Uwe

Thanks for posting the first ever Durkopp Adler 969 in the for sale section on LW! I wish I could afford it. I wish I had friends like yours. Would you trade for a couple of old-school heavy stitchers from my collection? Since the pneumatic air requirement may scare off some potential buyers, I also wanted to mention that you don't need a big, loud air compressor for a sewing machine. For my full-function machines with pneumatic actuators I got a small, very quiet air compressor from California Air Tools (model CAT-4610AC-B for $179 on Ebay) . It works perfectly and doesn't jolt you out of your chair when it starts up. It does make some noise, but it's closer to a window air conditioner in noise level when it runs very couple of minutes when you use the machine.

Sold.

Well, in my book that rules out anything with a stitch length lever that flips up and down. Those settings are mere suggestions and repeatability is all but absent. Dials for stitch length adjustments are a step in the right direction, which only the modern heavy stitchers have. Having two dials to pre-set two stitch length and switching between them with a button press is easy/convenient. Examples: Durkopp Adler 969 and Juki LS-2342H The most precise and repeatable stitch length machines are probably electronic wheel driven machines with stepper motor drives, like the Pfaff 1591, but those are medium duty machines:

I've had plenty of quality time with this machine developing accessories, figuring out adjustments, and making videos. It's time to deploy it into the field again to actually make stuff. The machine is in like new condition and shows almost no signs of use. Priced to sell at $1,650, which is 1/3 off the new price. I prefer local pick-up (near Detroit, Michigan) but can break it down and strap the machine and stand to a pallet for shipping (Estimated $250-350 continental U.S.) I take credit cards and other on-line payments. Cash works, too. The lube pot you see in the video is not included, but you'll get the swing-down edge guide and extension foot lift lever to make up for it. Rolling stand has servo motor and speed reducer pulley. Here's the hook timing video I made with this machine: Here's the video on how I installed the swing-down edge guide: Here's the video that shows the production version of the extension foot lift handle:

I have for sale a Pfaff 1295 single needle post bed in very nice condition and ready to sew. Priced to sell at $1,450. I'm in the Detroit, Michigan area. I prefer local pick-up but can strap this machine to a pallet for shipping (estimated $200-300 within continental U.S.) I take credit cards and other on-line payments. Below is the demo video I made for this machine. What you see in the video is what you get.

I don't think you can lay down the whole thing (table+head) on its back side - the machine head will just fall out of the table in a rather spectacular fashion as you're tilting the whole rig back. I do agree about gently "pre-falling" things, but separately. Lay the head on the back, there's fewer fragile bits. An old bathroom carpet with a rubber bottom is great for cushioning and to soak up oil that will invariably leak from a machine that's not upright. Getting oil out of the trunk carpet is very hard to do. If you have an open back seat in a normal sedan-like car, the safest place for the machine head is actually in the footwell behind the front seat, I think. It's just a little awkward to get it there.

I may never stitch a sidewall on a shoe in my life, but I REALLY want one of these machines. That design is just fascinating and I think these would be great for sewing bags and all kinds of other things.

Page 9 of the Consew 227R-2 manual talks about how to adjust needle bar height on this class of machine. Compare your machine to these reference values before making any adjustments. It's best to remove the throat plate so you can see what's going on.

Regarding new(er) patchers, I sold a used TechSew 2900 Patcher a few month ago. I was rather impressed by it and it compared very favorably to vintage patchers I've worked on. I made a demo video with it when I sold it. The video might be of interest as a reference point for comparisons.

The thread will be somewhat loose at some point during the stitch cycle, but it should not pop out of the check spring. Here's how I thread the check spring:

It depends a little on what your hinge looks like. A picture would be cool. Normally, you first tilt the machine back to remove the belt (and belt cover pieces.) You should then be able to lift the machine straight up out of the table.

Per LW marketplace rules (http://leatherworker.net/forum/forum/70-announcements/), you should provide pictures and must state a price for items you sell.

The Seiko website at http://www.seiko-sewing.co.jp/en/ will be a good resource for researching Seiko sewing machines. Their Seiko 2016 catalog has a model name decoder guide on page 3. It tells some (but not all) of the story about how to interpret the Seiko model codes:

For some reason, not many vendors carry these generic tape folders (binders). I have a handful of sizes of the generic tape folders in two styles, both made by Kwok Hing, in my Ebay store ( http://r.ebay.com/XjXpj6 ) Your tape folder in the picture has a mounting flange offset and is centered on the tape folder. Mine are flush with the edges of the tape folder. I'm not 100% sure mine would fit your setup, actually, unless your mounting base plate has some adjustment option.

Sorry, I don't have any hem attachments.

As a follow-up to my earlier post, I ordered a sample of the KHF48 binder kit made by Kwok Hing (retails for around $65 including the tape folder). It fits nicely on my Singer 153W102, so there's a good chance it might also fit a Consew 227 (but it didn't fit my Juki 341 or DA 269). Here are some pictures of the KHF48 installed on the SInger 153W102:

I doubt it. Some of the concepts may apply, though. I've never worked on an Adler 105 but I suspect they are very different inside from the 441 class. Thanks for all the kind feedback guys!

I just posted a separate topic for the video below. I thought it would make sense to include it here, too, since this thread is what got me going on figuring out my Cowboy 4500's hook timing procedure and reverse stitch issues. Perhaps the video will help some folks who run into similar issues:

I spent some quality time with my Cowboy CB-4500 trying to wrap my head around the adjustment procedures for hook timing. Best way to learn is trying to teach somebody else. Which is one reason I make the videos - it helps me understand how things work. Hopefully others will find it useful, too. Here's the video:

Sergey at SewPro also has a few heavy duty zigzag options that you can actually buy. The SEWPRO 146 RBI seems like a sensible choice.

This Keestar GA204-104A sure looks like a step up from a Singer 107W1

Seems like we already went over this last December:

You got some good deals there! My recommendation would be to leave the Quick Rotan on the Imperial Zig-zag and use that setup as it is. It's not really worth the time and aggravation moving that Quick-Rotan setup and it'll just never be the same again once you rip it apart. On the Singer 111, a simple, worthwhile upgrade is to swap the clutch motor for a simple servo motor with a small 50mm pulley. You'll have two very capable machines that will actually sew. Use them for a few month and then decide if you still want to swap motors or make other upgrades.

Don't. That's my advice. Buy a rated/tested/approved strap. Logging is deadly enough as it is, without guessing if a home-made strap will hold or not.

It may seem that way, but the manual states fairly clearly that the 25.9mm distance is the "Reference value of the lowest position of the needle bar stroke." The shuttle driver is supposed to touch the needle slightly - that's what prevents the needle from getting deflected towards the hook (and getting hit by the hook.) The shuttle driver also acts the needle guard. The Juki TSC-441 Engineer's manual can be confusing, especially if you read it on the computer one page at a time. The manual makes (slightly) more sense when viewed as two-page spreads, or printed as a booklet like this: Now you have the target settings on the left, and directly opposite to the right you have instructions on how to change that particular setting. Alas, the adjustment instructions for step 2. on the right side (middle of page 3) still confound me. But I'm determined to figure this out over the weekend.