Goodbye Chicago - Sunday Morning Quickies, Episode 116, 21 April, 2024
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- Опубліковано 23 лип 2024
- Chicago plugs are the bane of the Singer vintage sewing machine world. Quite a few vintage machines in bentwood cases use the plugs for their power cord connections, and often they are damaged or missing. These plugs are no longer made (for a darn good reason) and I have been looking into a viable alternative for quite a while. Here today, I am showing my first experiment with a replacement for the venerable Chicago plugs. I believe this is a MUCH safer alternative. I'll be doing more experiments with other connectors in the future until I find what I feel is the best solution to the problem of replacing Chicago plugs with a safe, reliable connector. It is because of this that I'm not providing links at this time to the hardware I used in this version.
I do want, however, your opinions on this potential solution to the question of how to replace the plugs. I'm certainly not married to the current connector as shown here, it's simply the first trial run of a potential solution.
For my friend outside of North America, I am also going to be looking at 3 wire connectors that allow the machine to be provided with a proper earth (ground) connection that would meet the more stringent safety standards that the rest of the world demands.
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Great idea. Definitely don’t want to be zapped.
Me neither! I got zapped pretty good by one of those Chicago plug setups in the past, and I won't let THAT happen again!
For some reason, UA-cam has been screwing up my response to Eugene Slagle, and he raised a good point that I think is important, so I'll post it here;
Eugene wrote: I love this. My thoughts though is instead of the touch of tape on that 1 terminal, have heat shrink on that one terminal, especially since the connector body covers that area. Just my 2 cents.
My response was: I agree, but as this was a test, I opted for a piece of tape. A more permanent solution would be to "pot" the soldered connections with liquid rubber, such as Flex Seal.
I am really happy about having options here! Thanks for thinking outside the purist box 😊
Marie, you and I are not known for being purists, are we? LOL I love your most recent art deco Singer 66 project!
Looking forward to all you find out about how to replace the chicago plugs. I have several machines using those plugs in different configuration. Hopefully your experiments will help me. Keep up the good work. Thanks.
My goal is for everyone to have options to be rid of those plugs... There will always be those who disagree, and that's fine, they can do as they wish, but as I have always said... I don't want anyone to get zapped, and I don't want anyone to burn their house down because of bad wiring.
Thanks Bob. I have that same machine and I by-passed the original set up and added an aftermarket motor for now. I don't use her but I am so happy you showed this. When I have a minute (haha) I may revert her using your method. Stop with the purist. We are rescuing machines out of the landfill. And we are proud of that and many of us love our collections. JMTC. Have a good one. Thanks for sharing.
True, keep them out of the smelters!
Wow! So glad we don't have those down under! Our early models had add on motors made in Mother England (Sew Tric). They weigh a ton, but are very good. They have a rectangular box for the wiring on the outside of the motor, very easy to deal with. Great to see you well again, and Gracie too!
Good video and you are still alive
Very neat idea! though yes the blue isn't right but Krylon has a bonding primer for plastics among other things, I have used it and it is quite effective as it fuses itself to the plastic, it's called Krylon Fusion All in One. Thank you so much for all the information you share, You're a Slice and a bag o chips. Peace
Thanks! The blue doesn't bother me, but I'm sure it will bother someone...
Hello, hope you are having fun. Weather is good here. Finally going to finish the machine that's been sitting on the bench forever. About time. Love to you and yours.
Oh we are! We spent the day on 4/20 with our friends at the New Jersey Blind Citizens Association, supporting/working their Spring Artisan Market. BTW - One of the food trucks made the absolute best Belgian waffles... Hope all is well!
Okay - now for a more serious comment - I love SMQs, long or short - it's all good because you're always telling and showing useful things, some of which can save someone's life. And for those things especially I think it's good you spend the time so important things don't get skipped over. It doesn't matter if you've told us about which pins which wires go on before - someone seeing this as their first video of yours doesn't know that and I love that they won't need to hunt around in other videos to find out vital information. This is much, much 'quicker' for them!
And for those of us who don't do this often and might not do it for months, or even a couple of years, having each video in which you do electrical things done thoroughly ends up being 'quicker' for us too. You can bet your bottom dollar by the time I do one I'll have forgotten and will need to come back and watch it again. But I'm aware of it so know what to come back to. ;-) Aside from all of that... This was a rather clever little workaround, and I'm looking forward to seeing the other ideas you're going to try out. If the blue bothered me I'd try using black permanent laundry marker or similar to 'paint' the blue parts black. Finally, I had no idea what the machine was until you showed it 'not tilted back'. No wonder you're keeping this one! It is _gorgeous_.
Thanks Megan! I really appreciate your support!
I think your wiring solution is Great!!
Thanks! More to come...
Looking forward to the different style connectors! 🎉🎉. Thanks for the video hope you and Elizabeth have a great time with your kitties til the next episode!
Those damn Chicago plugs have driven me crazy for years, and I have been looking for a long, long time to find a better solution. Stay tuned for more options...
safety should always come first
I could not agree more, and I'll add to that - if we have the ability to improve upon what came before us, we should explore the options.
Good fix/work around that used the existing mount hole in the machine box cover.
A cable connector company (old company) AMP, makes really cool industrial, military spec thread lock ring pin connectors that are metal, with a patina to them. The connectors are often called Aircraft Harness connectors. Locomotives have a lot of them. They come as right angle types too. They are a bit pricey.
This is a good idea and so timely for me. I am working on this exact machine, knee controller combo and ancient motor. So I will be looking forward to all of your testing and research. Hopefully by the time I have the case and cover refinished, you will have released the part identification.
