friquant

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.

Here are two samples on different materials The first is 0.1mm printer paper. The stitches are uniform. No curls The second is 0.4mm canvas. This one has curls. 125 needle, round point TEX 70 unbonded thread

These are round point needles. Organ MTX 190 (R) Reading up on Schmetz Serv 7 needles now...

Glad it's not just me, and sad there's no easy fix! 😁

The past week i notice my top thread is sometimes curling around the bottom thread. A few curly Q's along the seam. It seems most noticeable with thin materials. I'd like these stitches to be straight. (The bottom side actually looks better, which is rare for me.) Ive tried changing the bobbin tension and the top tension. I've tried adjusting the thread take-up spring. Needle is size 125 (Singer 20). Machine is pfaff 545 H4 Fabric in photo is a single layer of thin canvas-looking stuff (0.4mm thick). Thread in photo is TEX 70 polyester UNbonded but I get the same effect when using TEX 90 polyester bonded. First photo is top side Second photo is bottom side

Amazon sent me a replacement, and both units exhibit the same behavior. Still troubleshooting.

I have considered replacing the belt, but it still functions smoothly and it is old enough to no longer have a chemical smell, so I think I'll keep it for now. There is only one belt...from the 45mm motor pulley to the 80mm balance wheel pulley. (No other speed reducer.)

Using the Consew C1000 servo motor with needle position sensor from this website: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6IYMCZ Also running this 45mm motor pulley: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ42TGY It is quite convenient that it can do single stitches (the majority of the time). The majority of the time it does give exactly one stitch, and it completes the stitch at its slowest possible speed, which with the gear reduction is about 110 stitches per minute. But about 10 percent of the time, when I tap the gas pedal to ask for a single stitch, it instead does the following: Goes one full revolution at HIGH speed, then Makes a big THUNK sound, then Goes one more full revolution at its minimum speed Anybody else having issues like this? Here's a video. In this video, you can see a wave in the belt when the thunk happens. (Perhaps the thunk is a brake??) Here is a video:

Here are photos of the Pfaff 545, since they are somewhat different than what the 1245 service manual shows. To adjust timing: loosen the two screws at A. To adjust hook-to-needle distance: Loosen the two screws at B (to move the hook saddle) and also loosen the two screws at D and the two screws at E (to adjust the new mating distance of the bevel gears.) As for the two screws at C, they do not need to be loosened. One of the screws at C is resting on a flat spot ground into the hook driveshaft, so that's why you have to use the screws at A to adjust timing.

That makes sense...I've been focusing on the needle thread that I can see while the inner toe is in the air. Open toe would be visible more of the time

This looks good. Here is the unfurled link in case anybody needs it: https://www.supsew.com/download/Pfaff/Pfaff 245, 1245; 246, 1246 Service Manual.pdf Pfaff 245, 1245; 246, 1246 Service Manual.pdf

Is there a video on adjusting the hook to needle distance on a 545? After my original hook broke, I am installing an aftermarket hook and the new hook bumps into the needle so I'm adjusting. I have the hook saddle loose, but how to move the bevel gear so it still fits well against its mating gear?

Good to know the downsides of a roller feed machine. I set this at one point. I'll check and readjust. That sounds like a good idea. The lifting foot mostly rests toward the rear. What is an open toe inner foot?

I'm using a Pfaff 545.

Wheel foot---that's cool! With the wheel directly to the side of the needle, it appears that turning the material continuously while the motor is ticking over would be consistent in "going where you point it". I could imagine the stitch length being longer for a left hand curve and shorter for a right hand curve since the needle is offset somewhat from the wheel&dog. Not that I'm planning to get a wheel right now, this is my first heavy duty machine and I'm still learning what I can do with it and how to drive it accurately

The current setup goes 110 stitches per minute at its lowest speed. That's using a servo motor and a 45mm pulley on the motor instead of the 75mm pulley it came with. In the tight corners I've been letting off the gas to rotate with the needle down.