jimi

if you type in "pfaff 335 journey to the unknown" on the forum you can see how an old rusted machine was whipped back to working again??

Hey dingus try this link to find out about the numbers and letters on your machine:http://www.pfaff-industrial.com/pfaff/en/service/numberingsystem

Hi Dingus, what i did was loosened the two screws on the right hand side of the back rod at the top to take out the bushings to clean them and putting them back is when i adjusted the back presser foot with the front one. because the back foot was only lifting up about 1mm or so. thats the rod that is connected to your presser feet, it has a winged nut on the right hand side. so before you loosen make some kind of mark so as you can get back to the same place as before. i loosened the screws then turned the balance wheel until the front foot was halfway up then pushed the back foot to the same hight and then tightened the screws again. now the back foot and front lift even.i dont know if that is the correct way to adjust it but seeing as i had it all dismantled i had no option. in that adjustment manual of the new ones it is screw 4. by the way i cant get mine to lift 7mm like it says in that manual??

Hi Dingus, did you manage to adjust your presser foot height? i have just stripped one down and put it back together and it sews so i could maybe show you where i adjusted it.regards jimi

yes that small curved plate is possibly to stop the spring from going back around the other way?? in the casting where the tension spring goes it has a step and that seems to be doing the same thing-stopping the spring going back around?? thanks for the parts page tor, i cant find any old manuals for this one. just a few pages of feet, needle plates and binders and stuff(335 H3 subclass parts) . looks like this one has no parts to open the disks although the hole is there in the casting for the pin to protrude out?? "it was probably still in the think tank" i will maybe stick something in there and see what can be done?? thanks for the help guys.

Hey Tor, just checked again, the thread is nº12-24 unc i think. you can see the difference between the metric one. i am still trying to find the nut that was broken with the balance wheel in the picture.(its glued together)

Hi Everyone, thanks for the response.Here is another cheap option. it is a nakajima 280L tension unit which costs the grand sum of $9.87!! can you see any resemblance to the 335 one? i know it looks more like the singer tension unit but i think it is still a great option. it dosent have the small wheel and the bent bracket where the thread goes through, but anyway? the small screw that holds it on to the machine was missing but the two screws that hold the spring on the back fit!! by the way how does that release work for the disks, because it looks like there is a hole for the pin but there dosent seem to be anything behind there?? here are some more shots..

The presser foot screw is not metric on this machine as i have tried that already with a metric screw. it is 1/4 unf i think? i will check again as i might be wrong, thanks tor.

well i cant go any further today. i will look for some m6 threaded screws with a similar head tomorrow as i have some m6 taps lying around. almost there!!

OK, this is where i am at now. i have just got a hinge (big i know) which cost €2.50 good thing and bad thing about it. first it has the barrels too big! good thing is that the width off the plate and the thickness is almost exact, but even better is that there are no holes in it which means i can drill the new ones in the right place according to the old ones. all i have to do now is to cut it down a little with the grinder. as you can see constabulary i managed to fiddle around and got it sewing again. the hardest part was getting the two feet to lift up to the right height. i realized that the presser foot tension screw ( the broken one ) was not screwed in far enough so the back foot would stay up?? now it has a cut in the head and is screwed in with the screw driver.

I hope so too constabulary ho ho. more pictures coming!

Thanks again to my buddies at work for welding the base. then it is just a case of grinding the corners to adapt to the head. lots of small parts to wire brush clean. then a new look is given to the tired looking machine! you see all that crap that has come off those parts with the wire brush!

more stuff here.

As you can see the stitch length regulator screw had to be stolen from my stanley 50 plane. lucky i had a spare part one lying around, because the threads are unf,unc etc so you cant go to the hardware store and get one. fits great and it is nickel plated! the base is made from scrap sheet metal, 7mm thick and then sanded to get the rust off. tell you the truth there is not much rust there. to help get the right size i have screwed the sides on the base which helps me put the machine on top and adjust better.

