Kenmore 158.1040 (1972)

Well I looked and waited and looked and waited then I snagged a reasonably priced 1040 on EBay. Let's face it, for whatever reason these little gems command a good price, I'm going to find out why!

What a tasty little machine; reminds me of the Lotus in its inventive inspiration and clean no-nonsense approach to life. Creative little surprises everywhere, a nice pleasing design; real Industrial Design, not art work or Engineers just releasing stuff so they can get to lunch.The flip out front extension is so nicely done that I bet some people forget that its there. And of course the flip out storage bin / extension, although I will admit its a little light weight.

When a machine has such a large ID presence as does the 1040 look about and you can bet there was someone of note that designed it, and this is no exception. A little research uncovered a very interesting story; Charles Harrison a now notable designer who's story is only heightened by the fact that he was a Black man in a white man's world. Harrison hired into Sears in 1961 and designed 1000's of products for them... all the big and small stuff that us baby boomers grew up with. Reviewing just a few of his other designs (I'm going to buy the book) I think the stars aligned for Charles as he created the 1040.

Although in NBU condition it was of course grimy and needed lots of oil. One note of caution is that the engineers were not the least bit interested in maintenance oiling; the typical mysterious little holes in the bed are missing for one and the oil hole for the rear main bearing is completely covered by the bobbin winder mechanism.
Something I did as an upgrade; I don't care for light leak and the 1040 has a lot. The light is placed so that it illuminates the whole interior of the front of the machine. I placed some strategic pieces of black masking tape as far from the bulb as possible and in the right places to limit as much of the light bleed  as possible.

I did a full clean up on it, took everything apart and polished it with TR3, the case needed a scrubbing with some purple spray, and of course it had never been oiled sisnce it left the factory.

Check out the crazy two belt gear reduction system!


More info from another obsessed person: mysewingmachineobsession

As for cars... the early 70's were just beginning to loose the ultra sharp edge look with a little softer edges. Compact cars for a compact sewing machine.

My younger brother had one of these pieces of crap and nursed it along for years.


Compact cars were for the entry level "aspirational" buyer and in my opinion American car makers only knew how to make big so when forced to make small they had a hard time adjusting to tight precision details. That's why the Honda's just looked right; small tight details for small tight cars.

The Gremlin (aptly named) was just being phased out when I hired into AMC. I joined the boys from Renault just after the iconic Cherokee was released, and soon there after we took over Chrysler.



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Singer 403A (1956)

Yes another 403, as I have said it's the perfect machine. I needed something to work on while on vaca up North.

This one really looks like a "never been used" machine, it came with all the discs and accessories but no manual.

I made some repairs to an old shirt and fixed up my rowing gloves too.

The fixes required freeing up the ZZ mechanism; it was frozen everywhere so that the left - right button wouldn't even move.

My historical record comes from just a few years later... 1961 specifically.

The Plymouth fury, the tail end styling was soo unique especially in the coupe version; stunning roof line, huge deck lid, long long lines. The front end came from the previous year and loosing the over sized tail-fins was over due.

WOW

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Cowboy 8810 - Custom Hand Crank

A failing of the 8810 is the small and hard to turn hand wheel, making it very difficult in tight turns. It takes at least two "grip and turns" to get just one revolution. With my crank handle installed it makes "one stitch at a time" simple and unconscious; one full revolution leaving the handle in the down position leaves the needle in the down position, leave the handle in the up position and the needle is up.

I fabricated the longest handle and knob that would clear the table and here it is.
The other bizarre aspect of the 8810 is the stitch length adjustment method; I won't explain it here but the extended handle makes adjustment much easier.
I did an experiment with the stitch length to see just what range I might want to work in. What I discovered is that the smallest usable stitch is at the 2.75 marking, and that by the time you get to the 4 indication the stitch length is large. I'll get dimensions soon.

I have since shortened the handle 1" and that is a nice working length.

Singer 328K (1964)

A good estate sale find, this 328K is very clean, no use since the last service and is virtually scratch and chip free.

It still needed a good oiling and careful cleaning. The solid brass front plate really shines up nicely.

It came with manual and, cams and an unopened oil bottle!

The styling is just a little quirky, geeky, trainwrecky for me, I can't seem to warm up to it.

