friquant

I have not used that needle system, but for my machine there are at least two names for the needle system. So if the needle packaging includes the needle system you're after, I would tend to believe it. Also I found this old post that has a little bit of info on 7x3: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/1830-needle-help/ If you do end up going with an alternate needle system in order to get the size/point you are after, at least it's only the needle bar height that needs to change. (Much easier to adjust than hook timing on my machines at least)

Original question, continued... I spent some time moving the hook saddle over to reduce the hook to needle distance. The Juki 341 manual says to make the adjustment with the stitch length set to 3mm, but the Juki 341 has a maximum stitch length of 6mm. One could interpret this at least two different ways: A. Set stitch length to 3mm, or B. Set stitch length to half of the maximum. (The Jianglong 341 that I'm actually working on can make 8mm stitches) Here are photos after my hook to needle adjustment, with stitch length and forward/reverse shown in red text. You will notice that long stitches in reverse prove to give the largest hook-to-needle distance, and I conjecture it was this large hook-to-needle distance that previously had the hook only catching one or two strands of the UNbonded thread. Since the adjustment, it seems to be doing fine with long stitches in reverse. (Not bisecting the thread anymore.) It makes sense that if you must optimize for either forward or reverse, one would almost always optimize for forward stitching. But here's another avenue I have not used but am considering: "Set the hook-to-needle distance to zero for long stitches in reverse, and use the hook needle guard to keep the hook from clobbering the needle in all other scenarios." This might get us down to zero hook-to-needle distance in all scenarios. But we'd also be deflecting the needle (elastic deformation) a little bit on all but the long reverse stitches. I'd be curious to hear how others have achieved a satisfactory hook-to-needle-distance compromise on machines that can make long stitches in reverse.

How to always have the hook to needle distance be next to nothing? At first I thought the thread was shredding when I stitched in reverse with long stitch lengths. (Thread is Selric brand TEX 135 UNbonded polyester) (Machine is Jianglong 341 (clone of Juki 341 but with even longer stitch lengths)) On closer inspection, the thread wasn't being torn actually, but in reverse with long stitch lengths (about 8mm) the hook was not catching all three strands of the thread. It might catch one or two. Here are some photos (recreated) of what it can look like when the hook tries to bisect the thread. Then I will continue my question in the next message..

Perhaps you could post a video of the walking foot in action so we can diagnose

I had the same problem on my pfaff. But spurred on by your question, I searched ebay for industrial sewing rubber mount These look like a potential match. Not sure if they match the carved-out spot in your table or not: https://www.ebay.com/itm/143924157971 https://www.ebay.com/itm/303681096346

Here are some additional photos and measurements that may show what's going on. Before taking these photos, I verified that the the top feed cam timing was correct based on pp 15 of the Juki 1341 engineer's manual. Then I set the needle even with the throat plate, and took these pictures first with the hinge bolt at the bottom of the banana slide, and then with the hinge bolt at to top of the banana slide. I conjecture that the design length of the top feed cam rod, combined with the radius of the arc in the banana slide are supposed to be such that sliding the hinge bolt from one end of the banana slide to the other does not actually move the upper feed driving shaft. (Assuming correct top feed cam timing, and assuming both presser feet are against the throat plate.) But on this machine, it DOES move the upper feed driving shaft. That is, starting at the first photo (both presser feet against the throat plate, and needle at the throat plate, and verified balanced lift height) then sliding the hinge bolt to where is shown in the second photo, the upper feed driving shaft moves away from the main shaft, lifting the vibrating presser off of the throat plate by 5mm. BTW this is a Jiang Long 341, which is a clone of Juki 341N.

Thanks for replying. Sorry I should have given more background. The engineer's manual for the Juki 341N (attaching photo of page 12) shows two separate adjustments: 1. Overall lift height 2. Balancing the lift between the two pressers The manual does not explicitly say If you adjust #1 then you will afterward need to adjust #2, otherwise your feed timing will be off and your lift heights will be unbalanced. But I wonder if maybe that is what is required... The first few times that I adjusted the overall height (1) based on the manual I was baffled that lift height was unbalanced afterwards, or that feed timing was off afterwards. Eventually I tried doing (1) then (2) in succession, and that seemed to give a good effect. But it also got me wondering if it's typical to require (1) then (2) in succession, or if there's something else out of adjustment just on my machine that makes it require this two-part adjustment.

When I adjust the overall lift height using the banana slide (A), do I also need to set the needle point flush with the throat plate and then momentarily loosen the bolt (B) in order to restore equal lift between the walking foot vs the presser foot? Somehow I assumed the banana slide (A) was all that was required to increase/decrease overall lift, but if I only adjust at the banana slide then afterward one foot lifts much higher than the other. This is on a clone of a Juki 341.

