Using Gojo to Clean a Vintage Singer Redeye and a Minnesota A Sewing Machines
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- An experiment using Gojo to clean vintage sewing machines, as discussed on Facebook groups Vintage Sewing Machines - Collect, Restore, Reuse, Enable! and Vintage Sewing Machines. We wanted to test the idea of using Gojo's cleaning abilities without damaging fragile decals.
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Great video! I would have loved to have seen you use a clean white cloth to see how much dirt the GoJo removed.
Wow! I've been wanting to see more cleaning demonstrations! Thank you! 😊 I'm just getting started and have a 1927 Model 127 and an 1882 Model 12 with Mother-of-Pearl and I'm terrified to clean it!
I can’t thank you enough. It looks anything and doesn’t seem to bother the decals either .
Thank you, so glad I found your channel.
Awesome. After viewing your video, I used GoJo on my recently acquired Davis Minnesota A. Thank you! I agree, while time has given the Davis-made decals a beating, GoJo was the best gentle cleanser possible. I'm adding it to my regular tool set. Thank you again for sharing!
I bought a nice Minnesota for 50 bucks in the cabinet
I actually wanted a flying shuttle as I call it just put a new belt on it and now I'm doing the gojo it looks good I love the Davis / Minnesota
Thank you for trying this and posting the complete experiment. Gives me courage to give my vintage singer a spa day.
That Red Eye is gorgeous! Thanks Ray for the great video.
Thanks! These machines sew better than any electronic sewing machine. Gojo, Kerosene to clean then oil it add a new belt and watch magic happen. Old Singers have a nice arm opening for quilting.
I’m new at refurbishing sewing machines, so I’m learning along with you. Thanks for sharing your experiment in cleaning up these beauties, especially the red eye.
Great information....I just bought a red eye 1913, I love to quilt in my spare time and my red eye sews great. I would have loved the machine you cleaned up....it was in such great shape....decals and all. Mine is a treadle machine. Love these TH-cam videos on these great built machines.
That machine actually ended up in another state and fully restored. It turned out really nice
The Singer looks gorgeous, thank you for sharing your cleaning experience.
Great video. Thank you for sharing the information. Now I wanna restore every beautiful machine in sight !!!
Wish new machines had beautiful decals so pretty thanks for video
Brother offers different designs. And I think there is a Special Edition Anniversary Edition Singer that offers decals on a Black body! Its a Plastic Machine but is made to resemble a vintage metal machine.
Yes excellent product to clean with, I'm surprise not find more people using it. My number one cleaner to clean with; use it on my vintage fishing reels remove grim and grease and not bad on your hands. And you can't beat the price at Walmart.
Oh man I would not have the heart to be rough with a machine with decals in such great condition. I'll admit it kinda hurt. Informative video though!
That machine ended up put back together and looked amazing. Decals were not hurt at all, however I never let the Gojo stay on a machine longer than 2-3 minutes. In our workshops I have them apply to an area no larger than their hand and try to have them start wiping within a minute. Gojo doesn't discriminate between grime and compromised shellac or decals, so if their bad it'll wash them off 😁
Thanks I found some on Amazon. I'm using it on a 301a singer that I'm cleaning. It works great getting the old oil off. I think it was oiled heavy then put away for a long while. Thanks again😃
Yes I had been buying it by the cases on Amazon, but now they show out of stock. There will be no more, according to my contact at corporate. We are going to try and see if we can make do with the red label in our restoration workshops, either that or find another product from some other manufacturer. :-(
Ray Elkins hide masin
Hi, I just watched your video. Very interesting. Are you saying this machine will never run again? I’m very curious. I think the red eye is absolutely beautiful!! I’d absolutely take it off your hands if I lived closer!!
Oh no, I've not seen very many machines that would never run again. This machine actually ended up restored and is in someone's collection now.😊
Excellent presentation!
thank you! :-)
I cleaned a Minnesota at the same time. Minnesota did good.!
You were right the Minnesota's decals were not put on as good as the singers but my Minnesota looks new.
