Restore Along Part 6: Removing the Badge
Welcome back to the Restore Along featuring Julia and Tulip. Thank you for following along with the series! This installation sees Julia removing Tulip's badge and testing out various types of paint remover on the machine's painted surfaces. If you are just joining us, you can catch up on the most recent installment here:
Previous Post: Restore Along Part 5: The Head and The Base
Today's work begins with removing the two badges on the front of the machine. Julia has been putting this off, thinking of the best method to detach the badges without damaging them. She decides that sanding down the sides of the pins where they pass through the machine will make it easy to push them out with a punch.
Julia is sanding the model number badge pin. She found out that sanding was not enough at this step!
To get the model number badge pins out all the way, Julia uses pliers, hammer, and a hex wrench.
One of the model number pins is easy to tap out - it is shorter than the other and the punch seats comfortably in the housing. Holding the punch (a hex wrench) in place with pliers, a few taps of the hammer to the pliers makes quick work of the first pin. The other pin takes a little more effort but it finally comes out.
Model number badge pins almost out.
Success! She got the number badge off!
The Singer Badge pins are another story. Getting the hex wrench to stay centered on these pins takes four hands (hers and those of her husband Mark) as well as some inventiveness. Mark concocts a couple of variations of a gear puller type tool on the fly to assist with the task.
Mark's customized tool used to push the Singer badge pins out.
Mark and his custom pin pusher!
Singer badge removed unharmed.
Tulip's Singer Badge
The whole process takes three hours, but at last both badges are removed, unharmed. Mission accomplished!
Now that all the parts are removed, Julia needs to strip the paint from the large components of the machine, like the base, the neck, and the extension bed, without damaging them.
To start, Julia tests various cleaning processes on the compromised varnish on Tulip's extension bed.
Julia plans to remove Tulip's finish entirely. After careful research, she chooses Multi-Strip Advanced Professional Paint Remover for the task.
The test will take a full day. She applies a thick coat of Multi-Strip to the extension bed and sets it aside.
One hour after the Multi-Strip is applied.
Twenty hours after the Multi-Strip is applied.
There is little to no improvement on Tulip's extension bed after using Multi-Strip. Julia has determined that she will clean the surface the best that she can and use the original paint as a pre-primer.
(From the Featherweight Shop - The original painting process used on the Featherweights was called Japanning. It is administered with an enamel-like paint and a process similar to powder coating. It is extremely difficult to remove the original Featherweight paint without sanding it.)
End of part 6! Thanks for joining us. See you all next week on Wednesday for another installment.
