Art

Hi Sebastian, There is the Junker & Ruh and/or Pederson Sole Stitcher (quite the same thing) Henry (do a search that is his member name) has a few. Then there is the Classic, No.9, Landis 1, and the Pearson No.6, all good machines and expensive and heavy as a very large rock. However, the Boss and the J&R are the only ones you can carry anywhere without eventual surgical assistance. Art

The best way to keep the wife from making unnecessary visits to the shop is simply to rip her clothes off and have your way with her every time she comes out there, not just a quickie but do a good job. Now this will wear you out for the first week or so until until she figures out what the heck is going on; it may scare the hell out of the dog too. The frequency of the visits will diminish, especially if she figures out she may be wearing you out, but it will be a little bit of a novelty for her at first, but you must persevere. You must be steadfast in this, she will eventually learn to only come out there if she wants something, and also to make sure there aren't customers about and to lock the door, especially after the first time there ARE customers there. This will also cure the problem of the wife diddling with the thermostat. Art

Is that the original handwheel, or was someone fond of Newton's First Law? Art

Hi Cheryl, It looks (a little blurry) like BZ-277, that is Bonded Left Hand twist 277. This is not the correct thread for this machine, the hook won't handle it. Call LMC or Artisan or anyone on the board who has bonded left hand 138 and get a spool, just about anyone should have it. BTW, I have not had much luck with A&E (American and Erfid) thread. Art

Hi Cheryl, First, that machine is not designed for that size thread. Second the needle is too small for 277, hence the fraying. Third the hook is rotary and not going to work well on anything over 138. That machine might handle 207 top and 138 bobbin at the max with a 24 needle. So go down to 138/92 or 138/138 with a 24 (180) or 23(160) and see how things work. Art

They'll remember that forever. Maybe one will learn to play. Art

Mike, Ethanol NOT methanol. Hold down control key and hit the plus+ and/or minus- keys, does the same as the scroll wheel. The "sizes" combo box just puts codes in your test, it gets bigger when you preview or add. Art

Piano, keyboards. Art

God willing. Art

It probably needs a reset, push the button and crank it through. Art

Safety clutch is on machine IF that model has one. Check that your hook makes complete revolutions when you handwheel the machine. If not, safety clutch reset will be the big round chrome "button" just to the right of the needle and needle plate. Make sure there are no bits of needle in the machine. Art

Did you find ALL of the broken needle? and reset safety clutch if you have one. Art

Hi Ryan, The original (and subsequent) Juki 441 didn't line-up either. Neither did the Adlers. That's where the washers and then the "wedge" came from, and when that didn't always work they came up with the adjustable wedge, which works. The only adjustment inside is for tightening the friction required to move the stitch length arm. Art

Hi David, Isopropyl has an affinity for water and will usually stabilize around 25% water, I feel this water opens the pores up and allows better penetration of the dye. If really difficult then one of the ethyl esters would be better, use with plenty of ventilation. Art

With 207 and down, I tend to use the same thread top and bottom, however a smaller thread in the bobbin shouldn't cause a problem. On the medium size machines, I don't like the rotary hook for much over 138 so if I wanted to run 207 in a smaller machine, I'd run it on the top with 138 in the bobbin. When you have problems like this it should be back to basics. With thread size 207, you should use a 25/200 tri point or "D" needle. Make sure your work is moving freely through the machine and not hanging up on the thread slot (sometimes when you back tack you make a big knot that will hang up in the end of the slot) also excessive tension can sometimes cause the work to retreat a little after advance and give a shorter stitch. Don't hold your work too tightly, just guide it. Handwheel your machine the first few times you use it, all the way through so you can see what is going on; the machine does not have to be running at speed to make a proper stitch so you can go a slow as you want, if it sews fine handwheeling, then you may be putting pressure on the work when you guide it, don't push or pull the work through. Art

