Can you say "Rocketeer"? - Singer 500A -

Yes, I finally added a Singer model 500A to my ever-growing stash of sewing machines. Ok, I do have one other 500A but it's missing parts. These are called a Rocketeer, obviously due to their shape, and the 500 is the next iteration in the line of Singer's finest back in the early 60s.

Good deals are still out there. Singer 403A "Slant-O-Matic Special".

Ok, so maybe one man's junk is another man's treasure, and thus many may not consider five bucks for a 55-year-old sewing machine a "good deal". I, however, do. Take for instance this fine Singer 403A I picked up yesterday. Apparently the thrift store had been storing it long enough that they decided it needed to be in the half-off section of the store. And fortunately for me a friend was watching out for my best interest (debatable?), and emailed me a photo of four sewing machines at a particular thrift store 20 miles away. Here's the one that caught my eye, and it was the cheapest of the lot.

Should I create a new blog? Nah.

For this next entry I wondered if I should branch off and create a completely new blog for things that I want to write about that aren't sewing machine related. I actually went so far as to create the new blog, but then I contemplated....... and decided to just write about things outside the realm of Sewing Machine-dom on this blog. I actually have done that once or twice in the past, but I may do it more often from now on. So without further ado, here we go.

We have a camper. A truck camper to be more precise in RV lingo. Growing up I'd just called them campers though. So to me it is still just a camper. And here it be in all its glory, among the redwoods in Northern California. Oh, and there we are too.

The camper is a 2002 Bigfoot 25C8.11 that we purchased used in 2013. The truck is a 1996 Ford F250 4x4, with a 7.3L powerstroke diesel engine, crew cab (4-doors), and a short pickup bed. We also purchased it used, in 2002. The camper is designed specifically for short-bed pickups.

The reason for this blog entry is to document the electric rear steps I just got done installing on the camper.

My newest acquisition - A D9

I know what you're thinking. Isn't a D9 a Caterpillar bulldozer? Well, yes it is, and I'm sure if you did an online search, the first photo to pop up would be a very large shiny yellow bulldozer. But I digress. This isn't a heavy equipment blog. Although Heavy Equipment Nut does have a nice ring to it. But I digress even further.

The D9 that is the subject of this blog is a Wheeler & Wilson from the early 20th century. There is a fair amount of information online regarding the W&W D9. One fact that I read is that it was about 1905 when W&W was bought out by Singer, so any W&W D9s were most likely produced prior to that date.

Here is mine:

RAGS........ 401A

This is sort of a continuation of the last blog posting. And the title probably gave it away (for those sewing machine nuts out there - you know who you are). Here is my second purchase at RAGS.

So there my wife is, standing guard over two sewing machines on the floor at the Rotary Auction Garage Sale, one of them being the Spartan I blogged about yesterday, and the second one is today's subject. A Singer 401A from the late 1950s.

You see, a 401A is one of those sewing machine models that many people think is one of Singer's finest machines ever made. It has many features that make it so desirable, such as a direct-drive gear-drive motor, steel gearing (not belts or cams), rotary hook, hardly a plastic part to be found on it, a host of stitch patterns, and many more. So let's get to the one I picked up for $5 at RAGS.

The outer case is quite a mess, and one latch is broken, so I think this case is a total write-off, but that is one reason it was so cheap. I can look beyond the carrying case.

RAGS........ 192K

I think it's such a clever acronym - RAGS. It stands for Rotary Auction Garage Sale. And fortunately for me, it is an annual event, held in the Kitsap Pavillion.

So there we were, the lovely wife and myself, aimlessly wandering the aisles. My wife spotted a sewing machine case on a table. A lady had her arm on the case so we wondered if she was buying it. She took her arm off it and moved on. Ok, time for me to dive in. Twenty bucks. A little outside my price range. I popped the top and it was a Kenmore, about 1970 vintage. I wasn't interested. But wait, there are two more next to it. Hmm, they look like 70s vintage, a couple Singers. Both $5, and after a little inspection, both in need of repairs, as in they had things broken off. That put a damper on it for me, even though the $5 price for each would probably still be a good buy since they both had motor controllers and they may not take much to get them going. I put up a good fight with myself in my little pea brain though, and persevered. I walked away from them all.

Being just a slight bit disappointed, I started looking around again and just then the dear wife called out my name from a couple tables away. Oooh, what has she spotted but two more sewing machines on the floor under a table and out of people's sight. I like it.

I zipped over and had a look at the cases. They were quite the worse for wear. Here's the first. You can't see it but behind the handle is a large hole. There are also a couple large cracks across the top of the lid. Not to worry, though.