I have a 201-2 and 15-91 that I just got. I've been afraid to use anything other than sewing machine oil to clean them with. The shellac is peeling in some areas. Will the gojo pull that shellac off? Thanks for making and sharing this video!
It will remove anything not attached. It really does not know the difference between grime and bad shellac that has lost its adhesion. Personally, I still clean them with Gojo because even sewing machine oil is going to wipe off shellac that's no longer attached. Sewing machine oil is not much of a cleaner anyway😉
@@rayelkins7872 Thank you so much for replying! So many other TH-camrs don't bother. Great information here. Thanks again!
I see in one of your comments you mention “shellac”. How do I tell if I’m removing that and if I should leave it on? My 1910 Singer has various shades of black on the bed.
Beautiful job! I hope someone did purchase the machine. It would have been such a waste not to have after doing this kind of restoration.
I have recently discovered Bar Keeper's friend is great for shining up metal bits. It's not abrasive per se, but I haven't tried it on the painted areas of any machine, or decals. If you have any aluminum, it will take that weird color it gets away with no effort at all.
Semi chrome polish for motorcycle engine cases will not scratch but it will clean and buff nickel or plated surfaces the best
Maguire's Fine Cut Cleaner will be much better.
Beautiful. Thank you.
those decals are beautiful. sad to think it wont be a working machine anymore.
So, what do you do for replacement parts. Those machines looked great when you finished with them. I'm sure with a good oiling and some TLC they will stitch like a dream. I love to see these old girls rescued. They were made to last and will do just that. Good job.
IfI can't find the parts, I make them. Being a machinist and having a lathe, vertical mill, and other machine tools is a great plus when restoring and collecting antique machines. However, machines like the two in this video are common and not worth the time required to make parts for them. Both of these machines were bought at auctions for less than $5 and are easy to come by. It is only the rare or more scarce machines that I will spend the time to make new parts for. :-)
I have an old sewing machine it is singer 15. the problem is i tried to clean it the original paint disappeared how can i repaint it ,plz tell me
I'll avoid Gojo. These machines were Japanned for their finish, which is usually a recipe of linseed oil and a solvent/thinner, like turpentine. No clear coast or sealants like some seem to think. So I'll just use boiled linseed oil or sewing machine oil b/c oil seems safest based of what folks here and elsewhere have experienced with the decals.
Stunning.
The Gojo looks to have done a thorough job, but you only wipe it off and then polish. What happens to the residue of Gojo that is inevitably left behind? It makes me a bit nervous.
Any liquid residue that remains simply evaporates. I have machines on the shelves that were cleaned that way 10 years ago and they still look awesome.
ok, thanks! I've just come back and still impressed!
@@rayelkins7872
try evaporust on the internal parts. it's a miracle.
can go jo be used to clean the base of the Singer treadle?
They are so pretty,,you need to show off all of your machines.Now how many do you have?
Thank you! lol we have over 130 machines, most of them being older than the ones in this video. Almost all of them have been cleaned with Gojo too, just not left on for 20 minutes like in the video! :-)
could you shellac it after waxing or no? if paint was missing and restored? or just gojo and wax?
How did you take that Davis apart? I have one with rust. Qas qarned to never remove the front plate.
Warnings like that come from those who need to find another hobby. :-D These machines aren't that complicated! Lol, I teach folks at every workshop how to take them apart, keep up with what goes where, and how to read witness marks and other clues to aid in reassembling them.
do you have to strip all the parts off before you start cleaning??? 08/16/2018
Thank-you have lots . I 'M A GOOD CLEANER BUT DID NOT HOW TO GO ABOUT IT
I have a Singer with crazing top coat. Do you know what to do with that. I also have a beat up 30-15 I used several rounds of GOJO on and the decals looked better after. It almost went to the dump but I thought better of it. It needs a chrome hand wheel, slide plate, thread spool and stitch length screw!
That foggy looking coating you find on machines that is a light brown is simply the clear coating that was sprayed onto it to protect the paint underneath. The paint is usually really nice because it was protected. I think it's a mistake to clean the coating off.
yep, I don't recommend removing the bug shellac at all! That is what both of these machines had on them, but the purpose of the video was to experiment and see if the finish could be damaged if Gojo was used. We still use it in all the workshops with very good results, but never like in the video and never to purposely remove the shellac. As described, it was an experiment and not an attempt to restore these two machines. The Redeye, however, is actually now a reassembled, working machine and looks near mint. It was not damaged at all in the making of this video.
