Beaverton, Oregon Featherweight Maintenance Workshop - May 2018

Mid-May we were in the Portland, Oregon area for a recent Novice Featherweight Maintenance Workshop.  We had the special treat of meeting more of our friends from the Featherweight Facebook Group as well as making new ones, too! 

Becki flew in from Missouri and was a pleasure to meet and have at our workshop the first day!

Originally discovered for Featherweights in 2015 by our son, Christian, the long-shafted Maintenance Screwdriver is simply a must-have. The extra absorption of torque in the shaft allows you to easily remove those "hard-to-remove" screws. 

Carmon and Christian giving a live-illustration on the large screen.

Carmon showing how the bed cushions will often get smashed over time and are easily replaced.  It's important to replace all four cushions at the same time so you have a balanced machine on the table.

You can order replacement bed cushions for the black, tan and Singer 301 machines here >

Diane (above) & Kari (below) learning about the belt and how to properly remove it from the machine.

Kari's machine has an original Singer Featherweight black motor without motor ports.  This is the same kind that was supplied with the white Featherweights (only the white Featherweight motors were painted to match the machine).

Christian and Ruthie making their own illustrations.  Ruthie showing how to easily attach the felt drip pad to the bottom tray.

HINT:  A felt drip pad is not necessary for the white Featherweight -- click here > to see how the white Featherweight machine compares to the other style Featherweights.

Rolling the belt off the motor pulley.  To learn how to do this, click here >.

Learning about the handwheel washer and the correct placement so that the needle stops bobbing up and down when winding a bobbin.

When thread is left on the bobbin it absorbs moisture and turns to rust... the three circles you see in the photo above are evidence of a bobbin that has rusted in the bobbin case over time.

Getting the stop-back motion knob in the correct position.

Christian assisting Angie with her bobbin case assembly.

Karen and Liz were learning how to clean their Singer Featherweight gears.

While the workshop progresses, Ruthie demonstrates how to clean and polish a Singer Featherweight case, step by step.  She always chooses one case in the workshop for her demo and Susan's case was chosen for this time.

You, too, can refurbish your black Singer Featherweight case using the same method Ruthie uses!  A case polishing kit can be purchased by clicking here >.

Rosalie is a fellow Featherweight Shop facebook group participant and to her delight, our Beaverton workshop ended up being only a few miles down the road from where she lived.  Throughout the workshop she noticed her machine had a little tick noise and was difficult to isolate.  Christian spent quite a bit of extra time with her at the end of class he found it!  It was a result of a few things, actually, but none could have been diagnosed, except in person.  By the end of the day her machine was smooth and purring along beautifully!

We enjoyed visiting our Beaverton, Oregon Featherweight Friends and perhaps we can return again one day. Thank you everyone for being such great participants!