The 15-91 Lives! Sunday Morning Quickies, May 22, 2022

In this, the final installment of the mechanical and electrical restoration of the Singer 15-91 that belongs to the New Jersey Blind Citizens Association thrift store, we look at the cleaning and adjustment of the needle bar area, the final tweaking of the machine, and the installation back into the cabinet at the thrift store.
00:00 Intro and titles
01:00 Teardown of the needle bar area
09:56 Cleaning the inside of the body casting
12:20 Cleaning the take up lever cam track
13:38 Chasing some nasty threads
15:50 You're welcome...
15:58 Reassembly starts with linkages
17:20 Installing and adjusting...
20:10 Checking the timing and needle bar height
20:47 Adjusting the upper needle bar bushing
22:00 Reassembly continues
26:10 Presser bar oil wick
28:07 The home stretch
28:45 What a cheap ultrasonic cleaner can do
31:31 First stitches!
33:24 Back to the thrift shop!
37:35 Final thoughts
New Jersey Blind Citizens Association
www.njbca.org/
Anne's Thrift Store
www.njbca.org/thrift-store
The feature on my web page - "My Recommended Tools, Materials, and Suppliers" can be found here:
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[@silverfox-59]

Awesome, thanks for putting this out there. My mom had one about like this. I was born in the 50s ,I had to have blood transfusion and was in the hospital awhile, my mom's got repossessed due to my hospital bills. My grandpa went and got it back for her and my mom gave it to me just before she passed. I'm now almost 70 years old and it still runs great, just having problems finding belts for the motor and bobbin rewind. Sorry so long and thanks again.

[@engelbob8402]

You are a good man to have in the community Bob. Thanks for sharing this.

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

I appreciate that, thanks.

[@SewingMachineRehab]

Wow, what a transformation! Love how it sounds, great job! Someone is in for a real treat :)

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Thanks so much! 😊 She has a ton of pin rash, so she'll never be a stunner, but you can tell she has been a workhorse.

[@clementihammock7572]

Machine is alive, good work with kindness.

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Thanks, I just hope she gets back to work soon.

[@fuzzzyyellow]

So nice of you to help them out.

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Thanks. The name of the game was to make it safe. Once THAT was achieved... well... LOL

[@pamelaleitman9305]

How generous of you to do this!

[@samanthalarocque5409]

Great machine!

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Thanks!

[@frankherrera1519]

Way to go Bob! Great video and thanks for sharing!

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Thanks Frank. One of these days I'll learn to like the 15's... 🤣🤣

[@orhan2674]

It's a very nice work, thank you.

[@ronalddevine9587]

Great video, Bob. Machine looks like brand new. You are absolutely right about wire lengths. Every inch of wire that they saved, meant more profit. My mom worked at A.C.GILBERT cutting wires, and she used to tell me that you couldn't be off more than 1/16 of an inch.

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

OMG - Yeah, I know, they had to maximize profit and minimize cost, but I don't have to follow that rule! 🤣🤣🤣

[@patfrey7242]

Great job!!! Some lucky person will be getting a beautiful machine!!

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Thanks, I hope it goes to someone who will use it as a sewing machine and not decoration...

[@ronaldcamacho9458]

Very very good work. 👍🏻👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😊❤👍🏻

[@boephco]

Stupendous! Never thought of running cup brushes into the needle bar area; always hand clean that area.

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Glad it was helpful! I also use my smaller rotary tool with straight brushes, depending on the machine.

[@MastPakistanVlogs]

Hi friend nice sharing good job 👍👍👍

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Thank you!

[@crazygtrchick]

Excellent!

[@jomercer21113]

Schmoomageddon! Yes it does get harder to turn as all that crud in the threads and along the bar starts compressing. I'd love to get my hands on that cabinet to clean it up! Bravo!

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Schmoomageddon! - I love it!

[@r.duroucher225]

I can’t thank you enough for your two videos on the bottom end of the 15-91 and your tutorial on rock shafts. In addition to your generosity to this charity, your generosity in sharing your knowledge is inspiring. Truly. Following your tutorials, I removed the upper shaft on my 15-90, took out the pivot points on the upper and lower shafts, cleaned them and then reset the points in the shafts and adjusted the movement and location of the feed dogs. Now this machine started out really rather clean. It has had more than one kerosene bath and I thought that the insides were just fine. Was I wrong. The inside of the pivot points were, to use your expression covered in shmoo and there was a certain amount of corrosion in the points. I had no idea they were that dirty or corroded. I also had no idea that the dirt and the bit of corrosion not only gummed up the machine, but it also resulted in the machine going somewhat out of adjustment. I took a wire brush to the points them put a drop of oil on them reinstalled them and adjusted the shafts and the movement of the feed dogs. Given what I learned from your videos, the whole job took maybe 20 minutes and a fun 20 minutes at that. What a difference to the machine! It is now noticeably faster, I would say at least 20% maybe more. It is significantly quieter and the sound it now makes is a beautiful clickety mechanical sound. And it now runs so smoothly that I have to keep reminding myself that it’s a oscillating hook machine and not a rotary. What a difference a cleaning these parts makes! I now perfectly understand the trouble you take to clean and polish these mechanical parts. What a difference it makes!

