The matte mailing labels on the Kenmore 158’s hand hole cover plate did such a good job reducing the glare from the additional LEDs as to make the shiny hardware around the needle seem overly bright. I suggested gentle sandblasting might improve the situation without changing any surfaces in contact with the fabric.
I was given a spare presser foot to demonstrate my case:
The overhead light in the shop produces glare from the nice, shiny steel surfaces similar to what Mary sees from the sewing machine.
A few minutes applying 220 grit blast media with Tiny Sandblaster™ definitely changed its appearance:
In person, the finish is neutral gray overall, with those odd brown areas appearing only in photographs, perhaps due to the various lights in the shop. The slight texture variations seem to correspond to minor differences in the plating (?) over the steel surface. It definitely cuts down the glare:
The needle clamp and screw across the top of that picture travel up and down, so we decided to deglare them along with the “good” foot:
Another Tiny Sandblaster™ session knocked back their shine:
Those parts came out slightly less matte, perhaps due to reduced pressure in the propellant can. Seeing as how I’ve had the sandblaster for a couple of decades, I figured it’s time to use the propellant but, as expected, the in-can valve doesn’t re-seal properly, so I’ll be using compressed air the next time around.
After rinsing and blowing and rinsing and blowing the grit out of the threads, everything went back together as expected:
I’m not doing either of the plates until we have more experience with the matte hardware, but it looks pretty good to me.
Great idea! They should do this on all machines. Glare is always a problem and a shiny foot does nothing for the user.
Well, the original 120 VAC Christmas Tree bulb didn’t produce enough light to make a difference and they could get away with shiny hardware. Around here, dim is not where it’s at!