta de polvo y me gustó y me la vendieron en $2000,00 y la limpie con desgrass ese líquido que usan para la cocina primero la cepille en seco y después le pase esponja con axion liquido sin mojarla mucho después la seque con una franela y le puse desgrass y quedó súper nueva después le pase aceite lubricante singer Y la dejé unos minutos y después la puse en marcha y me funcionó lo más básico y ya después le encontré el funcionamiento de los discos y patitas y todo está súper bien amo mi máquina vieja porque me ayuda mucho y paso irás con ella cociendo muchas maravillas aaaa el mueble está BN solo limpie la rueda y las patas aunque la uso eléctrica
Love this series! So informative and an invaluable service for restoring my free 301A. Wondering which penetrating spray you recommend for a stubborn screw and what do I do if my motor does not spin freely 😢
I am a fan of Kroil (non aerosol) or Aerokroil (aerosol) all the way. Bob Fowler turned me on to it and it is amazing. It also won’t hurt the black finishes, major bonus. I hope that helps!
Hi! I am assuming you are talking about the hand wheel gear and the worm gear on the motor. I clean those when the motor is out and the hand wheel is off. Wipe away as much grease as you can and then I clean the worm gear with alcohol and the pointed cotton swabs. Just be careful to not let alcohol drip down into the bearing that is right before the worm gear. The hand wheel can be cleaned almost the same way. Rather than dunking either of those parts in alcohol you just want to put the alcohol onto whatever you are using (rag, cotton swabs) and then rub those across the surface of the gears. I hope that helps! The idea is to get as much of the old grease off as you can as well as remove any large bits of gunk that could cause issues with how the gears mesh. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just clean enough that the new grease you apply will have a chance to do its job properly.
The black ones definitely take a lot more elbow grease! But the end result is worth it…I think it is useful to know how to care for both. It seems like there are more black vintage machines around than other colors, especially when it comes to Singers…
Actually, I had never heard of it. After checking it out, I think I will have to give it a try. It sounds like it would be safe to use on electrical components (made for them) and it displaces moisture. Good call, let me know if you have tried it or if you do and how it works for you. I also read that it will help remove carbon, that would be a plus in these old motors! Thanks for the comment!
This reply is a little late, I sell the oil wicks and grease wicks on my site pre-cut. I buy them in bulk, 20' at a time usually and cut them myself. The grease wicks are 1/8" diameter and I would have to check on the oil wicks...I think they are 1/16"...
Hi! I think we worked your problem out through emails, just didn’t want to leave this comment here hanging unanswered. After cleaning the machine can be pretty dry. Adding oil to all the oil ports usually gets them moving again!
Hi! I am glad you asked, it is grease wick. The motor uses a grease wick and then the top of the machine takes oil wicks. Depending on the year of your 301 it may not need the wicks on top because they were replaced with little plugs. I am thinking of adding the wicks to my online store so that people can just buy what they need and not have to buy the product in bulk. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hi again. We’ve removed the motor and the grease wick came out in two pieces. One is about 5/8” long and the other 1/4”. I’m having trouble finding this wick so would the 5/8 be enough? If I get a new one do I request it be greased or is that something we do?
Hi! I sell replacement wicks on my site, if you’d like to go that route. 5/8” may be a little short, you just want it to be able to reach the bearing so it can do its job.
I would never spray water into a machine. Never. While you can remove the surface rust as you've shown, you cannot remove the rust that will form inside the screw threads, the nuts and in particular the pivot points that secure the rocker shafts. The method shown is almost guaranteed to create corrosion on parts that can't be cleaned without dismantling the machine. I had a machine that to look at was as clean as can be. It was working heavily though and after partially dismantling the bottom of the machine, I found rust and corrosion inside the pivot points. You wouldn't know the rust was there to look at it. After cleaning that up and polishing the points the machine is now maybe 20% faster and it runs very very smoothly. Spraying water as shown here is not something I would ever do. As far as I'm concerned, there are two ways to clean old oil: you either take the machine apart and clean the parts or you clean in place using a solvent like kerosene or 99% alcohol. Never use 70% as that's 30% water. In their user manuals and if I'm not mistaken at least one service manual I've seen, Singer recommended using kerosene. That's what I use when I clean parts in place. Kerosene works perfectly and there is no danger of damaging the machine by creating rust inside crucial parts like the pivot points.