 I noticed that the timing was a little off so I went after that, fortunately I had the service manual from the 327 and followed the steps. In doing so the spring for the ZZ unwound so the ZZ no longer worked! When I finally figured out how to tighten the ZZ spring I tightened it too much causing the machine to bind and not be able to get "over the hump." So I got the tension correct; a surprisingly small adjustment.
Then I noticed that the needle was too far from the hook so I moved that in real close, and lastly I adjusted the gap around the bobbin case, it was about twice the spec. dimension.

All in all it now runs very well.

For my automotive reference I have chosen the 64 Mustang. Essentially birthing the muscle car era the 64 Mustang itself was initially under powered but the trend it fostered, within a few years became known for its overwhelming horsepower. Pony cars!

The Oil embargo of 73 put an abrupt halt to muscle cars... for a while.

Checkout this thesis on the era.

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Juki DSC - 246-6

Actually this is one of the 1st machines I bought after many years of making shoes and paying someone else to sew the uppers.

I got it used from a CCS schoolmate in 2009 without stand or motor. 1st I turned it over to Brad for an overhaul and then I made my own stand that fit exactly into a slot between work tables in my shop.

The original DSC was a top of the line machine with auto thread cut-off and power reverse switch. I took off the auto thread cut-off but evetually reinstaled the power reverse, the switch is just a couple inches away from your hand.
The motor and foot control came from my 30 year old Soldner potter's wheel; an outstanding low speed motor and controller.

Tthe DSC is a cylinder arm walking foot machine I have a foot for working on either side of the needle foot. I use this machine for heavy work, not knowing what I was doing when I bought it I thought one needed a walking foot for all types of leather... not so.

I also made this very cool spool holder out of a piece of stainless, I never use the industrial spool hook-ups because they are too large and I would never buy a large cone of thread.

See my other post

Sewing machine needle details

I thought I would give a little insight on the Needle! It's so small but has the potential to effect the outcome of your work both positive and negative.

The whole story on needles can be found out there on the net, I am just going to focus on two very important aspects:

1. The features that make the needle work
2. The size issue

Thanks to this great section drawing I am able to describe these two inter-related topics.

The bobbin hook is always on the opposite side of the groove in the needle (3) or the groove in the needle faces away from the hook that is spinning or oscillating around the bobbin.

The notch in the needle (4) is the area where the hook passes by the needle to pick up the thread loop. The hook passes by incredibly close to the needle (approximately .002" - .001")

Sequence of events:

When the needle is driven thorough the material the thread is of course held close to the needle, as the needle begins to retract however there is a difference in the amount of drag from front to back. The difference is a result of the front groove. When the needle retracts, the thread on the hook side (4) drags on the material thus forming the loop. The loop is suspended in space and is large enough for the hook to fly by and pick it up, awsome!

So a couple of hard learned lessons regarding this very short time-span event...

• If the fabric lifts with the needle no loop will be formed and therefore no stitch can be made. I learned this on my wheel feed machine when the leather picked up very slightly and caused no stitch to be formed.
• Too big of a needle will not allow for the required amount of drag on the hook side and also result in no stitch being formed.
• If the outer part of the thread is being striped from the thread core you have too small a needle.

Ultimately the correct size needle and thread are required. Needles should be treated as disposable items, don't try to conserve them, just buy more.

Cut - away drawings are so cool:

And now you know how a VW bug works :-)

Pfaff 360 (1960)

Well I really am in to my Pfaffs. Although I had professed my OMG for the 332 when I saw her younger sister I new that was for me. I searched for several months to find a 360 and realized they were hard to come by, so I researched Ebay and got this one for a fair price. I'm not into buying these expensive machines, having them shipped, and hoping they are what I wanted, I prefer to wait for a CL listing but they must not have sold many in Michigan.

I found the SN date on Ismacs.

It has the same mechanics as the 332 but all of the human factors issues have been corrected; it is really the one to have. Forget all of the exotic stitches, all I need are the three levers and three dials. The dials are big, (you can get two fingers and a thumb on each) easy to read, and smooth rotating. The left and right of center is good, not like the 332 that takes two hands and three tries to get it into position.

FYI, I figured out how to fix the yellowed numbers on the 0 - 5 front dial. The dial comes apart fairly easily, take out the numbered disk, scan it at a hi resolution and Photo Shop the UV yellowing out of the scan. After you print it take some clear hard packing tape and cover both sides, then cut it out with an X-ACTO knife. I found it so annoying to have the whole machine cleaned up except for the yellowed numbers.

