gottaknow

Hey Cory, set the position finger using the thickest thread you use. Most people tend to set them too close. Also, if the finger has jumped out several times, you may need to replace the bobbin basket part of the hook as the finger will chew this area up. It must be smooth, but don't change the angle of the notch with emery paper or a buffer. The position finger itself should be smooth, but it's shape not altered. Once you get it adjusted for your thickest thread, you shouldn't need to adjust it much after that. The other thing that is critical is making sure the hook has good oil supply and that there isn't any thread hiding between the bobbin basket and the hook. Regards, Eric

On that style of motor, the flywheel is attached to the rotar. It has a smooth surface and is rotating as long as the motor is on. The plate that moves back and forth with the lever has cork on both sides. The small pad closest to the pulley is the brake pad. The adjustment moves this pad closer to the brake side of the clutch. There's no ideal adjustment, but rather operator preference. The only requirement is that when you remove your foot from the pedal, the machine should stop. You "apply "the brake by heeling back. If you want more control, move the brake pad (via the adjustment screw) farther away, more responsive, move it closer. Be sure and leave a gap big enough so you have a neutral position you can hold with your foot. This allows you move your hand wheel freely. Your final adjustment should be the pitman rod, the two part rod system that adjusts the pedal height. Leave it low enough so when you heel back, it presses the brake against the brake pad. Make sure to tighten the locknut on the adjustment bolt. Have fun! Regards, Eric

Thanks for posting that pic Gregg, I'm on the road. Regards, Eric

The problem I see is that little positioning finger should have its tab holding the bobbin basket at the 12 o'clock position. Loosen the one screw, rotate the basket back so the notch is at the top and put the tab into the slot of the basket. The machine will not sew at all if this isn't corrected. I'd draw an arrow on you photo, but I'm not where I can do it. Regards, Eric

First off, make sure the cause of the disengagement has been cleared. If not, what I'm going to tell you could make things worse if your safety clutch button has a problem, my work around will do the trick. Tip the machine back, find a spot on the lower shaft where you can clamp a healthy sized pair of vise grips. Use a piece of leather to protect the shaft. Clamp the vise grips in place and turn your hand wheel backwards. This should reset the clutch even if there's a problem with your reset button or the safety clutch. Keep in mind that you should still figure out why you can't reset it with the button. The clutch may need adjusting, or there could be an issue with the button. Welcome to the forums! Regards, Eric

The entire scope of sewing machine manufacturing has changed drastically since I started in 1980. We bought mainly American made Singers, Union Specials, Reece and others. About the time NAFTA came into being, a lot of apparel companies started outsourcing a percentage of their work. This raised profits and lowered quality. The public didn't care as they were enjoying the price points. There was then a need for sewing machines to made overseas as well, since that's where the factories were. The first Japanese machines we got had serious issues. These included Kansai, Consew, Mitsubishi and so on. The machines that come from Japan now are decent. I imagine in 20 years, the quality of the Chinese machines will be higher. Our company buys mainly Juki's except for specialty machines. Our leather luggage shop uses primarily older Adlers which we maintain. We've tried some 441 clones and kill them in short order. We basically don't purchase any clones at all. I did purchase a Highlead zig zag machine which we killed in 4 months, just long enough for my Juki to arrive. The Highlead was a complete POS. We are a high volume Juki customer, so we get machines at a much lower cost than others. They have a larger margin, so they can discount. We purchased company wide probably 130 machines last year. The majority of them are Juki's. We also track their maintenance cost and can replace any machine that has been depreciated. We keep the old timers around (including me!) because they keep working. I use many of them for specialty operations. It's frustrating when you have a machine that's a year old and you're replacing needlebar bushings. It is what it is. At least our products are made in the USA and we guarantee them for life. I feel good about that. Regards, Eric

The problem isn't so much the bearings, but the castings themselves. I have 4 year old Jukis where the bearings are slipping in the casting. Their tolerances are all over the place. Once a bearing spins, you're done. Of course we sew 40 hours a week on these, but we are still using Singer 112's, 111's, 211's and 300W's side by side and the older machines are much tighter. I have 25 or so Juki 5410 lockstitch machines that are 15-20 years old, made in Japan. The heads are still in decent shape, but the servos are tired and not available any longer. I'm replacing them with the new Chinese Juki's, the 9010's. They have the new direct drive motors, but overall the build quality just isn't there. I have very little faith in any Chinese built industrial machine, I don't care which factory they come from. I recently bought a Reece 101 Keyhole buttonhole machine that was made from the original prints. It was made in the Czech Republic. The build quality is pretty decent, but the machines I'm still using from Reece that were made in the 60's are superior quality. They were made in the USA. Regards, Eric Again, in the hobbyist setting they'll last a long time if taken care of.

The new Juki single and double needles don't use oil in the top part of the machine. They promote it as the "oil-less" heads, supposedly meant to keep oil off the fabric. Instead, they use a thin grease that you supposedly pack into certain areas on the top of the head. I think it's a huge mistake on their part. They have also started using aluminum and other soft alloys on parts they shouldn't be. Union Special tried this back in the 90's to save money and those machines have long since failed. They also quit providing replacement parts in essence making several models obsolete. Regards, Eric

There is no way the Juki Chinese machines will outlive the old Singers from the 50's and 60's. The tight tolerances just aren't there. At least they're using Seiko hooks in them. As I see it, the downfall will be the bronze bushings that are already showing play after just a few years. The market for the textile side of things dictates they last five years until they are fully depreciated, then they'll get replaced. For a hobby sewer, they'll last a long time as long as the electronics hold up. Regards, Eric

