I would love to have one of these! Nobody irons anymore. Most go to the dry cleaners, but im a tailor and work from home and would love one of these. They made some cool appliances back in the 40s.
They show up on Craigslist every so often. They are cool. I use mine every week. Stopped taking our clothes to the cleaners. Can't even imagine how much money I've saved us over the years. Once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty fast. Only thing I've discovered that Wrangler's has "cheapened" their quality. The back seam (up the butt) is now nylon. I've ruined about three pairs of Wranglers before realizing I was melting the thread so now I have to put a pressing cloth over the iron plate when I press them.
@@pamriquel I bet it was. I think they were something like $249. or something like that. Even Singer sewing machines were huge investments. I read somewhere that Singer was one of the first companies to finance their products.
Hello, You did a wonderful job of explaining and showing the before and after of the restoration of the exterior. Again you did a great job of explaining how every thing works.I want o buy one of these and I was on the fence between the model 88 or the larger models. After this I'm going to go with the larger model. Your model makes a very nice piece of furniture. I have a huge laundry room, one washer and two dryers, and plenty of room for the larger model
Thank you for your quick response. Yes, the motor runs, it heats and the left lever stops it. I just can't get it to go back down. I will try again when I get home. Thank you.
Last night I watched the Ironrite promo video on RU-vid. During the demonstration part of the video, when the woman is ironing a shirt collar, the narrator mentions holding the roller down on the collar and other shirt pieces of doubled fabric in order to make sure the fabric is no longer damp. When I was a child learning to iron, I remember my mother would take the line dried clothing, lay it out flat, and sprinkle water all over the fabric. She would then roll it up and let it sit until the next day, when she would iron it with a hand held iron. Somethings would also be sprinkled with starch. The Ironrite video also shows the woman unrolling and straightening a damp piece of clothing before pressing it in the Ironrite. Have you tried pressing dampened clothing in your Ironrite? Wonder if it would make a difference in how the clothing looks after pressing.
Carol, yes the clothes are always wet. After the wash is finished we boil the starch, let it cool a bit then add it to a final rinse and spin. Then I have a portable clothes rack that we set up next to the Ironrite. I let them hang and dry a bit, then press them. The heavier stuff like Jeans we hang in the garage so they can dry a bit. If the stuff is too wet, it doesn't press right. I also have a spray bottle in case things dry out too much. And you are correct, when pressing collars and such, you use the left paddle to hold the roller down while stopping the rolling action. Right pedal starts and stops the pressing. Tap once, roller drops and turns. Tap again and it lifts. While it's down and rolling, you press and hold the left paddle and the roller stops turning but stays down against the heat shoe.
Interesting. Except for hanging the clothes outside on the clothesline, you are pretty much doing your clothes like I remember them done back in the 50s. Have seen several Ironrites around here in the antique malls and wondered how they were used. None were like yours in a finished cabinet. Saw one in porcelain enamel last weekend at a Habitat Restore. Wonder if they still have it, and if it would work on pressing seams on quilt blocks.
Carol I think it would work great. And your right, most of them were made in the white enameled cabinets. This one is fairly rare, and I ended up with two of them. The other one the cabinet was shot so we just kept the unit itself as a spare. The iron shoe was completely rusted so I spent hours with a dremel and a sanding disk then polisher getting the rust off. If you get one that is missing the cover, there are a couple of people on Ebay who sell them. If it's got the cover and it's tattered, it makes a great pattern. Basically a rectangular piece of material with a pocket on both long sides for the strings. Good luck, I think you will love it. Just test it out good first. Make sure the iron plate heats evenly. When you turn on the motor, it should power on and make a soft click then hum...Sit in front of it with the paddles down and test what I described above to make sure the transmission is working.
Just contacted the Restore. The one they have is a Bendix, one of the "inferior" models the Ironrite video said not to get, because it only had one support, not 2, for the roller. The Restore plugged in it, and it worked, though they didn't run clothes through it. From what I remember, the cloth on the roller was in good shape. They also want very little money for it. Think I'll go down and check it out. Maybe take something to test iron on it.
Yeah that would be frustrating for me to have the one end blocked. I use both ends regularly but depending on what you're ironing it may not be an issue at all. It would be a good "trial" unit, to see if it's useful then later you could find the better Ironrite. I think the Bendix is a good machine, just not as well designed as the Ironrite.
It just seems like so much hassle and trouble just to iron something. Give me a good steam iron and an ironing board and I could iron 10 shirts in the same amount of time.
It's no hassle at all. Takes five minutes to set up and is so much faster than an iron, and does a better job because of the pressing pressure. Plus you can sit down and watch tv!
I have this exact machine and I use it all the time. Probably needs a new cord but I've been putting it off. Cloth one probably cannot be found so not sure what kind of replacement would work or who could do it. Did you replace your cord?
Hello Elizabeth, mine has the original cord and at this time seems to be okay. I did run across a site that had instructions on how to replace the cord but I can't remember where I found it. You might google a bit, you might find it. Seems like they replaced it with a heavy orange extension cord.
yes..ironrite model 88 in wood cabinet made in good ole mt clemens michigan..when things were made to last..not break down like todays made in china junk products..outside at curb trash day just before it rained..its in very good cond for age..its in original untouched un restored..its genuine not fake like a restored one would be...obviously the wood cabinet has some minor issues but thats normal..the actual machine is in very good cond..and lady said it works great...i save it from landfill...what should i do with it?..should i scrap it for the steel? its pretty heavy. i can send you some pics if u leave your email address
Can you tell me how to get the roller back against the fabric. I have the same machine. The roller was done, but when I touched the right lever it went up and I can't get it to lower. Thanks, DJ
The right lever raises and lowers the roller against the heat shoe. You should be able to tap it once and it begins to roll and lower. Tap it again and it should raise and stop turning. The left lever stops the rolling while it's down so you can get a longer press. Is the motor running? Does the roller turn at all?
I don't think you can buy a specific cord for them, most people just use a heavy duty extension cord and cut the end off. We used 3-1 oil in ours and it works beautifully.
Hi Britton..This uses a two phase motor. What that means, it has two different sets of windings, one being more powerful (stronger) than the other. When you power the motor on, there is a centrifugal switch in the end of the motor that sends the power to the stronger coils. Once it spins up, the centrifugal switch disengages and releases the power to the stronger windings. What happens in these cases, the switch gets stuck because of old oil and dirt that got in the motor. This causes the motor to run too long with the stronger windings which quickly overheats the motor and it will start smoking. You have to take the motor apart to clean it. If you are not savvy with working on the motor, most towns have a motor repair shop that can easily do it for you. These types of motors are very common. You can hear the switch work. When you first turn on the motor, you hear a "click" as the motor speeds up and you hear it again when the motor shuts off and has nearly stopped spinning. Hope this helps!
I guess it depends on the condition, and if you have a market for it. Not a whole lot of people use these anymore but when someone does, they are willing to pay a good price for a nice one. I paid $40.00 for mine and had to redo it. I've seen the same model in good condition for about 250.00 on Ebay. The ones in the wooden furniture case are the least common. Most are in white enameled metal cases.
That all depends. Restored ones go for 4-500.00. Price goes down from there. This one we paid 75.00 and restored it ourselves. Then I was given another identical one with a bad cabinet, but perfect working mechanicals. I tossed the cabinet and kept the machinery as a backup. Just keep your eyes on Craigslist and the like. They pop up every so often.