Since I use a flatbed machine when I need a flatbed I took the Rube Goldberg flatbed conversion parts off and stored them safely away.

It came with the crazy "Circletrol" too or maybe Circle-troll .

I'm afraid I didn't like the low speed fidelity of the Circletrol so I swapped it out for the gas pedal from the 332.

What a great machine, I'm really happy I did my homework and now understand why people pay full price for 360s with all the bells & whistles, they are worth it.

BMW Isetta, 1960: just look at the family resemblance; German is as German does!


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Singer 403A (1958)

Well I'm going to make my vote here for the best choice within the 400 series; the 403 is the model to have, better than the 401. The 403 has all of the capability and none of the ridiculous complexity of the 401, it looks better and is more inviting. I love the little hood ornament on the top cover.
I am especially partial to 1956 and have been trying to find a machine that is exactly my age for some time.

Got this one from CL at a good price, did a complete tear-down for cleaning and have a beautiful running machine. I think it has all of the stitch variants of the 401 with the cams but who uses them any how?

It came with all of the goodies and manual too!

I used it for my latest shoe project, I needed some custom laces and so I sewed several 6 foot long pieces of organza, turned them inside out and then pulled a different color piece of organza thru the middle. After many tries I got what I wanted.

In honor of the 2013 Detroit Auto show I am featuring a shot from a 1956 auto show. Back when the future was something we dreamed about in a much different way that we do today.

GM was setting the trends for the future; sweeping lines, two tones, who could ask for more Modern?

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Remington Automatic Zig-Zag (1950s)

Our neighbors Mel & Marline put her old machine out in  front on Tuesday for the sheeny man and so I asked if I could have it; can't pass up an interesting free machine.  Typical of this vintage it was covered with the oil grime and could not make it around a full turn. But with oil can in hand (the most fun part) I coaxed it back to life.

The light parts aren't white they are a very light beige... beige on beige. 

This one required the full 4 hour treatment; take everything on the front and back off and soak all of the chrome pieces over night in Super Clean. You have to be careful with Super Clean because overnight it will remove any but baked on paints.


I have found a distinct pattern to the older machines; the 50's - 60's machines are without question the smoothest running machines I have. 
I think this is so for several reasons:  

1. They were built to an extremely high standard of precision. 
2. They have the bobbin hook rotating on a parallel axis as the flywheel. 

In addition to the smooth characteristics is the ZZ stitch quality; when the bobbin hook rotates parallel to the flywheel axis the machine "does not know" weather it is making a straight stitch or ZZ stitch since the entire hook rotating mechanism moves in exact unison with the needle.

A little about the "name badged" Japanese machines of that era:

In the late 50s to early 60s, there were numerous instances of distributors marketing the Japanese machines with names that were the same or almost the same as US companies who sold appliances, cars, etc. I specifically remember Cadillac, Ford, Mercury, Remington, and Sunbeam. As I recall, the appliance mfgrs were more upset by this than the car companies, probably because they thought there could be a legitimate confusion over whether the machines were theirs. If memory serves, Remington successfully sued and stopped the use of their name, and I believe that the same distributor then started using Sunbeam. I even recall that at one time, they tried to get away with it by spelling the name "Sunbeem."                  - Bill Holman

Although very much the same machine as my other Remington stylistically it is much more together; the "dashboard" is designed in a more pleasing and organized fashion. Unlike the other machine it has a strange button hole making knob together with the ZZ lever in the satin silver painted dashboard.

For my design reference I decided to dig into this Beige thing!

Its harder to find a picture of Jackie in beige than you might think... lots of B&W photo in those days. Here she is rocking that facial symmetry.

Jackie Kennedy 1961 Oleg Cassini 

Now I'm just spinning out of control; Jackie is captivating on the level of Audry and Grace!

Elna Supermatic (1956)

Currently my quest is for the more eclectic, stylish, and revered. So along came the Supermatic model 722010. It came with the standard grime covering the whole exterior and reassurances that it worked. There were many frozen parts and mechanisms that would keep it from sewing so it was a major search and destroy refurbish job.