We call our leather watchbands "hand crafted". They are cut out with a clicker, hand dyed, hand burnished, then machine sewn. The final finish is also applied by hand. Our machine stitching is about the finest of any I've seen as we take the time to groove the stitch line. That is done by hand. Hand sewn, no, hand crafted yes. I imagine our legal department are the ones who decided how to describe them. We don't worry about what our competitors do, we believe all of our products are the best money can buy which is why we guarantee everything for life, no questions asked. As a side note, another subsidiary of our company actually makes the watches in our Detroit factory. They are gorgeous. Regards, Eric

I do see some hand sewing, and some badly adjusted machine sewing. But their claim of hand sewn is for the most part accurate, even if it's just the loop. Regards, Eric

As I stated before, the push button needle positioner isn't something new. It has been used in factories for at least 40 years. It's an option on new Juki control boxes including their new direct drive top shaft mounted motors. You can't really judge its value until you've used it. Granted, these are high dollar control boxes with around 100 programmable features that you'll never find on any of the aftermarket control boxes talked about in this forum. I don't have to tweak speed controllers with cardboard and tape. I can see the benefit of the jog feature on leather machines as it gives absolute control. I don't care how skilled you are with a treadle or your hand on a hand wheel. Regards, Eric

You shouldn't have to put up with a machine that doesn't work right and needs a so-called mechanic to tell you that's what it's supposed to do. As you said yourself, it doesn't work right and you paid a lot for it. Make a fuss and make them fix it. It's fine to learn how to adjust your tensions as you learn your machine, but you've paid for something that isn't working correctly. It really bothers me when a dealer sells a machine and it doesn't work right from the start. Regards, Eric

I'd find a new mechanic. Regards, Eric

Sure looks like Wiz is right. If I were to make an educated guess, your top shaft is one notch behind your bottom shaft. You might also try increasing the travel on the check spring. Regards, Eric

I wanted to share this with Uwe so he could see an application where a needle positioning "jog" button is used in a production setting. The machine is a Union Special 34700. It's a 3 needle coverstitch machine used to topstitch stretch waist bands. We most recently used it for some high end equestrian riding britches. A coverstitch machine produces a very stretchy stitch. It has 3 needles and 1 looper. There's no backtacking with a coverstitch, so a precise overlap is required. The jog button allows the operator to make a very controlled tie in. Elastic has ribs, and you have to stay in the same rib with the needles to secure the seam. In the picture, the small green button is plugged right into the control box. This is a Tele Dyne motor with using a Quick Rotan control box. The feature gives the operator complete control of the overlap. Regards, Eric

We teach our operators what a scarf is, and that it will always face the hook, and the thread will always come out of the scarf. The reason I do that is because there are times when I'll use a 62x57 needle that actually has the long groove spiraling around the needle. Even though a 62x57 is a chainstitch needle for a Singer 300W, it has the same dimensions as a 135x16 and 135x17 and I'll use it on a lockstitch machine if the situation fits. It's also much easier to get a needle inserted straight if you look at the scarf and not the groove. On most two needle lockstitches, I'll have the operator rotate the scarf slightly towards the incoming hook since the hooks rotate in the opposite direction. This is especially true on the left needle where the hook can untwist the standard left twist thread whereas the right hook twists it tighter. Regards, Eric

Even when running bonded polyester in a 4000 spi chainstitch, there are times you still need to soak the thread in silicone. Last time was joining nylon flag stripes a 100 yards at a time without stopping. Air cooling helps as well. Regards, Eric

Well done Uwe. There are applications in a factory when this is needed. I could give plenty of examples, but suffice to say most high end control boxes have an output plug just for this purpose. We call it jogging. I can either mount it near where the operators hands are or sometimes on a knee switch. It is an absolute must on a memory stitch machine while programming a new pattern (we set all of our woven labels on a Brother memory stitch machine). The oldest one I have is on a Union Special coverstitch machine used for doing elastic waistbands. It's from the early 80's. So at some point, someone got their geek on and came up with this for apparel manufacturers. Nothing advances in my industry unless there is a need and a market. Keep tinkering. Regards, Eric

I assume you paid to have the machine adjusted. If so, take it back and ask them to fix it. Take the stuff you want to sew on as well as your thread. It's not unreasonable to expect something to work. They should also watch you sew to make sure it's not something you're doing. Regards, Eric

Those supposed to be thread lube pads are pretty useless. It was a good concept by Singer, but if you need to lube your thread, lube it like a boss and soak the cone in silicone. Regards, Eric

Increase your latch opener gap and make sure the notch on the bottom of the throat plate is nick free. If the notch is beat up some, don't widen, just make it smooth. That is all. Regards, Eric

It appears to me your top and bottom shafts aren't synchronized. The feed motion for both the needle bar and feed dogs was moved to the front to get it to sew at all. If I were to speculate, your top shaft is advanced a tooth or two. Hard to say without seeing it in person. Until you get synchronized, it won't sew right no matter what else you do. When you get that figured out, you should be able to center everything on 0 spi, adjust your spi to max and still be in time. I've seen machines where instead of having a mark on the casting to use for shaft timing, but rather a "position", like 6 o'clock for example. May the force be with you. Regards, Eric

That voltage was the industry standard for decades. I'm still using some, but I've changed almost the entire factory over to LED. The lights were used to reduce the heat near where a factory operator would have their head for 8 hours a day. You can still buy the bulbs. They are 6.3v 17watt. We sew mostly dark fabrics, heavyweight Pendleton wool. As a footnote, in deciding on a retro fit bulb, I did a lot of testing. I decided on Phillips LED in the 60w equivalent. Warm white or cool white depending on what the operators prefer. Regards, Eric

Output to Singer lights is 6.3v. Regards, Eric