Thank you for sharing and being so frank and honest about why you wouldn’t use water. I should take apart one of my machines I cleaned this way a while ago and see if there is rust hiding out anywhere. I have a question for you about the kerosene, how do you dispose of the old rags or whatever you use when you clean with kerosene? This was always my concern, not sure if I would be able to wash an old towel or rag after it had kerosene on it and worried about making flammable trash. Specifically on the 301’s, I have been concerned about dismantling much further because I didn’t want to change the gear mesh on certain places which is why I choose to clean parts in place in some areas. What are your thoughts?
@@SewingMachineRehab You're welcome, I should add I enjoy your videos very much. You might have rust inside of parts that do not show on the surface. That's why I wouldn't use water inside a machine, especially when kerosene will do the job just as well and safely. The reason I'm such a fan of kerosene is that Singer recommended it in their manuals. And I know that old time sewing machine mechanics, especially those who worked on industrial machines would sit a machine in a pan of kerosene to deal with the bottom of the machine, and drip kerosene into the oiling holes at the top of the machine to clean it. Krud Kutter and other degreasers are fine on parts that have been removed from a machine and which can be dried right away after rinsing. As for gears on a 301, what you can do is mark each of the gears with a sharpie so that you know which teeth have worn in and meshed with which. The other thing that can be done is simply leave the gears alone, and clean in place, but dismantle the rest. If it were me, I would leave them in place and flood the area with kerosene to get rid of any oil or grease buildup. As for spontaneous combustion, it is a legitimate concern. There is information on the web posted by fire departments as to how to deal with oily rags. The method I use is simply to hang them up outside, spread out, not bunched up. This is the method that woodworkers use to deal with rags used to finish wood using linseed or tung oil. Kerosene is rather volatile and after a day on the line, the towel or rag will no longer have enough petroleum products to combust. It will have evaporated. DO NOT wash the rag in a washing machine hoping that will be enough to get rid of the oil. It may not be enough to do so and people have had rags combust after being washed in a washing machine. But hanging a towel on a line, spread out will be enough to allow the oil to evaporate. Woodworkers will leave a rag spread out for a day until the oil "hardens" and then throw it away. I would spend a few minutes looking at advice from fire department websites as to how to deal with oily rages. You can also get some really good information from a woodworker who provides a really good explanation of how spontaneous combustion works here: czcams.com/video/QP-1p055tmY/video.html It's a 7 minute video complete with a demonstration from a Maryland fire department. One other comment, and that's on your video on cleaning motors. Be careful when using contact cleaner to never let any of the spray touch the black insulation on the windings. Not all electric contact cleaners are the same, but they more or less all use highly refined petroleum products like naphtha or lighter fluid, something that will dissolve heavier oils and immediately evaporate. The potential problem here is that this type of product might dissolve the insulation on the windings and thereby destroy the motor. I read someplace that at some point Singer used shellac as part of the formula for the insulation on the windings. You don't want to dissolve the shellac. Since there's no way to know whether or not the windings were insulated with a product that can be dissolved with the spray contact cleaner, I wouldn't use it on the windings. I use contact cleaner on the rest of the motor, but not the insulation on the windings. I know that AndyTube demonstrated using contact cleaner on motor windings, but I wouldn't do it. Again, different contact cleaners use different formulas and different motors use different insulation on the windings. And because of that you can never know whether or not your particular contact cleaner will damage the insulation. I would also never use sandpaper on a sewing machine commutator unless absolutely necessary. I've done it where it was necessary, but I avoid it where possible. The reason is that the copper on these commutators is very thin and they've been in service for decades. Sandpaper will remove copper and potentially destroy a motor. That's not the end of the world with machines that have external motors. A new one can be installed. It is however a major problem with internal motors on machines such as a 301. You won't be able to find a new motor to fit that machine if the old one is damaged. What you demonstrate works well for me, a soft cloth with 99% alcohol or contact cleaner to remove most of the carbon build-up and leave it alone.
I cannot express how thrilling it is to me to see these parts come clean from following your guidance. This is my first attempt at cleaning any sewing machine and I just jumped in with both feet with my newly found 301a when I found your series. THANK YOU!!!!!