Weight: The machine weighs only 18 lbs but the all metal case weighs 10lbs making the combination feel heavier than one would think.
Speed Control: The knee control isn't hard to get used to but I think I would miss the fine control of the foot pedal.
Presser foot: The presser foot uses the short shank but there is NO WAY TO ADJUST THE PRESSURE! Now, anyone using it for any fabrics I think would never miss it, however, for leather you often need to wind up the tension because the leather grips the needle on the way out and can lift the foot.
Bobbin load: The bobbin is standard but the access is not; you have to learn the tricks of finger placement and what things look like when it's correct. Without a great deal of inspection and contemplation you would never see the details of how the thread comes out of the tension spring, but  once correct it is there for good. Just like the Lotus the bobbin thread tension is made to be adjusted instead of the "Oh my, what have I done" method used on all other machines.
Sewing: Having a rub wheel instead of a pulley I expected that the start up would be terrible, but no, it is quite good, even thru leather. The hand wheel however takes getting used to. It is a noisy machine, this may be (like the 301) a function partly of being made of aluminum?

It's an easy machine to thread the upper and the thread tension are easy to use. I can see why the following is so strong it is a nice clean machine. I don't have the discs but I don't care for anything but straight, ZZ, and  left & right of center, these are what I need and use.

For my automotive reference nothing could come closer than the irreverent SAAB 96; different in every way loved by its fans, laughed at by the uninformed. I of course had two of these little gems in my younger days. It is Swedish not Swiss and 70's not 50's illustrating again how Elna was ahead of its time. The 96 really is crazy and that's why we love it. It was a North / South front engine, front wheel drive, had those large diameter wheels, a V4 Ford tractor engine, had lots of interior space, and was Spartan, just to name a few. Revered for its toughness it was the go to choice for Moto-Cross in Europe back in its day. 

Circa 1975 

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The Stable: My two Primary Sewing Machines

10.17.12
After a couple of years of collecting, playing with, learning about, and restoring machines I have boiled it down to a couple of domestic machines that are the best for my leather work. Not that there aren't many other machines that could and would fit the bill it's just that I like the function, sound, and reliability of these two machines.

No they are not on the table they are in the cabinet!

In the cabinet (specially reinforced to take the load) are the Nora and the 360. Along with the machines on the shelf above are all of my heavy duty threads. The machines come right down onto the table and back away as soon as I'm done; I love open work benches. I keep both of the foot controls plugged in and hung an a hook below the table. All is good in my little shop.

At one point I thought I would never settle down on any particular machine; deciding that each new machine was now the greatest one I had ever used. But alas I have. These two machines together with the Juki 246, the Cowboy 8810, and the Singer 29 - 4 make they up the 5 machines that I use in shoe making. Not that there aren't a couple of shoe-only machines that I still want, but that is another story.

For an automotive reference I guess I had to add what I hope is something I can afford to own someday; a 65 Chrysler Imperial.
Chrysler scored a coup by hiring Elwood Engel away from Ford, where he had designed the 1961 Lincoln Continental.(Wikipedia)

05.11.19
Over time these two machines have evolved; I strictly go with my gut and my hand, which ever machines FEEL right and are the MOST reliable, MOST forgiving, and look good too!

The Designer I had replaced the 360 which replaced the 332.
The 1473 replaced the 1471 which replaced the Nora

NONE of the machines needed replacing these are the Creme of the vintage crop, you cannot go wrong with any of them and don't NEED any beyond the mechanical sweetness of the Nora  and the 332.

The Cricut Maker is a new addition; these things I think are becoming as common as a sewing machines in the "Makers" world I'm happy with it. Just part of the complete arsenal 

Singer 29 - 4 (1914)

Well I finally found a model 29 in Norther Michigan, needs work but seems in pretty good order after the first oiling - up.

Here she is looking south over the great Crystal Lake.

Only part that is missing completely is the thread tension assembly, I am sure I can make one from spare parts that will look original (enough.) Lot's of grime and goo all over it but that's just cleaning. I was expecting to find some very loosey goosey parts and operations but she is very tight. Mind you I have never worked on one of these things before; I seem to always need a new challenge. I keep thinking it is a long ways from sewing and I hear they are not easy to run so I am not sure if it will be two weeks or two years before I can say its a reliable runner.

Knowing what every little feature and detail of a sewing machine helps understand the genius of this design.Obviously the goal of the design was two fold:

1. Achieve the smallest bobbin / hook footprint ever
2. Make an omnidirectional feed mechanism

I suspect somebody told some old-timer that it couldn't be done and that was enough to get it done.

