Kenmore Sensor Sew 100 (1980s)

Unbelievable!
Necchi made the classic mistake of shooting too far into the future, but I love it.
It had real potential, they almost got it wright, it is a little reminiscent of the Lotus, maybe they were trying to get into the MoMa too.
Necchi Logica 592 by Ital Design Giorgetto Giugiaro

Pictures from my copy of Giogetto Giugiaro The Genius of Design, given to me by my older brother.
I actually met Mr Giugiaro during a design review at the American Motors Design Studios in about 1988, when we were working on the Coupe version of the Eagle Premier. I was in Advanced Vehicle Engineering at the time working for Marcel Marchond, Delbert DeResse, and host of other good Engineers. The French really liked Giugiaro.

This one (like many?) seems to have had little use. FYI the reverse switch definitely needs a tactile component to it; you simply HAVE to look at it to press the correct spot and so take your eyes off of your work.
I see it a little like my beloved Custom Imperial in that the Engineers were to drunk with the concept to accept real world usage/testing; the concept is great but just a couple of details could have been improved with a little user feedback.

When I got it home it did sew but the stitch length could not be changed, even though the digital readout was showing the change.

I decided to "go in" and see what was under the bottom cover and discovered that the feed dog mechanism was frozen, I freed up the mechanism and have full control restored. Without the stitch length working the reverse did not work I of course thought that the computer was going to be the problem but it was just 1980s frozen sewing machine technology. Remember not to oil the plastic parts.

The only thing so far is one of the LED numbers has burnt out.

Trying to figure out if it has needle stop position and L-R-C?

I did get the ZZ working.

I actually drove several of these things as lease cars at Chrysler, they were big, and nice to drive.

So after using it for just a little while the the presser foot mechanism slowly froze up!
The pivot shaft had the original grease on it and it nearly stopped move all together.
I opened it up but it was so frozen I could not get the shaft out.
I worked it back and forth and remembered some of the test fixtures from work so I made this little device to move it.

I assembled this little geared drive assembly and hooked it up to the lever, truth be told the over night sitting with oil made a difference but I was able to make a 1000 back and forth cranks on it while cleaning up the shop.

All is well with the presser foot now.
Printed out the Logica manual free online and discovered a little more about the differences; the LOGICA has needle position in-place of the fast-slow speed switch. Its such an obvious option I guess Necchi saved it for their own release.

Made a bunch of pattern tests too

Easy to change and work just fine.
The Necchi also has access to an adjustment screw to tune the proportion of the pattern stitches; this is important to their electronics and is not available on the Sensor Sew

The Auto Back-Tack works perfectly at the beginning but of course does not know you are at the end of the stitch, and so goes forward three stitches from where you stop.

Made this super cool cover for the machine with help from Scott Tallenger of left handed branded

So using the machine is a different experience; the start - stop is not like a mechanical machine.
The ZZ moves at precise times and moves at high speed, when your eye is used to a mechanical machine this is unusual. I believe that I will need to experiment with the needle position to understand where the start of the motion is, it is hard to explain but the electronics knows where the needle is and decides how to complete the stitch from there, a more sophisticated computer system would likely act more intuitively. When you turn the hand wheel you move it to a computer governed position that is difficult to understand.

I still like it a lot and want to use it for fabric work, it is such a novel approach and as I mentioned it was so far ahead of its time that I will use it as a 1st prototype for the all electronic machine that I want to someday design.
Anybody want to help?

Regarding the revers button; since it lacks ANY tactile feel or feedback it is very difficult to mentally know you are on it. It does not take much pressure to make it work. So I added a little "dot" to it so I could find it w/o looking!

Have been using it to make machine covers; I like it although it is not a quick n easy machine, its more of an entertainment piece.

Singer 101 (1952)

OMG what a wonderful machine, again its the sound, I especially like the rotary hook machines and have recently become interested in the 201.

This picture shows the now bizarre method of castings combined with sheet metal deck.
I got this restoration project from a a friend and although it  is not cosmetically worth saving it is mechanically perfect.