The parts aren't super expensive, but the plastic caps are only available in large quantities. I'm working on a solution for that too...
Really like where this is headed! Thanks for doing all the research and testing for the rest of us!
There's more in the works Jen... including a mod to allow a detachable foot controller to supplement the knee bar!
What a creative way around a dangerous problem!
Feedback - I couldn't quite see whether the plug unit had a flexible strain relief fitting where the cord exits. If it doesn't exist, it might be something to consider so wires in the cord are protected from sharp bends. (Just my many years as a middle school technology teacher noticing things that can go wrong with cords during their usage.)
Glad you two have kitties in your lives! Gracie Slick rocks!
Yes, the plug has internal strain relief. Good catch!
I think of Sunday morning quickies and its like calling a big guy tiny ...its all good , we are all here because we are not all there ......
That is a nice job! Thanks Bob.
Great idea . Safety first
I love this.
My thoughts though is instead of the touch of tape on that 1 terminal, have heat shrink on that one terminal, especially since the connector body covers that area.
Just my 2 cents.
I love that idea! The last 128 I worked on for that reason ended up with a hand crank, so not a problem, but I have a couple that could use a fix. I'll be watching for your finished solution!.
Hi Bob - not seen a "black" Singer over here in the UK that has three wires to the mains plug. They aren't earthed. My 1954 99K still has the original "This machine is double insulated and does not need an earth" card label attached to the three pin Singer power/foot-pedal socket. That is true even if the internal capacitors in the plastic housed motor fail dead short to the field magnet. However on a potted motor machine that scenario could render the whole machine live on 240V - the answer, of course, is remove the caps ;) Steve
Steve - I get a lot of comments from people on the Eastern side of the pond asking about how to ground these old black Singer machines. A potted motor machine is, as you said, the more dangerous of a shock hazard, and the way the Singer power block and plug are configured, there is no way to add a proper Earth connection. It's something that I've also been looking into...
@@BobFowlerWorkshop With the moulded cable & wires it's nigh on impossible to do it neatly, but with the wireable bakelite three pin plug you could run a 3 core mains cable and split out the green/yellow earth wire. LIve and Neutral would run to pins 1 & 3 as normal and run the earth to somewhere convenient on the machine, on the 99's the motor mount bracket screw maybe. On a 201, dunno without drilling and tapping a hole somewhere. Problem is the cable then becomes "permanently" attached. You could use a small straight M/Female jack connector on a short cable for the earth I suppose to make it plug-able. Steve
Steve, I've seen a cobbled up job with an earth attached to a washer on the motor mount. Inelegant but the wiring was toast anyway...
I like your alternative solution! We have been kicking around various ideas for awhile on how to rehab a machine that we have with broken Chicago plugs. I was thinking of modifying it with a three prong plug Singer connector or using a power block. I like your idea. 👍
I have added the 3 pin Singer power block to machines, but the ability to do that centers on the motor type and the availability of a mount that accepts the power block. The prices of used 3 pin blocks have been rising of late and are getting pretty spendy on eBay...
@@BobFowlerWorkshop Could we not 3-D print parts? It has worked for simple knobs with resounding success!
As much as I wish it were the case, 3D printing is not a panacea, especially when talking about parts that have to be used in multiple connect/disconnect cycles, and need metal parts integrated into them, or parts that have to support heavier torsional loads. Here's what my inner mechanical engineer tells me...
The power block isn't a good candidate as we would still need 3 appropriate contacts to duplicate the Singer parts, the motor mount would be problematic as it has to be not only strong enough to hold a heavy-for-it's-size motor cantilevered off the back of the machine body, but must also be able to resist the torque of the motor during startup, and it must be very rigid to keep belt tension correct.
Most of these parts haven't been produced in many decades, and unless you have access to a foundryman to create the molds, a foundry for casting in iron, and a machine shop to finish the parts, recreating them in a manner that will do the job long term is difficult at best, impossible at worst. I wish the situation were different, but it's not, so we need to look into alternatives solutions or continue to cannibalize otherwise non-serviceable machines.
As a non-permanent solution to keeping the plug in place try a little silicone. This way if it doesn't work out it'd be very easy to remove.
That power cord has already (12 hours later) been determined to be permanent, so I opened up the connector, took out the tape, and potted the 2 conductors with liquid rubber... Easy job!
Quickly commenting just because 0 comments looks too tempting to pass up...!!
Oh Megan... You're supposed to yell "FIRST!!!"
@@BobFowlerWorkshop Dangnabbit - I knew I'd forgotten something! If I ever get a chance again I'll remember. But for now I'll get in a little rehearsing... FIRST!!!
I knew I loved you for a good reason!
Yes Bob , definitely safety first. To send you machines for repair what's the process to request your services ?
Email me at argosybob@gmail.com and we can discuss.
Great episode!
I have a set of marine grade 1-pin connectors to experiment with for use on a 1930-ish Free-Westinghouse. Are these parts included on your parts list?
don't worry about running long--this isn't tiktok.
Use plastic spray paint to cover up the blue.
These are exterior, not sure if marine grade or not, have to look. I'm also not sure of the type of plastic the connector is made from, certain plastics don't take paint well. Glad you liked it Jo!
Are you saying if you have Chicago connectors that are still in good shape they are unsafe?
What I'm saying, is by modern standards, they were never safe.
Where have you been? Purists be damned! If you sell the machine as completely original,, it's one thing. As a refurbished machine, usability trumps everything.. If it's hard to use, it stays on the shelf in the closet!
You would be surprised about the number of purists out there who dislike what I do when I modify something...