You are welcome! Yes, it is always a thrill to watch the transformation and it's so satisfying to do something productive with your hands! Good luck with your restoration, let me know if you have any questions!
@@SewingMachineRehab I actually do have a question. When I first bought this machine and ran it, it had a deep rubbing sound coming from the worm gear. When I first got the motor out, the wormgear turned, but definitely not freely. The casing at the bottom of the motor wasn’t very dirty - certainly not like the one you had with all the carbon dust in it. Now the worm gear spins a little more freely, but I’m wondering what ‘symptoms’ you would identify to decide if the bearing needs to be replaced or not. I don’t want to get this all back together only to find out it’s still making that low, rubbing sound.
To make using my ultrasonic cleaner even faster, I use the small strainer baskets designed for sink drains. Got a set of three for @ $4 at Walmart. Each basket can hold a full bag of parts, so I’m done three times faster. 😊
That's a great idea!
Excellent rehab! Very meticulous!
Thank you! I loved making this series!
Love this series! You suggest oiling the cleaned parts (to prevent rust?) as the last step before reassembly. Should I just wipe them down with sewing machine oil on a paper towel?
Hi! It depends on what parts. The feed fork and feed connecting rod benefit from a wipe down with oil. As well as the screws. The plated parts not as much, just oil in all the pivoting parts. If you wipe parts down with oil a soft cloth or paper towel is fine, you want to coat them but excess is not helpful either. I hope that helps!
It's amazing some parts if you buff them just don't lose it on the buffer wheel but you can make one of these really shine on the bright parts
Yes, my husband got me something to buff with for my birthday. I can’t wait to try it out and see how much elbow grease I can save.
@@SewingMachineRehab make sure you've got a hold of it good LOL. Depends on which kind it is I use a buffalo wheel on a grinding motor. Good luck you can really make one pop
Thank you for sharing another well done video with everyone. I sure wish I had seen this a few years ago lol. As amazing as Krud Kutter is for cleaning anything and everything, I learned fast no using on machine painted surfaces. I used it on the black tensioner disks on a 201 and within minutes had lost all white numbers and some of the black. I am so happy to see the big difference in these motors than the 201s and 15-91 potted motors. I always seem to find the nightmare ones of those. These look way more enjoyable to do. Blessings
Deborah, my first black machine was a Featherweight. I learned what not to do on that one, sadly. In the end I was able to make it beautiful but there was a place or two that all of the lacquer ended up getting removed and I was literally polishing paint and waxing it. I agree, the potted motors are not as easy, I love that the 301’s are not hardwired. Less to go wrong and easier to replace a bad cord. Thanks for watching! Blessings to you as well! :)
Thanks for video! I just recently got a very rough condition 301 and wanted to start the cleaning process. These videos will come in handy. Hope I can achieve some type of shine!
You are very welcome! It’s a rewarding process, I wish you much success!
When I acquired a completely locked up 66 treadle I used Tri-Flow and WD-40 to clean all the varnished oil and grease out of it. I also used Tri-Flow on a small stiff paint brush to loosen the dried grease in the gears of my featherweight then pulled out with a dental pick. Also, why can you crud cutter the tan machine in the sink but not the black one?
Hi! The finish on the black machines reacts very differently to chemicals than the tan ones do. Putting the tan machines in the sink is optional, you can also just clean them the way you would a black machine. And...I love my dental picks, they are very handy tools!
Hola
Yo compré una máquina singer eterna y es color cajeta y con 30discos y algunas patitas por separados y tenían arrumbada esa máquina toda cochambrosa y prieta de polvo y me gustó y me la vendieron en $2000,00 y la limpie con desgrass ese líquido que usan para la cocina primero la cepille en seco y después le pase esponja con axion liquido sin mojarla mucho después la seque con una franela y le puse desgrass y quedó súper nueva después le pase aceite lubricante singer Y la dejé unos minutos y después la puse en marcha y me funcionó lo más básico y ya después le encontré el funcionamiento de los discos y patitas y todo está súper bien amo mi máquina vieja porque me ayuda mucho y paso irás con ella cociendo muchas maravillas aaaa el mueble está BN solo limpie la rueda y las patas aunque la uso eléctrica
It sounds like a nice machine!
