rinigado

I've been adjusting things and turning over by hand. No sound at the moment, but it's very slightly rubbing. I tried running it under power before all the adjustments and quickly broke a couple of needles as soon as the speed picked up a bit. It's better, but not yet right I think. Currently, the needle is just barely rubbing along the side of the feed dog as it descends, but it's definitely touching. The reason I'm concerned about needing to either need to machine this feed dog a little bit, or just replace the set is that once I get running at speed again and feeding material through will add just that little bit more deflection of the needle that'll still give me broken needles and grief.

I wouldn't be surprised if what you said is also true about this set of plate and feed dog maybe being manufactured a bit off . I already had to sand a little bit off the bottom (nearest) edge of the needle plate to get it to fit drop properly onto the machine (it was marginally too long to correctly fit). Even with the adjustments mentioned above, the only way I'd really get the needle centered left/right in this feed dog would be to mill off a slight amount of metal and widen the screw holes. By the way, is it normal for the needle to slightly rub on the feed dog below the hole (i.e. does it normally touch the flat side of the feed dog)? I find that a needle will always rub the side of the feed dog plate as it travels to it's lower limit...wondering if that's typical or a symptom of some manufacturing that's slightly off.

I also see that the part numbers for both the feed dog and needle plate are different than in the consew parts manual, but not sure if that's meaningful or if a lot of these bits interchange. parts manual shows 10805 for feed dog and 10665 for the needle plate on a 255B-3, and the parts on the machine are 240147 for the feed dog and 240144 for the needle plate. Might dimensions be slightly different for these? Someone did some surgery to the bottom of the needle plate for some reason right where the bobbin housing kind of locks in place... maybe worth just getting a new feed dog and plate off ebay to see if they're a better fit?

I was typing this when I saw your reply You're right.. after looking at the bottom of the machine long enough, some details sunk in (especially after grabbing a q-tip and wiping away all the lint and crud around the feed dog). The feed dog is sitting at a bit of an angle compared to the feed bar it's attached to. I took it off, and was able to reposition it slightly. Not perfect, but at least closer to center from left to right.

thanks for the quick response! Hopefully I'm understanding your reference correctly: do you mean the section titled "adjusting the timing of the needle plate, needle and feeder"? In that section, there's a figure 18, where screw #1 ( a pinch screw on a rotational shaft) must be loosened, allowing adjustment of the needle bar rock frame to center it. As far as I can see from trying this, and considering the screw clamps against the rotation of the rod through the machine, it only seems to center the needle from front to back. Loosening this screen doesn't enable any side to side motion of the needle that I can see. Am I misunderstanding or missing some point? thanks!

I can see how to adjust the needle alignment from front to back, by slightly moving the needle bar rock frame. What i CAN'T figure out, is how to adjust the needle to center it in the feed dog hole from left to right. I've attached a picture to show what I'm talking about. The needle is off to the left of center when facing the machine. I don't see anything about adjustment to the feedbar to move it in the left-right axis of the machine. Any ideas? Is the feed dog maybe wrong dimension (from another machine maybe) or is there some adjustment possible?

I finally got some time today to start setting up my machine, and I have my doubts that the seller is really a pro at servicing industrial machines, despite what his business card says. I put a new #22 needle in and when manually advancing the wheel, I could feel something grinding at the bottom of the needle travel. Turns out the needle was hitting the needle guard portion of the bobbin holder; I would have blamed the trip home but the needle the seller had in place to demo when I bought the machine has a section just below the eye that is noticeably ground down from this contact. I was able to adjust the machine to give some clearance and at least have the needle no longer colliding with anything. Using 92 polyester thread and some scraps of lighter leather, I have tension dialed pretty high now on the top, but the stitches are still pulled through to the bottom. How do people decide the balance between top and bottom tension? I'll try slightly decreasing the bottom tension today but not sure if there's any opinion on how tight or loose either setting should be? One other thing that raises a question, is that the bobbins that were supplied really fill up the bobbin holder, to the point that they rub a bit on the top clip when it's lowered (i.e. they seem a bit tall, and don't spin freely due to just a bit of rubbing on the top of the bobbin). Measuring shows they are "U" size bobbins. Can anyone confirm if a 255 (it might be a 255B or just a 255..no identifying plate/sticker on the front, so not sure) uses a U or M sized bobbin?

thanks for the pointers. after looking at the parts manual, it looks like the plugged hole in one of my photos is standard, I'm just missing the oil knob a little further to the left end of the machine (and some wicks, and an oil tray).

I'm in Los Angeles area which seems to have it's share of sewing equipment places, so should be able to track down the screw, but thanks for the help and the offer! Also, makes sense about the wick holder since there's no wick currently there. I'm much happier if that's the case than if it's some broken spring I would assume the oil reservoir on the top of the machine (where that clear window is) is what feeds oil into the missing wicks?

I'm new to these boards, and new to the whole process of sewing heavier materials. I just bought a consew 255B to allow me to sew non-saddle-style motorcycle seats and a bit of furniture (so, more flexible weights of leather and vinyl). The machine has a few bits though that I'm hoping some of the fine folks here can help explain. I've attached several images here. Two of the pictures show the insides of the machine behind the end cover (the one that covers the presser assemblies). There looks to be the end of a small spring that's hanging off a screw (look for the highlighted circle in one picture and then a better view in another closeup picture). Any ideas what the other chunk of that spring might have been attached to?? One picture shows the back of the machine, where the lifter lever would be. But there's nothing there. I'm wondering what parts I'd need to track down (the lever of course!) to remedy that. And the last picture shows the top of the machine. The thread guide is in a hole to the left of the oil window, and the hole to the right of that window is plugged with something (something like jb weld or other filler).. most of the pictures of 255's I see have some kind of dial for oil control on the machine)...does this look normal? thanks for any info you guys can offer. I'm anxious to start working/learning but want to make sure the machine is right before I get too far.