I had to go into the motor after rewiring it and the light.

The motor comes out easy enough and although it ran OK I could tell it had no power.
Like the rest of the machine the Engineering of the motor is second to none; the precision fit of the shaft and the gear is astonishing.

It actually took some time to get it free but now the lube pots are clean and the speed is where is should be.

I am going to use this for my next pair of shoes.

Completed my first upper "closing" with the 101; did just fine.
The lock knob on the fly wheel would not tighten down and so I added an extra washer into the stack, it is a different set-up than all modern vintage machines.

Bel Air Imperial (1950)

A nice little 15-91 clone made in Occupied Japan (says so right on it)

This little gem was in good but filthy shape

I really like the embossed front and rear covers

The take up lever and the forward-reverse levers were bent so they had to be straightened out

During the stitch test I threw in a 2.2mm piece of leather; the machine did not flinch.
The motor was shot so that is too bad and the case was beat up but I was able to repair it with little effort.

This machine is so smooth and powerful, in a sided by side test it proved a match for a Pfaff, Necchi, and a Jewel!

Montgomery Ward Signature (1950's)

The Signature (or 7 Jewel) is another example of a fine running Japanese made machine. It has a unique type of cam that sits atop the machine, don't have the other cams, but do have the manual.
Unlike the Pfaff 130 it does not complain when starting in ZZ.

It came with possibly the nicest condition case I have ever had, must have been in the upstairs closet and not in the basement

It has the older style top thread tension dial; like industrial where it turns around more than once

Although missing L-R-C it has an easy to use ZZ and a push-button reverse

The motor is a hefty 1.3A

The stitch length has an odd number font but they added "clicks" to the dial so it snaps into positions

Its a pretty little machine

Pfaff 130 (1952)

I'm really zeroing in on a few top machines to have on hand for customers and friends that may need a machine.

 After tear down it became clear that the 130, 260, and 300 series are all mechanically similar.
Under pinnings are nearly the same

Its the rotary hook that I like so much about the Pfaff

I determined that the thread tension spring was worn out or there was a washer missing, either-way it needed more tension than it could provide.
I ended up simply putting another spring over the original (now there are two springs) and this increased the tension without running the knob all the way in.

The best Logo decal is completely hidden by the motor

This is a very fast machine although the max stitch length is not as great as I had thought it would be.

Vasily is at a loss for what to do on it next

The L-R-C control takes two hands to operate so I don't like that
The ZZ only stays where you set it if it is in the Left needle pos. not sure if that is typical (I think it is)

The start up at full ZZ width is labored, otherwise the start up is very good.

Ultimately very disappointed with this thing; it locked up solid and took many hours to discover the problem area, I had to scrap it out, I will steer clear of these things.

I love all of my Pfaffs except this one, oh well live and learn.

Singer 15-91 Centenial (1951)

Picked this up for a friend who wanted a nice clean machine.

The emblem polished up nicely

Pulled all the chrome bits soaked them and reassembled it.

Going to make a base for it next

The real thing with these pre "styling" or maybe pre aluminum singers is the sound; it is just beautiful.

FYI
For making the base nothing beats this cheapo pair of over sized calipers

With the long jaws on the calipers you can check how far under the casting your base is going to fit with ease
I make a quick check and sketch for each machine because they are all slightly different underneath

Vigorelli Robot (1950's)

Been looking for one of these for years, found this one on CL.

I am deeply committed to my Necchi Nora but as usual I always thinking there is something better out there

So since nothing else comes close I thought that maybe Mr. Arnaldo Vigorelli would have a chance since he studied under Mr. Necchi!

Very impressed with the test pieces so far. The clean up took 4 hours, she is virtually chip and nick free, the worst area is around the throat plate. Quiet and smooth, it has the minimum requirements F,R,ZZ,L,R,C plus a cam stack.

This is the only domestic I have run into that regularly gets tangled if you don't hold down the top thread as with industrial machines. 

