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This part number came from the Juki LU-563 parts list. That particular screw does not have specs listed with it. In fact they discontinued using B-3106-019-000 screw in 1983 and replaced with a new screw part number SS-7090610-SP which does have specs listed as 9/64-40. The pitch matches and the 9/64 diameter is close with 9/64"=3.57mm compared to the measured 3.47mm, but I'm not sure the two screws are in fact interchangeable.

As luck would have it, I found a perfect match, even better than I had hoped for, and I already have a dozen of them on hand! I had ordered "proper" replacement faceplate thumb screws for my Tacsew T1563 (Juki LU-563 clone) project machine a few weeks ago (along with a bunch of other parts.) The Juki part number is B-3106-019-000 and MJ Foley sells them for $0.36 each (yay!) Since they were so cheap I ordered a bunch to make it worthwhile (and hoping they would also fit my Singer 111W155, but they don't). It turns out these screws are a perfect fit for the pivot thread in my Adler 69 and they're thumb screws, which is even better than the original. I'm hoping they'll fit the old casting Pfaff 335 pivot point as well, so I can use them with my flatbed table attachments (modern Pfaff 335 uses M5 screws).

I'm looking for a Durkopp Adler screw that holds down the pivot spring on the arm of the Adler 69 machine. I have a part number "992 02 203 7" and a description "Nr.40x7" The part that's a mystery to me is what this screw size translates to in the real world. I'm measuring a thread diameter of 3.71mm and thread pitch of 0.66mm, which doesn't line up with any of the usual suspects in the fractional, metric, or weird x/64" world. If anybody recognizes this screw or knows where I can buy a dozen of them for less than $5.63 a piece, I'd appreciate a pointer.

I feel a little guilty and elitist that I'm actually getting your humor and admire your eloquent prose, DC.

I've not owned either of the machines you mentioned, so I can't give first-hand advice on those other than I believe they're practically identical with different labels stuck on by the vendor. Selecting the right sewing machine is a science and can be daunting. There's actually a separate forum called "Leather Sewing Machines" two steps down from this "Sewing Leather" forum in the same "Fabrication" group. That's where people discuss sewing machines and the relative merits all the time - you'll find plenty of advice, opinions, and the occasional rant there. You can do a search on a specific model here in the forums and see what's already been said about those machines. Then post a new topic in the "Leather Sewing Machines" forum if you have specific questions. The vendors in the banner ads are a good resource, too. They vary in how approachable and warm/fuzzy they are. Of course they'll want to sell their own machines, but in reality multiple vendors (not all) sell machines that come from the same factories in China, just with different paint and labels on them (your two machines are one example of twins separated in China or at the factory). The value the vendors add is quality control, setting them up, adjusting them and packaging them with table, motors, accessories to make them ready to sew. Shipping cost can be considerable, so keep in mind where a specific vendor is located. There's only a dozen or so popular sewing machine in three or four groupings/classes you should consider (e.g. the flatbed machines Consew 225, Singer 111W155, and Juki 562 are nearly identical and belong to same "class"). The popular classes are well supported with cheap spare parts and lots of people who know how they work.

Sewing the binders may be trickier than I thought. I just tried it out on my Durkopp Adler 205-370 (a BIG machine, similar to the more affordable but similarly capable "441" class of sewing machine) sewing a regular vinyl/cardboard binder I had sitting around. Those metal rings really get in the way, lol. Getting the outside/bottom stitch line to look straight and pretty will take some practice!

If you plan to sew bags, it might be good to have a cylinder arm machine, since it's much easier to sew 3-dimensional items on a cylinder arm, especially with stiff leather that can't turned inside-out easily. For flat things like your portfolios and binders, a flat bed would be fine. To get a two-for-one, flatbed table attachments are available for certain cylinder arm machines, so you can get the best of both worlds with just one machine: As far sewing close to the edges of the metal binder inserts, that should not be a problem if you use one-sided presser feet (left or right-toed) like these: The metal binder rings will have to point up as you sew, so the outside, very visible stitching will be the underside stitch. On many sewing machines the top stitch looks better than the bottom stitch. The bottom side is also often more prone to get marks from the feed dog or serrated needle plate, depending on which type of leather you use. I've sewn oil-tan leather tote bags on my Adler 205-370. Sewing the handles and attaching them in this single stitch line would have been very challenging on a flatbed machine:

