Wizcrafts

You don't know about heavy sewing machines until you have to move and setup a Union Lockstitch Machine.

I buy my zippers, zipper parts, seam rippers, oil, silicon lube, double sided leather tape, knit cuffs, small spools of #69 bonded nylon thread, repair tags and other sewing accessories from Wawak. They are the go to source for tailoring supplies in the needle trade. They also sell handheld Ace Clippers and staples. These are still made the same way as the pair of Ace Clippers I got when my Father closed his tailor shop in the 1980s. I use them every day to staple patches in place and to staple repair tags onto garments. Those clippers have to be from the 1960s and they are still like new!

Absolutely! There is a lever with a large thumbscrew that rides in a long vertical slot on the upper front right side of the body. Move the lever up to shorten the stitches and vice versa. Tighten the screw to hold the stitch length.

Jared; Did you know about the box style speed reducers that go where the motor was, then the motor bolts to the bottom of the box? It is sold by one or more of our supporting dealers. I have two box reducers in use in my shop. I installed them myself in 20 minutes. The dealer should be able to help you choose the length of the new long belt. You can do it yourself and save money over having a dealer install one.

There is a link to a downloadable manual for the Rex 26-188 machines on this page from 2014.

This is what a 441 clone looks like.

Usually/often/most times/sometimes - when a needle "system" comes in a -3 and a -4, the -3 is a round point and the -4 is some type of leather point. The round point is for cloth and synthetics. The other points are for leather. Sometimes I use -4 triangle points when I sew combinations of cloth and leather, like knit cuffs onto leather sleeves with a polyester lining. The tensions seem to balance better than with a same size round point -3 needle. The tri point doesn't fray the lining like a slicing point would.

I still have a digital servo motor I replaced with an analog motor. The digital motor was fitted with a 45 or 50mm pulley. It was just too jumpy when I feathered the pedal. I find that analog motors are much smoother to feather at slow speeds.

For the time being, I would back off the position of the case opener until the hook turns freely. There could be some thread or other debris caught in the gears that drive the hook. Or, the opener might be pulling back too far. It only needs to make a slight movement on the bobbin case so that the top thread clears the tab.

The picture of the motor shows what appears to be a rather large pulley. If you can obtain a much smaller pulley it will automatically slow down the motor's speed.

The Sailrite portable walking foot machines "can" use #138 bonded thread if you are careful with your adjustments. However, doing so will place a lot of extra stress on the take-up lever and its associated connections, for which it was not designed. IOW, you may get away with it, or you may not. The machine specs say it can use up to a #22 needle. In my experience sewing leather, that size will work fine in soft leather, but not in hard leather. You may need a #23 needle to pull the knots up without maxing out the top tensioner. The bobbin tension will definitely need to be at a minimum to get a #22 needle to pull up #138 thread, top and bobbin.

Post a closeup photo of the motor showing the readout panel and all buttons.

@palvim When the position of the knots changes as much as your are it means something is interfering with the top or bobbin thread flow. I would take a close look at the top thread to see if it is getting twisted around the spool, or a thread guide. There may be debris inside the tension disks. Or, the thread might be lifting and then dropping into the tension disks. Next, change needles and use a smaller needle for #92 thread. I find that a #19 works best with T90 thread and a #23 works best with T135 thread (both top and bottom). If the bobbin thread is smaller, I move down one needle size. Smaller needles make tighter holes that tend to stabilize the knot position. Next comes the bobbin, the bobbin case and its tension spring. Pull out some bobbin thread and feel if it varies as you pull. You can rewind the thread after pulling out enough to learn if there is a problem with it. It could be cross wound on the bobbin. Or, there could be a small piece of shredded thread under the bobbin tension spring. Try reversing the direction the bobbin feeds through the slot in the case. Next, check the hook for burrs. Then adjust the bobbin case opener lever so it pulls just enough to let the top thread clear the tab on the throat plate and doesn't hold too long as the thread comes around the case. Listen for any snapping sound as the thread goes around the bobbin case and shuttle. It could be getting hung up due to the timing being off. Last, try a different spool of thread, including winding a fresh bobbin with it.

It uses System 29x3 (cloth) and 29x4 (leather) needles; aka: System 332. You can also use common walking foot System 135x16 and 135x17 needles. The rib faces to the left (outside) and the scarf over the eye faces inwards towards the arm and body. Make sure it is fully seated all the way up in the mounting bracket. The bobbins are very tiny and are best limited to #69 bonded thread. The proper needle size for #69 thread, top and bobbin, is #18 (110).

