The Entire Handwheel System of Singer Model 15-91

A DIY tutorial showing how to remove, disassemble, assemble and install the handwheel parts on a Singer Model 15-91 sewing machine.
How to Remove & Replace the Stop screw, clamp washer, handwheel, gear collar, Textolite gear, spring retaining washer, spring, handwheel spring, anchor pins.
Wheels by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Artist: audionautix.com/
00:00 INTRO
02:19 RMV HNDWHL
06:15 INSTL HNDWHL
09:41 DISASSEMBLE
20:32 ASSEMBLE
31:00 RE-INSTALL HNDWHL

[@carolemagnusson5044]

Thanks so much for this video. You’re an A++ teacher. Not only was I able to take apart my 15-91 hand wheel, clean and reassemble, but I also serviced my 404 hand wheel. The snap ring was tricky to remove; I used a small pair of round-nosed pliers (Roger is rummaging around in his tool box for a more appropriate tool). The rest was oh-so similar to the 15-91. Some differences, but your instructions were so clear, I was able to do it. Probably my 404 did not need this treatment (it was relatively clean and unbroken inside), but it was fun to be confident enough to do it.

[@andytubesewing1953]

Thanks for the compliment. Interesting that by the time the Slant Needle models arrived they had started using snap rings, isn't it? I get why they did it, but I sure liked the heavy parts in the 15-91 handwheel. As Terry McClean mentioned, I think he is correct that all the grease on mine is from the way the motor shaft worm gear and Textolite gear sit in that grease reservoir. By comparison, the Slant Machines PA motors are upright and the manuals have us putting a small amount of lubricant on the gear "at least once per year". I'm pinning your comment up top hoping other people see that the video can apply to other models' handwheels. Thanks for sharing that.

[@maria2400]

I really needed to see this for my 201. Thanks Andy.

[@andytubesewing1953]

thanks for watching my channel.

[@WayneTheSailor]

My friend, it is almost 2021 and you are still providing us with top notch educational videos. Thank you so much Andy! Your voice sounds about the same as it always did, including your special little Andy giggle. I am very happy that you got past that stretch of rough road in your health life and seem to be good for another twenty years of so.

[@andytubesewing1953]

What a kind comment, Wayne. Thank you. 🙏 The road has smoothed out somewhat, but it is still uphill for me. I'm grateful for that and feel in good spirits. Making some videos has helped even though it's going slower than I hoped. Half a glass is better than none and if I stop laughing it's too sad, so onward I go. I appreciate your support of my KZbin Channel and your good wishes for me. Take care.

[@WayneTheSailor]

@@andytubesewing1953 It is nice to hear that you are in good spirits and have a smile on your face sometimes. I wish that I knew you in person but Ohio is probably a longs ways away from your home. Sincerely, Wayne, a product of 1945 - the same time frame that 15-91s were built.

[@andytubesewing1953]

@@WayneTheSailor Thanks. Yes, it's a hike from Arizona to Ohio 🚶‍♂️🚴‍♂️🚂✈ Like so many of my viewers around the globe, we will be friends from afar. Can't have too many friends. Well... unless they sll want to borrow money 😊

[@JebbAdams]

Thank you Master Restorer! Peace Brother!

[@andytubesewing1953]

I do alright for a hobbyist. Thanks Jebb.🙏

[@JebbAdams]

@@andytubesewing1953 Yes you do, Andy Tube! The pleasure (and learning) is all mine! Peace!

[@andytubesewing1953]

@@JebbAdams 😊

[@mygrommi]

I always learn from each of your videos. Although I’ve cleaned four of this type machine, I didn’t know to remove the small pins. Thanks for being thorough and being a great teacher.

[@andytubesewing1953]

Thank you for continuing to watch my channel. 🙏 I'm always encouraged by your kind comments. You saw the pins falling out, haha. I've never had that on a handwheel before. It's interesting that I also learn from doing my own videos.