I've sewn some veg tan leather on my Consew 225 with size 207 thread top and bottom, and it seemed to be "okay" with it. Not sure how much of a hit the hook and bobbin takes in the long run, but new aftermarket Hirose hooks for the Consew 225 are cheap at around $40 here in the US, so even you you wear one out, it's not a super big deal to replace it. If you're sewing at the limits, it's important that your machine is properly adjusted and timed, including the needle guard. In general sewing Nylon webbing is much easier on the mechanics than sewing hard veg tan leather. Folks looking to buy a machine for sewing heavy threads in that general class of machines may want to consider a Juki LU-563 (or a clone thereof). These machines can use two variations of the hook, one of them designed for sewing "extreme thick thread" (Part number B1830-563-BA0). The manuals and spec sheets are vague about what thread sizes it will actually support.

Personally, I've never met a clutch motor I liked. Yes, you can learn to drive a car with a manual transmission and a big brick on the gas pedal by only feathering the clutch pedal, but I'm at a loss as to why you would want to. We have the technology to provide power AND control, and it's cheap.

I have a strong feeling that you cannot test and verify the Adler 467's oiling system without power. Even with power, it took a wizard-level expert (Eric/Gottaknow) to figure out what was wrong with Venator's machine oiling system and then fix it. Perhaps I should change my previous statement to "An Adler 467 is ONLY a good starting point if it is cheap AND works perfectly (and Eric is a close, personal friend of yours) ".

The servo motors are a commodity and available from various vendors. Buy it from a vendor that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling when you interact with them. The vendors advertising in the banner ads at the top help pay to keep this site running, so they deserve a shot at your business. The simplest, cheapest and quite capable servo motor is the FESM550 style motor, made by Feiyue and sold under various brands and name variations (Family Sew, etc.) , usually in the $130-$150 price range. I have one of these installed on my Adler 67 machine I'm selling - (I just made a sewing demo video with this setup.) The Adler 467 is an evolution of the Adler 67 I used in the video, using a bigger bobbin and the complicated lubrication system, among various other design changes. Sewing specs and capabilities didn't change much from the Adler 67 through the 467 and beyond, but convenience features and complexity sure did. Old-and-simple is often better than new-and-complex when it comes to these machines, especially for hobbyists. Factory settings are a different story. Personally I feel the Adler 67/167/267 are much preferable to the later Adler models 467 and beyond, with the Adler 267 being my personal favorite in that Adler line (and I don't even own one yet, haha!) For Adler parts, it really depends on what you need and whether you want original or aftermarket parts. Commodities like presser feet, feed dogs, bobbins and such are available online from a multitude of vendors. Some vendors have a good online presence to find parts and compare specs prices - unfortunately several of the banner vendors are NOT in that group. I buy some parts directly for a manufacturer in China (Kwok Hing) and I also sell a few Adler goodies in my ebay store (see my signature below). Things like hooks (usually Hirose brand) are available form our banner vendors and online from good-reputation stores like Sharp Sewing on ebay. An original Adler hook will likely cost more than what you paid for the whole machine in the first place. No matter which machine you start with, it's an adventure (and a money sink). The Adler 467 is a good starting point, especially if you get it cheap and it's in good condition.

I made little sewing demo video (partially in the hopes of it helping sell my Chandler/Adler 67-GK373 + FESM-550 servo motor setup.) The video may be useful to others who are wanting to use french seams. I'm just practicing on vinyl before I use them on my leather bags, but they're starting to turn out pretty nice. Here you go:

Read the pinned post Called "Adler 467 for Venator" at the top of this section for a detailed case study on this type of machine. They're good machines if they're set up right. Other machines are a little simpler in design which helps figuring out how it all works. The Adler 467 has a complex lubrication system that challenges even trained technicians. If you're planning to have your wife learn on this machine, plan to toss whatever motor/controller it comes with and "invest" in a $150-ish servo motor. You and your wife will be much happier. Being able to go slow while learning is very important, I think.

