wind power Report post Posted June 16, 2012 Hi Folks, I have a question about the Singer 111W155 I recently bought. The machine appears to be in very good shape, but I had to retime the needle per the web site which pertains to Navy information. However I still have a problem; It jams up tight in the bobbin area after the third stitch....As a side note I do hold the threads tight as I begin the stitching....at this point I still trying to get everything adjusted correctly so I handwheel it, instead of hitting the foot pedal in a mad hatter approach with the clutch motor. Any ideas? Hopefully I can add some more information to this problem soon... Thanks, Gavin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wind power Report post Posted June 19, 2012 (edited) Well, I got the machine timed, at first it was out pretty bad, the eye of the needle had already passed the hook by about 5/15 of an inch when I first started....after setting it to 1/16 above the eye and fiddling around with the upper tension and bobbin tension everything begin to stitich, I then played around with some bonded nylon 207 thread and it gave a good lockstitich in just over 3/8 of leather...it actually measured .400 thich with calipers. Overall the maching was in a neglected shape, it needed a good cleaning; the timing belt broke after I turned it over by hand, it was simply rotted and the wire bonding had frayed....but all the bearing points, linkage and needle and bobbin areas were still in great shape....everything was good and tight.... So since I was just giddy about this Singer 111w155 I tried some bonded nylon 277 thread...after modifying the "heel plate" ( Terminology???) slightly with a diamond needle file I was able to get a good lock stitch with the 277 thread....these two pieces of leather measured just over 1/4 inch thick...actually .260 However using that size "rope" it was approaching the extreme end of tension, but it was a dream with 207 thread. Hopefully these pictures I going to try to attach will show the results of my new toy: bottom stitch 277 thread: top stitch 277 thread: Four layers of leather with 207 thread....I just kept adding layers until I could get any more under the presser foot! Everything was set at the max stitich length of 3-1/2 to the inch and was done with a 135x16 25/200 organ brand needle. After cleaning up about 40 years of neglect , oiling it and resetting the timing I think I will be having some fun with this old Singer 111w155! Edited June 19, 2012 by wind power Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anne Bonnys Locker Report post Posted June 19, 2012 There is lots of fun to be had with old machines. Everyone who uses a machine should learn how to time it as this is the most basic function of any machine. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wind power Report post Posted June 19, 2012 There is lots of fun to be had with old machines. Everyone who uses a machine should learn how to time it as this is the most basic function of any machine. Hi Anne Bonney, Yes it is a great machine and the more I learn about it the more I like to tinker with it....it appears 277 thread was at the extreme end of the specturm for thread size, and since I dont want to wreck my new/old toy, I might need to drop down a thread size, so I'm wondering would the 210/207 thread be a good thread to continualy use on this Singer? Oh, one other question, what is a good machine say under a 1000 bucks which would handle 277, or 350 series thread? Thanks, Gavin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