It has the motor decals that include Mistress Vigorelli; I have seen these images before but never really looked at what she is doing...

Not only is she Puttin' her red dress on, she is Sewing her red dress on! Should be a pretty tight fit.

It is very difficult to sexualize a sewing machine so leave it to the Italians to come up with something like this.

Made a base for her

Use a 1 x 3 Poplar, this is the 1st time I made a fold up and so you need to double the rear panel so that you can use the cabinet pivots.

I picked up a parts machine too if anyone needs anything!

White 2837

Cool retro sort of Deco design, unfortunately is a cosmetic disaster with lots of nicks and scratches.

But it is a lovable little shape, it was completely frozen, and took some time and effort to free up.

It is surprisingly smooth and amazingly quiet, some machines just have a free wheeling thing about them; this  one certainly does.

It is a left justified needle position, I don't like them that way and so, does not have the L-R-C control.

Typical of some of the White's it has a wide ZZ and we have been making boots recently, this came in handy.

Dressmaker S - 2402 (1980's?)

Dressmaker 2402 with manual, 30 cams, manual, other accessories.

I don't know if it could be called aesthetically beautiful but I am impressed with the sewing.
Good star-up torque, nice stitches, I like how quiet the machine is. Another good leather working machine.

When I got into the shop it could not be turned by the hand wheel except with great effort. I wasn't sure what I was getting into so I did a Tri-Flo soaking and worked the harder parts of the rotation with a pair of vice grips in place of the hand-wheel.

Eventually I could get the motor to drive the system and finally put a clamp on the foot pedal and got it running; it is a very smooth running machine.

I thought the ZZ was way too limited or narrow and so went in and increased the overall width by a lot.
The ZZ mechanism is the same as millions of machines and it was clear that the dial just didn't take the mechanism to its full extent, so I filed a little off the dial stop plate and now it is respectable.

So now the dial goes past 5... to 11

The face plate plastic was sun drenched and turned a horrible shade of green. I removed it, and with steel wool roughed it up and sprayed it baby blue. the printed part of the cover fell right off because the glue was all dried up.

NifetyThriftyGirl Vid

Husqvarna Viking SPECIAL (1950s)

I looked for this exact model; 3 dials on the front one on the back. An Ebay find.

So this has all of my minimum requirements and a couple more; its an FR-LRC-ZZ machine

Incredible engineering; engineered and designed by people who USED the machine because it has some very unique features. It also has basting stitch, ZZ, and multiple stitch ZZ. Also it has the 5:1 gear reduction system!

Unlike 99% of the spring loaded revers button machines of this era this one can be momentary reverse or by pushing in and down it locks in reverse.

It took several hours to get it cleaned out. The bobbin tension seamed off and the screw did nothing until I discovered that the spring was packed with fabric fuzz and so would not apply the correct pressure.

Typical of this era, when the plastic parts were engineered they didn't get all of it right.
The rear covers fastener points are all broken and the paint didn't stick completely to them.
On the rear cover you see the discoloration over the light bulb.

I didn't get the flatbed with it and the manual cover is missing.

During clean up I took the pedal apart, its all Bakelite 

The amazing thing is the design of the coil and the electro-mechanical connection

On the right of the ceramic coil instead of just a slider made of copper it has a carbon wheel; never seen anything like it.  

A little History

Singer 66 (1914)

I can generally see thru the grime to determine if the machine can be saved and this one had an OK look to it.

I oiled it, plugged it in, and the level of quiet running is just amazing; smooth as silk!

I'll do a slow restore and am only disappointment that it has no reverse otherwise I would call it a keeper.

Finished the Restoration, had to buy the bobbin cover new, every one of these things is missing the bobbin cover, what - up?

I have the stand making down, they are not pretty but especially in this case because Singer didn't put the convenient 4 manufacturing posts underneath it really needs something to sit on. The base is attached with drops of silicone sealer in the corners and so is easy to remove.

I'm going to give it a try now that its ready!