Franz and Pope Restoration Part 2

 Earlier I posted Part 1 of my restoration efforts.  I had to laugh at the booklet advertising the machine.  A complete sock in seven minutes!  

 I had to take a break for lunch.  I made soup from leftovers in the refrigerator.  Turkey, turkey broth, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, onion, celery, mushrooms, roasted butternut squash, and spinach. A little seasoned salt and a little turmeric. It was really good, so good I had two bowls. 

Well, I was having trouble with the trailing cam latch, it is sticky.  

 

I saturated the area with the Marvel Mystery oil, worked it back and forth a few times, but it remains sticky.  I used an emery board to soften the rough edges a little, but probably not enough to matter. 

I also cleaned up the cylinder.  As you can see in the photo, it has some pitting.  I gave it a liberal dousing with Marvel Mystery Oil and then took an emery board down through each of the slots several times.  Some of them seemed a little tight.  

 I put it all back together and tried knitting.

It does go forward now, but it needs to be encouraged.  Bang, Bang, Bang.  In fear of damaging needles before I confirm with Pat at Angora Valley that she has needles for this machine, I only put a few needles in.  She's sending me a sample.  Her web site says that one of the needles will fit a Franz and Pope, if the gauge is the same.  I'm not sure how to measure gauge, but I sent her a photo of one of the needles with a ruler next to it.  

So I put these few needles in, added a yarn tension spring borrowed from a flatbed machine, grabbed a net produce bag from my kitchen counter, used the hammer inside the bag for weight, and tried knitting.  As I said, bang, bang, bang.  These parts are casts iron but that can't be good for them.  

So I disassembled everything again and am soaking the cyclinder shell in the Marvel Mystery Oil overnight.  I can't tell if the stitcky latch is because of a lubrication problem, or if the latch is damaged.

My plan is to put it back together after a really good long soak, then get my actual cast-on bonnet, a buckle and a weight from my other CSM, and see if it works any better.