sandyt

I wonder how that is possible. Do you have a picture? Sandy.

No problem Ken. Matt S, I don't use them. I don't even use the pearson itseld often. Hardly actually. Never found the time to make it stitch consistantly. I have to buy a new bobin tension strip first. It works with a glued home made one, but not great. And I nead a needle guide. Martin's harness sells them. Someday when I have a bigger order, I will order everything at once. I am not in a hurry. It looks pretty cool in my living room as a dust collector. Underneath the race there is also a heating block. I can't take a picture of it without dismantling it. Sandy.

I just read in Constabulary's manual he sent me (thanks!), I have to use spiritus in the heater. I used lamp oil, ahum..... Have to give it another go soon. Sandy.

The tension plate is very thin. Hard to work on and holding the shape. Maybe you could fil the groove with solder for now? Or solder a thin steel shim on it? I don't think a lot of people use the waxpot. I don't. I did use the petroleum (?) heater for the race and shuttle the other day though. It worked realy realy great with waxed thread in the bobin. Realy smooth stitch. But I probably used the wrong fuell. Black soot everywhere! Black stitches, haha.... too bad because it sewed great. I could back off the top tension big time. Thread size depends on the needle size. That determines your thread size more or less. The feed dog of the frobana/gritzner is tiny! So it has to be as agressive as possible to feed consistantly. You could make one yourself. It's a small simple piece. Maybe you could make it as big and wide as possible?? Never tried it myself. Sandy.

Hi Matt, Yes, it has 3 heating blocks. Needle block (head), wax pot, and shuttle race ('cylinder arm'). Sandy.

Sorry for the dust....I collect it.

Haha, too bad. Somehow your name made me think maybe you are from Belgium. Alex IT Belgium or whatever... It's a 2 hour drive for me. In Holland we consider this as way too far for most people, haha. Sandy.

Where excactly are you living in Europe? If you happen to live in driving distance from Eindhoven (Holland, Belgium boarder) there is a Frobana for sale in 'not working order'. Maybe it could be interesting for you. Depends on where you live ofcourse. Sandy.

Alex, On the spool tension asembly I would change the order. Nut, small ring, spring, big ring. On the second tension asembly, you are missing the spring. The thread should be wrapped around the disc once or twice. The disc should rotate while feeding thread. Your thread indeed looks pretty thin. This machine is disigned for heavy thread. I am using a number 4 needle, but it's still very thick. 2mm. So you still have to use heavy thread. I don't know if the number in the front plate should correspond with the needle size. Sounds logical though. I was thinking the same, as mine has number 5 but I am using number 4 needle. Sandy.

I think you are calling the hook/frame the race. The race is bolted to the machine. The shuttle-hook assembly goes into the race. It oscilates in the race. Now I am thinking about it, I am a little confused now. What is the hook and what is the frame excactly? Is the hook, part of the frame? I think I ground the frame? The left picture is the 'original' that came in the machine. The right picture is an adler shuttle-hook assembly. You can see where to grind now? Sandy.

Whoa..... what a coincidence! I just finished grinding an old alder hook for my Gritzner. I thought I would just give it a go. It came with a machine a while ago. Very worn, so I wouldn't mind if I destroyd it. It works great! It's an open frame. But I can't think of something why a closed one wouldn't work. I bet it would. Enough clearence etc... Sandy.

So anoying, all those 'industrial strength' sewing machines! In Holland they are called 'semi industrie'. Every day the number of adds increase with these machines. Redicilous. I hope every newbie will read this before buying a real industrial machine. Sandy.

Very nice machine indeed. Watched a lot of youtube for these kind of machines. But I don't realy need it either. But if I had the money, I would buy one today. To bad the sewing thickness is only 6mm. Enough for shoes I guess, but in my head I am sewing al kinds of stuff with this cool machine.

There you go. Thanks Uwe. Download that manual. It's your and your machine's best friend. Sandy.

I don't know the machine, but could it also be the needle bar being to high? Don't have the settings to check it though. Needle bar and hook timing usualy isn't that hard. Make it your own at least for your machine and you never will regret spending the time to learn it. Sandy.

I don't know what a bargain is for you, but I would probably be to curious to leave it IF IT'S IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION and realy cheap. But that's me. A lot of parts need to be hardened to hold up against wear. So only a lathe is not enough to make parts. Sandy.

I did this a few times. My machines are all very close to 5mm again. They were 3,5mm or less. Don't know how it holds up. Don't use it enough to say anything about durability. I use mig. Great restauration Mechanic!!! Sandy.

I have only experience with the old quick rotan. Do you have a pic? Mine had one slow setting. Which is pretty slow and one stitch at a time if needed. After this slow setting you just have a clutch motor. Enough topics about this. I liked the qick rotan very much. Needle up and down position makes work very easy and fast. The electronics inside looked very simple. Only a few components on a small curcuit board. Not like the efka's with al LOT of electronics inside. If you don't want to spend extra money and want to spend time switching the quick to the singer, I would say go for it. The clutch motor on the singer is pretty useless for knive sheets. The quick would do an awsome job in the slow setting. Sandy.

Maybe glue? Helpes me out sometimes in these kind of cases.

For what it's worth. If you are going the epoxy route. I would reinforce the piece with a bracket. Epoxy the broken piece and epoxy the bracket. Secure the bracket with two bolts if you have the space to tap threads. Hope you find a satisfying solution for your machine. Sandy. (Hope my masterpiece of a drawing makes sense)

Haha, why not indeed. Too bad I don't have a spare hook. If I can't fix (re-time) my machine, I will try the same probably. It's strange though. All the shafts are pinned. The timing can't be off. Maybe the previous owners placed the wrong hook in it? I don't know. Hope I have time soon, so I can play with the Adler Thanks. Sandy.

VanRhodes, Have you solved this issue? My longbed Adler 20 has the same issue. After a good cleaning it went better. But sometimes the hook doesn't 'fall' back past the needle and sits still exactly in front of the needle resulting in a missed stitch. Not working on the machine right now, but just curious how/if you handled it. Sandy.

Could it be the bottom thread twists once in a while and so doesn't give thread? Or the top thread jumps out of the tension disks a stitch or two and then 'falls' back in place? Looks like irregular tension to me somehow.