Treadle On Bulletin Board

My Conversion of a Necchi Esperia to Treadle

and

Simultaneous Conversion of Singer Industrial Treadle to Home Model Use

 

As many of you know, last summer I gave up my favorite treadle, a Singer industrial wide-stance frame with 14 1/2" wheel that I had fitted with a home model top so it could be used with standard models and provide quite high speed treadlng. I won't repeat how giving up this treasure came about, but at the time it had to be done and so be it. Late this past summer, the chance to get another very nice Singer industrial treadle, this one with a 16" wheel and a 31-20 in it, came up and I jumped on it. Nice 31-20, but I still wanted the ability to use a home machine in this kind of a setup. Today turned out not to be a productive quilting day, so I spent it plotting how to acctually accomplish this. For a little extra motivation, I had a Necchi Espiria I had never used that needed to have a motorotomy and find a home.

My first idea was to try to set a spare Singer top I had on the industrial top and see if that could be made to work. It can't without a lot of work. The whole top is simply too wide and, when the holes are centered on each other, the home machine top sticks out to the front. You'd have to saw it up so much making a new top would be as easy.

OK, new cup of coffee, reload the pipe and study further... Wait a minute, let's look at the easy way. If you can't adapt the top, why not adapt the hole? OK... that has promise. The width of the industrial opening is actually the same as the the home machine top. It's only the length that is different. My, and most industrial models, have a tin oil pan under them. As it develops, the distance between the bottom of the round housing of the bobbin race on a Model 15 or Model 15 clone just happens to be 3/4" above the bottom of that tin plate. That's going to vary a tiny bit depending on who installed the tin plate, but the idea works. I put a piece of 3/4" plywood on the bottom of the pan and set the Necchi into the hole. The right end of the bed fit perfectly onto the corner rests of the bed opening, and the bottom of the bobbin race housing sits on the piece of plywood, with the bed level. The routed edges of the hole keep the bed in place.

The only remaining problem was the large opening at the left hand of the bed. OK... White met this problem many years ago with the model that had the wooden filler plug instead of a slide plate. The two corner rests for the industrial bed were, of course, just sitting there unused at the left. I made a template of the opening, including fitting to the rounded corners of the bed, then went down to the basement and dug out a black plastic scrap and rough cut out a filler plug. It took several trips up and down stairs to grind and sand it into a nice fit. That was fine, but the edge that meets the machine bed had nothing to hold it up. A couple of quick marks from underneath to define the bottom edge of the new plug, then two finishing nails tapped in, and... Voila! It is good...

 

 

Here is the treadle with the 31-20 in it.

 

 

And here it is with the Necchi Esperia.

 

 

This was, in the end, very simple. The belt line up was fine. It was just a matter of dropping the head in and finding a way to support the left end. Making the plastic filler plug was a straight forward job, just a little finicky about those points on the corners.

 

Note that the receptor plates for the industrial hinge fingers are still in place, so the industrial can be droped in at any time. The are no pins/hinges holding the Necchi, nor does there appear to be any need for them, since the head doesn't raise and lower.

I thought I was going to have to splice a two piece belt for it, but I found three new belts and carefully stretched them out... one was several inches longer than the others and just fit. The machine runs nicely, as does the treadle. I haven't actually sewn with it yet. I need to put a new needle in and do the typical adjustment. Meantime, I can now slip any Singer Model 15 into this nice, wide frame, large surface, high speed treadle.

I'm pleased...

Captain Dick

 

This morning I decided this treadle needed a set of drawers. I had some kind of ratty looking old drawer stacks downstairs, but this thing looks nice and I wanted to keep it that way. A few years back, I bought 6 sets of birch drawers from Crate and Barrel for a book shelf. They weren't all fully used so I stole one for the treadle. Very easy installation. There is a 1/4" lip on the top, so I cut a piece of 1/4" plywood for that (not a perfect height fit, but good enough). With the drawers out, I drilled positioned and drilled two holes in the top. I took two 1 1/2" self-washer head screws and a portable drill upstairs, drew a straight line close to the front edge of the treadle, positioned the drawer frame and drilled two pilot holes, then drove in the screws. The hardest part of the whole deal was getting back up off the floor after lying on my back under the treadle!

 

 

Here's what the drawers look like as a set on the shelf... minus one.

 

 

Here's the one, installed under the treadle top.

 

 

Drawers open.

 

 

If you find yourself in the position of having to build or resurface an industrial treadle top, this is a very nice way to add a well built set of drawers to it.

Dick

 

New Development

While the Necchi ran perfectly on long test seams, it acted up when I tried to sew a quilt with it. It has a lever system below deck for raising and lowering the feed dogs, and it seems to be out of adjustment and not like stopping and starting on short seams. Rather than try to fix it as I was starting a new quilt project, I swapped it out of the treadle and replaced it with a Singer 191U I've had for a long time. It performed flawlessly. This is a Japanese made model, and one of, if not the very last of the Model 15's without an internal motor. I think the internal motor Model 125 was already in production here in the US, and this model, and a corresponding model that was made in Brazil, were the last of the 15's that can be treadled. I have another Japanese 191U that is anoriginal treadle, in a parlor cabinet.

Help Identify this Treadle

 

I got a lovely little 3/4 treadle from Catherin Eith this afternoon (also a terrific 31-20). This little treadle has a unique machine in it. You'd swear the decals are Singer at first glance, but then you realize not. It's a shuttle machine, like a Singer 28, but with reverse, which to me screams "English"!. In studying it carefully, what is left of the name decal appears to say "Ruby". Now, there are, according to my somewhat untrustworthy memory, several folks on this list who have machines they refer to as "Rubies". So, any information about Rubies, whether American or foreign, would be helpful. Here are some pictures:

 

 

Note the raised, arced section of the base next to the slide plates... and the reverse. The double spool pins plate is held in in a standard spool pin hole. There is not a big screwhead under the plate, as there woudl be on a Jones.

