Saturday, October 25, 2014

66 is finished!

The day I thought would never come has come! The 66 is finished and operational! I can't believe how after 102 years, it's still such a pleasure to use. So quiet and smooth and precise! And I also can't believe how well the restoration turned out. It was truly an amateur operation and quite the learning experience. It's not something I see myself doing again. Now without further ado...


Can you see the very obvious scratch I made with a screwdriver blade?


You can see the uneven printing of the decal. These are the original cover plates. They are pitted but usable.
An early rear clamping shank. I managed to find a set of attachments for it but I may replace it with a normal shank so I can use buttonholers and and other articulated attachments with it.
I had to replace this upper thread guide because I thought it was a friction fit and ended up damaging mine. It is NOT a friction fit and is sometimes necessary to use glue.


And here it is back in the skanky table it came with.

Now about the budget. Let's just say it's blown. And then some. I ended up buying a new balance wheel because I wanted the shiny chrome and I couldn't do it myself on my old one. As I said in the previous post, I had to buy new bobbin area parts. Here's why:

Just like sandpaper
Let's see...in addition to copious amounts of painting supplies, I also bought new etched covers and a stop motion knob. A new belt...decals...plating kit...We're probably looking at $300 easy. I guess that's not too far out of line with one in good condition but those usually come with a decent table. I hate that the decals don't have that sparkle like the original gold did, but I guess that's my only complaint about the whole project.

Well, that's all folks. I can put this one to bed. I wanted to show more photos, but I didn't want to make this post too photo heavy, so I made a web album. You can view it here.