Convert Your Mechanical Sewing Machine to Hand Crank

Hi there!  Eureka it actually works!  I thought about the idea of converting my New Home model SS-2015 mechanical electric sewing machine to hand crank for a long time.  Why? 

1. With the coming skyrocketing rates in electricity there may come a time when we can't afford the electrical bills.
2. This model of sewing machine has many decorative stitches that the older models of sewing machines just don't have.  It would be nice to keep those decorative stitches, even without electricity.
3. This sewing machine is portable.

The first part was I had to figure out how to take the handwheel off.  It turned out that there was a little circle in the center that was just a plastic cover.  I pried that off, gently, with a fake allen wrench.  After that I removed the side panel screw and the side panel.  Luckily for me there was no allen screw in the vents of the side panel.  It just popped off after a bit of gentle prying.  Then I took off a clip which was there to hold the handle of the sewing machine on the top and side part.  Then the motor belt came slipping off.  After that I removed the handwheel by means of a screw in the center of it. 

Then I thought about what I actually would need to convert it to a hand crank.  What I really needed was a handwheel with a handle on it.  I looked on eBay and found this one:

 

This is a 12mm x 125mm Milling Machine 3 Spoke Hand Wheel with Revolving attached handle.  The wheel is a bit heavy, but not overly so and is made of a hard plastic with steel parts.  The handle screws into a recessed hole located in the outer rim as you see.  

I put the sewing machine back together including the side panel.  Afterwards my husband took the new handwheel and went to Ace Hardware where he found a bolt and some washers.  It was then a simple matter of putting on the washers and bolting the handwheel to the outside of the old handwheel, making sure that the two handwheels meshed tightly together so that they would turn as one.

Cons:  

1. I can't put on the hard case on the outside of the machine.
2. I would be unable to use the stop lock, formerly in the center, to disengage the needle for winding bobbins.

The results are very good in my opinion:

Now this machine can sew either with or without electricity.  I have sewn a bit on scrap cloth both ways.

Cost of this project:  $13.00 for the "new" handwheel, $5.00 for the bolt and washers.  Time and labor on our part.

Hope this helps someone who is considering converting to treadle or handcrank, but who does not want to go out and buy a whole other sewing machine!

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