A Tale of Two Treadles - Episode 1

Meet my newest sewing machine repair project - the two treadles! Again, these are for a friend, and I don't have the cabinets, just the heads.

This is the project - I need to pick the best one, mechanically and cosmetically, and repair that one. That one will then go back in the table with the new belt and the other one will be sold as-is for parts or repair. Personally, I'm loving these two not-so-little treadle machines already!

Here they are - Treadle 1 at the right in the front, and Treadle 2 at the left in the back. Although I haven't cleaned them yet, Treadle 2 looks like the one in best condition, both cosmetically and mechanically.

Closeup of Treadle 1 - missing a bobbin, bobbin case slide plate, has the decals coming off somewhat on the bed, and has a very, very bad sticking handwheel, but for the most part, those are all easily fixed.

Closeup of Treadle 2 - by far the dirtier one, this one though looks in the best condition. It has the bobbin, bobbin case slide plate, and everything seems to turn smoothly.

See what I mean? And I get to clean that! :)

On Saturday morning, I stripped both of all their major removable parts for a cleaning, excepting one screw on the needle plate of Treadle 1 and the back access hole cover screw of Treadle 2. I set those to soak in WD-40 for 24 hours. That usually does the trick. The next morning, the needle plate screw came out, but 36 hours later, the back access hole cover screw is not budging. Tomorrow, if it's sunny, it's time to take it to the next level to get that screw out. Stay tuned!