Uwe

Machines that are advertised as being "industrial strength" rarely are. The Pfaff 60 might do what you intend to use it for. But there are true industrial SInger 111 class machines available (e.g. http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/bfs/5555446978.html) that stay below $500 even with a new table and servo motor, all within a day's drive of you.

Make a video of your moon-walking machine and add some Michael Jackson music to go with it. That Keystone version of the Navy manual does have the wrong spec for hook timing needle rise, by the way. The Army manual is correct.

The US army technical manual https://archive.org/details/TM10-3530-202-24 describes how to remove the hook on a Singer 111W155 starting on page 114. It also covers hook timing with accurate specs. Removing and reinstalling the hook for cleaning and inspection (Or installing a new $35 Hirose Hook) may be a good idea anyways. I almost always find thread fragments lodged in place you can't even see.

That one sold quickly.

When I search eBay for "Juki 1541" I see original Juki heads for as little as $1250 new from Alberoni in Los Angeles, and clones by Reliable, Typical, Ludwig, and Consew, some of which actually cost more than a Juki. Shipping to New Zealand is a whole different story. I'd recommend checking with a NZ or Australian supplier for machines that have similar specs, although you're probably hard pressed to find any that are significantly cheaper than the actual Jukis. Buying local is king when is comes to heavy machinery. Check you local sources for gems like a nice looking Juki 563: http://www.trademe.co.nz/crafts/sewing/sewing-machines/auction-1067262077.htm

Direct contact with the Consew folks in NJ will be your best bet I n establishing official manufacturing date range and approximate manufacturing year. Just call them up. There are real people answering the phone and I got good service when I called them last year. For establishing current value, a recently completed eBay auction of a similar machine with 25 bids may do the trick: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=301892169599&globalID=EBAY-US The follow-up model Consew 227R-2 had brochures printed with a 2007 copyright notice ( http://www.consew.com/Files/112347/PDF/227R2.pdf) It's probably safe to assume that the 227R was no longer in production by that time, so your machine is at least nine years old.

Some manufacturers keep track of when a particular serial number range was manufactured (e.g. Singer). I'm not sure if Consew/Seiko did that. One option is to contact the folks at Consew (http://www.consew.com/). They might be able to give you some official info on when they made the machine (if you can get serial number off it), or at the very least tell you when they stopped producing that particular model for some "it's at least this many years old" type statement. If your customs folks insist on $2500 more to release the machine, just abandon it and write off the money you spent so far as an expensive lesson in Nicaraguan customs requirements. If Nicaragua is one of those countries where Customs can inflict an arbitrary amount of pain and suffering, you may be doomed. In general you need to at least be able to provide proof of value (receipt etc.) and be aware of tariffs for certain items before you present it to Customs. A little homework goes a long way when buying big ticket items abroad.

Thanks guys! Thin wool felt strips sound like great idea, that didn't even occur to me! I have some wool felt material to experiment with. I have a feeling the missing wicks got yanked out by somebody thinking they were just odd pieces of thread lodged in the hole. Some of the wicks run inside plastic tubes, and for those I think the oil lamp wick will work nicely. My main concern is to get those take-up levers lubricated properly and a rolled-up thin felt strip sounds perfect for that spot.

Several of the machines I've been working on recently had oil wicks missing (e.g. inside the hollow take-up lever pivot shaft). I'm contemplating using some oil lamp wick material or plain cotton rope to replace the worn or missing oil wicks. Is that okay or should I use some special sewing oil wick material instead?

@vonkasCould you please post a PDF version of your factory adjustment manual here so we can all learn from it? Thanks in advance.

I found this on another forum at ybw.com. Haven't tried it yet myself, but may be a good way to put your nose to use as a highly sensitive chemical analysis tool. "Take a few sample strands from each rope. One at a time apply a flame to a sample, for sufficient time to cause it to just burn unaided and immediately extinguish the flame by blowing or dry smothering. The fumes that emit can be useful in identifying what the plastic is.Nylon has a smell not unlike burnt hair.Polyester has an offensive acrid odour, nothing like burnt hair. Read more at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?124455-Nylon-or-polyester-How-to-tell-the-difference&s=9c080cfdd0cd0c3f78fa965f0d72a61f#Emc4PbrLqSiCspql.99

That 150W161 user manual tells you a great deal about the machine, actually. Mainly it tells you (in so many words and in an Obi Wan Kenobi voice) that "this is not the machine you're looking for" if you want to sew multiple layers of leather. It was designed as a high speed machine for attaching labels on folded shirts. It has only drop feed and will most likely struggle and readily give up on sewing thick leather and moving multiple material layers in a synchronized fashion. It's also an oddball, rare machine (not in good way) that you will have a hard time finding parts and support for. You really need a proper compound feed machine, and for purses, hold out for the right cylinder arm machine.

Nice find! I had not seen that one before - and I've watched my share of 441 class videos on YouTube. Another new-to-me video popped up in the suggested list that covers some of the same material but also contains some important timing adjustment information that I've been looking for:

Perhaps your driver is indeed the culprit, then. The attached picture of a 441 style machine shows a driver that fills the cylinder space more and touches the shuttle in a different spot. Since your machine is apparently neither an Adler 205 nor a Juki 441 clone, you may have to track down a parts manual for your machine to figure out what part is right or wrong. Perhaps your machine was never designed to handle the larger thread sizes. Do you have spec sheet for it? Your current hook is a Hirose brand HAD-204 series hook, from the looks of it. A recent post in another thread also indicated that hooks are only interchangeable in one direction between Adler and Juki style machines ("fits" vs. " fits and actually works"). Since your machine is not firmly planted In either category, who knows what will work or not! Report back when you find out.

