"sewing" machine repair/check-up?

[motdaugrnds]

I have what I think is an old electric "Sharp" sewing machine mother got after her electric Singer got burned up in a house fire. Twenty years ago is the last time it was used and, at that time, it sewed beautifully. (All I made on it then was a cashmere shawl for my sister with fringed border; however, mother made quilts with it.) I have not had an opportunity to actually look it over as it has been stored all these 20 yrs in a storage room out in the barn under the loft.

I'm wanting to have someone look at it who knows something about repairing these old machines. I've been calling around and running thru the phone book yet have not found any shop that does this. At this time the only idea I've come up with is to place an advertisement for such a repair person in the local newspaper; yet this seems a bit risky to me. What would you do?

[Deleted]

You might ask at a fabric store that sells sewing machines where you can get it serviced.

[spacecase0]

I gave my sister my sewing machine that annoyed me, (it was some sort of white sewing machine)
I told her how much it annoyed me...
I fixed it 2 times by just oiling it and unsticking it after it froze solid, so after we moved far away from each other,
she spent about $250 getting it repaired 3 times over about 3 years before giving up on it
I replaced it with a singer 4411 for less than 200 $ (right when it first was sold)
it has worked perfect and has for years
I know they were made by the same company, but one is great and the other was a total mess.
just saying that if something keep breaking, it is likely the design,
just don't spend to much money on something that is not going to recover

[woodwind77]

I think you should get it out, clean it up, oil it and see if it works. I've never heard of a Sharp sewing machine, but I've run into a lot of brands over the years that I'd never seen before. There's a vintage sewing machine board at quiltingboard.com that has a lot of information about cleaning and repairing sewing machines. There are people there who can walk you through anything you need to do to your machine. Good luck getting your machine up and running - it sounds like a good one !

[motdaugrnds]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I went over and registered at that forum woodwind77. Gonna go out and write down what the brand name and model number is on mother's machine before I talk over there.

[motdaugrnds]

I got into the storage this morning and took a good look at mother's old sewing machine. It is an "electric" sewing machine and I was wrong about the brand. It is a "White Rotary No. 43-18476". I have googled it and cannot find it anywhere; so I posted on that quilting forum mentioned above in their "vintage sewing machine board".

This machine does not look like it has any rust of any kind on it. It is sitting in a regular sewing machine cabinet where the "table" part folds over as the machine is lowered and becomes the "top" (cover) when the machine is not in use. When that top is folded out again, the front part of that cabinet opens back to become a support for the table and it has a good sized area that holds the machine's attachments.

The attachments, however, to this machine have been stored elsewhere all this time, i.e. in a sewing box inside my trailer. Here I found two plastic boxes with the name "White" embedded in them along with the original owner's manual. In one of these boxes was a "buttonholer" complete with an instructions booklet; and in the other were an assortment of metal objects: 10 of these look like different types of pressure foots, 3 were bobbins, the other items were small and I have no idea what they are for.

The owner's manual says to "clean" up such a machine after its being stored for awhile, one should use kerosene (coal oil)...kerosene? That stuff is flamable! It states to clean it with that, then wipe off and then oil with "White's machine oil", which I do not have.

I have not attempted to start this sewing machine yet, not even plugged it up. I want to blow it off good with the pressured air I use to clean my computer before I plug it up.

Any ideas/suggestions as to what any of you would do with such a machine at this point would certainly be appreciated.

[woodwind77]

motdaugrnds,I'm glad you went to the quiltingboard site ! I checked your post over there, and I see you've already gotten some great advice. I think White made good machines and I hope you get yours up and running soon. I've heard of soaking machines in kerosene when they were locked up, but I wouldn't use it for cleaning. You can just use sewing machine oil and a soft cloth. I've even used baby oil to clean my Singer 301a with a black finish. You don't have to use " White " sewing machine oil,either (not sure it's even available). Someone at quiltingboard, who's more familiar with White machines, can probably tell you what oil to use for lubricating it.
It's great that you have the manual and attachments. It can be a pain if you have to go searching for them.
If the hand wheel turns and the motor runs smoothly, you could be sewing on that machine very soon !

[Deleted]

Would love to see a picture of this machine if you get a chance, motdaugrnds.

I'm in a similar situation with an old Husqvarna machine that belonged to a former work colleague's mother. He passed it on to me knowing I had an interest in quilting. It's a cog machine. Beautiful condition and in my favourite shade of green. It runs well as far as I've tried, but I need to get to grips with the cog mechanism and how it works.

Looking forward to hearing how this all turns out for you.