Uwe

Thanks guys. My machines are unnaturally clean because I spend way more time oiling and cleaning them than actually sewing with them. I'm working on that. I'm using the KHF-205 binder setup made by Kwok Hing in the videos. Overall a nicely engineered and manufactured set of parts, with two small flaws (I had to file the feed dog a tiny bit to make it fit the feed dog holder and the three-fingered tape guide touches the arm at full stitch length).

The hook part number is identical for Juki LU-563 and LU-1508 (B1830-563-0A0), so the hook oiling mechanism is likely the same. The bottom of the hook shaft/bushing dips into the oil bath and sucks up oil via the grooves in the hook shaft. It lubricates the hook and flings the excess oils sideways against splash shields surrounding the hook area, from where the oils drips back down into the oil bath pan. The felt pad or sponge in the pan is supposed to keep the oil from sloshing around in the oil pan and also acts as a filter to catch bits of thread and fabric that may fall down to keep them from getting sucked into the hook shaft. Whether this actually works at slow leather sewing speeds is another questions. It's designed to work running a full speed, I suspect. The little oil bottle that screws to the bottom of the big drip pan that covers the entire bottom is just collecting excess oil that may drip down from oiling all the other spots that need lubrication on the machine (other than the hook).

I finally got around to making a little sewing demo video for doing binding operations on a Durkopp Adler 205-370 using the Kwok Hing binder kit. I'm not an expert in binding operations, just in case you're wondering why I didn't show how to do corners and tight turns - I haven't figure it out yet! I also had ordered some 2 inch wide seat belt stock and regular nylon strap material, hoping to use it for the binding demo, but it really turned out to be too thick to feed through the folder. Still, this is likely one step up from what the usual suspects for binding operations like Pfaff 335 and Adler 69 machines can handle:

I'm with you. I'm looking forward to seeing those manuals in all their glorious details myself. Thanks for working on a good quality PDF scan of those documents. I'd be happy to help by hosting large PDF files on my server, in case they turn out to be too large for direct LW forum uploads. I can also run OCR on the PDF files to make them text searchable, in case your scanning setup doesn't have that capability.

This is also the first time I've seen one of those lube pots on top of an actual 111W155 machine. They seemed like mystical devices that only existed in parts diagrams.

1960's must have been towards the end of the production run for the 111x155 series in some factories. There are apparently some hybrid or mix&match Singers out there, too. Singer perhaps consolidated parts stock from factories that closed or changed production lines around the world to be use in the remaining factories for the 111, like shipping leftover flatbed parts form the Karlsruhe, Germany factory with a PB serial number to the US and then mated it to 111W155 heads in Bridgeport. Accounting for inflation, that $515 cost for the Singer in 1963 is just under $4,000 in today's money. That was and still is a good chunk of money for a sewing machine, so the $250 used price is a bargain. That is a HUGE motor on that machine!

The Juki LS-1341 actually IS a cylinder arm machine and it would be a very good candidate for a machine to fit just below your Adler 105 in material and thread handling capability. It's the Durkopp Adler 267 that is a flatbed machine, the cylinder arm version is called 269 and it is similar in capabilities to the Juki LS-1341. With any machine, you can't quite expect them to arrive set up perfectly for what you want to do, or stay that way forever. They will need some tweaking/adjusting upon arrival and they will need to be re-adjusted if you significantly change any aspect of what you're sewing. They are not set-it-once-and-forget-it types of machines. You really need to spend some quality time learning how to adjust the machine yourself, especially if you're far away from other folks who could do this for you. Make sure that proper documentation like a good service manual is available for the machine you're buying. That way you'll be able to check for and fix minor problems yourself and not have to send or take the machine in for service every time something is just a little off. Keep it simple and don't get auto tread-cutter and other finicky features.

