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| I hope this is just a dumb question and not something serious...
Bit of background - a couple of years ago I came across a Portable Electric White Family Rotary circa 1921 (or earlier...its the exact same machine as the treadle version, but with a motor on the side. Husqvarna-Viking gave me the build date of the wrong machine when I asked them.) in very good shape. It had been used until maybe a year or so before I bought it, and then given to the secondhand store when the old lady either died or became incapacitated. It even still had thread in the bobbin. I downloaded both manual #11 and #12 for it. So today I was going to try and learn to use it for a silly little project, and in testing it pressed the footbar. The motor was slow in getting going, but it did...but...smoke came out of it. Assuming that this was smoke from any accumulated dust, I tried it a few more times and indeed the smoke did stop and the motor runs smoothly. But...here's my possibly dumb question. When looking at the motor while its running, from the angle that the picture below is taken, I see sparks inside the motor. Should I be seeing sparks? This is my machine (I'm working on cleaning and oiling the bobbin case and shuttle/race, that's why the plate is missing):
--GW |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by gardenwolverine (My Page) on Thu, Nov 17, 11 at 18:11
| I take it back, it hasn't stopped smoking when I depress the foot pedal, its just a thin line of smoke that dissipates. Again, I wonder, is it just dust in the motor that's burning up? |
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- Posted by gardenwolverine (My Page) on Thu, Nov 17, 11 at 19:12
| Just tried this http://www.ubscure.com/Art/75529/28/How-To-Repair-Sewing-Motor-Weaknes
s-Disorder.html and it seems to have helped, but I may have to do some more before its fully ready to work. I was planning on getting a hand crank for it off of eBay, tho, so if the motor turns out to be unusable I can convert it. Another question, tho...how do you know how much oil to put in each 'oil this' spot? The manuals don't tell you how much. --GW |
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- Posted by cooksnsews (My Page) on Thu, Nov 17, 11 at 21:28
| Usually, the smoking is just dust burning off. Can't really say about the sparks.... I would disengage the motor from the machine - tilt its pulley away from the hand wheel and brace it in that position. Then let it run for at least 5-10 minutes, maybe more, and see if its behaviour improves. You might try the website linked below for more repair tips. You can forget about ever finding a hand crank for this machine. Very few White FRs were made with a crank (I have the only known one in captivity) and the reproduction ones available only fit Singers. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Tools for Self Reliance
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| Jenny at Sew-Classic sells hand cranks, but you might want to check with her to see if it will fit first. Have you rewired the motor? If you're not up to it, Jenny sells replacements too. I'm not affiliated, but am a very happy repeat customer. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Hand Crank
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| Don't know, but that's a beautiful machine! |
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- Posted by cooksnsews (My Page) on Fri, Nov 18, 11 at 23:15
| As I mentioned in my first post, you will not find a hand crank to fit a White Rotary. The one Jenny sells ONLY fits Singer, or Singer compatible machines. Whites have totally different configurations, and their wheels turn clockwise, while Singers turn counter-clockwise. I've been participating in many on-line sewing machine collector groups for over 15 years, and folks have been continually, but unsuccessfully, searching for ways to crank White FRs. They are fine machines, but their original target market didn't want hand machines. North Americans always preferred treadles in the pre-electric age, and this model apparently wasn't exported to Europe, where hand cranks dominated the market. |
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| Your machine motor probably needs to have the carbon brushes replaced. That may be one reason why it does not just run when you give it electricity. Many people do not know about carbon brushes. I found out the hard and expensive way. Your little doodads are scraping on the motor and making sparks. The carbon brushes are not brushes at all. They are little rectangles of carbon that look like they are made of lead from a pencil. You will also find that the motor is full of black dust. That is the carbon flying around. You need to have the motor serviced, or it will burn up on you. |
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| How much oil? About 3 drops in each hole. |
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