Uwe

Weaver posted a few new videos on youtube last week, including a nice overview of the Durkopp Adler 969 Eco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kqHbL_47b0#t=24.306041

Today must be Italian heated presser foot day. Another italian video shows a (broken and rather unsafe looking) heated presser foot machine in action at the 1:51 mark (what sewing machine is that?) I also realised that I'm not wearing nearly enough gold jewelry when I do my leatherwork.

I came across this video by an Italian company Zallocco where they use an electrically heated inner presser foot to sew a belt. I haven't quite figured what the (heated) point of it is and my Italian is quite bad beyond ordering espresso based drinks. Are they just shaping the needle hole for visual appearance? Perhaps the presser foot has a specially shaped bottom to make an impression in the leather as you sew. They must not be using nylon or polyester thread with that heated foot. Has anybody else seen or used this, or know exactly what they're doing here? How does that heater rod even work with just one wire going to it? That modified, welded-on big-foot outer presser foot is interesting, too - definitely not leaving any marks on the leather! Too bad they don't show what the underside looks like.

Now I have trouble falling asleep because I'm like a kid who just got his allowance Options in no particular order: 1. Buy about 100 needles+awls and a set of cast-offs for the Puritan (and then one or two Starbucks drinks with the leftover money) 2. Buy a used Juki 1341, or a new clone thereof 3. Sell my Puritan too and buy a new Adler 869 4. Sell my Puritan and my Adler 205 and buy a new Adler 969 5. Fund my "No-Curb" rescue shelter for abandoned industrial sewing machines for another two years.

Did you ever get to visit Sergey and check out his shop and product line? That 1341 looks like a nice machine!

Yup, it was kind of hard to let this one go.

I normally use that plywood to make my tabletops, mainly because the edge looks super nice and the baltic birch has very few internal voids as I carve the cutouts etc. I had trunk full of this stuff after my last trip to Toledo Plywood. The machine is in the hands of UPS now and I wish her safe travels to the east coast. Here are few more pictures of the final crating:

I stumbled across this ebay listing of a Adler 30-70 with a wicked chain drive and geared motor setup and wanted to share some pictures to preserve them in the LW archives. If the needle won't penetrate the material, it certainly won't be because of a weak motor or slipping belt! The price seems rather optimistic.

Wow, it sure makes a beautiful stitch!

I didn't sleep all that well after I realized that I had to ship my precious Durkopp Adler 69. I spent six hours today building a custom shipping crate, hoping it will greatly increase chances of survival while at the mercy of UPS or USPS. The crate is intended to keep the machine from moving around inside the box during shipment no matter which side is up, and to keep fragile bits away from hard walls in case it falls off the conveyor belt. The wooden crate will go inside a sturdy cardboard box with thick foam board pads all around. The small parts and accessories will go into a second box with regular bubble-wrap type packaging. There are no guarantees, only improved chances. Perhaps I'll be able to update this post with photos of what it looked like after arriving.

Yes it will slow things down. It's all about the ratios of the pulleys. If you replace the 3" pulley on the motor with one that is about 2", your machine will run at 2/3 of the original speed. This is basic high school geometry stuff. Remember Pi (3.141....)? At 3" diameter pulley will have a circumference of Pi*3"=9.5" so each revolution will move the belt by 9.5 ". A 2" diameter pulley has a circumference of Pi*2"=6.2" so each revolution of that pulley will move the belt 6.3".

Sold.

Sieck in Germany also has a nice selection of cylinder arm leather machines that would suit your needs within your price range. Almost any of their cylinder arm machines on their "Sattler Nähmaschinen" page would work for you. In any case, that page is good reference for suitable machines and rough pricing available in Europe. Personally I think the Sieck 369-373 ( a copy of the Durkopp Adler 269 line) would make a great machine for the type of work you're describing. Get a servo motor with speed reducer to make your learning curve easier to manage. If you're brand new to the scene, stay away from oddball old machine with limited parts availability and iffy documentation. Get your machine from a dealer you can get service from in terms of repair, adjustments, parts, etc. Where exactly you are in Europe makes difference for service and shipping.

I got confused, too, earlier this morning. In Adler 205 speak, the "spacers" are the little black parts that set the needle guard distance to match the needle size. Your learning curve is steep because you're taking things apart that I haven't even touched yet in the year that I've owned my 205. I'm just not sure how the ring-like shims would affect the success or failure of an aftermarket shuttle other than allowing the fine tuning of hook-to-needle distance. If the shuttle is within specs of the original it should work. If the aftermarket shuttle it's out of spec or just plain wrong, I doubt changing the shims will fix the problem.