I hope this is not to boring?? here are more!

Here are some more updates, and more to come!!

Thanks for the replys, i am based in spain tor and the only parts for now needed are the presser foot screw on top and the nut that holds the pully and balance wheel on. i managed to get all of the broken screws out by drilling a small hole and hammering in the screwdriver. i can even manage to get by with the presser foot screw by sawing a cut in the head and screwing it in with a small screwdriver? i will upload some more pictures as it is moving faster than my typing he he.

Hi everyone, well here is the news. finally got the machine here after it was almost sent back and in the end the courier has almost finished it off. they threw it about so much that it arrived with a broken balance wheel,presser foot tension screw,thread tension stud,disks etc, stitch length screw and the winged nut that holds it on the base with the latch. so faced with a new set off problems here is what happened. first was cleaning the thread path and shuttle, feet,dog and freeing the needle bar with wd-40. this to me is the most important part as you have to know if this can sew or not, otherwise there is not much point of carrying on. since the thread tension unit was shot i managed to put on a singer 18 tension unit that i had lying around to try the machine out. well it looks like it sews with no major problems or weird noises, just the tension needs looking at as i dont have it clamped in. so the next step is to tear it down as far as possible to clean off the rust. it is important to make drawings of settings and put all your parts into small bags. the hardest part now will be freeing the broken screws left behind. one good way is to drill a smaller hole in the middle of the broken screw then hammer a screw driver in and it should come out by unscrewing. for loosening the presser foot tension screw that was left behind it is best to take out the presser foot, spring and connecting parts, that way there is no tension on the screw and it will come out a lot easier. now this is where you would probably chuck the balance wheel and look for another one, but looking closely at the leftovers if you piece them together they dont exactly fit due to the knock. now the good thing is that the pully that goes on the back holds everything together in the right place just with a tap of the hammer?? .so a budy at work welded it back together from the opposite side of the pully and it just needed a little adjusting with a file on the hump that was left after welding (thousands of an inch). now it is running true with no wobbles thanks to the pully being there. here are some pictures (sorry about the quality).

Hi Caroline, i am trying to do the same, trying to get some sandals going for selling this summer. we used to stitch them by hand years ago but this takes a bit longer. i have tried to do some trails on a singer 45k and this will sew through thick vegi tan and rubber. but i have come to the conclusion that i would be better with a frobana/gritzner or a rafflenbeul outsole stitcher for sewing the sandals. they are small and compact and could be worked by hand. there is also a smaller type called junker & ruh. on these machines you could hide the stitching in the channel underneath the sole. also on a sewing machine you would need a narrow presser foot that wont get in the way of the straps when sewing. on the outsole stitchers you can sew very close to the straps. i think sieck in holland sellls second hand machines and spares? iam shure they sell them working? you can check them out on the web. anyway caroline good luck and hope this helps. jimi.

Can anybody tell me what the -17B S stands for??

Thanks bradr, i will maybe post some pictures of the results if anyone is interested.

Thanks letheroo, i had looked at them before on the net but thought that these manuals were for the new type machines. so i take it that they are the same? thanks constabulary, if i cant get it to sew you might see it up on ebay again haha. thanks guys.

Hi Everyone, as you can see by the pictures i like a challenge! i have picked up some junk hoping it will possibly sew afterwards, but cant see any 335s like this on the net. looks more or less all there apart from the base and the binder? its only cost 58 euros so its not a huge loss but saying that i am confident it will run after cleaning up. is there any older manuals or parts books out there somewhere? thanks in advance.

Hi There, i am new here to this but i think that the check spring in the first drawing and the one you see on the college sewing page is different. as i have a couple of 45s and the oldest one is from 1895 and has the same part missing, the check spring like the one on the college sewing page. this goes around a larger stud than the other one in your first drawing. i tried changing the one from my other 45 and it will fit but you need to put in the whole thing in, stud,spring,wheel etc...