Since you're in the U.K. you should get in touch with the folks at https://college-sewing.co.uk They carry the full line of Juki machines and can also help guide you toward specific well-suited models and answer specific questions about your particular needs. Support and parts sourcing will be good, I suspect. To get more specific advice you also need to tell us what specifically your don't like about your current stitch consistency. What exactly is it that you consider not consistent or decent in your current stitches? Otherwise we're just playing a very subjective guessing game. Most industrial machines also need to be carefully adjusted to produce the best possible results for a specific operation. Having somebody stop by with a couple machines (that's great service right there!!!!) and run a few test samples may not do the machine justice, as it may have been adjusted for a different task. You also do need to decide if you want/need a flatbed (Adler 267 style) or a cylinder arm (Juki 1341 style), otherwise comparisons will be hard to match up. If you don't need a cylinder arm, the flatbed machines often have beefier bits around the hook area, simply because there's much more room to work with under the flatbed, compared to very tight quarters inside a cylinder arm. Personally, I think the Juki LU-1508NH is a very interesting machine that just might meet your needs and deserves a closer look. Juki has put some serious engineering into that perfectly rectangular feed motion and it may help improve stitch quality on tricky materials. Another alternative for European sourced machines is Typical. They have a strong presence in Europe and make very good quality clones. I saw one of their TW1-1245HL14 (a long arm Pfaff 1245 clone) in a leather bag shop in Germany and I was seriously impressed with the apparent quality of construction and finish. The bottom line really is that many machines are capable of doing what you ask, but actually making them do it, however, is up to you and your sewing machine mechanic.

I have synapses firing that remind me of an acquaintance who keeps asking variations of the same question in the hopes of hearing the desired answer, and Alanis Morissette singing an ironic song in my head about some good advice not taken.

The Hirose part number for the hook is HSH-11-55. Not sure if Hirose makes anything other than hooks. The Hirose PDF Catalog has the full list of hooks they make. The catalog also has some interesting general hook related information in the back about oiling schemes and adjustment guidelines.

Perhaps check out the Techsew 1660. It appears to be a very nicely done copy of the Juki 1508 with specs on par with the 206RB5, plus some nice "modern" features like a built-in bobbin winder. The whole design is a few decades younger than the RB and Juki engineers made a lot of good decisions over time, I think. Might be worth checking out. Personally, I'm partial to vertical-axis hooks with large bobbins in flatbed machines, but that's just me.

This one's a good learning experience because everything that can be out of adjustment actually was. Oddly enough it actually made stitches when turning it over by hand, but it was very obviously not happy. The synchronization was definitely off. I moved the timing belt one tooth and it made a big improvement -no more thread snapping around the hook, and the thread slips through all the openings as it should. The timing belt was quite tight, but with a little sauna treatment from a hair dryer it slid off and on the lower gear without trouble. I made some marks with a pen to be able to tell where it was aligned. The distance between inner and outer presser foot bars was 10.5mm instead of the correct 8.5 mm at "0" stitch length, a pretty big difference. I also noticed that the service instructions for this machine (or Juki LU-563 manual, really) call for hook timing to be adjusted when stitch length is set to 1/8" instead of "0". This is different from all the other machines I've worked on so far. I'm still fighting with getting thread tension to work properly. The replacement thread tension unit I had ordered is really crappy (and I ordered three of these - argh!), although I'm not positive it's the root cause of the thread tension issues. It seems the knot is not pulled tight in time before the inner presser foot advances forward. On my Consew 225 hook/loop video, I could see the knot being pulled tight into the material before the feed dog advanced forward and the knot disappeared behind the feed dog hole. On this one, the still-loose knot disappears behind the feed dog opening and I think this interferes with proper knot-formation. The timing belt may still need a little more tweaking. I'll work on it some more on Sunday, and make some videos to document progress of lack thereof. Gotta get ready for big photo production on Saturday. It's still a work in progress, but it has great potential and I have high hopes for making this machine sew with buttery smoothness. It's actually a really nicely done clone. It cleaned up really well, the parts underneath all look shiny and not worn at all. It seems really well put together overall with good workmanship. Alas, it suffered from serious, fixable adjustment issues that caused its previous owner a great deal of grief, no doubt.

Interesting machine! Post some close-up photos of the roller feet from the other side when you get a chance. I'd like to see how close the needle is to the roller. Do both top and bottom rollers have a rubber-coating? Is this machine just needle feed as the website says or does the bottom roller also help move the material?

There are no clones of the latest OEM offerings as far as I know. Only machines of older designs with expired patents generally get the clone treatment, even if the original machines are still in production (e.g. Juki TSC-441). Ron at TechSew should be able to answer questions about the TechSew 2600. Call him to get first hand - if slightly biased - info on their machines. They have some incentive to tell you what the machine can and cannot handle, because they don't want the machines coming back or be warranty nightmares.