I thought the shims are used to fine-tune proper hook-to-needle distance. Once it's set is should never change, really (unless you take things apart).

The outer foot needs the inner foot to press against the material in order to lift up. If the step down is too high, the inner foot may not press against the bottom and prevent the outer foot from lifting up. This would cause them to appear to stop walking. There is an adjustment on the back of the machine that allows you to change how high the feet lift up as they walk. Set that to the highest lift it allows and see if it helps. The actuator needs to be at the top of the slot for maximum foot lift as they walk. Many folks people have this at the top and never change it. Inner and outer feet should also lift the same amount as they walk. Check the service manual if that's not the case.

It may have to do with the shape of your presser feet or how high your presser feet lift while they walk. I can't really tell much from the tiny photo you posted. Consider using a presser foot like the KP-267Q by Kwok Hing if you have big steps in material height to climb over: If adjusting your upper thread tension does not allow you to get the bobbin thread pulled down then you may have to increase your bobbin thread tension. There's a Service manual for the Durkopp Adler 67 series, but it's in German (you can always copy and paste sections into Google translate and hope for the best). The only real difference between the 67 and the 167 series is the larger hook/bobbin size in the 167, as far as I know. If you get a more detailed manual from the owner than the Durkopp Adler 167 User Manual with 12 pages in 5 languages, please help us get it posted online. I'll be happy to scan it for you.

Looking pretty good right there. How about some pictures of your motor and speed reducer installation? I have no idea what model of servo motor, pulley or speed reducer you have. Don't make us guess or pull every single detail out of you.

That's kind of a diplomatic answer they gave you. Did they say if THEIR clone version of the 441 shuttle will work in an Adler 205?

I doubt it can be retrofitted to NH specs. The NH version has a different feed dog movement and 2Kg worth of parts that the NS version does not have, according to the LU-1500 Series brochure which details the differences between the machines.

Not a bad idea at all, in fact many folks do exactly that. I've seen user manuals also recommend using one size smaller thread in the bobbin than in the top.

I stumbled across this video today and thought it might be of interest to folks, since the topic of where certain Durkopp Adler machines are manufactured these days comes up every so often.

I've not seen a single sewing servo motor actually state the torque it produces, just marketing terms like "more torque" and "high torque". The stepper motor manufacturers always state the precise torque their motors can produce for both turning and holding still, because it's a key metric for their applications in CNC machines. I ordered the 3Nm motor just based on a guess and because it was affordable (the 13Nm motor runs $140) . The 3Nm turned out to be plenty, actually, especially with the 2:1 pulley ratio, which provides 6Nm or torque at the main shaft. 6Nm is about 4.5 ft lbs of torque. Imagine installing one foot long lever handle on the handwheel and hanging a 4.4 lbs weight on the end. That's pretty good twisting power. One of my next little science projects will be measuring actual torque the different motor types apply at the main shaft at slow speeds, where we leather workers need it the most. Most CNC class stepper motors make 200 steps per revolution. They take each tiny step at full speed and max torque and then hold on to that new position with equally strong force until you tell it to make another step. The overall speed is determined by how rapidly you tell the motor to take the next tiny step. If you tell the motor 200 times per second to take a step it will make one full revolution per second, or spin at 60 RPM (a slight generalization because the motor control box subdivides those steps) When my stepper motor stops after letting go of the pedal, I actually cannot turn the wheel by hand because the motor holds on to that exact position with full force. I can't overcome that holding power by gripping the main shaft pulley with my hand. Which is also why I need the thumbwheel to gradually move the needle a small amount when the motor is powered is on. The thumbwheel is not really a fancy feature, but rather a required element of this setup.

I tried the 3-Phase motor and variable frequency drive, but abandoned the idea (I used the pedal for the Arduino project). While the pedal control is super smooth, 3-phase motors of similar constant torque are huge, heavy , and expensive. And there's no easy way to do needle positioning. Here's a picture of my test gear for VFD, just for size comparison:

Call the good folks at Weaver and just ask them! The are THE experts in the country for Adler 205 machines. They will tell you if the 441 shuttle will work or not, and if not, why. Report back here what they tell you.