I had one that was so dirty gojo would not touch it I believe it needs lacquer thinner
How to cut trouser
I like the video very much. If you can add Chinese subtitles, there will be more subscriptions
Are there parts I should remove before using Gojo on a White Family Rotary machine if I hope to have it sew well at some point? Your quick restoration looks great!
Gojo isn't going to make the machine unusable in the future. I'd suggest oiling all the oil ports before cleaning, and make an attempt to keep from getting the Gojo in the oil holes. There is no way to keep it all out and that is ok. It won't hurt anything if some gets in there. There are no parts on the machine that must come off before cleaning. Just remember that in the video I left it on the machine for 20 minutes as an experiment only. In our workshops I have them wipe the Gojo on, give it a minute or two, then wipe it off. Leaving it to "soak" doesn't really clean better. Leaving it for very long can begin to soften the shellac on older machines because it is an organic compound, much like the dirt and residue that we want to remove. In any event, stop cleaning any area that you begin to see decals turning silver. Unfortunately, neither Gojo nor any other cleaner can distinguish dirt from deteriorated paint and/or decals. If the decals and paint are bad, it will take it off just like it takes off the dirt :-)
Thanks so much for your quick and detailed response!
Ray Elkins
Sir I don’t know how to get help. I have just purchased a 211w151. Took it to a retired sewing machine mechanic which has retired and does not want to work on machines any more. But he said it was out of time and reset time. Sewed with it and looked good. I brought it home and cut my pattern and started sewing. It just sewed a few inches and stitches started messing up on bottom. Could you have a video on what I need to do don’t have book or know how to get please help. Am retired and trying to do my on work
Mr Elkins my thread hanger may have been wrapped around Could this have gotten my machine out of time. I watched your video. Where you said it could be the needle was in wrong. Would the machine have sewed at all if this was the case. I have watched videos to try and make sure it is threaded right and tryed to check tension but can’t find a video with enough inf on my model. Now my bobbin holder won’t turn all the way around. At first the hook wouldn’t pick up needle thread. I’m afraid I did something wrong
Brenda, this sounds like your upper tension isn't correct. Correct tension is based on a number of factors - fabric type, thread weight, even stitch lenght, from what I understand. What I do is get a piece of scrap fabric and fold it. Sew a bit, adjust tension, sew a bit more, adjust tension until the results is what I want it to be. Use 2 colors of thread. I like white on the spool and black in the bobbin. Easier to tell which is which after sewing. Sounds like your top tension is too loose if you're getting bird's nests on the underside of your fabric. Tighten the tension in small increments and sew test seam, until you get it to your liking.
As to your bobbin, remove it from the bobbin case. I'm not familiar with your machine. Check in around the bobbin, bobbin case looking for threads that may be caught in the wrong place. Re-insert bobbin in the case and thread according to your machine's instructions.
As to your needle, yes the machine will usually sew if the needle is inserted incorrectly. However, the thread tension can be affected by many things, including the direction the thread travels, down the needle and into the fabric. Changing the path (direction) from the original design of the machine can affect tension.
Generally machine timing isn't affected by things like bird's nests from poor tension settings. Timing is controlled by the physical settings of rods and gears. Repair by loosening screws to adjust timing. So, it does take some force applied to throw timing off.
I hope by this time you have already resolved the problem. Remember you can also watch videos of other models of machines that have similar bobbin setup. Threading on most machine is similar in the travel path. As is adjusting upper tension with or without a numbered dial. For more specifics of your machine, you can also check the manual. If you don't have one, they are usually easy to find on line. Just google brand name, model number and the word manual.
If you're still having trouble, hope this helps, a bit.
Tenho pretinha dessa Será que há como adaptar p ela costurar com agulha dupla? Pq pondo aparelho e calcador ela faz ziguezague e põe viés
Hi guys how do you restore inner moving parts that have been rusted and seized up
Did I hear you once say y'all are in Tennessee? If so, what part? I went to school with some Elkins kids.