[@meganmills6545]

Thank you Andy - that was something I've never seen before. I'm so glad you showed us how to do it. I always love to get machines really clean with fresh oil and grease and without a video like I think I'd be too nervous to try it on one of these handwheels. You've made it look like it would really be quite easy. And I'd like to join the other commenters s in wishing you and yours a lovely Christmas this year! And with any luck at all, we'll all have a much better year in 2022! :-)

[@andytubesewing1953]

Thank you! It was a surprise to me when I realized I'd never opened up this type of handwheel in a video up till now. I find it well designed and with compact parts. The quality and thickness of the metal parts, especially the spring, are impressive. I'd never seen this much grease inside a handwheel either, so I'm glad I took it apart for cleaning. Thank you for the Christmas wishes. It will be the second year without the Grandkids visiting, but they will be visiting before spring arrives so we are looking forward to that. Generosa has had the tree 🎄up and decorated for a week so we wait in joyful anticipation. ✨ We hope you guys have a wonderful holiday season and are getting ready for a fabulous 2022.

[@maryellencote780]

Thank you,,,, great video ready to take mine apart ❤

[@andytubesewing1953]

Sure, you're welcome and good luck to you

[@luciemorin7874]

Thank you so much for these. I had bought a 15-91 few months ago and was afraid to clean it. Not anymore! :)

[@andytubesewing1953]

Not anymore is correct! You can do it for sure. 👍 Thanks for keeping that machine in service and for watching my channel. Take care.

[@r.duroucher225]

Great video, thank you!

[@andytubesewing1953]

Thanks very much!

[@Thought.I.Was.Clever]

This series of videos are amazing. My 15-91 is my favorite maxhine

[@andytubesewing1953]

Thank you, Todd. While working on the 15-91 I've come to see why so many folks love and endorse it. I have not even sewn with it yet but just the quality and engineering design is impressive. Thanks for watching my "IKE" series and take care.

[@mindybarfield3521]

This video is just what I needed. 😀 Thank you and Merry Christmas.

[@andytubesewing1953]

Good timing then, hehe. Thanks for commenting and Merry Christmas too. ⭐

[@carolbryant1458]

Fun to watch. Great educator

[@andytubesewing1953]

thank you very much.

[@ralphwatten2426]

Hi Andy, I was sewing some really heavy polar fleece and some pile fleece together to make my son a Christmas present and was having trouble getting it under the presser foot to top stitch this thing. So I went back and watched your presser foot video on the 401 presser foot disassembly and reassembly an noticed that my presser foot was about .125" low. I spoke to you about this per comments and wondered about raising it a little extra. So I raised it about an extra .030" above the 5/16" recommended. I haven't sewn with it yet but it seems to have pressure all the way to the base plate. Thanks for posting your latest videos on the 15-91. Mm-hm. ;-)

[@andytubesewing1953]

I remember the conversation, Ralph, and thanks for the feedback. I had concerns about the reach & pressure if you set it that high.

[@ralphwatten2426]

@@andytubesewing1953 You were right about the presser foot being too high. I had all kinds of trouble with snarls under the fabric. I lowered it back down and now no problems. I probably won't be making another fleece blanket again anyway. I put a new zipper in my winter jacket with my 503. Something my wife has never done. Thanks again Andy. I wish you a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday season and a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.

[@andytubesewing1953]

@@ralphwatten2426 Thank you for the feedback. After we chatted I was talking to a friend about what you were doing and he warned me it would not work. The needle bar stroke and feed dog travel are also set to the max height of the presser bar, and the take-up lever is timed to the feed, so you'd need to change all of that, but the timing on some of it cannot be changed enough. I'm glad you got the zipper in and I'm impressed as I failed at that. Fortunately, my wife has been sewing for 50 years and we have a deal. She sews whatever I need/want and I buy and maintain all her vintage sewing machines. BTW, my friend said some vintage Kenmore models used a "Super High" presser foot. The foot on your 503A (slant foot) is about 1" (inch) from the thumbscrew to the needle plate. The Kenmore Super High is about 1.25" (inches) high. There are also modern brands with a high shank, maybe Janome he said. He has done a lot of Kenmore b/c they are cheaper to buy. Thanks for the good wishes and from your lips to God's ear for them for all of us. 🙏 Take care.

[@terryjanisch905]

Merry Christmas Andy.

[@andytubesewing1953]

Thank you and Merry Christmas terry 🎄✨

[@matthewdegraffenried2771]

I am so glad you are working on a 15-91. I recently acquired a 15-90 treadle machine and finally got it all cleaned up and working well. Replaced the leather belt and now I am working on the cabinet, which has been a major project with all the chipped and loose laminate. It should be nice when done. Do you know if I can get new decals?