Since something will have to give on your requirements list anyways, check out the Durkopp Adler 669: It's the closest thing to your spec list I've come across. It will sew 0.4", has a 0.8" foot lift and a thin arm. Price new runs an eye watering $7.6K from Weaver Leather (considerably less if sign up for a business account). Like Henry Ford once said "If you need a machine and don't buy it, you pay for it without getting it."

I'm not actually using this particular setup anymore, it was just a test rig and proof of concept of sorts. The motor is now installed on my Puritan stitcher test bench. The rear-mounted motor was quite feasible and didn't interfere with operating or servicing the machine. It was the most compact while fully functional setup I've had so far.

I cobbled together a somewhat portable table-top version for this type machine a little while ago:

I think main problem is your requirement of skinny 2" arm with ability to sew 1/2" at the same time. There is no such machine as far as I know. The usual skinny arm suspects of Pfaff 335 and Adler 69 class machines don't sew thick stacks of leather and they have tiny bobbins limited thread size capabilities. I'm having a hard time thinking up a project using 1/2 thick material, 2 1/4" inch diameter and no overlap. Realistically, you are looking at two machines to cover the spectrum of sewing tasks you're looking to do. With a little luck you may find two used clones and stay within your budget.

I don't quite understand what you mean, Bob. Are you saying the feed dog (and needle) are too far back and need to come forward? I'm not sure that's possible. I took some additional video from a different angle with the throat plate installed. At Max stitch length the feed dog is nearly touching the throat plate opening at the front, so I don't think I can adjust things toward the front. The Max front/back movement does appear to be centered around the 0-length position of the needle. It does seem to me that front/back and up/down movements are not properly timed. It's like the needle+feed-dog start moving backwards too soon. The needle comes up towards the end of the feed movement instead of the middle to meet the hook at the same center position. Here's an extended version of the video with the additional angle added on at the 40-second mark:

It does seem like you're close to the source for sewing machines, not only for sewing machine factories, but also for lots of used machines from garment factories in China. Of course those used machines will often be well-worn by the time they are decommissioned from a factory. And perhaps it's like Kiwis in Australia. When I was visiting there, locals were complaining that you can't buy decent Kiwis in Australia, because they're exporting all the nice ones and only the scrappy ones show up in local markets. I was talking to folks at http://www.tomsewing.com/ in Xiamen to explore getting my hands on some used Juki TSC-441 machines. Nothing came of it, so I can't rate them, but they seem to be a good source for used industrial sewing machines within a day's trip of Hong Kong. I'd recommend getting a machine that Kwok Hing (http://www.kwokhing.com) makes parts for - they are located right in Hong Kong and they make really nice quality sewing machine accessories.

I'm working on my Tacsew T1563 (a Juki 563 clone) and I'm stumped. I adjusted hook timing the way I normally do on this class of machine with stitch length set to zero (or very small). The problem is that hook timing changes as I'm increasing the stitch length. Something else must be off, but I can't quite figure out what. It seems to me the feed dog and needle are too far towards the back by the time the needle gets there. One step I didn't (or rather couldn't) do is verify proper top/bottom shaft synchronization. My machine does not have the usual two opposing arrows on the underside that line up when the thread take-up arm is in the top position to indicate proper top/bottom synchronization via the timing belt. There IS a mark on the shaft collar, but nothing to indicate where it should be pointing to. Is there a way to verify proper top/bottom synchronization without those two opposing arrows? I've not changed the timing belt position on this machine and I'd rather not mess with it unless I have to. The timing belt does look brand new, however, so perhaps whoever replaced didn't quite get the synchronization right. I'm not even sure that a timing belt that's off by a tooth or so could cause this apparent hook timing shift when changing stitch length. Here's what my machine looks like underneath where the arrows normally are. The picture was taken with the thread take-up arm in the top position: Here's a little video of the hook area that hopefully illustrates what I'm talking about:

