bex DK

Excellent. There is a thumb screw in it, so that is easy to remove. I will try in a few days (no time today) to run the machine again and take a short video also. But I will stick that and various unknown parts in the original thread for simplicity. I suspect many of them just are odds and ends from the shop that accumulated in these boxes and he sent all the leftovers along without sorting them. I really intended here only to get generic info on pressure foot shapes/styles and what kind of stuff they are best for, but I think what I wanted doesn't exist. :-)

Thank you! That is probably why it is ending up on the bottom when sewing then. I will try again later that way.

Nope, it's worse than that. I am American but I live in Denmark. Been here since 98. And I bought this German machine from a Dutchman speaking Danish who lives in Denmark. I speak/write Danish fine... but only really understand the accent/speech method of the northern part of the country (not their true regional dialect, which I also get lost on, but the way they speak "normal" Danish). Head to the other part of the country and I often can't understand the spoken because the small variations in word choice and pronunciation confuse me. So to take someone speaking Fyn Danish (the island between the jutland and the island Copenhagen is on) and add a Dutch accent and I will probably only understand a few words. My husband is Danish and has even lived in different parts of the country, so he can handle all the variations without thinking. Sorry about the extra thread--I thought presser feet weren't machine-specific and someone might be able to point me to a generic thing on presser feet where I'd find the info I needed and having it separate would make it easier for someone else to find the same info for a different machine. I thought there might be a guide somewhere I'd just failed to find. I will send you my mail. My German is limited, but I do make sense of some written German between the Danish and the Latin I'd learned in school years ago. Plus I am sure diagrams will give some information. And my old boss can always translate for me. I worked for a long time for SUSE in Germany, editing and proofreading their manuals (from a home office in Denmark). I don't think the German my coworkers taught me is useful for a sewing machine manuals. ;-)

Yes, the thread is hopped over I see. They are supposed to just run over between the disks and not actually be pushed in between them, correct? Probably banged something into it. We do not have a large house and my work area is squeezed into what should be a walk through dining room (which is also why there is a gorgeous painting behind the machine... we haven't enough walls). So I have rope and leather tools and supplies all over the place. Doing both requires more stuff, but rope horsemanship stuff actually helps pay for the leather hobby as that needs fewer tools in the long run. When I looked at the servo motors, I had no clue what to look for. I can see a huge swing in the prices of servos on the college sewing site Constabulary recommended, but I have no clue WHAT servo would fit my needs so I could consider the budget on it. I need to clean up my accounting for last year and this year so far and see how things are looking financially. I may be doing better than I realize and things seem to be picking up already this year compared to last year. It would be good to know what numbers I need to consider, so if I can find a pulley, I can better judge if it is worth risking. If it is hard to find, it will probably be comparatively expensive.... Your servo and speed reducer look very compact compared to the current motor...

Top feeding mechanics? No, but I think I need to figure out the speed issue before I worry about that part. I suspect the 104 manual I downloaded is not going to be very useful for this machine... Yes, it is the Adler 4-4. I wanted to make a new thread since this was potentially a more general topic, if there was some sort of guide to feet. I did try the recommended google searching, but mostly I found lots of places selling a variety of feet but with no explanation of what you use for why. As a newbie, I feel like the foot that arrived on the machine is a bit awkward for me, if I want to try to use the foot to help keep a line straight. It has the straight edge on the left, which means sewing frontwards you'd have to have the piece on the inside. With a narrow pieces like a headstall or breast collar, that isn't a big deal. But if I start playing with saddle bags, they often won't fit that way. Part of my thought is that if none of the feet I have are well suited to what I want to do, it would be a good idea to research at the same time as the pulley/motor what I might instead need and if they can be obtained, as it would be cheaper on shipping to do things at once. A couple of the things definitely won't fit this machine's presser foot attachment and might not even be feet. There is some weird looking stuff in this box. This was the last machine left out of the shop they had had, so it may be it accumulated things that didn't really go.

Thanks! I will see what I can find out. If I go with replacing the motor is that easy to do myself and are they standard to buy? The one plate is a sewing machine company, I think. The other is the motor specs. I wasn't along when my husband picked up the machine, but he swears the seller had no trouble sewing slowly with it. It was a long drive to get it, so I stayed home with animals so he could get machine in car instead of hauling a trailer along. Hopefully he will sit down at the machine himself soon and see if he can make it sew more slowly than I managed--or call the guy we bought it from and talk to him about it, as he said we should contact him with questions (my Danish is NOT good enough to talk to a Dutchman speaking Danish). Thanks again for your patience and advice. I _REALLY_ appreciate it.