There's a chance that it's not the presser bar at all that's causing the apparent tightness/binding at the upper end of the presser bar manual lift movement. Ther are lots of parts moving when you manually lift the presser bar. Make sure it really is the presser bar that's causing the bind. Try to get some close-up photos posted here so we can see what it all looks like in real life. None of the folks who have these machines in front of them seem to participate in this thread. Assuming it is the presser bar that's actually causing the trouble, it seems to me that in order to remove it you'll have to loosen anything that clamps or otherwise holds on to the bar. Then the bar should slide freely up and down - it may need a little twisting motion and some extra lubrication. Then you "just" pull it all the way out the top. Obviously you'll have to remove the presser foot and screw, too. The bars are just that, very smooth straight bars. Don't put burrs on it with sharp plier and such. I tried this on my SInger 111W155 just now because I wanted to know. I didn't actually remove my presser bar all the way but it slides up and down somewhat freely after loosening three screws. There's nothing that keeps it form getting pulled all the way out the top except my fear of not being able to get it back in, haha. I actually DID remove the presser bar on My Adler 205 to replace a broken lifter bracket. The 205 is a VERY different machine, but same principle - loosen all the clamping bits and pull the bar out the top. Your 211G has a very different housing design and you probably have to remove the face cover first, but I suspect the internals haven't changed all that much. If your presser bar is truly bent, it may not want to slide through the bushings which are fairly tight fits on my machine. Don't force it or you may mess up the bushings in the process. Ask yourself if you can live with the bar binding a little during manual lift and be just fine while you sew. The little annoyance may not be worth the effort of removing a presser bar that is truly bent. Depending on how precious your machine is and your level of daredevilness, you may have to cut off the bottom end of the bent bar with a grinder, then file and sand down the cut burrs in order to pull it out. If the presser bar comes out easily in one piece it probably wasn't bent in the first place and likely not the cause of the lift binding. I took some picture of my machine as I was loosening the presser bar. Inserting the screwdriver in the slot and giving it a little twisting motion greatly improving its willingness to slide up and down. Don't expect the picture to closely match what your machine looks like - I just documented the general process. On my machine the three screws are either freely accessible or through an access hole. I had to lift the presser bar a little to line up the screw with the access hole. Here are the pictures, hoping they help: This block makes sure the presser bar doesn't twist as it move up and down: The spring arm presses down on this block push the presser bar down: This block allows you to manually lift the presser bar (and via linkages during normal sewing) This picture shows how I inserted the screwdriver in the foot mounting slot to give the bar a little twisting motion as I pushed it up or down.

Wow, she cleaned up very nicely and makes a beautiful, long stitch on a big stack of leather. Does your machine actually have reverse via the stitch length lever? Those backstitches look perfect! Just based on those pictures, I'd say you have a winner and survivor on your hands - congratulations! The numbers in the third picture sure look a lot like "Kl 20 No 2" to me (Klasse 20 Nummer 2). Also, the second to last picture has the part stamped with 20122, which corresponds nicely with Adler 20 part diagram's part number of 20 00 122 0 (All those extra 0's wouldn't fit on the part anyway, haha). I'm ready to go "All in" (in poker terms) that this is an Adler 20. As far as the feed dog height goes, it looks locked down to me, too. That pin that goes right through the center of it all prevents you from adjusting the feed dog lift arm position on the shaft, which would adjust how high the feed dog moves during the cycle. I don't see that silver lock pin in any of the parts diagrams, so it may have been added afterwards to make SURE the feed dog height never changes. Without that pin, it would be easy to adjust the lift arm position for the feed dog height. Many machine's service instructions direct you to adjust the feed dog height so that the full height of the teeth is exposed above the throat plate while it transports. Is yours far off from that? That feed dog itself doesn't look like a super complicated part. You could perhaps have one custom made by a machinist with a height that suits you. Or file down an existing feed dog if you have extras.