@FDC Will you post a photo of the motor pulley you're using?

Can we see a photo of the connector that plugs into the controller? You can slide the rubber shield back so we can see the individual wires. Want to make sure none of the wires broke.

Now that is a delicious photo.

I have the same servo motor. The paper manual shows the wrong values for the P15 settings. On mine P15 actually needs to be set to "0" to enable the needle position sensor. Here are my notes on this servo motor, which may reasonably constitute an English user manual, with some missing pieces.

Here is my attempt at documenting the settings for the Stitchman servo motor. After some trial and error, the needle position sensor is working. My setup has 2.2:1 gear reduction by way of an extra small (35mm) motor pulley, and the needle position sensor still knows what to do. If anyone has figured out the slow start settings for this motor, I'd like to hear about it. Normal Mode ### P Switches between three needle stop modes. Notice there are two green LEDS next to this button. TOP_LED: Stop with the needle UP BOTTOM_LED: Stop with the needle DOWN (position affected by P-03), and enable heel-tap NO_LEDS: Stop as soon as you let off the gas ### S This turns the lamp on/off. (untested) ### + Increases the max speed. default: 4500 range: 200-6500 (Note you can also increase max speed using P16 in programming mode) ### - Decreases the max speed default: 4500 range: 200-6500 (Note you can also decrease max speed using P16 in programming mode) Programming Mode Most settings are changed from inside programming mode. ### Enter Programming Mode - While holding down "P", press "+" - The screen will display "P-00" ### Save and Exit Programming Mode while in programming mode: Press "S" This saves whatever changes you've made and exits out of program mode ### Restore Factory Settings while in programming mode: - Hold "S" key for 3 seconds Table of Parameters These parameters are accessible from programming mode ### P-00 (apparently not adjustable) ### P-02 (Motor Direction) default: 1 range: 0-1 ### P-03 (UNDocumented Needle DOWN Position) (The needle UP position seems to remain the same. So to change your needle UP position, loosen the screws on the needle positioner.) But setting the needle DOWN position effectively lets you specify how much rotation between needle up and needle down. Note this setting only comes into play when the green "lower" LED (next to the P button) is lit and when P-15 (Needle Detection Mode) is set to "0". (When the green "upper" LED (next to the P button) is lit, heel-tap does nothing.) (Note P-15 is mis-documented in paper handout) default: ? range: 6-18 6: needle-up + 30 deg 7: needle-up + 35 deg 8: needle-up + 40 deg 9: needle-up + 45 deg 10: needle-up + 50 deg 11: needle-up + 55 deg 12: needle-up + 60 deg 13: needle-up + 65 deg 14: needle-up + 70 deg 15: needle-up + 75 deg 16: needle-up + 80 deg 17: needle-up + 85 deg 18: needle-up + 90 deg ### P-04 (Minimum Speed) default: 250 range: 200-800 ### P-05 ("Speed up and Slow") default: 3000 range: 500-4000 (This setting does not do anything on my machine. My machine can go full speed from the beginning.) ### P-06 ("Set the seam") default: 0 range: 0-999 (I do not know what this means or what it does.) ### P-10 (Automatic clearance run) 0: disabled (default) 1: automatic clearance run NOT SAFE!!!! This bypasses the gas pedal and starts a routine of "speed up, slow down, stop, repeat" mode. ### P-11 ("Presser foot ascend starting time") default: 0 range: 0-2000 (milliseconds) (I do not know what this does.) ### P-12 ("Ascend presser foot keeptime") default: 5 (seconds) (I do not know what this does.) ### P-14 (Max Current) Woah this would be cool if it worked default: 300 max: 50-450 (I would love to use this feature. But it is only in the paper manual...it does not show up as an option on my machine) ### P-15 (Needle Detection Mode) THIS IS BACKWARDS/WRONG IN THE PAPER MANUAL 0: use needle detection 1: ignore needle (default) ### P-16 (Max Speed) This is shown in the paper manual as P-01 default: 0900 range: 0200 - 4500 ### P-19 (Unknown) Not listed in paper manual default: 00 range: 0-15 ### P-20 (Unknown) Not listed in paper manual default: 0800 range: 200-3500 Photos Including images of the manual, the controller, the motor shaft (tapered!), and the motor pulley to help you determine whether this is the servo motor that you have. I conjecture that "Stitchman" is just a label applied, and that the actual manufacturer supplies these same motors and controllers under various names. Mine came with the purchase of a Jiang Long 341.

