Putting the word out

I'm a big believer in putting the word out when I need something or have a question. If you start to think about all of the people you know and all the people those people know, etc... you very soon have a large pool of knowledge/resources to draw from.

I inherited my grandmother's 1961 Singer sewing machine with a nice big cabinet that the machine folds down into. (It's the 503A model for those of you who are into vintage sewing machines.) A few moves ago, I had neglected to remove the machine from the cabinet before moving day so this task was accomplished about 30 seconds before the cabinet was loaded into the back of the U-Haul. I handed the screws off to Mr. Hairball who tucked them into his shirt pocket. Well, the screws got lost somewhere between state A and state B and were never found again. The machine is still usable but, without the screws to hold it into place, I can't fold it down into the cabinet so that the top of the cabinet can be used for another purpose. Currently, the machine is setting on the floor of our study/craft/kitty/whatever room so that I can use the top of the cabinet to store my beads.

Has anybody out there had to replace these screws and can I just get something from the hardware store or is there something rather unique about these screws that would make that difficult? I'm feeling kinda paranoid about just trying this on my own without knowing somebody else who successfully replaced the screws. I'm really scared that my machine will fall out of the cabinet and be damaged!

Here's some pictures to help illustrate what I am talking about.



I took all my beading stuff off of the top so you can see better. That's a cat bed underneath.LOL


Here's a closeup of the top. Sadly the cabinet has accumulated a little damage over the last 48 years!



If you remove the piece with the round circle in the middle, you will find these hinges folded down. There are holes on the back of the machine these hinges fit into and then a screw holds each one in place. If you look closely, you can see that they have a flat part on them where the back of the screw sits after being tightened down. Obviously, the screws need to be the kind that do not end in a point.Click to enlarge the picture if you find it hard to see what I'm talking about.

Now for a quick story.

I loved Barbie dolls back in the 70's and would frequently bring them with me when we would go visit someone. Because of this, my late grandmother discovered that Barbie dolls did not come with undergarments. She was most disturbed by this revelation. I guess she thought that playing with dolls that didn't wear underwear would be a bad influence on me or something. She decided that we really needed to make Barbie some undergarments. Somehow I convinced her that since Barbie was made of hard plastic it was okay that she went commando underneath her fancy dresses and pantsuits. She'd still bring it up every so often that we needed to get in the sewing room and make my dolls some undergarments. LOL Even though we were at odds over Barbie's lack of undies, she did teach me to sew some very simple outfits for my dolls. I have some very nice memories of making doll clothes with her. :)