Love this series! So informative and an invaluable service for restoring my free 301A.
Wondering which penetrating spray you recommend for a stubborn screw and what do I do if my motor does not spin freely 😢
I am a fan of Kroil (non aerosol) or Aerokroil (aerosol) all the way. Bob Fowler turned me on to it and it is amazing. It also won’t hurt the black finishes, major bonus. I hope that helps!
How do you clean the gears in the hand wheel? I love this series.
Hi! I am assuming you are talking about the hand wheel gear and the worm gear on the motor. I clean those when the motor is out and the hand wheel is off. Wipe away as much grease as you can and then I clean the worm gear with alcohol and the pointed cotton swabs. Just be careful to not let alcohol drip down into the bearing that is right before the worm gear. The hand wheel can be cleaned almost the same way. Rather than dunking either of those parts in alcohol you just want to put the alcohol onto whatever you are using (rag, cotton swabs) and then rub those across the surface of the gears. I hope that helps! The idea is to get as much of the old grease off as you can as well as remove any large bits of gunk that could cause issues with how the gears mesh. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just clean enough that the new grease you apply will have a chance to do its job properly.
Seeing how you can clean the tan machine the black ones look like a pain and will not get as clean.
The black ones definitely take a lot more elbow grease! But the end result is worth it…I think it is useful to know how to care for both. It seems like there are more black vintage machines around than other colors, especially when it comes to Singers…
Have you ever tried LPS1 for electronics?
Actually, I had never heard of it. After checking it out, I think I will have to give it a try. It sounds like it would be safe to use on electrical components (made for them) and it displaces moisture. Good call, let me know if you have tried it or if you do and how it works for you. I also read that it will help remove carbon, that would be a plus in these old motors! Thanks for the comment!
Where to you get your wicks? Also what diameter is best?
This reply is a little late, I sell the oil wicks and grease wicks on my site pre-cut. I buy them in bulk, 20' at a time usually and cut them myself. The grease wicks are 1/8" diameter and I would have to check on the oil wicks...I think they are 1/16"...
You are gorgeous 😘
Thank you!!
I cleaned the body but now all the moving parts are frozen up, nothing will turn. any ideas what i should do or why it happened?
Hi! I think we worked your problem out through emails, just didn’t want to leave this comment here hanging unanswered. After cleaning the machine can be pretty dry. Adding oil to all the oil ports usually gets them moving again!
@@SewingMachineRehab Worked great! Thanks for all your support!
I just love your videos. What did you call the wick you said needed to be replaced? It sounded like Greek wicking which I’ve never heard of.
Hi! I am glad you asked, it is grease wick. The motor uses a grease wick and then the top of the machine takes oil wicks. Depending on the year of your 301 it may not need the wicks on top because they were replaced with little plugs. I am thinking of adding the wicks to my online store so that people can just buy what they need and not have to buy the product in bulk. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Love your videos! When will you be selling the grease wicking? (Lol). Do you think denatured alcohol would be better than isopropyl or 99% alcohol?
Hi again. We’ve removed the motor and the grease wick came out in two pieces. One is about 5/8” long and the other 1/4”. I’m having trouble finding this wick so would the 5/8 be enough? If I get a new one do I request it be greased or is that something we do?
Hi! I sell replacement wicks on my site, if you’d like to go that route. 5/8” may be a little short, you just want it to be able to reach the bearing so it can do its job.
I would never spray water into a machine. Never. While you can remove the surface rust as you've shown, you cannot remove the rust that will form inside the screw threads, the nuts and in particular the pivot points that secure the rocker shafts. The method shown is almost guaranteed to create corrosion on parts that can't be cleaned without dismantling the machine.
I had a machine that to look at was as clean as can be. It was working heavily though and after partially dismantling the bottom of the machine, I found rust and corrosion inside the pivot points. You wouldn't know the rust was there to look at it. After cleaning that up and polishing the points the machine is now maybe 20% faster and it runs very very smoothly. Spraying water as shown here is not something I would ever do.
As far as I'm concerned, there are two ways to clean old oil: you either take the machine apart and clean the parts or you clean in place using a solvent like kerosene or 99% alcohol. Never use 70% as that's 30% water. In their user manuals and if I'm not mistaken at least one service manual I've seen, Singer recommended using kerosene. That's what I use when I clean parts in place. Kerosene works perfectly and there is no danger of damaging the machine by creating rust inside crucial parts like the pivot points.