You're on the third failed stitch in this picture. You're doomed after the first time the thread does not slip past that point. In that position the thread should be slipping though the gap at the hooks butt at the TOP of the picture. If it gets stuck here, it just pulls more thread off the spool and the take-up lever doesn't stand a chance to pull the knot tight. My little video: shows how the thread (415 in this video) should slip through the gaps if hook and driver match properly (Adler 205-370).

I suppose you could grind down one or both tips of the "C"-shaped shuttle driver a millimeter or two to increase clearance for the thread. The driver is generally cheaper than the shuttle hook. Both my Adler 205 and cowboy 4500 allow me to rotate the shuttle by hand so it touches either tip of the driver, leaving a gap at the other end. As I rotate the hand wheel the shuttle hook actually falls forward and backward a tiny bit in the cycle as it makes contact with both ends of the driver. I'm not aware of an adjustment that creates a gap when there is none - it's really in the dimension of the shuttle hook and the driver. The adjustments usually set the hook-to-needle distance and the amount of axial play, which should be little to none.

As with any original vs. copy comparison, the differences will likely range from very subtle to painted-over cracked casting (CC).

"Stitch happens". Whatever you did when that stitch happened, don't do that. But seriously, perhaps it was some anomaly/lump in the thread that caused it to be pulled up a little as the needle ascended. Make it happen more than once on some test scrap pieces and whatch/listen for anything unusual and inspect it closely afterward. It's hard to suggest, let alone pinpoint a cause remotely from just one occurrence, when the other stitches look damn near perfect. Sew slowly enough to notice this right away and stop, to correct or figure out what was different or what went wrong.

Neither one of two pictures you posted show up Tor. Please try again.

Thanks for posting those detailed pictures! It's nice to see things up close (your white thread is caught in that lower tension spring, by the way) The "Made in the U.S.A. with pride" sticker seems a little optimistic and probably refers to just a handful of parts on that machine. Just going by the pictures, I would bet a small amount of money that these machines start life in the same factory where the Cowboy machines are made, and with a few a added custom parts and labels it becomes a Ferdco. I would be rather surprised if there were any Juki parts on that machine. If they started with a Juki, the Ferdco would cost over $6K. Now all we need is a few close-ups of that patented lower needle guide under the slotted throat plate. From the patent drawings, it very much looks like it could be made from modified standard feed dog, ground down and polished to stay below the slotted throat plate as it moves.

That video looks like a pretty good demo of the machine's capabilities. Might be just right for small scale shoe production. Those machines are very interesting I think - worth taking a little gamble. I'm going to try embedding the video again just by copying and pasting the YouTube URL directly from the browser's web address field (the blue highlighted part in the attached screen shot): Here we go:

That hook part should not be touching the needle or anything else, and the feed dog should NOT be moving up and down (unless you have a special, rare sub-class of the 335). My advice at this point would be to take it to a mechanic to be put back in working order (or take it back to the person who sold it to you). There's too many interconnected things wrong right now to trouble-shoot and talk you through fixing it remotely. It's extremely hard to learn on a machine that is way out of adjustment. You're also likely to cause even more damage as a novice to sewing machines. Once you get the machine back in good working order, have somebody show you the basics of using this machine. Take time to inspect how everything should work/feel/sound and read the user and the service manual front to back and compare the manual's diagrams and descriptions with your machine. THEN hook up the motor again.

In general, an original machine in good condition is worth about the same as a new chinese aftermarket copy. Five years from now that used original will STILL be worth about the same (whether a good used original is 20 or 25 years old makes no difference). The shiny new aftermarket/chinese machine will loose a third of its value the moment it arrives at your door steps. Five years from now it will be worth half, if you're lucky. You also have to be willing to pull a machine away from the wall so you can see the front, and tilt it back so you can see the underside.

You're gonna have to find out exactly what metal in the back the needle is hitting (or getting hit by) on the upstroke, because it definitely should not be hitting ANYTHING during the cycle. With the feet raised and the thread removed you should be able to turn the handwheel in a very smooth fashion without any binding or resistance (other than overcoming the spring pressure). There should be NO snapping/grinding/rubbing sounds, just buttery smoothness. Don't force it if you hit resistance. Jog the hand wheel back and forth gently and find out exactly where things touch that shouldn't touch. This may take a flashlight, neck craning, and strong reading glasses (in my case). Once you know what touches, then you can figure out WHY things touch and make an adjustment so they don't touch. When the feet are raised, you should be able to pull the thread through the eye of the needle with little force. I've had the upper thread accidentally wrap around a post/screw/spring or otherwise get hung up. Nothing will work right if the machine can't pull the upper thread when it needs to. It'll deflect the needle, chafe the thread, make the needle hit the feed dog or the hook, and all manner of bad things start happening, especially under motor power. When something bad happens under motor power things may slip, the safety clutch may pop, or other things may bend or otherwise go out of alignment. Quite often it's something simple like threading, seating or changing out the needle, inserting the bobbin properly, etc. If the machine in a totally screwed up state, you need to methodically go through the Pfaff 335 Service Manual and compare should-be settings with your machine's real world settings one by one, in sequence, until you find one that's not as it should be and fix it. Repeat until everything is adjusted as it should be and things move smoothly. Don't loosen screws unless you know what they're for. There's definitely a learning curve with these machines and it can be steep and frustrating. The industrial sewing machines are tough and fragile at the same time. Ultimately there's no way around learning a few basic adjustments yourself unless you want to take the machine to the mechanic at $90+/hr every time some little thing goes wrong.

Turn off the motor and turn the wheel by hand. Closely look and listen to what happens in the hook area. Don't turn the motor back on until you can hand-turn a dozen perfect stitches. You can do considerable damage by stepping on the gas pedal if something is not right. Make sure the thread unwinds from the spool and isn't caught somewhere.