Uwe

By the time you get done bringing this machine back from the near-dead and mutilated, you'll have invested well over $1K, approaching the territory of shiny new clones. Loud clicking noises in motors are rarely a good sign. That needle bar repair and mismatched gauge set look pretty bad, indicating the machine had a rough life in the hands of a hack. The seller's "excellent condition" label is far from reality, his use of "sawing machine" is much more accurate.

The best time to pull out your material at the end of a seam is when the thread take-up lever is at the very top.

That Brother LS3-C51 has come up in a different topic just recently. You may not be the only one contemplating that machine. The Brother LS3-C51 appears to be re-badged Seiko LSC-8B-2 from the looks of it. Seiko makes great machines, sold under several brands. Made-in-Japan is a good thing (but not as good as Made-in-Germany when engineers and well-paid factory workers ruled.) It probably would do just fine for what you're trying to do. But there are no guarantees. I've never touched a Brother LS3-C51 myself - I'm just going by specs and some educated guesses based on similar machines I've worked on. Personally, I'm still rooting the for the Pfaff 345. Take some samples of the materials you're intending to sew and go try it out. It's the best way to get a sense if a machine is comfortable or struggling, or if it's too ugly to have a picture included in the CL ad.

You just need a right slide plate with suitable holes in the right location. The hole in a standard right slide plate for the Juki 562 class is very likely a #10-32 thread. At least several of my slide plates take that size. Luckily most hardware stores carry size #10-32 screws. Most other screws on vintage sewing machines are specialty sizes that you will never find at a normal hardware store. The reality is that many folks "customize" their slide plates by either forcing a different size thread through the hole or drilling and tapping a brand new hole. All of which is fine, really. But there's no way of us knowing exactly what your slide plate is threaded for right now. Many slide plates also have a second thread hole in the top right corner (also threaded for #10-32 on mine) which allows you to lock the slide plate in place to make sure it doesn't move while you're sewing. When you buy additional slide plates, make sure they're the correct "right side" ones. The slide plates for the right have a thinned out area underneath that allows room for the thread and hook to do their thing. The slide plate for the left side are flat (and too thick) on the underside. It's important that the screw thread does NOT extend below the bottom surface of the plate because it may interfere with or damage the hook. Get a screw that is a little too long. Remove the plate and mount the binder and tighten the screw, then cut off the part of the screw that sticks below the bottom surface with a hacksaw/grinder/Dremel and file it nice and flat. Your slide plate won't win any beauty pageants afterwards, but at least it'll work. Here's one example of a plate that has been customized by the previous owner (silver) and a standard, unmodified slide plate (black) Industrious folks who do a lot of binding with different binders have bought multiple slide plates to easily swap out one binder for another, or back to a standard plate without having to fuss with screws and aligning things again. Slide plates are cheap at around $11 each on Ebay, the banner vendors, or from me.

Yes, they are good for sewing leather - their nearly perfect within a certain range of applications. But sewing heavy leather belts doesn't really fall within the range of applications that these machine are designed for. Squeezing all that engineering into those slim cylinder arms requires some compromises. Machines with larger diameter cylinder arms (e.g. Juki LS-341, Pfaff 345, etc.) have more room to pack larger, more robust mechanics, full four-motion feed dogs and vertical axis hooks with huge bobbins inside those arms. If your "crafts" include gun holsters and horse saddles, you need to step up to the big boys like Juki TSC-441 class machines If your main goal is to sew leather belts and flat crafts like wallets and book covers, then you don't really need (want) a cylinder arm machine. You can buy a cheaper flatbed machine like a Juki LU-563 with better feed dog motion and larger material and thread handling capability (compared to your slim cylinder arm machines, not the big boy above).

The two machines you're considering are very close in cylinder arm design and overall capability. Both the Brother LS3-C51 and the Juki DSC-246 are slim cylinder arm machines with horizontal axis hook. Either one is probably a fine machine and you won't notice a great deal of difference in using either beyond the different stitch length adjustment methods. Do some searches on documentation and normal wear parts or accessories like feet, throat plates, feed dogs, hooks, etc. Pick the machine for which you can easily find documentation and affordable parts. Of course the relative condition and price of either machine plays a big role as well.