Thank you for sharing and being so frank and honest about why you wouldn’t use water. I should take apart one of my machines I cleaned this way a while ago and see if there is rust hiding out anywhere. I have a question for you about the kerosene, how do you dispose of the old rags or whatever you use when you clean with kerosene? This was always my concern, not sure if I would be able to wash an old towel or rag after it had kerosene on it and worried about making flammable trash. Specifically on the 301’s, I have been concerned about dismantling much further because I didn’t want to change the gear mesh on certain places which is why I choose to clean parts in place in some areas. What are your thoughts?
@@SewingMachineRehab You're welcome, I should add I enjoy your videos very much. You might have rust inside of parts that do not show on the surface. That's why I wouldn't use water inside a machine, especially when kerosene will do the job just as well and safely. The reason I'm such a fan of kerosene is that Singer recommended it in their manuals. And I know that old time sewing machine mechanics, especially those who worked on industrial machines would sit a machine in a pan of kerosene to deal with the bottom of the machine, and drip kerosene into the oiling holes at the top of the machine to clean it.
Krud Kutter and other degreasers are fine on parts that have been removed from a machine and which can be dried right away after rinsing.
As for gears on a 301, what you can do is mark each of the gears with a sharpie so that you know which teeth have worn in and meshed with which. The other thing that can be done is simply leave the gears alone, and clean in place, but dismantle the rest. If it were me, I would leave them in place and flood the area with kerosene to get rid of any oil or grease buildup.
As for spontaneous combustion, it is a legitimate concern. There is information on the web posted by fire departments as to how to deal with oily rags. The method I use is simply to hang them up outside, spread out, not bunched up. This is the method that woodworkers use to deal with rags used to finish wood using linseed or tung oil. Kerosene is rather volatile and after a day on the line, the towel or rag will no longer have enough petroleum products to combust. It will have evaporated. DO NOT wash the rag in a washing machine hoping that will be enough to get rid of the oil. It may not be enough to do so and people have had rags combust after being washed in a washing machine. But hanging a towel on a line, spread out will be enough to allow the oil to evaporate. Woodworkers will leave a rag spread out for a day until the oil "hardens" and then throw it away. I would spend a few minutes looking at advice from fire department websites as to how to deal with oily rages.
You can also get some really good information from a woodworker who provides a really good explanation of how spontaneous combustion works here: czcams.com/video/QP-1p055tmY/video.html
It's a 7 minute video complete with a demonstration from a Maryland fire department.
One other comment, and that's on your video on cleaning motors. Be careful when using contact cleaner to never let any of the spray touch the black insulation on the windings. Not all electric contact cleaners are the same, but they more or less all use highly refined petroleum products like naphtha or lighter fluid, something that will dissolve heavier oils and immediately evaporate. The potential problem here is that this type of product might dissolve the insulation on the windings and thereby destroy the motor. I read someplace that at some point Singer used shellac as part of the formula for the insulation on the windings. You don't want to dissolve the shellac. Since there's no way to know whether or not the windings were insulated with a product that can be dissolved with the spray contact cleaner, I wouldn't use it on the windings. I use contact cleaner on the rest of the motor, but not the insulation on the windings.
I know that AndyTube demonstrated using contact cleaner on motor windings, but I wouldn't do it. Again, different contact cleaners use different formulas and different motors use different insulation on the windings. And because of that you can never know whether or not your particular contact cleaner will damage the insulation.
I would also never use sandpaper on a sewing machine commutator unless absolutely necessary. I've done it where it was necessary, but I avoid it where possible. The reason is that the copper on these commutators is very thin and they've been in service for decades. Sandpaper will remove copper and potentially destroy a motor. That's not the end of the world with machines that have external motors. A new one can be installed. It is however a major problem with internal motors on machines such as a 301. You won't be able to find a new motor to fit that machine if the old one is damaged. What you demonstrate works well for me, a soft cloth with 99% alcohol or contact cleaner to remove most of the carbon build-up and leave it alone.
Kerosene is just the old school cleaner
@@r.duroucher225, do you have any videos for vintage restoration? I have 221