09.16.12
Well I thought I would just wipe it down and try to sew with it but I've gone into a total disassemble of it, so far so good. The exposed areas were heavily pitted but over night in CLR and its straight to the wire wheel with it. Once it's all back together I still have to make the missing thread tension mechanism.

09.24.12
And here she is all finished and running.

I had the cast iron frame sand blasted and painted at Georges Collision on 9 mi. George is a great guy and appreciates restoration. But I could not have got it running without t he help of Brad The Sewing-machine man in Wyandotte; he saw what was wrong with the timing using his Eagle eye.  

I have never used a treadle machine before and it will of course take a lot of practice. The bobbin thread tension is not easy to adjust or get at but this is the compromise made for such a specialized machine. It is not a production machine it is referred to as a "patcher" made for shoes, boots and getting down into sleeves. 
It is a true addition to my shoe making arsenal. 

10.06.12
The two fixes I made to the 29-4 are here in one picture. 

It had none of the thread tension components so I scavenged some discs and adjuster nut, threaded a piece of brass rod (1/4-28,) turned the tension release cup on the lathe, and cut a piece of spring to fit. 

The real challenge was taking out the free play in the end of the needle bar rocker casting. The horizontal rod at the top of the needle bar had worn out the casting to what I thought was an unacceptable degree (.016 TIR.) I drilled out the whole in the casting and turned and reamed a piece of bronze bearing material, the result is a more precise needle position (.005 TIR.) The later models had many improvements (the Ks) including this area where the steel rod is running in a steel liner instead of directly on the casting.

As for my automotive reference I have chosen the 1914 Dodge. Having worked at Chrysler since 1985, (following my father who also worked there) I have worked on all of the different models at one time or another.

It appears as though black was it, oh yeah "any color as long as it's black." Geeky forms hearkening back to the previous century, horse & buggy Victorian styling. At this time the styling department had yet to be invented in the automotive industry; it would be another 15 years before Harley Earl would become the 1st head of styling at GM and begin the process of legitimizing or shall I say establishing DESIGN as an integral part of the product world.

12.09.12
 Usage update: requiring patience and attention to detail the 29-4 is an excellent sewer!
I cannot believe the stitch forms at such a low speed; very reliable once you get the bobbin tension and all the details tweaked. It is more of an adventure to run than a sit down and slam the pedal to floor type of machine so you need to be in the right mood or just don't sit down at all. I made $100 on the 1st repair I did with it and just used it on a one of my art pieces, I love it.

Elna Lotus (1967)

Well I finally found my very own Lotus; missing only the the manual but having all of the little tools under the hood! Although very dirty, with lots of dried up tape on it, it cleaned up almost perfectly. I used TR-3 as recommended by my friend Julie and I think that it is a very good choice for cleaning and polishing with out damage.

For clean up I took ALL of the covers off and discovered a marvel of manufacturing engineering. Impressive right down to the bobbin case that has the most elaborate and detailed bobbin tension adjuster I have ever seen. The engineering creativity is second to none; all sorts of interesting solutions to complicated problems.

It has the electronic foot controller with the old Singer like button. The foot pedal has a + - switch on it that actually is a hi - low speed range, they don't all come with this.

And that brings me to the model designation?? I cant find anything on it that tells the exact model (or year) of Lotus; such as SP, TSP... It's usually on the front in big letters and I was instructed to look on the SN tag but nothing I can see. If the chart at THE NEEDLEBAR is correct then this is a very early 1968, in fact the model year chart indicates that it was made in 1967.

As far as sewing it has an unusual but good sound, and it seems to have outstanding stitch quality.

The hi - low speed adjustment isn't really very much of a range and this machine may have the slowest top speed I have come across, which might be a problem for some users.

No review would be complete without a picture of it all closed up. As we all know it was selected by the Museum of Modern Art in New York for its "Design Collection". Styled by Raymond Loewy the unique features like the storage in the top and the Lotus pedals combined with the clean design make this machine worthy of the accolades.

So it is a friction wheel drive... no belt, both good & bad. 

Oh I get it!

Hmmm, let's look at what else the great Raymond did, so the Avanti was a Loewy design launched in 1963, in 1968 the first Elna Lotus came out. In the MoMa collection too

I came across these rendering claimed to be by Loewy:

Pencil sketches, no PhotoShop here!



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