I'm in Murray, KY just north of Paris, TN. All the Elkins I know of in this area are descendants of 3 brothers who came here from NC and settled around the state line on the Tennessee River around 1805. :-) My 6th great-grandfather was one of the three, Merrill Pinkney Elkins
I grew up 7 miles from the Alabama line on the TN side. There was a Ray Elkins down there and I wondered if you were him.
No sir, weren't me. I've lived here in West Ky all my life. :-)
I'm guessin the one you knew down there wasn't good for much either, huh? lol
Ray have you ever heard of anyone using electrolysis to strip paint and gunk off of a cast iron singer? I have a model 27 that has a lot of paint chipped off and have decided to strip off all the old paint and repaint it.
I have used electrolysis extensively to remove rust and used it in reverse to rust new hardware in my projects using reclaimed lumber. Electrolysis is very good to remove rust, however it would leave a lot to be desired as a paint remover. Electrolysis only works when the current can reach the metal, as in the metal must be bare or the remaining paint in such poor condition and porous enough that the current can get to the metal surface. Also it is not a gunk remover. It will not penetrate grease or anything coating the surface of the metal that isn't water soluble. The reason I know this is I use grease to "mask" areas that I don't want to be rusty when I do the reverse electrolysis. :-)
Another thing to keep in mind is electrolysis works "line if sight". In other words, the anode (+) must have direct "view" of the area that you are removing rust from. With an anode placed at the front of the machine, there will be no rust removed from the back side> Same goes with the inside of the machine housing. Anodes placed around the outside will clean the outside but there will be no rust removed from the inside. Making sense? lol Electrolysis is a lot of help in certain situations but not a gunk cleaner or paint stripper. :-)
Ray Elkins thank you sir!
Well, I tried the Gojo, it is removing a thick coat of greasy crud, and the decals. I guess they were deteriorated. They were pretty much complete before I started. Wishing I'd just used oil. Ugh. I'll stick with oil from now on.
I'm so sorry. I've yet to have an issue with it and we use it not only on all our machines but all machines that folks bring to our Sew Purty Workshops restoration retreats. I don't leave it for the 20 minutes like in the video and never would on a machine I want to restore or preserve. Since the shellac is an organic compound just like the crud that is on most of the older machines (whale oil), we have to always be careful. Since there is always the chance the decals are going to be as easy to remove as the crud, we never completely coat a machine until we know the decals are safe.
Thanks for your reply. I didn't leave it 20 minutes either, only about 5. I didn't test it because you said the Redeye decals were hard to remove and I considered your test, a test...lol Anyway, the only reason I commented was so that others don't jump in, excited to get one clean in such a hurry and lose the old decals like I did. This machine is from 1910, If I remember correctly...so not anywhere near new, from a treadle that had sat in a barn no telling how long. It was covered in what I would figure is diesel fumes from tractors... She turns well and I imagine she will sew just fine, once I get her clean enough to get fabric near her. Thanks for all you do to save these old gals.
Thanks so much for your info on Gojo effect on decals. I'll stick with oil too.
Hand cleaners are a mixture of kerosene, lots of water, and a surfactant (fancy soap). It is beat up until it forms a "grease". So, using pure kerosene will work and I have done that. Sewing machine oil is the safest and I have used it also. Linseed oil is probably going to work also, but can take weeks to "dry". What any of these "oils" is doing is filling the void spaces that scatter light and make the finish look hazed.
Some hand cleaners use odorless mineral spirits, just like used to remove oil based paint from hands, brushes, and surfaces.
The kerosene disperses grease or even oil based paint on hands or brushes, respectively. Adding water converts the material to a white emulsion of kerosene and water; and the surfactant then washes the kerosene and grease off your hands.
Kerosene is not pure and will eventually evaporate, if polished down to a thin film. French polishing with shellac can be tricky and the ethanol will dissolve the old shellac. Not good. So, FPers will mix in oil or boiled linseed oil at first. You better know what you are doing to use FP. See the sticky on quiltingboard.com about FPing in the vintage machine section.