Bovie Art

Hi John, For one thing, the need for a reasonably healthy compressor limited the market for the machine. When companies tool for a run, they make a couple to a few hundred machines at a time, warehouse them and sell them from inventory; so they have a track record of the saleability of these machines. They just make a ton more money making paintball markers and fencepost tampers. Art

Hi Tom Most of the time I finish the outline for the top including the ends and then glue on an oversized liner, sew it, cut the liner to match the top, then punch holes and finish edges. Art

Hi Richard, Wickenburg is considerably smaller than Sheridan. If you have to save-up for one show, it should be Sheridan, however if Wickenburg is in your back yard, I wouldn't miss it. Sheridan has vendors that might only make one show a year, so there are many more of them. Wickenburg is heavy in classes though, and some pretty good ones. You won't find John Bianchi anywhere but Wickenburg, I'm sure he could fill classes at another show if he wanted. Art

Well, as the facts go, the ad is right there in black and white. I merely said that Vern probably would not say the same thing on the phone. They book those ads a year at a time, they'll catch up with it eventually, asking on the phone is much more current in the time continuum. Art

Hi Ed, Sometimes they have to grind out a slot or make other adjustments for foot lift etc. There are basically no cheap parts to swap out as the top manufacturers like Huigong and New Century (Xinyi) and a few others use the latest Japanese CNC equipment as do the parts and screw manufacturers, a lot of these places are doing their best to go the ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard route to some degree at least. This doesn't mean you don't have to keep an eye on them though, especially electrics, they build good motors old school, new school is always an adventure, this is where your importer and distributor comes in. Art

Hi Skip, In a word, everything. However it comes from different places. Heads come from one manufacturer, stands from another, sometimes table tops from another, motors from another, lights from another, speed reducers from another, parts (feet, dogs, needle plates, and belts etc.) from another. There is some work that has to go on here, changing parts (most of them come setup to sew fabric/webbing) and some grinding, adjusting, and re-timing to set them up to run leather, about three hours work, sometimes more. The stuff is all broken down cube wise for shipping economy. The distributor earns his pay, it is generally technical grunt work, all that stuff is heavy and has to be completely assembled and running before being broken down for shipping. The good distributors run their machines in before letting them go, but occasionally something slips through and the reputable guys go the freight both ways to fix the problem. Did I answer your question? Art

So will this be one of the "new" castings we have heard so much about? I would be interested in hearing what is "new" and "improved". If you bought it from Steve, then I would give him a call before going to all the trouble to pack it up and the expense to send it back. I doubt there is that much wrong with the machine, probably more of a setup problem. Art

Hi Tom, Where are you located? When did you purchase it? It sounds like it needs a mechanic, maybe you can find one near you and pay him the $400. Art

Hi Ryano, I don't know that Vern would make that statement if you called him on the phone, and when I visited last fall, they still had a couple of German machines on the floor. But let's face it, we want to be lied to. We desire made in America or some high tech country WE basically destroyed and rebuilt. A lot of folks wouldn't buy Japanese or German cars until they started assembling them over here although the majority of the parts are Japanese/Chinese or German/European. If you want the prices that cheap labor and the global economy can bring, then it isn't going to be made here. Quality and reliability are the hard fight now. I've been importing from the East since '85 and have always had to fight for quality and price, not always the easiest thing to do in a competitive market, but the price thing always makes it, in sum total, an attractive thing to do. Now, about the lying, it is basically telling you what you want to hear, it makes it easier to pull out your checkbook and write. Do I think it is ok? Hell no, but I have higher standards than some. If you can't get a straight answer from a dealer, pass him up, he shouldn't misrepresent what he is selling. There is not a distributor in the US importing Chinese castings and filling them up with American parts. The only reason that a machine is "specially made for us" is because it has the distributor's name screened or riveted on the casting. There IS no good reason to lie about any of this as the machines being produced today are actually pretty good, any lying is just salesmanship and a lack of ethics and integrity. Well, there it is, I said it, and I am unanimous in that. Art