If the dealer says you can't change the speed on the motor because of how it is set up, it could be because your machine has a needle positioning device attached. If this isn't the case, ask for the adjustments brochure anyway. If they refuse, send it back and buy a Plain Jane analog servo motor with a speed limiter knob and a 45 or 50mm pulley. These are available in the UK.

Here are some Google search results for your machine. Here is a YouTube video of one in action. The Union Special #52900 BN is a coverstitch and chainstitch machine for cloth garments. We don't have a dedicated section for cloth sewing machines yet, but who knows what might be down the pike.

Are you aware that these upholstery class walking foot machines have an upper sewing limit of 3/8 inch? You may be able to "lift" the feet higher to get the work under the feet, but they need 1/8 inch minimum to alternate up and down. There is no way that machine will "sew" 1/2 inch without major alterations. If the feet won't lift to 1/2 inch to remove material, the presser bar's lifting bits may be out of adjustment, or worn out. If the needle bar hits the alternating foot when lifted with the foot or hand lifter, either the bar is too low, or the feet are set too high. A low needle bar could be the result of a previous owner lowering it for a shorter needle system.

I also use walking foot edge guide feet that have a spring loaded guide on the right side of the back foot. They come in spacings from 1/8 through 5/16 inch from the needle.

I have both of these edge guides I bought on ebay. Large magnetic edge guide Over the side, swing away edge guide.

I run a Family Sew servo motor on several sewing machines. Some are direct drive and some go through reducers. It is definitely easier to feather in a direct connection than a reducer setup. I can also adjust the free motion a little, but not as much as with a clutch motor. I actually sanded down one of my brake pads to get more range of motion. Since the size of the machine pulley varies, you don't always get a great speed reduction ratio from the motor. The worst ratios are on my Singer 211g156 and a Techsew 2700. They have smallish pulleys on the balance wheel and really need a reducer to get controllable slow speeds. These machines were expected to run at higher speeds.

Please let us know how this works out regarding a custom binder for a 441 clone.

I use FastStone Photo Resizer. It is easy to use. By lowering the "quality" 15 or 20 percent you get a smaller image file size with very little reduction in clarity. It also has a sharpen function that makes reduced, or even slightly out of focus images sharper. If you also crop out unnecessary portions you can save more bits and bytes. Finally, resizing an image down makes it smaller. I often cut the original file size in half, or close to it, using combinations of functions.

Here is a very readable copy of the Singer 211G155/156 service manual Singer_211G155,_211G156_Service_Manual.pdf

That is the round, or barrel shaped adjuster I was referring to. I forgot that it has a scale with a pointer on the end for thin, medium or thick work. I was last sewing on my Singer 29K71 patcher that only has a round screw on the end of the slack adjuster. It resembles a long, round barrel. Hence, I think of it as a barrel adjuster. :-) In any case, the more this adjuster is brought into play, the more loose or slack top thread is fed to the needle after the take-up reaches the top and moves down. With no slack, the top thread may fight against the action of the presser foot, causing slightly shortened stitches. However, the stitches will lie very tight against the leather. A moderate amount of slack in the top thread will let the foot move a little more freely. You will get longer stitches that the minimum setting because the thread won't fight so hard against the motion of the foot. In the maximum position there is so much loose thread that it will flop around as you sew. You will get your longest stitches in thick work. But, the thread could get caught by the tip of the needle or it could wrap around a leg of the presser foot and jam things up. However, if you are careful, this setting will give a reasonable stitch appearance while allowing the foot to pull the work a little more than might otherwise be the case. As anybody who uses a patcher machine has learned, the maximum stitch length is greatly reduced as you exceed 1/4 inch, or 6mm thickness. Another thing one can do to get the longest possible stitch length in any thickness is to reduce the top and bottom thread tensions so they aren't fighting against the foot motion. This is especially helpful if the feed motion cam is badly worn.

I have a 30-7 and it gets 5 to the inch as well. If you ever find that it struggles to get a particular stitch length, increase the amount of slack thread using the barrel adjuster on top. More slack thread on top makes it easier to pull the work back with the foot. Of course, the bobbin tension should be minimized so it isn't fighting the feed.