Can anyone point me at a good resource for studying up on the different types/styles of presser feet and what kind of work they are best suited for? My machine came with several different feet, although a lot of them are not huge variations. Since I'm an ignorant newbie, I'd like to have something to study about different style feet and what types of materials/projects they are best suited for. Searching this forum didn't turn up much. Basically what I probably want is an idiot's guide to presser feet... Something with pictures of different feet and info on what sort of stuff you would probably want to use them for. Google drowns me in teflon feet, which isn't quite what I'm looking for. This is quick pic of my handful of feet (with some other stuff mixed in).

Thanks!! Sounds like you and Constabulary agree I need a smaller pulley (always nice when advice is same from multiple people--makes it more likely to be accurate), unless I can afford to replace the motor, which I am sure I can't. I will have to see if I can track one down and what it will cost me. The pulley will most likely eliminate the need for a speed reducer, correct? And I am understanding correctly that the pulley is the wheel that the drive band is on to connect to the machine? Want to make sure I am understanding the right part before I pester my husband to tell me what it is called in Danish so I can contact a shop... Are these things relatively standard or do I need to try to measure anything or make sense of the specs on the motor plate before contacting a supplier? Especially if this motor might not be "normal" for this machine. Constabulary, if I have trouble getting what I need from the place my used-to-be-my-leather-supplier-but-retired recommends in Herning, do you recommend the UK place or somewhere in Germany as a best chance for getting the pulley replaced? I figured Denmark is easiest since the motor is originally Danish (all the plates on it are in Danish, some from Copenhagen (the place that sold it when it was new, I think) and some from Odense, I think it was), but I don't know what my chances are. They do sell a lot of used machines, which includes a heavier Adler model (20-20), so hopefully they can get parts. It makes me feel a bit less idiotic to hear my current pulley looks large. That means there is probably a good reason I feel like everything is flying away from me when I try just to sew a straight line. Thank you both for your help and for putting up with my excessive ignorance on correct terminology. I will learn eventually.

I managed to get an angle where I could read the plate and it is 1400. At least I assume "omdrejninger" translates directly to RPM--it is in any case rotation related. I will have to look into the cost of a servo, but I suspect it is beyond my budget at the current time. The machine itself really pushed it, even if I did get a great deal. If I did this right, you should be able to see these pictures: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_uFFXfEF4HhdHltVWxCZXdVWkk&usp=sharing I couldn't get a legible shot of the plate of numbers on the motor. Being the smaller motor means it is more likely to be manageable even without pulley change or speed reducer? Is the long adjustment on the foot pedal/motor connection the thing Wizcrafts meant could be adjusted to possibly make it easier for me to control?

Thank you, all of you. I will try to study your responses more at the machine and see if I can make sense of it. Unfortunately I have no idea of the RPMs of the machine. I am no good at all with motors and such. I will crawl around under it and see if I can find anything in writing down there. Didn't find the model number until after we got it home, so was only able to go after what he said as to what it could handle. Machine was so dirty he couldn't find the plate. The speed reducer option, that can be engaged and disengaged, correct? So if I master the machine it could be disengaged for running at the higher speed again? I'd rather not do anything overly permanent, also in case I later decide to upgrade to a machine that can handle heavier materials (what discussions here say the machine handles is a bit contradictory to what the seller told me he made on it, but I think it will handle my needs decently for a while as long as I don't have too many requests for really heavy materials). So I don't want to do anything that would potentially decrease the value of the machine. But a speed reducer might be an ideal solution, and my husband is probably handy enough to come up with something if I show him lots of pictures, or at least to install one if I order one. Wizcraft, I need to crawl under the table and look again to see if there are more nuts down there. Are you referring to the adjustment connecting the foot pedal itself? I did wonder if adjusting the foot pedal would help. Sorry, but as I have 0 experience with these machines I am not familiar with the terminology. Anyone I talked to over here would be telling me in Danish anyway. I'm an American, so have no issues reading stuff in English, but just don't know the terminology. Is there a diagram anywhere I could study so I better understand your responses? I also have a contact of a place that works with sewing machines here. They recently had a more powerful Adler on their web page so I suspect they are at least familiar with them. But I felt better asking here for advice, as you will give me straight answers that don't necessarily involve buying things. Afraid calling up a place like that will get me pushed to have a technician out to go over the machine or to buy something that wouldn't really be necessary. But they might be able to help me with speed reducer, although many times it is cheaper to get stuff from outside the country because of the different tax rates. We are eager to at least get the machine running, but I won't have copious time to play with it until April when I've moved out several orders, mostly rope work. I do a combo of rope and leather. In all my googling about the speed, I did find a machine the same model as mine for sale elsewhere in the EU. Compared to its listed price, I got a serious bargain, although I don't know if there might be big differences in condition. In some ways that one looked better and in others mine looked better. Will write more later when I've crawled around under the machine. I will take pictures to verify before adjusting things. Thanks again!