Sounds more like a thread issue then. Perhaps the thread has a rough enough surface or hard/brittle outer layer (either off the spool or after squeezing through tights spots enough times) so that when two opposing jagged edges meet just so inside the hole, the thread gets pulled back up with the ascending thread. Once the thread is pulled back up, there's really nothing in the stitch cycle that pulls it back down again other than the presser foot occasionally and accidentally stomping on it just so. I'm not a thread expert. I've only really sewn with bonded polyester thread so far, which I bought at thethreadexchange.com I have a few old spools that came with machines I've bought. Some of it is in rather rough shape (my black thread looks like it has a dandruff problem!) so I wouldn't want to use it for actual for-sale projects. Thread probably should come with a best-used-by date stamp on it. It may last much longer once it's sewn, but the actual sewing process may require new enough thread that is still limber and hasn't lost it lubricating properties yet. If I were you, I'd buy some nice, high quality new bonded polyester or nylon thread and see if the thread-loop-pull-up problem still happens. Polyester thread is supposed to have improved sunlight resistance properties, otherwise it's nearly identical to nylon. Some threads come pre-lubricated. Thread in itself is a bit of a science and I haven't quite figured it out yet. But new thread has a more-predictable-quality advantage over some old who-knows-what-happened-to-it spool.

Wait, are YOU the Leif of the lab? I didn't even look at your name before I posted. Nice blog, by the way, I've been there quite a few times.

Nice machine! I had to look it up actually and Leif Labs had a nice photo blog entry on the Consew 289RB-1. That seems like a HUGE bobbin for a post machine. Now I want one - nice going! If the thread "sticks" and gets pulled up with the needle from an already formed stitch, that will definitely mess up that upper stitch loop. The thread needs to easily slide through the needle's eye AND the long needle groove to make a good stitch. When the thread take-up lever is in the top position, the top loop for the previous stitch needs to be tight, otherwise you're doomed. Does this happen only at speed or also when you manually turn a few stitches? It's often hard to tell what's happening at speed. A few options I can think of: 1. The needle may be too small and the thread gets stuck in the long groove of the needle as it goes up. The thread is supposed to easily slide through the needle's eye AND the needle's long groove. I recently read one needle-to-thread size test that said to press the thread into the long groove of the needle - if the thread sticks in the groove, the needle is too small. 2. The thread may need to be lubricated to facilitate sliding through the holes and channels. Perhaps the polyester thread and fabric are sticky to each other or the thread is sticky to the needle. 3. The thread take-up spring setting may also play a role. This spring is supposed to keep the upper thread taught until the needled enters the material again. The spring should come to rest on the adjustable support just as the eye of the needle goes into the material. 4. Make sure the basics for threading and timing are good, and that the needle has the long groove facing away from the hook and the scarf cutout of the needle facing towards the hook. With the needle turned around 180 degrees, the hook may still be able to pick up the thread and make stitches, but the thread will be tight or loose in all the wrong spots and at the wrong time. I made a little close-up video some time ago about the hook area of a Consew 225. What surprised me when I made the video is just how much (and how often) the same section of thread thread gets pulled through the eye of the needle (and through that long groove along the needle). The video also shows how the thread still gets pulled DOWN though the long groove on the left as the needle ascends. For the thread to get pulled back up through the hole to loosen the top loop, it would really need to stick to the RIGHT side of the needle where the scarf is. Not sure how that would happen, actually, unless the material squeezes very tightly around the needle and the thread stick to the needle.

First of all, take that friend off your approved borrower list. Sucked-down thread does not put burrs on the hook, but using sharp tools to get the thread out will. You can try to use very fine sandpaper to smooth out the burr. However, you will need to take out the hook to do that properly. You don't want sandpaper grit falling into the bearings and such. New hooks are cheap at around $30-40 on Ebay and perhaps from Techsew directly. The Techsew 2700 is supposed to be a clone similar to the Consew 227, so the Consew 227 manual is what I looked at. I don't quite understand why Techsew does not make their manuals available for download. Perhaps the english in their manuals is just as bad as the Consew version and they're a little embarrassed about it. Here's the relevant section from the manual about how to reset the safety clutch, and it is pretty opaque prose: I made a little video about variations of your type of safety clutch. It may help understand how they work and how you can tell if it's engaged or not: My hook timing video also shows how to check and reset this type of clutch, at the 1:21 mark: