rac1812

Thanks for the all the advice...... which I followed ....... and encouraged our advertisers/supporters ......... and beautiful downtown Toledo, Ohio is sending me a ConSew 550. Now to sit patiently for it to arrive................ will be picking it up at a USA addy across the border and do my own brokerage...cheaper that way.. Good competitive price including shipping. Will post my progress in due course. Bob C

After all this time, the basic information is still captivating. It got me going back then and still going today. A ...BIG...thank you Eric. I did make my own reducing hook up with pulleys following advice and videos posted on the forum Now moving on to installing a servo motor, again following advice from this forum.......... will try it first without the reducing set up and may eventually use my reducing pulleys for even more control. You guys make this forum Priceless!!!! Bob C.

Good evening KGG ......nice to see a fellow Canadian. I am using a cleaned up SInger 211G156 Walking foot for canvass seat covers and now for fixing leather straps to canvass truck covers...... Not being very skilled at sewing....... the high speed clutch motor was the first problem......solved that by building a belt reduction device box that roughly reduces 10 to one....so max speed now is around 300 rpm. BUT...... I don't seem to have much torque on start up so nI punch the pedal and it "kindda" jump starts on me..... and I jump....quality suffers...... I need something like a patcher that goes chunk kachunk kachunk and can be guided easily by hand. Will installing a 1000 or 1500 watt servo....with or with out the reduction set up work?..... and I realize they all seem made in China but do we have reputable USA or Canadian retailers to recommend.... I do have a USA UPS box for direct mailing. will a servo work??? what kind??? what power? Thanks Bob C Living a slide East of Ottawa....and better at restoring old CDN military truck than sewing.

Thanks..... will be working on extending the control arm.... I found a high quality 8" industrial pulley with screwed sheave.........real heavy like a flywheel ....but I am at a lost for a larger pulley that will fit the head........ any suggestions short of machining on??? Bob C

I have been vacillating between a servo or a reducer pulley. Finally decided to go with the pulley system has I could make my own. I am running a Singer 211G156. Already swapped the motor for a 1750 rpm and that helped but not enough. Based on the video from the forum and various system designed on EBay .... we built our own. Basically we dropped the motor to male room for a reduction pulley....motor went straight down so the final belt driving the "head" was in the same location and allowed to use the bobbin winder to remain in its usual place. If some one can be so nice as to inform me how to post pictures I will gladly share my design. I installed a 1.5 in. pulley on the 1750 rpm motor driving a 5 inch pulley on the jack shaft..... in turn the jackshaft has a 2 inch pulley driving the head 3 inch standard set up..... my overall reduction is 350 RPM flat out at the sewing head pulley. The first two pictures are not for readers from Australia...... we choose to work upside down for greater ease. Did a few test strips and it is much easier to maintain 100 or 200 rpm. I used two 3/16 thcikness..... 5 by 10 plates and three rectangular 1x2 tubing 9 inches long Two Taiwan 5/8 pillow block and a few bolts Needed to rewire the motor has the new positioning made the original cables too short to reach the switch. ,,,,have not given up on a servo..... but need to gain more practical experience with these mods first

Hey it's been a long time........ sewing got put aside when the fair weather returned last Spring.....Winter is here and time for indoor sewing activities. This is more of a follow up and a BIG thank you for all the help you all have provided me..... the videos were worth a thousand words. My 211G156 is now sewing very well....... had to get a few parts BUT the information on the tuning/timing was priceless. I have installed a used 1750 RPM motor but it is still too fast for my skill level and for doing small stitching such as leather/canvas straps on truck cargo cover. Still cruising the forum for information .....silently as I have a steeeeep learning curve. I am a member on other forum sites and they have provision for donations to help with the admin/operation of the web site....... do we have such a process??? Next step is building/installing a jack shaft speed reducer and possibly a servo...... may seem like wearing suspenders and belt.....but I would rather be slow and high on the torque band and better quality. Cheers Bob C

Thanks Kris The last set of pictures, once blownup and rotated gives me a very good idea how the fabricated lever interacts with the small triangle part that pushes the rod to release the thread tension ...... should be able to make one and if that works make another one for Grant, a partner in crime who as the same machine also with missing knee lifter........ why are so many machine found with the knee lifter removed??? Bob C

Finally found the drill depth colar at Lowe's ...... now need to modifyit and go on to the fine tuning. Many thanks for the video. Bob C

Thanks for all the advice guys. As they say information is priceless. Will focus on #92 thread size to start with..... have a variety of needles coming off Ebay from 18 to 22 in regular point and leather chisel point. I did not buy the round point needles as I was under the impression those were used with synthetic fabric and you would not want to pierce the woven threads. Was I wrong???? Now is the time to find out before I bugger up good Olive drab material. Following a suggestion for doing the set up using a 1/4 in drill depth guide I cornered a set of doeas at Lowe's.....now I can move on to the needle/hook/needle guide part of the process. My sewing machine work is done in a heated garage/barn right now and the night time temperature willbe around -25 Celsius which means at least 4 hours of blazing fire in Lucifer to bring the ambient temperature to about 45 Farenheit........ hard to work on those small screws with gloves and wearign a parka. So I am spending my time doing door skins on the 1940 Chev...... at least the heat from moving around and using the Oxy - Acetelyne torches helps a lot. I have on order a needle bar thread guide and was thinking of modifying another NOS thread guide to fit the existing screw hole where the oiler felt was installed. Looking forward to properly setting up the needle/hook/bobbin when the weather gets a little milder. Still playing with setting up a knee lifter bar at the back at least so the lifter will actually release the tension on the front thread tension set up. Will be down loading some of the videos and still pics that you have sent or found on ther web onto a laptop so I can have the information in the shop close at hand. Again thanks for all the help and will post my progress or frustrations as they occur. Bob C

Hi Eric Under what circumstances would lubrication (silicone soak or otherwise) be needed....? My heavy sewing needs will be to primarily deal with canvass tarp material referred to as 18oz. The tarp is made but will need some modification to repro a 1940 style tarp with roll up sides. That implies adding leather straps to allow the rolled up side to be held securely in the up position. Said leather straps will need some canvass reinforcements to be sewed in where the straps will attach. In lighter canvass, probably in the range of 12 to 14oz, we will need to make individual seat covers and back covers with a small piping around the edges. We have original canvass covers but do not wish to actually use them but prefer to make new covers for everyday use/wear. Those NOS dated 1940 covers will be the basis for making patterns. Our first run will be using plain white canvass of same thickness so we can learn and possibly have proof the paterns are accurate...... then will tackle the real ones. We also have numerous other canvass items to reproduce such as transmission shifter boots.... truck has 2 tranny towers, 2 emergency brakes and a starter lever that all need boots to control dirt/water from entereing the cab. Also need to reproduce bags to store the canvass side door windows and that includes reproduction the canvass side windows with new vinyl inserts. Will be wroking from some NOS and some tattered remains. Any suggestions regarding thread type....size... needle style and size would be appreciated. We have ordered some small quantity of 18 to 21 regular point needles and some similar size leather wedge point which we will use for our set up and testing of the machine. Trying to get it to work reliably before sinking more money for a servo........ which form what I have read should be brushless and at least 755 w to insure proper torque at the bottom speed range. I have already changed from a 3450 rpm motor to a almost new 1750 motor and it is still tooooo fast for good control. Bob C

Thank for the very clear pictures. Did you get the origianl bar springs readily available or make your own.? Similarly did you start with an existing similar fit bar or make the bar from scratch? We have reproduced som amny truck parts we should be able to do like you and male one. I don't particularly like using the knee lift being more accustomed to reach bar to the hand lever.....but as it stands on my machine when Iift the foot lever by hand nothing is linked to apply any pressure onthe rod that release the thread tension in front..... the two little parts that activate the bar to the tension disc are all there. Knowing that the previous Owner used this machine as is for years repairing/recovering school bus vinyl seats and even did sewing for us to see it worked is frustrating...... but I am determine to make it better. MOst of the small parts ordered will be here by late next week. Bob C PS...... NOw I have to figure out if I am going to down load all this precious information and videos to an old lap top and take it to the shop in the barn,,,,or,,,, take apart the sewing machine and stand and move it to the computer room in the basement of the house.

I am getting so much valuable information here that I have decided to subscribe to a one year paid membership Thanks all. Bob C

Hi Kris Any chance you have a picture fo the back of your 211g156 to see what you fabricated??? I have the same parts missing....springs are available.... more concerned with how it interact with the manual foot lifter lever. Thanks Bob C

Thanks Uwe for such a fantastic presentation....... for a newbie this is precious...... much appreciated. Everytime I surf this forum I learn something new. Now to try it out. Bob C 211G156

Thanks guys....will go back to reading that section of the manual...... may try to make a mark(s) on the bar with a diamond file........ ever so lightly for future reference. will keep you posted. Bob C