Singer sewing machine oil is highly refined. It takes a long time to oxidize and form a "glue" in moving joints. Cheaper sewing machine oils oxidize faster and form a yellow or amber color. Use the real Singer oil to be the safest. Test out your restoration product underneath the base plate FIRST. If you have problems, use $-Singer oil.
If the pores are real fine and like near molecular in size, the oil or kerosene will not evaporate for a very long time. If you coat with hand cleaner, overcoat with lots of Singer oil and let it stand for weeks to extract some of the kerosene and replace it with Singer oil (diffusion).
You should now understand exactly what is happening with each type of product. I agree with aspec42 to be the safest. Forget 3-1 oil. Get the real thing.
Here is a resource for decals: singer-featherweight.com/search?q=decals
I have a 1926 model Singer 127 how can I get the old dry dead clear coat off of the darned paint and not screw up my decals? And how would I go about re-applying new clear coat? What kind of clear coat would be best to spray over the existing decals? Thanks for any advice
I've had really good luck with just clear lacquer in a spray bomb for automobiles and other things.
Watch a video on French polishing. It’s your finish is shellac, you can save or repair it with new shellac coats. The new layers melt the old layers and if done right can preserve and protect your decals. Good luck.
Ray, now that you've used the Gojo a bunch, have you ever had bad results with the decals?
No I haven't yet, not that can be blamed on the Gojo. We have used it now going on 2 years in the Sew Purty Workshops on hundreds of machines and so far not a "oh NO" moment. As with any method of cleaning, we have seen the occasional incident where the decals were already so fragile that wiping across them with anything would damage them, but we have not had a machine where Gojo has caused any damage. We are always still careful and learning more and more about which machines to be extra careful with. Needless to say, I have had to explain more than once that this video was not meant to exhibit how to use Gojo but was an experiment to see if Gojo could damage a machine's finish. Some people miss that part of the description! :-)
I would like to add that the models of machines that we are leery about or can tell upon inspection that the shellac is in poor condition, the Gojo is wiped on and then wiped off. Never allowed to sit on the finish or "soak". In the video was 20 minutes to test, but in reality I don't leave it on anything with bug shellac over 1-2 minutes. I prefer to wipe it on and then wipe it off.
Where can I buy some gojo with no pumice??? I’ve been looking for a few days now and it seems to not exist round my neck of the woods
I just picked some up at my local Ace hardware store. if they don't stock it I am sure they can get you some.. Cost $2.79
Any auto parts store O'Reilly
I have watched sever you tube and everybody’s machine shines up! I bought zymol cleaner and wax applied to mine nothing! Do I need to lacquer it? Thank you
I really can't tell you a good answer based on any experience. I don't lacquer any of our machines but that is just a personal preference. I prefer them cleaned but not altered or modified.
What is "gojo"
DOWN BELOW,,, DID THIS STUFF STRIP THE GOOD PARTS AS YOU SAY?
No, Gojo just cleans all the dirt and grime off. lol, by "stripped" I mean I personally removed all the parts to use or sell. :-)
Tammy West KJWinters
A word of WARNING! I used GoJo to clean my 120 yr. old Winselmann and this stuff stripped most of the decals to nothing back the silver backing.So be very, very careful using GoJo. Those decals are gone forever, Darn shame.
The video was an experiment to see if I could damage these two machines, not proof that Gojo will never damage the finish. If the decals are bad or lost their adhesion, it is likely they will come of with any cleaning method. Still the best method I have found and we use it exclusively in the workshops, but still always recommend that it should be tested in a small area before plastering it all over a machine.
I understand your reason for your video, and it was well done.I don't agree with your statement " If the decals are bad or lost their adhesion, it is likely they will come of with any cleaning method."These decals can still be preserved ( in many cases) by careful cleaning with a mild soap & water and a toothbrush, then preserve with sewing machine oil or natural shellac. There is a likelihood that beginners, like me, will misunderstand and windup with ruining a once valuable machine.Live and learn.
