Well, I got out the Featherweight yesterday, and started some serious work on it. It hasn't been used for 10 or 20 years. It smells. It needs lubrication. It needs oil. The case needs to be deodorized. Many many steps.
This is the little green manual that came with the Featherweight, is quite informative. On these couple of pages, it shows no less than 30 places where one drop of oil needs to be placed regularly.
This is a new felt piece that goes on the inside of the bottom plate of the Featherweight. This is where 99% of the offending smell was coming from. The old one was very damp with black oil residue from all the oiling. It was so disgusting, that it had to right in the garbage outside. I couldn't use it to trace around to make a new one. I used the bottom cover to get a general shape, then I whittled down so it fits really good. I'm going to trace a paper template just in case it'll be useful to somebody else. Now I'm just waiting to see what kind of glue I can get locally to glue it down with. With all the oiling the machine needs, I expect this will have to be changed every 5 years or so.
While it doesn't look any different, I know now that it will be much more fun to start with knowing it's had oil. It will sit on my hubby's workbench while I do a few more things to it, and it should be up and running in another day or two. 
1 comment:
you know, I have a hand crank one of those.. very portable and needs no plug in! Does any of your friends want to give it a home.... I have had it for 30 years.. or maybe 28.... yard sale.. used it once, just for the fun of it! has a wooden case.. bahhha heavy as hell!
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