One side of your stitch lines actually looks pretty evenly balanced. Perhaps your bobbin tensions are adjusted too strong, and not quite evenly balanced. The top thread tension balance off the bottom tension(s). Each bobbin case has a little tension spring to adjust the bobbin thread tension. Those screws are teeny tiny, short, fragile, and have a strong tendency to vanish. I use a screw driver for my eye glasses to adjust the bobbin thread tension screws a quarter turn at a time. Adjust the bobbin tensions so that they're very light, just noticable and about the same when you pull on the thread with just your fingers.

Hi Sandra, Welcome to Leatherworker.net! Your machine looks very much like a old-casting Pfaff 335, so I think you can use Pfaff 335 parts and accessories. This old-casting Pfaff 335 Manual should get you started on the right path: Pfaff-335-Instruction-Book-Old-Casting-print.pdf The belt on your machine looks too wide. Auto parts store may have the right ones, and some hardware stores carry them too. Look for a "3L xxx" type belt (3L is the width, xxx is the length). For edge guides, you can either get a swing down edge guide like the KG-867 edge guide from Kwok Hing (with a KB-09 adapter bracket, the kit is called KG-1245), or you can use special edge guiding feet like GR-1245. I have these item in my ebay store with nice pictures, just for reference. Check out College Sewing in the U.K. they carry a lot of the same parts that will fit your machine. Your current throat plate/feed dog/presser feet look like they are intended for binding operations. You may want to get a standard gauge set (example: KH-335-R ) and feet (example KP-1245-W) for regular sewing tasks. Kwok Hing makes very good quality parts for Pfaff 335. The original Pfaff parts will be very expensive in comparison. You are also missing a screw on the right that holds the machine to the table. The screws on the right are the important ones, actually, make sure you put bolts/screws in the holes on the right side.

If you're gonna be all period correct with real horse hair mats for padding, you really should consider sewing with a true vintage sewing machine, and those didn't have reverse back then. Two generations managed to sew without reverse, and they did just fine.

You can order a drip pan online from http://www.singeronline.com/drippan.html for $40. There are subtle differences between various drip pans, especially with the location of the knee lift access hole, so you want to make sure if you spend money, you get one that is designed for the Singer 211 series. I'm sure the usual suspects in the banner ads carry them, too.

I didn't adjust the throat plate or feed dog height for the photo, it happened to be just right. The throat plate itself cannot be adjusted height-wise, but little adjustments are possible sideways and front/back to center it with the feed dog. The feed dog height can be adjusted on 441 machines (not on DA 205-370 machines).

That should say "Autodesk Fusion 360", not "Adobe ..." in the post above.

After an evening of beating Adobe Fusion 360 into submission, I finally have a CAD model of the in-line presser foot I plan to make for the 441 class of machines:

That Juki LS-341N is a nice machine! It's one of my favorite medium duty cylinder arm designs, actually ( I have a Juki LS-341 - no "N"). Get the best machine you can afford. OEM brands generally hold their value better than clones. The LS-341 class of machines is next on my list for developing a flatbed attachment.

If you have a grand to spend, I'd go look at the Pfaff 345 for sale in Lake Elsinore You'll get triple feed with full feed dog motion, big bobbin, reverse, seriously good engineering and manufacturing quality. Parts like throat plates and feet are available from good quality aftermarket maker like Kwok Hing and won't cost a fortune.

I'll vote for the triple-feed cylinder arm plus flatbed attachment recommendation, especially if you have limited space. It's the most versatile single-machine solution in my mind. Buy new if you can afford it. Candidates are Juki LS-341 or 1341, Adler 69, 169, or 269, Pfaff 335 or 345, TechSew 2750, among others. I make and sell a few flatbed attachments on Ebay.