That said, I have found pix of Jones with what appears to be this decal.

 

Better pic of that raised part of the base. You can also see the letters "Ruby" left in the decal. Obviously there was at least one other word in front of that. Sometimes, in the right light, I think I can see and initial "E" in front of Ruby, but just can't be sure.

 

Here is a closeup of the reverse/stitch length mechanism, and the serial number 643939

 

Side iron sports an oil can cup and what should be a fairly recognizable star pattern in the casting...

 

Treadle feet are unique in that they have wheels on the right end only, but also have screw hole tabs for screwing it to a floor, something usually found on industrials.

 

The treadle peddle has a distinctive raised line across it, kind of like it would fit in front of the heel of your shoe.

 

This has nothing to do with the machien above, but here' sthe 32-20 I got with it...

 

 

 

Captain Dick's Non-Spoked Wheel Hand Crank Converter

I got the chance, in the midst of a busy day, to gin up a working version of the hand crank converter I mentioned yesterday, and it does work. It's a lot easier to show than to describe, so here goes, in words and pictures:

 

 

Step One: I took a piece of aluminum strip, 1/8" thick and hacksawed off a length that is longer than what you see here. I positioned and drilled two holes large enough to accept an #8-32 bolt. I placed the strip on an old Singer clutch screw knob, centering it as well as I could by eye, and traced the position of the two holes onto the face of the knob. Next I drilled a smaller hole in the marked position where the bolt would go in the end of the strip... bottom of picture. Next I tapped that hole to 8-32 and screwed the bolt in. The bolt was way too long and once was it was tightened down I hacksawed off the extra on the inside of the knob.

Next step was to trace the second hole on the knob, loosen the bolt a tad, twist the strip out the way and drill another of the smaller holes in the knob, then tapping it also to 8-32, screwing the second bolt through and again, sawing off the excess on the inside of the knob.

I had deliberately made the strip too long. I now tried to install the modified clutch knob, which wouldn't fit because of the extra length of the strip. I marked a point on the strip where it would fit inside the depression in the hand wheel and cut it off there. In the picture, this end cut is still raw. I will, of course, dress it off with a file as I did the other end when I finish the job. The pictures is of the otherwise finished unit.

Obviously, you could use the actual knob from your machine, but it seems wiser to use an old spare one. Then you can always put the original back on and keep the conversion unit if you sell the machine.

Sheesh! It took almost as long to write that out as it did to do it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the inside of the knob. You can see the ends of the two bolts I installed in the drilled and threaded holes. I had to dress the rough ends off a bit with a file. Bear in mind that this was clearly a "quick and dirty" job. A true machinist would make a couple of jigs to make the strip, be sure it was centered perfectly on the knob and drill and tap the new bolt holes in the knob.

 

Here is the process of installing the conversion unit. Now that the strip is not too long to fit into the recessed area of the solid handwheel, you can screw the clutch knob back in. As always, you'll need to correctly position the three eared clutch washer that goes inside of it on the end of the shaft. In this photo, the washer pin screw is not present. As i said, I simply grabbed an old clutch knob out of the parts drawer.

 

The flip finger on the hand crank has to be in the "down" position to fit into the recessed area of the solid hand wheel. Set the hand crank in position and screw it on.

 

Here we are installed and in use... and it works slick!

Here is the only minor problem. There is motion slack behind the operatng "finger". In practice, it's hardly noticable, since you only crank in the one direction. You could install a wider strip, with a wide notch in the top to recieve the finger, but it would be harder to make and not necessary. A rubber band around the finger and the top of the strip should fix the problem just fine if it bothers you.

 

 

Some Comments and Thoughts:


Not everyone knows how to drill and tap a bolt hole... but it is easy and a nice skill to have if you work at fixing things. It can not only be used to make a new hole, but a tap is handy to "freshen" the threads on old holes where bolts don't quite want to work any more. It's nothing the average Onion can't do, though I realize most never have. However, the average active "Handy Andy" or "Handy Annie" probably wouldn't have much problem with it. It really did take me longer to write it out than it did to do it. You should have a drill press (can be a small bench top model) and a tap and die set. These are readily available at a tool outlet. The aluminum of the strip is obviously soft, and it turns out so is the metal of the clutch knob, so there's no real drilling problem.

The procedure is straightforward. Mark the holes as i described. Drill the holes in the strip just barely larger than the bolt. Then switch to a drill a size smaller than the bolt, as thick as the solid part of the bolt but excluding the threads. Holding the drill and bolt up to a light quickly shows you the size you want. Squirt oil in the hole in the clutch know, then put the tap (basically a bolt specially made of hard steel with "broken" threads) into the holder that comes with the tap and die set, and slowly screw it into the hole, going just a tiny bit, then backing out, then back in again, back out again. About a quarter turn or less each time. The tap gradually makes its own threads in the hole. Pretty neat.

However, that said, if you haven't done this and don't want to, find someone who can. it shouldn't be hard. I'm assuming that you want this badly and for some reason can't or won't buy a spoked hand wheel, which is obviously the easiest and best way to do a conversion.

I don't envision making these myself; my plate's full. However, is someone wants to make them in bulk and sell them, tacking on a bit extra to send to TO, that's cool. I do think it's a rather neat and effective approach.

As to the issue of it possibly tending to loosen the clutch nut. If it's tightened in well, I don't think it should be a problem, but if it was, cleaning the threads with alcohol and applying some Locktitebefore installing the knob should solve it.

Dick Wightman
Captain Dick

Captain Dick

rwightman@mindspring.com