I got a good deal (I think.. decent at least, as he put off a couple other sellers when we put a deposit on the machine) on a functional Adler 4-4 machine, but I have a problem. There is no way I can learn to master this machine as fast as it is running right now. It was previously part of a shop full of machinery for a fully trained saddler but I am more of a hobbyist and definitely not used to machines. Searching old threads pointed me at the 104 manual and it also says something about decreasing sewing speed, but I can't find anything in it about HOW to do it, but that may just mean "push the pedal less" in the manual. I try barely touching the foot pedal, but it either doesn't go at all or flies off at a high speed I can't handle. So is there any way this speed can be adjusted so it is running at a speed I can better manage? I might be able to handle faster once I've had a lot of practice, but I have to start somewhere. Also, if anyone is experienced with this machine or similar, is it normal for the tension to be so high that it is really hard to pull the thread manually? The stitching is showing that the bobbin tension is higher than the upper tension but manual 104 says preferably not to adjust the bobbin tension. I pretty much CAN'T pull thread out of the bobbin manually (like to move the leather away to cut the thread) and pulling the top thread through isn't easy. I've tried doing some tightening on the top, but I really need to get the sewing speed down so it doesn't run away with me before I can work too much with it. I haven't run my own bobbins yet--I figured I could at least do some learning on the bobbins that came along with the machine. It actually came with a pretty big assortment of stuff that I need to learn and experiment with before I can use it for anything "real." BTW, I am in Denmark in Europe.

I store my leather rolled, but not tightly rolled, and covered with paper. When I lay it out to cut it, I lay it out so it curves down into the table. Then I add weights as needed for cutting. If I need to eliminate the last tendency to curl from a piece, I lay it between my work/cutting table and a very heavy plastic cutting board, with the curl down towards the table as it then is easier to get the other layer on it. Or one of the glass sheets used for casing with books, etc., on top to weight it. But since I don't store them rolled supertight, I don't usually have problems.

My experience when I dip dye is that even with extensive buffing with alcohol-damp cloth, there is still plenty of dye left in the leather and the color has never got unevened or lightened. But my dyes might work a bit differently than yours. I am pretty sure mine are a scandanavian-specific brand of spirit dye. It really penetrates--if I cut the end off the dip dyed leather, there is usually only a thin strip that isn't dyed, depending on the thickness of the leather. If I surface dye, like with a paint brush or cloth, I usually thin the dye a bit and apply multiple layers, as I find it easier to get the dye even that way--if an area is light, I can give it extra without ending up with sharp transitions, especially if I work around with edges of the spot as the brush runs out of dye... But then I don't have all the extra pigments that rub off because the leather doesn't get more dye than it can absorb like when I dip dye. Perhaps someone experienced with exactly your brand of dye could provide input. If you are buffing all the dye off, I would worry either something is wrong with the leather that it isn't taking the dye right (like a wax treatment or other surface treatment) or something is wrong with your dyes--a bad batch or it is too old or something. A wrong type of tanning would mean it wouldn't take tooling and stamping well, but I find I can tool latigo, etc., but it won't take dye because of the treatments. You could also try rubbing your leather with alchohol or acetane BEFORE dying, as that might break up anything on the surface that is preventing dye from penetrating.

Yes, the glass pen resembles what you have shown there.

I've actually done spirit dyes in a refillable fountain pen. Or my preferred tool--a glass pen made for dipping into ink. I just dip that into the spirit dye. But I'm not usually trying to write words. Mostly I am using it for coloring fine details that are tricky with a brush. The biggest issue is that the dye likes to spread in the absorbant leather, a bit like writing with liquid ink on cheap paper that "draws" too much ink. However a lot of that can be combatted by simply oiling the leather first. But I wouldn't try on reverse of leather. But your bands are probably sewn double anyway. The glass pen I'd gotten many years ago from a glassblower's shop in a small town in New Hope, PA. I don't know where one would get them. I'd actually love to get another one, but now I am in the wrong country also. It would take practice from the glassworker to get the twist right on the nib so it delivers ink slowly and evenly. And you need to practice writing with this style pen, as you need to work out how to dip it to prevent blotching and how much to knock off the tip. With the refillable fountain pen, I used a syringe to fill an empty ink cartridge with dye. They CANNOT be left with dye in the cartridge for a few days, because the spirits evaporate too quickly. So remove of empty the cartridge and clean the nib with alcohol. Have no experience with oil dyes, but if they flow right, something like the glass pen would probably work well. I also use the glass pen in watered down acrylic paints.