SEWING TESTS, BUTTONHOLE AND OTHER ATTACHMENTS

My Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic, Rocketeer Sewing Machine

Hi there, After much trial and error I got both the Pink Jetsons' Buttonholer attachments and the Touch and Sew metal Professional Buttonholer to work.

Both made nice buttonholes.  Whew!  So many broken needles in the beginning.  If you have a Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer sewing machine and you decide to purchase the Touch and Sew Professional Buttonholer, you need the kit to contain the General Purpose feed dog cover or it won't work.  The Touch and Sew Singer Slant Professional Buttonholer should come in a box with the buttonholer attachment, The Professional Buttonhole Instructions pamphlet, the Touch and Sew feed dog cover plate, the General purpose feed dog cover, the screw to attach the General purpose feed dog cover, the larger attachment screw to attach the buttonholer unit and it should contain 20 templates for the buttonholer including the rare eyelet template.  The one I purchased as a set did not include the instructions which can be downloaded free in PDF form and it did not include the General Purpose feed dog cover which is needed if you have a Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer sewing machine.

On the other hand, (included in the set with the Touch and Sew Slant Professional Buttonholer), was the Singer Touch and Sew Circular Stitcher.  I screwed it into the bed of the Singer 500A sewing machine bed, used it and it worked right out of the box!  The way the measurements work is that it measures in inches the distances or radius from the center of your circle as attached on the spindle needle to the outer edge of a circle you are making.  In other words if you slide the slider and select number 1 it is one inch FROM the center of your circle - NOT a one inch circle.  So you have to keep that in mind.

This attachment is going to work well for making bullet bras in conjunction with my concentric circles embroidery design for the smaller inner circles.  Yay!

Thank you for reading 'til the end.  Any questions or comments are welcome!

New-to-me Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer Sewing Machine is Back!

Hi!  Recently, I got the new-to-me Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer Sewing Machine back from the Singer Sewing (Repair) Center.  Yay!  They only charged me their normal fee for cleaning, oiling and lubing - $69.95.  Also the owner, Jeff, had found me one of those used plastic cases that fits the Singer 500A or 503A and sold it to me for $25.00. 

The one they sold me has a lot of marks and scuffs here and there, but now I have a carrying case and it did not cost $100.00 plus!


They are very nice in that shop and the sewing machine is working---now!  I had some problems with the original foot pedal so I bought a new foot pedal and now the sewing machine is working properly.  Now I need to learn more about how to use this great machine.  Cosmetically it has some dings and chipped paint here and there.  I'd really like to paint it the light pink color, but I really hesitate as I don't want it to get ruined after waiting for it to be put in working condition for so long.

When I first got the machine, the stitch selector knobs would not turn, the hinge was broken on the nose plate, the bobbin cover kept falling off and it had a terrible smell.  I didn't run it long enough when I first got it to realize that the foot pedal had problems in that the button would get stuck in the down position and just not stop running!  Very scary and dangerous!

The replacement foot pedal is one of those generic brown ones that is a simple rectangle shape with some springs for $41.09.  I bought it here.

The model number is 618776-007.  It is very important that you look at the pictures carefully and make sure that the part that plugs into the sewing machine is the exact hole configuration!  Otherwise it just won't work.

Ruffler attachment.  I had separately purchased a box of attachments from a person on eBay.  All the feet seem to work except for the Ruffler attachment.  I attached the Ruffler, #160629, and although it fit on the presser foot bar, it was loose on the needle bar and when the needle came down it would only come down half way and would go no further.  It hit metal on the bottom of the Ruffler attachment.  This was disappointing.


Now I will need to buy the correct Ruffler for the Singer 500A and according to the "List of Parts - Machine No. 500A" that Ruffler is #161561.  The difference I can see off hand is the #161561 Ruffler has the adjustment screw in a different place.  I imagine that the metal plates below are in a different configuration.

I purchased an overedge foot and a set of two slant sewing machine foot adapters.  I got one of the adapters to work with the snap on overedge foot.  I found out recently that one needs to have the correct snap on adapter to work with the Singer 500A.  If you try to use the low shank adapters or any low shank snap on feet they just won't work.

 

 

 

 This video on Youtube was very helpful. 

 Hope this information helps someone out there.  What are your experiences with the Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer?  Let me know at kathiego88 at gmail dot com.

Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer Sewing Machine

Note:  Long absence due to illness

Recently, I acquired a Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer Sewing Machine.  I'm trying to find information about how to strip this sewing machine of paint so that I can paint it another solid color - I just don't like beige and taupe.  There are many different types of paint stripping products out there -  some more toxic than others.  I have viewed countless Youtube videos about stripping and painting sewing machines, but usually they are for the Singer Featherweights or 1800's to 1920's sewing machines which were painted black or "Japanned".  Also there are videos about painting your plastic machine, but the Singer 500A is not made of plastic, it is made of aluminum.

One question I have is how do you keep the paint stripper product out of the many small oiling holes in the body of this particular sewing machine - the Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer?  There is a lot of information about blocking all the holes using the blue painting masking tape, paper towels, Q-tips, cotton balls, toothpicks and other devices, but I think those things would melt under the onslaught of the chemicals used to strip the paint.  What kind of paint was used on the 1960's Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer?  Was it lacquer, acrylic, latex or something else?  How many layers of paint did they normally use to paint this machine?  I would be much obliged if someone could answers these questions for me.  I have been scouring the internet, but I have not had any luck so far in getting answers.  Thank you - contact me at kathiego88 at gmail dot com.