UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > Specific Vintage Equipment > Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items

Notices

Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 14th Mar 2012, 7:16 pm   #1
robin coleman
Hexode
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 354
Default Sewing machine

Hi, I have recently acquired a Singer sewing machine. I wonder if any one has a treadle switch as the one I have has a burnt out mains dropper for speed control.
robin coleman is offline  
Old 14th Mar 2012, 8:12 pm   #2
paulsherwin
Moderator
 
paulsherwin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,783
Default Re: Sewing machine

Do you mean the speed control pedal? 'Treadle' is a way of operating a sewing machine mechanically using your feet.

I've never known the resistor burn out in these pedals, but they are prone to various wiring failures and the interference capacitors will be about to fail if they haven't been changed. They are simple things so easy to troubleshoot with a test meter.

There are replacement speed control pedals available on eBay all the time. These are modern designs using triacs and give better motor control that the original tapped rheostat, but you lose the originality of course. I still use an original pedal with my 1935 Singer 201K.
paulsherwin is offline  
Old 14th Mar 2012, 8:49 pm   #3
robin coleman
Hexode
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 354
Default Re: Sewing machine

Hi,

Yes I did mean speed control pedal. The windings on the rheostat seem to have burnt out. The Singer in question is a 1915 vintage with motorising kit added, probably added in the 1930s. I am also after a copy of the manual, even a scanned copy will do.

Regards,
Robin.
robin coleman is offline  
Old 14th Mar 2012, 9:46 pm   #4
PaulR
Dekatron
 
PaulR's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Southport Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 3,221
Default Re: Sewing machine

I didn't realise that even sewing machines had capacitors! We have a 201k in a table - type cabinet wth a knee operated motor control. Will this have capacitors and do they do any damage if they fail?

Paul
PaulR is online now  
Old 14th Mar 2012, 11:01 pm   #5
paulsherwin
Moderator
 
paulsherwin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,783
Default Re: Sewing machine

Yes, this will have two capacitors in the rheostat box controlled by the knee lever. If they fail the machine will start to run regardless of the position of the speed control if it's plugged into the mains. I don't think there are any safety implications though.

Robin, I can scan my copy of the motor manual, but it won't tell you anything that you don't know already. These are standard 1930s AC/DC motors, and the pedal is just a rheostat.
paulsherwin is offline  
Old 14th Mar 2012, 11:27 pm   #6
Sunhouse
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 20
Default Re: Sewing machine

Robin,
Could you post a picture of the pedal and motor please I may have a singer motor and pedal but a picture would help.
Kind regards
Steve
Sunhouse is offline  
Old 15th Mar 2012, 12:03 am   #7
keithinuk
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Hertfordshire, UK.
Posts: 208
Default Re: Sewing machine

Your best bet is to look on the Net for a replacement, they do give up when you least expect then too, its a common fault.
I only have one Singer with a motor, 0.3amp.
I don't think that it's possible to fix them.
keithinuk is offline  
Old 15th Mar 2012, 1:10 am   #8
Herald1360
Dekatron
 
Herald1360's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,526
Default Re: Sewing machine

Would one of the more modern type of control using some sort of stack of resistive pellets that get squeezed hard to reduce the resistance, work perhaps? A rheostat is only a posh name for variable resistor.
__________________
....__________
....|____||__|__\_____
.=.| _---\__|__|_---_|.
.........O..Chris....O
Herald1360 is online now  
Old 15th Mar 2012, 11:43 am   #9
TrevorG3VLF
Rest in Peace
 
TrevorG3VLF's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Matlock, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 1,378
Default Re: Sewing machine

What about a lamp dimmer?

Trevor
TrevorG3VLF is offline  
Old 15th Mar 2012, 12:29 pm   #10
paulsherwin
Moderator
 
paulsherwin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,783
Default Re: Sewing machine

Modern plug in replacements are effectively triac light dimmers operated by a pedal. You could use an off the shelf light dimmer if you wired up the required pluggery, but it would be difficult to operate.

Singer made a single motor and pedal without significant changes from the 30s to the 60s. They also sold them separately so owners of other makes could convert from hand crank operation, so you sometimes find Singer motors on Jones machines for example.
paulsherwin is offline  
Old 15th Mar 2012, 3:26 pm   #11
keithinuk
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Hertfordshire, UK.
Posts: 208
Default Re: Sewing machine

Quote:
Originally Posted by Herald1360 View Post
Would one of the more modern type of control using some sort of stack of resistive pellets that get squeezed hard to reduce the resistance, work perhaps?
I have a vintage Singer with the added motor/light set up, its using a resistive pellets 60's pedal and it works perfectly well.
keithinuk is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:44 am.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.