Singer 401A

So a sewing machine popped up on Craigslist, at a really reasonable price last week. Did I need another? No! But actually, I fell for the desk it came with. And the desk alone was worth the asking price of $50.

So I put in a call/email.  And got some details, was starting to arrange pickup, and the seller's husband came down with the flu - she said she'd be in touch. I wasn't holding my breath. It was a good week/week-and-a-half later, and I couldn't take it anymore, so I sent an email asking how they were feeling.  The next day, I got an email sent to all the interested buyers, saying call me, first come first served. Arg! I was so irritated at the way it was handled I nearly didn't respond.  After a couple of hours of grumbling about it, I decided to write in.  Well, I was second in line. Again, ARG. My stubborn streak cost me.

I got lucky though -  first buyer didn't pickup! So Thursday night, my awesome husband drove me an hour away, the night before my big interview, to pick up ANOTHER machine, which he didn't even support. What a guy!

The machine is a Singer 401A Slant-o-Matic, purchased in 1957 by the seller's mother.

The machine and the desk have been well cared for. (my garage on the other hand...). It came with accessories, the manual, and the foot controller (pedal to some).

From my research, the cabinet is the Singer "Hampden Court" with the mahogany finish.

The machine is a mauve/tan color with ivory accents.  The motor was sluggish and didn't want to work at full speed. But all the other parts moved well.  I cleaned and oiled the insides, and replaced the old grease with some Tri-Flow grease.  To deal with the motor, I had to remove it and clean it.  My husband helped me take apart 4 motors this weekend and refurbish them.  (How cool is that? Told you he was awesome) So now I feel pretty comfortable with the whole process - woohoo!

Getting the motor out was supposed to be easy - but it was jammed.  You remove the protector plate on the bottom of the machine, the handwheel, and the motor plate (squarish metal plate in front of the motor), and are supposed to just be able to pull the motor assembly out. Here's my motor - the metal plate in this picture is to the right of the motor - IRL, it's above the motor if you have the machine tipped onto its back.


My motor/shaft was baked in with old oil/grease/dust and whatnot, and we had to apply considerable force on the worm (the gear up by the handwheel) with a small rubber mallet to get it out. Scary for me! These motors are not really replaceable!

This motor appeared to have a lot of carbon dust on the inside, and needed everything cleaned. The commutator was pretty funky, so I used a pencil eraser to remove the carbon, followed by alcohol to clean any residue, and then a swift brush with fine steel wool to make it shine like a new penny.  I cleaned with alcohol again after that.

We reassembled the motor, put it all back together, and installed it. This time with the shaft cleaned and greased a bit so it wouldn't stick in the future.  I reassembled the machine and ran it.

It now goes full speed! Woot!

She still needs a thorough outside cleaning, but the insides look great and sound great now!  I moved the whole desk with machine into my sewing area, and removed my old desk.  I loved my old desk, but it was huge, and it's a relief to have a smaller piece of furniture in it's place.

The interesting thing about the Slant-o-Matic?  It has a slant shaft. In the below picture, not the location of the presser foot and screw, and the angle of the whole end of the machine.

This is a really interesting feature. And it also means standard attachments don't work on it. You need to find special slant shaft feet, a buttonholer, and a monogrammer.

 In addition to that, there's a special needle plate on this model - an elevator plate. Instead of being able to lower the feed dogs (the parts that move fabric through the machine), you can lower or raise the plate to keep them from working.  This also means standard attachments (buttonholer, monogrammer) need a special cover plate to work properly.  This site has some great information about what plate your machine may need.

This machine has an internal camstack (all metal) - this means it can produce many different types of stitches in addition to the standard straight stitch, without having to change out cams.  Additionally, however, you can switch out different plastic cams to add to the functionality of the machine.  Mine only came with 3 or 4, but I hope to come across more soon.

So if you know me, you know I already have the buttonholer and monogrammer on order! I can't wait for those to come so I can try them out.

This was the machine that broke the camel's back though - hubby says no more machines until I sell some. Oh well, fair enough!

I have 3 machines listed in my store if you are interested in a machine right now - a Singer 15-90, a Singer 201-2, and a Singer 185-K.  

In addition, I have many other machines here, so if you are looking for something specific, please ask!  I have a Kenmore 1946, a Singer 9W, and many others - just in various states of repair and quality.

Thanks for hanging around! Who knew my blog would turn into ALL sewing machines?

Jess