Really hate that your machine was damaged, but you are correct that many folks make mistakes and assumptions that lead to disaster. That was one of the major factors that caused me to start holding workshops all across the country to show people how to do this stuff. We traveled over 13,000 miles last year to do just that and take the methods and knowledge to people.
Gojo contains no water, which is one reason we (myself and many many collectors of early machines) use it. Water is an absolute no-go when dealing with antique machines, anyone with any experience cleaning pre-1930s machines would agree. I've used Gojo on literally hundreds of machines dating back as early as 1858 (very valuable machines) and not had an issue.
I agree that beginners many times misunderstand, but the ones that I have seen do damage are those who read and watch but never ask questions before making assumptions about a product. I did it myself long ago, making the erroneous assumption that Dawn and water would be a good way to clean a rare early hand-cranked machine. I didn't test it on a small area on the machine, just assumed it would work. Needless to say, that was the last time I made the mistake of trying something I had never done without both testing the method and moving forward cautiously.
Thank you for your reply. Think we are on the same page!
🙂👍👍👍
Hi, what do you do if the machine has rust and dirt on it?
I use the Gojo to clean the dirt off, then coat them with either carnauba wax or Howard Feed-n-Wax depending on the smoothness of the surface. The Feed-n-Wax hydrates the old paint and makes it shine while protecting the rusty areas. Lots of different ways to do it, that is just how I do it because I don't normally repaint machines. What paint and decals that are left is what I want to preserve.
So what is the status of the Red Eye? Did someone buy it from you or is it still available?
oh me, it is long gone. It restored beautifully and was converted to a hand-crank
Gojo wow its been a long time since i used that stuff
Ceramic auto wax for a finish.
do you still have them id buy them off youi
Ah e legal vídeo muito bom mesmo
nice video. what group are you talking about. is it open?
some of the Facebook groups I use a lot are "Vintage Sewing Machines", "Vintage Sewing Machines -, and "Antique Sewing Machines" All require confirmation, but usually an admin will confirm pretty quick. Thanks for watching!
They are neat machines, but I find unless its a Featherweight, they arent worth much. Standard Steel machines are EVERYWHERE!
What do you use to clean the metal parts of the machine?
Assuming you're referring to the bright parts or unpainted parts?
I use Gojo unless the parts have rust on then, in that case I use Evaporust. I do not use any rust removing method that involves any etching corrosive acid. That includes vinegar (acetic acid), Coke (phosphoric acid), or the several commercially available rust removers. Corrosive acids remove good metal at the same (or near same) rate the rust is removed, making the surface rough and pitted. This is very counterproductive when dealing with polished or plated parts since you end up having to polish out all the pitting that wasn't there until you etched it. Some parts that might have rust will also have machined surfaces that run inside a bushing or are intended to slide against another part. When you etch these surfaces with corrosive acid, you end up with a piece of metal that resembles fine sandpaper. This will cause eventual where damage to not only the part but the part that it interacts with.
Also, there is a myth that circulates about using some penetrating oils to remove rust. There are no penetrating oils on the market that have any active ingredient with rust-removing abilities.
Evaporust use a process called "selective chelation" to remove only iron oxide. It does not do anything to the rest of the part's surface.
Thank you so much. I was referring to the metal badges/emblems. Not entirely sure what they're made of. Possibly nickel? I've heard of using Mother's mag aluminum polish but will GoJo work as well or better?
The badges/emblems are not rusty at all
@@shawna3263 alrighty just clean them good with Gojo and then use a good polish (such as Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish) and rub them until your arms are tired. Easier to use a Dremel and buffing wheel though oh, it won't wear your arms out so fast😁
Thank you!! Unfortunately I don't have a Dremel tool so hopefully when I'm done I'll have arms like Popeye 😊
Where can I buy gojo.?
Auto parts store, make sure it does not have pumice because witll destroy the finish
today is August 19, 2018 …. what are you going to use on the nickel/silver platings???
I'm looking to restore to machines like those and I have come to the conclusion after research look up derusting with electrolytic solution and sacrificial iron and then to recoat look up nickel plating, zinc pl, etc.
What contine gojo
con ENCAnto!!!!
G