[@andytubesewing1953]

www.singerdecals.com/model-15/

[@terrymcclean4582]

After all the videos you've made, it's hard to believe you're still finding new areas to explore for us. Kind of like the Starship Enterprise, going where no one has gone before. I had looked at hand wheels like this before, and knew there was a spring in there, but I resisted taking them apart because I was afraid of the spring shooting out or being difficult to reinstall. No worries now. Was all that grease thrown off from the worm gear that meshes with the textolite gear? There sure was a lot, and it seemed to be everywhere, so I was wondering if it might have deliberately placed there.

[@andytubesewing1953]

Thanks, Terry. I was hesitant to open one, too. When I had bought a parts machine with a cracked handwheel I decided to go for it. The spring wasn't what I imagined but the style/type of it makes sense. Many of the vintage handwheels have a similar set-up like this one with minor, IMO, differences. Yes, I've never seen that much grease all over a handwheel, but then I've never seen so much grease on the motor parts in general. I'm so used to the TriFlow Clear Synthetic Grease now that the blackish sticky grease seems weird. I think the worm gear grease on this machine migrated into the handwheel, but the machine has been around a long time and who knows how it was serviced. Thanks for watching and the great comment.

[@glnaessens]

I bought the singer 500 in beautiful condition except someone had stripped the screw in the hand wheel and I cannot get it out. The needle goes up and down when I fill the bobbin. I would like to be able to release that. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get that screw out.

[@ronalddaub9740]

That looks just like the 301a gearing. And flywheel@ motor assembly.

[@immeee3292]

You videos were amazing to teach me how to work on my 301A. I also have a Sphinx Mode 27. Are there any videos that might apply?

[@andytubesewing1953]

Thank you 🙏 I've never seen a model 27/28 so I've never had the opportunity to work on one and make videos; sorry. I do have the 36 videos for model 301A if those are the videos you mention. If you haven't seen them all they are in two Playlists. #1 Coco playlist - kzbin.info/aero/PLsCOZgzzaiKLZyGebzS_oISgesXNyREyI #2 Technical playlist - kzbin.info/aero/PLsCOZgzzaiKI_6fbu3itbd1v4z3uQvvkO Thanks for watching my channel and Happy New Year.

[@immeee3292]

@@andytubesewing1953 Thanks anyway! Can’t win ‘em all 🙂

[@andytubesewing1953]

@@immeee3292 Truth!

[@pl-ns1lo]

Hi Andy , Do you put grease on the Textolite Gear? I didn't notice if you did that or not. Thanks.

[@andytubesewing1953]

I did not apply any grease in the video b/c I do not have the motor mounted on the body. I do apply grease on the Textolite gear and the motor shaft pinion or worm gear of all the other machines I have worked on, like the 401A, 301A, etc. This is the first model I have done with a horizontal motor that has a horizontal gear below the handwheel. When I have restored the motor for this machine and remount it I will be adding grease to the Textolit gear & motor shaft gear. I'll be using the grease I use on all machines, TriFlow Clear Synthetic Grease; www.triflowlubricants.com/product/tri-flow-synthetic-grease/ On vertical motor pinion gears that mate with the side of the Textolite handwheel gear, I use a stiff artist brush, like for acrylic paint, to brush on grease to both of the gears. You can see me doing this starting about 54:30 of this video; kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZnRf4yvgqhkrrc I'm not sure that will be enough with the 15-91 potted motor b/c they seem to have a large area where the motor shaft gear sits. I don't know if that is supposed to be filled with grease or not, but I do not plan on using that much grease. I'll probably brush it on thickly and test the motor like that to see if enough stays on the gears to protect them from wear. Thanks for watching my channel.

[@mariamarfil1620]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼❤️

[@andytubesewing1953]

🙏

[@chriswilson904]

I’m planning on changing feed gears on a singer 750. It was gifted to me after sitting forever. I just made my first ever stitch using a machine, but shortly into my project the gear snapped. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. I was watching another video but they were cutting the metal on the machine which was hard to watch. Then I came across your videos. Your a great educator.