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

It's amazing what a difference cleaning those pivots makes! A very commonly overlooked item.

[@ecay]

That's cool. I'm glad that you were able to do that and use the ability to show people like me who have a few of those to rebuild, clean up and so forth. What to do? I'm looking forward to getting busy with the ones I have. Don't know what I'm going to do with them yet. I know I'm keeping a couple of them but I don't know what I want to do with the others

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Glad you liked it!

[@meganmills6545]

Bravo! She polished up quite nicely indeed - that is one shiny machine, despite any problems with her clear coat/shellac. Whatever you used to polish/wax her did a really nice job. I am sure the new owner is in for a very pleasant surprise when they go to use and oil it and realise it sews like a dream and everything works but it's also clean everywhere. (Unless, of course, they've been watching this little series of vids and are now making arrangements as we speak to snap that machine up post-haste!)

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Thank you very much! I used Auto Glym on her, worked a charm!

[@lfuentes8891]

Would like to to see how you clean and polish the machines

[@debbiepring2236]

.1 That was cool about the ELNA

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

I'm sorry to see her go home, she's a nice machine!

[@JohnJohn-zn8ib]

Bob the upper shaft of a similar machine is out of whack, it starts out turning nicely until it is hard to turn, then you can move the upper shaft back and forth, quite a bit of play, I was thinking the shaft isn’t lining up with the bushing and is causing the needle bar to become tight when turning the hand wheel, it could also be the bottom shaft that will need adjusting, will let you know, if you have had something similar could you let me know, cheers Bob regards David.

[@berkleypearl2363]

I just purchased a 1941 treadle singer 15 and im so excited to get it working. Before I fully start disassembling it I wanted to test out its function. It was last in use about a year ago and has since become rather dusty and rusty but has been basically untouched. When I disengage the needle the treadle runs like butter. However, when I engage the needle the belt gets suck and stops spinning and then the treadle jams. Do you suppose it just needs a good cleaning to start working again or is there something else I might be missing? I plan on watching all of these videos tomorrow so that I can as carefully as possible follow along with cleaning her to the best of my ability

[@cedar0girl]

What a great series - gives me the confidence to de-gunkify my own 15-91

[@Duckster183]

Just did a good surface cleaning and oiling of a 15 this week for a friend, who didn’t even realize her mother’s machine was in the small cabinet she was using as a tv stand in the guest bedroom I was sleeping in! Thankfully it wasn’t gummed up as bad as this one. I am assuming she can use regular Schmetz needles with the flat side to the left? What size sax key bumpers? 5/8 or 3/8”? Did you snip them lengthwise to how long?

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

I buy whatever size bumpers I can get as I trim them in place.

[@cherylmangum9598]

Can you advise how to adjust timing?

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Short answer: you can't, it's fixed at the factory. Long answer: on these machines, unless the shuttle driver has been replaced, the linkages that drive the shuttle were pinned in place when the machine was built. On these we don't adjust timing, we adjust the needle bar height to get the machine into proper time. To do this, it's necessary to remove the needle plate so you can get a good view of the hook portion of the shuttle. Often, it's helpful to also remove the feed dog for a clearer view. Install a NEW 14 size needle for this measurement and adjustment. The screw that you need to loosen is on the pillar side of the needlebar box. There's a hole, that when the needle bar is down, allows access to the screw on the back of the needle bar clamp. On the needle bar itself, you will see two lines engraved at the upper portion of the bar, where the needle bar enters the upper bushing. With the needlebar at the very bottom of its stroke, the upper line should be even with the bottom of the busking. Loosen the screw that secures the needlebar clamp to the needlebar though the previously mentioned hole, and raise of lower the needlebar to align that mark. With the screw tightened snugly, turn the balance wheel in the direction of normal operation (top of the wheel towards the operator) until the lower mark on the needlebar is even with the bottom of the bushing. At that point in the rotation, if all else is OK, the point of the hook will be even with the shaft of the needle, and the point of the hook will be approximately 1/16" above the top of the eye of the needle. If the needle is aligned with the point of the hook, but the distance is too great or too little, loosen the needlebar clamp and move the needlebar to the appropriate spot. At this point, the marks are not important, it's the alignment of needle to point of hook, and distance from point to top of eye of needle that's important. I know this is a long explanation, but you asked! There is a copy of the adjuster's manual in the manuals section of my website here: bobsvsmservice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Singer-15-91-service-manual.pdf

[@ngoan9]

Hello, bạn có thể kiếm cho tôi một máy đuợc không, tôi ở tp HCM.

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

Shipping to the Pacific Rim would be prohibitively expensive...

[@lindadalton2668]

Please that is not filth on that machine it’s dried oil and gear grease Not filth

[@BobFowlerWorkshop]

No, it's filth... I asked my wife, and she concurred... Add old oil, grease, and above all, the ONE thing that sewing machines make as a consequence of being used - that being lint - and you indeed have a filthy mess.