I picked up a spare sewing machine as a crash test dummy for modifications to Mary’s Kenmore Model 158. It’s in reasonably good condition, although the bobbin case showed a bit of rust:
Taking the tension spring off revealed more rust:
An overnight soak in Evapo-Rust got rid of the corrosion and left the pits behind:
Those imperfections on the tension spring are pits, not bumps, despite their appearance.
It doesn’t seem so bad from the outside:
It probably won’t work nearly as well as it should, this being one place where a smooth surface counts for a lot. Fortunately, it’s just a crash test dummy machine and good results aren’t critical.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
2 responses to “Kenmore Model 158 Sewing Machine: Bobbin Case Restoration”
If you actually needed a new one, looks like the usual suspects have replacements. A car website refers to old, unkillable cars as “cockroaches of the road”. Methinks old Singers fit the role in the sewing realm.
The new-to-me machine serves mostly as a place to test modifications, so as to have them work the first time where it counts. It’ll eventually become a parts donor; I’ve already harvested the foot pedal control, which works somewhat better than the much-repaired one you’ve seen here.
Now that you mentioned it, bobbin cases seem to be ten bucks from the usual eBay supplier, perhaps with a lower build quality than the one in hand… [grin]