After fussing with the safety clutch on my Singer 111W155 for two days to get it to work properly, I decided to make a video to share some of the things I learned in the process. I have three similar machines, the Singer 111W155, a Consew 255, and a Tacsew T1563 (which is a Juki 563 clone) All these have similar safety clutches, but they are different in some aspects. Both Juki and Consew are adjustable in how much force it takes to trip the clutch. The Singer 111W155 safety clutch (at least the one I have) is not adjustable and mine takes a LOT of force to trigger it. I thought it was totally seized up but it really just takes a lot of force to trigger. I had removed the Singer safety clutch to clean it properly (overnight oil bath, three rounds in the ultrasonic cleaning spa.) I still could not trigger it inside the machine, but it does trip if I use a pair of pliers. So it works properly, it just takes a lot of force. Remember, don't mess with your timing belt unless you have to. Mine was flexible enough to slide off the cog wheel - yours may not. Don't force it and don't call me if you rip, tear or otherwise ruin your timing belt. Installing a new timing belt is a major pain from what I've heard and I haven't even done it yet. In any case, here's the video on safety clutches:

Thanks for all the positive feedback, guys! I just bought a Juki 563 class machine (a Tacsew T1563) that I'm working on. I'll probably make a stitch length balancing video with that machine over the next month or so (once I figure out how to actually do it). Not sure if the Consew machines have the exact same reverse mechanism, though. The hook is a brand new hook as it arrived in the Hirose box. I had just installed it. I noticed the slight blue color on the tip, too, but I can't say why that is. Perhaps it' s due to a special heat treatment they do to the tip of the hook at the factory. Hirose seems to enjoy a pretty good reputation as a hook maker, so I hope it's okay. Time will tell. The hook was only $35, not a huge investment, and the new hook was big improvement over the old one.

I had noticed that guide in one of other posts. It's a neat and unusual edge guide solution. It seems to me like that style edge guide would not interfere with installing the needle feed platform (I'm pretty sure that it would interfere with installing the flatbed table attachment, however.) But I'm quite certain that you would not be able to USE that style edge guide while the needle feed platform is installed. The guide wouldn't be able to flip up and into position. In order to use an edge guide with the needle feed platform installed you'd need a suspending edge guide that comes down from above (like the KG-867). A suspending style edge guide would work with both the needle feed platform and the flatbed table attachment.

Some machines have parts with numbers stamped/cast right on them. This might be a way to determine brand. Look for parts with numbers on it that are likely original to the machine (not that shuttle race) and compare the numbers to the Adler 20 or Singer 7 parts diagrams. Hopefully, you'll find enough matches to tell you with a degree of confidence whether you have an Adler or Singer (or a mix like 90% Adler with 10% Singer spare parts).

I don't think it matters a great deal exactly which grease you use (oil is a different story). I'm using Tri-Flow brand clear grease which I got on Amazon, mainly because it's all synthetic, clear, and doesn't stain my clothes (Tri-Flow also makes good synthetic oil for sewing machines.) My Chandler/Adler 67 machine had reddish-brown grease packed inside the hook gear casing (you can see it in my Adler 67 hook timing video) Eric (gottaknow), our resident experts who maintains a factory full of machines, uses regular white lithium grease on machines in his factory.

Now that you have the machine in front of you, take a bunch of detailed pictures and post them here, particularly stuff with numbers or other identifying marks on it. I'm still voting for Adler due to the shape of the head. Often parts are interchangeable between brands and models, so they may have installed a Singer race at some point because it was available and cheap. Does this machine really have two needles and shuttles? I think there was a lot of customization going on back then, too. If you owned a factory and needed a few dozen machines to perform a special sewing operation, Singer or Adler would just build a small custom batch for you, a variation based on an existing mainstream model. There's usually no documentation for those custom-built machines. All you can hope for is figuring out what mainstream model it's related to and try to find parts that route.

Well, "Bantam manually operated machine" really narrows it down, doesn't it? Do you have any pictures? Do you have any links to what you saw online that you liked? Personally, I've never even heard of a Bantam machine before. Share with us what you know about it.

Schmetz has a handy needle size chart that shows how Singer needle sizes match up with modern Nm sizes:

Compound feed means the material is moved three ways at the same time: Top Foot + Bottom Feed Dog + Needle The Singer 111W155 has proper compound feed. On the Singer 16-188, only the Top Foot + Bottom feed dog move the material. The needle does not help move the material. The Singer 16-188 takes needles of type 16x63 (fabric) or 16x64 (leather). The needles are available in Europe from CollegeSewing in the U.K. , but the available sizes seem to be limited. The machine can use needles from size 14-25, but I've only seen needles for sale in a few select sizes, up to size 22.

Cylinder arm machines in good working condition tend to command a significantly higher price than similar flatbed machines. If you can get this one going, good for you. Just keep an eye out for when this project machine might become more of a burden than a bargain.