Yes, I asked the seller if they have a regular website with more info, and they said no. But when I asked questions about how this or that doo-dadd works, they'd send a video demonstrating it. I ended up asking in the alibaba chat with Ben Juan, asking questions about the different kinds of machines they offer. He asked to see photos of what kind of bags I was making (I showed pictures of heavy cloth purses I had stitched) , and he said either their 261 or their 341 would be good for those. It definitely took some work asking questions, and I'm in central time so I'd ask questions in the evening when they're arriving at work. Movie...yeah it felt a little bit overkill hehe

Yes the feed dog goes up and down. IMG_0874.MOV

Cool. Here's the link to the machine I bought if anybody's interested. I kept asking for whatever add-ons they had, that's how I found out about the accessories they offered.

Appreciate the manuals. I'll look through them tonight. I only had one of them before, and it seemed rather thin. 1. Yes that's a 35mm plastic pulley on the servo motor. The servo motor actually came with a 75mm pulley, but I made a smaller one. See this post: 2. Cost from Invoice A. The machine price is USD 620, include machine head, table, servo motor, needle position sensor, foot and knee pedal. B. Flat top table price is USD 45 C. Binding attachment price is USD 20 (I bought two of these, so USD 40) D. Shipping to the USA: USD 395 E. Paypal fees: USD 15 Total cost including shipping and fees: USD 1,115

Coming from a flatbed machine, I like that the goods being sewn are easier to see (by virtue of being up higher.) The reverse lever is quite stiff to move. Perhaps I bought a heavier duty machine than I needed. I like how easy it is to change stitch lengths. As long as you press down just a bit on the reverse lever to take the weight off the cam, that is. I love the long stitches it can make. It's advertised as doing 9.5mm stitch lengths but so far for me it does 8.5mm going forward, and 9.0mm in reverse. (Planning to adjust that soon so it's the same both directions.) The flat plexiglass top it came with I have not used yet...it sits about 3mm too high, but I think I just need to file/grind the plate on it to bring it down. It does have a bobbin winder on top, but it winds slowly when your machine is set up to stitch slow. I'd like to get in the habit of winding bobbins for other colors while I stitch to get two for one, but so far I still use an electric bobbin winder instead. It has been convenient to be able to fit larger things under the machine without having to bend the goods as much. The downside here is the weight of the material seems to want to pull themselves off and too the left, so if I'm not careful with flexible materials my reverse stitches at the end of a seam go somewhat sideways instead of straight back over the previous stitches. I guess that's what flatbeds are good for...keeping everything flat and neutral. It came missing two screws: the screws that hold the extension bar for the foot lift pedal to the regular lift bar. The factory says they are an odd size, like #12-24 I think. I used some smaller screws instead and put lock nuts on the other side. The crate arrived with a bit of damage, but only to superflous things like the table legs were squished slightly so that the plastic caps don't quite fit on. It's louder than the pfaff 545 was, and it makes a singing sound when the middle toe lifts. I tracked this down to the return spring for the middle toe rubbing against the cast steel block that the needle bar slides through. Even though it's oily, it still "sings".

As much as I love the Pfaff 545, half of the projects I attempt find me wanting to be able to tilt the workpiece away from the machine head. So on March 25 I ordered a JiangLong 341 through alibaba (with a flatbed attachment so I can still have "flatbed style" but also have the cylinder arm for 3-dimensional projects.) On May 25 the crate arrived with the head unit, servo motor, table, and some accessories. Here are some photos after getting it set up.

Found the video on youtube, as his website is no longer working:

Mine has a 30 inch cable from the hall sensor to the control box. I mounted the gas pedal and the hall sensor today, but waiting to see where the best location is for the control box after I get the rest of the table set up.

@kgg This servo motor I ordered through alibaba. It took two months to get here, so I may see if I can make it work. About half of the servo motors I'm seeing for sale on amazon and ebay now come with this reduced size / tapered pulley, but I have not seen anybody selling small diameter replacement pulleys for them yet. Perhaps they think the servo motor controller will handle all the speed adjustments we need? 🙄 In the spirit of experimentation, I decided to print one. I'm not sure how long it will last. This is 3D (FDM) printed with PETG, which has better toughness than PLA or ABS. It's 35mm outer diameter.

Where can I find a 45mm or smaller replacement pulley for a tapered shaft? The shaft is about 11.5mm at one side of the pulley but tapers to 9.1mm at the other. By the way this came with a new servo motor that looks very much like this one being sold on amazon

@kgg Suggested a smaller needle. Here is a sample with a size 100 needle, front and back.

Here's one more sample of the 0.4mm canvas. This time I've marked the curly Q's with black marker To be clear, it's not the bottom thread showing through that I'm trying to fight. I understand that is a tough challenge on thin fabrics. But the curly Q's are new to me, and I'd like to know what is causing them, or how to make them go away. It reminds me of when I allow a long piece of thread to double over on itself, then the loop that is formed curls together.