Singer Slant-O-Matic 500a the "Rocketeer"

I was just telling Peter, my sewing buddy and fellow vintage sewing machine aficionado, that the next machine I'd like to add to my collection was a Slant-O-Matic. This surprised him since I am not the biggest Singer fan and Peter absolutely knows this.

The Rocketeer is an assault on even my eclectic taste. It is strange breed of machine and that's exactly why I needed one. First attraction came when I discovered these Slant-O-Matic machines are fully gear driven, which means no belt. In theory gears sound much stronger and study than belts but considering that almost all sewing machines still utilize belts I have to wonder. Researching further I discovered that the machine also included another of my must have features, needle position setting. That sold it.

I check craigslist every day for sewing machines because I'd rather buy local then pay to ship heavy stuff around. This area does not have a strong showing in the vintage sewing machine

department and I assume it's because most of them are still in use. Wouldn't you know it, today I find the listing for my Rocketeer and it's within a 20 minute drive. The gentleman was selling the machine for his grandmother and she wanted $100. This barn find has been sitting in the original owners home with little or no use for years since she had given up sewing ages ago due to failing health. The bobbin I found in the machine tells the story. It was wound with two different colors of thread and what you see in this photo is how it was wound all the way down to the core. While unwinding the thread the direction switched multiple times, no wonder she threw in the towel. I think when we start winding bobbins like this it might be time to tell more stories of sewing than sewing itself. Either way I'm glad she finally decided to part with her beloved Rocketeer.

My first explorations were curious as I carefully unscrewed the top lid and opened the bottom panel. The machine was either hardly ever used or it had been serviced before being put away for the last time. There wasn't a speck of lint or thread fragment anywhere in the machine. It also did not have the build up of varnish that comes with years of oiling. A very clean machine, if not a bit musty smelling.

First off a lock stitch is a lock stitch and it would be impossible for someone to determine what specific machine it was stitched on by looking at just the stitches after the fact. Sewing machines create these stitches the same way but the execution can be different between manufactures. This is why some machines have a following and some do not.

This machine has some functional elements that set it apart from any of my other machines and makes it somewhat unique. I'm not sure if these features are worth paying inflated ebay prices for or not.

• Gear driven, it's interesting I'll give you that. Stronger or better, no. The motor itself is not particularly strong in this machine.
• Darning, on the Rocketeer you don't drop the feed dogs, you raise the needle plate. This is a bit strange but I don't see any disadvantage to this system besides the uneven machine bed surface with the plate raised.
• Zigzag stitch uses a cam on the permanent cam stack instead of the usual levers inside the machine. It works for embroidery stitches on other machines, why not zigzag?

Embroidery stitching on Slant-O-Matic 500 is also a somewhat unique setup. Inside the machine are seven metal cams with one of those being the zigzag function and the ability to add another removable cam on top of the stack. The stitch selector knob on the front of the machine has two parts so you can make selections on the left and the right simultaneously.

The top part of the stitch selector knob moves a metal finger to the desired cam and as the cam turns the bumps and dips in the surface are transmitted through the finger to the needle bar moving it back and forth. That part functions the same as most other cam operated machines from this era. What I find unique is the addition of the second selector on the main stitch design knob. It allows you to choose another cam to be used simultaneously with the first giving you an even more varied embroidery stitch. Now you have to remember that the cams on this machine only control the stitch width function so all your embroidery designs are variations of a zigzag stitch. It can only get so fancy. Still it's unique to me.

The test this machine failed on is one that few machines I've come across can manage. It's the really thick thread test. The needle thread creating the top stitching looked fine but the bobbin thread was too loose. I've discovered that the trick to being able to use super thick thread is upper thread tension. It takes a LOT of tension to pull the bobbin thread up into the fabric layers. This machine just didn't have it and that's ok. The stitching with standard weight thread was beautiful and consistent so that's just fine. This machine also has a drop in bobbin which is not convenient when you need to adjust your lower tension often like I do when i switch thread weights. Having seperate bobbin cases with tension adjusted for different threads is much easier.

Sewing with the Rocketeer feels and sounds much more machine like than most of my other sewing machines. I assume it's the gears but the sound it makes is that whining machine sound. It reminds me of a radio controlled toy car. Unlike other machines I own, especially the Japanese made variety, the Slant-O-Matic has very little momentum as you're sewing, when you take your foot of the pedal the machine stops almost instantly. This does make it easy to control your needle up/down by tapping the foot pedal to advance the machine half a stitch.

Something else I really appreciate about this machine is that it is steady at any stitching speed. I have a few machines that at certain speeds bounce all over the place. The Singer doesn't vibrate at any speed.

All in all it's a wonderful addition to my collection and I'm excited to sew a few projects with it. I'm now on the search for a Pfaff 332 and a vintage green Elna of some sort. Of course I'm always on the look out for a Dressmaker with needle position selector, these are fantastic machines.