[@andytubesewing1953]

I don't work on the Touch & Sew models like the 750. If I wanted to do what you have planned I would contact the Guru of Touch & Sew Models, the Touch and Sew Swami who was a lead technician when those models came out. He has a guide that appears to be written to do the gear change then reset the timing, among other guides and factory manuals you can buy and download from his store. Here is the 700 T & S Manuals page: store.tandtrepair.com/tosew700se.html You see the 2nd one on the top row is for the gears. You can email first and ask if that will cover what you are planning. He has contact info and his name is Terry. If you decide to buy something and do it before the end of 2021 you can use my coupon code of andy-h-yt for a 20% discount. Thanks for watching my channel and if you get tired of the T & S you can always pick up a nice 401A or 403A Slant-O-Matic Special with all steel gears 😊

[@chriswilson904]

@@andytubesewing1953 thank you for the leads 😊

[@andytubesewing1953]

@@chriswilson904 you bet and good luck. 👍

[@rhoorio]

Can you mix different handwheels? One that came off my 15-91 has a c clamp retainer vs the one feature in this film and the one I got on ebay? Don't want the screws in the retainer to break my machine. Thanks

[@andytubesewing1953]

I've only done that when the part numbers are an exact match, like the 401, 403 & 404 slant needle machine. Besides the style of retainer the actual size of the handwheel could be different, or the sizes of the arm shaft counter balances may have a different diameter, or the size of the gear or number of teeth may differ, or the worm gears may be different. Model 15-91 was in production from 1930 thru 1956 and it is possible some parts changed during those years. So, in general, I try to do an exact match for styles/part numbers of any parts. You could try it and just turn by hand at first to see how it felt/sounds I guess. Maybe your existing wheel is the oddball one, and not original or was made 20 years later/earlier than mine in the video.

[@rhoorio]

@@andytubesewing1953 reason I don't know how to find the part number cause I can't tell the year of the model, I think it's 1952 based on the C in then manual

[@andytubesewing1953]

@@rhoorio You can look up the date of your machine by Serial Number at ISMACS here: ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/serial-numbers/singer-sewing-machine-serial-number-database.html You can send the picture you asked about but it will not help me. The machine in this video is the one and only model 15 I've ever worked on or seen in person for that matter. I'll be happy to share all the documents I have for model 15-91 (and other models 15) if you want to email [e-mail]

[@pthomps01]

Thank you for this video! Regarding the finish, I clean inside and outside the handwheels with naptha. It will not harm the paint. It will, however, cause any varnished-on oil on the handwheel to become very visible (as light brown patches) since the naptha dries it out. Because of this I always finish cleaning the outside of the handwheel with a damp towel, which returns the varnished-on oil to an invisible state. Alternatively, you could just clean the inside of the wheel with naptha and use a damp towel for the outside. I have never used krud kutter before. I will have to try it out. When you clean with Krud Kutter, what do you use to clean off the KK residue?

[@andytubesewing1953]

Thanks for watching, and thanks for the Naphtha info. I hesitate to use products like this that are flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixtures. I don't have a workshop or clean outdoor work area where I'm living so I look for alternatives. I guess that's what lead me to the Krud Kutter. Being water-based and earth-friendly I've found it to be very good in removing oil & grease. At stronger mixtures, it can dull paint though. I do have a half can of JASCO Naphtha in the storage closet so I'll try it out on some parts of an old parts machine. I've tried many cleaners and tools and anything that works safely is good to add to the "toolbox" for working on the machines. I appreciate the clear comment. Take care.

[@pthomps01]

@@andytubesewing1953 Naptha does have a strong odor (though not as bad as kerosene, which is what I used to use). I work in a large garage with a fan. Naptha evaporates quickly which I like, and it doesn't leave residue. However, if I can use less Naptha by substituting in an environmentally friendly cleaner like KK, that will be awesome. Another of my absolute favorite cleaning tools, especially for motors, is CRC QD Electronic Cleaner. It is fantastic for blasting away carbon brush residue - but like Naptha, you probably don't want to breathe it in.

[@andytubesewing1953]

@@pthomps01 I have used the CRC QD Cleaner on my computers and a couple of sewing motors and it works well; no residue that I can see.