For learning the basics and starting out with industrial sewing machines I'd recommend one of the very popular designs like Singer 111W155, Consew 225/226, or Juki 562/563, etc. They're great machines and parts are readily available and cheap. The Singer 78 may be a capable machine, but I had never even heard of it before today, and I've been paying attention to sewing machines for a few years now.

The Juki Parts lists include screw sizes, which is super helpful. The Juki TSC-441 parts list shows a 3/16"-28 spec for the screws that hold down the throat plates.

Also, on your threading path, it looks like you don't have the check spring threaded quite right. The thread needs to go up inside the channel past a little hook and then come back down towards the check spring.

With these style hooks (both single or double needle) you have to hold the threads taught for the first few stitches, otherwise you have good chance of things getting tangled up underneath, even on a perfectly adjusted machine. Here how I do it on a similar single needle machine:

GPaudler: great job on those custom feet! OLDNSLOW: The inline feet I showed in the video only work on Pfaff 545 class machines and foot mounts. Those exact feet will not work on a 441 class machine. However, I do think certain Juki TSC-441 style feet (Cobra Class 4, Cowboy 4500, etc.) can be modified to make in-line versions as well. The blanket feet are a good candidate, which have a similar foot print to the Pfaff feet I had used, just larger. All you need is some foot print directly behind the inner presser foot (and a flat-top throat plate for that rear foot to rest on). Nobody on this forum seems to use the blanket feet anyways, so it seems like a good candidate for a modification into something more useful. You may need to combine this with a flat-top throat plate to give the outer binder foot something to rest on. (45 minutes later ...) Since I had nothing better to do right now, I took the blanket foot from my Cowboy 4500 and modified it for in-line foot. Worked out quite nicely, actually. It turns out the Adler 205 flat-top harness maker throat plates I have (UT205HM) also fit the 441 class of machines - yay! (I just have to find new 3/16"-28 screws or suitable washers - the original screw heads are too small and fit right through the larger mounting holes of the UT205HM throat plate. The foot shape of the 441 style mount seems easy enough to machine from stock. I think I'll just try to make some from scratch and see how they work out. Here are some before pictures with the blanket foot set and the flat-top throat plate (just sitting on the arm, not screwed down right now): After cutting, grinding, and polishing the outer blanket foot like the Pfaff version shown in an earlier post, it looks like this:

The short answer is "no", unfortunately. If your Juki Lu-563 does not have reverse, it is the "Subclass 3". You're enjoying a longer maximum stitch length because there's no reverse mechanism to get in the way. If you need reverse, it'll be much cheaper and quicker to just buy a regular LU-563 and then sell your LU-563 Subclass 3.

Each of the large hook gears has two set screws. One of those two set screws on each gear has to be sitting in the grove on the shaft. If neither of the set screws is in the groove the gear may rotate on the shaft as soon as the going gets tough and you have an instant mess on your hands. I recommend taking a break and a step back. Disconnect the belt until things are right again. You can do a lot of damage running a machine under motor power when things are not right. Consider having a sewing machine mechanic put things back the way they're supposed to be. Then you have a clean starting point. It's hard enough getting a single needle machine to work right. A double needle machine is even more complex and not really an ideal candidate to learn the finer points of sewing machine maintenance on. Also, have your son help you figure out how to attach pictures (look for the "Drag files here to attach" in the editing window.) You may also have to learn how to resize picture files so they're not too large to attach here. Without the ability to post pictures it will be nearly impossible to do proper remote tech support. We're all sitting in front of computers, not crystal balls.

Post a few close-up pictures or, better yet, a brief video of your threading path and what's wrong with your machine (ask your son to be cameraman for a moment.) There may be something else going on but it's hard to figure it out without seeing it.

The top looks like it's a copy of a Singer 119-2, but I can't find the flatbed version that uses that same top. The Singer 119-2 manual should explain how the top portion of the machine works. Not worth a 3-hour drive perhaps, but if you're in the neighborhood and the machine works, it might be worth a closer look. Might be hard to find parts for - it's not exactly a super popular machine from what I can tell.