Uwe

To post pictures of a machine that was pulled from the smoldering remains of a factory fire after they lifted the massive H-beam that had fallen on the machine, click the "More Reply Options" button in the lower right. It will then show you options to upload picture files.

This just gets better with every post. Now I want to see what a machine looks like after surviving an event hot enough to melt the timing belt.

You don't have the old belt anymore to confirm length and tooth count? Now I want to see some picture of how a walking foot machine gets converted to a wheel feed.

So, tew45, is the belt you received 25 3/8" long with 41 teeth or not? If it is the size and tooth count matches the part number you need, but it's four inches too long for your machine, then something else is wrong. Does the belt that's currently in your machine have 41 teeth or not?

Who knows what's going on in warehouses across the country. I'm sure parts get mismarked or put in the wrong bin a lot. Without pictures of what tew45 actually has, I'm just going by information that's available online. Are the parts manual diagrams I linked to for the 153W100 and the 153W104 not correct? Because they surely show different timing belts.

Often the machine itself is cheap, but if it's not local the shipping may be an arm and a leg. We really need to know where you're located at (Tennessee, Tasmania, or Tanzania?) to give more meaningful answers.

The Singer 153 has several sub-models and they use different timing belts. Saying a part fits a Singer 153 model isn't really enough information. You need to know which sub-model they're talking about. According to the Singer Model List, the 153W101 is the same a 153W100 but with alternating presser feet. So the 153W100 should be the right Singer 153 sub-model to choose parts from for everything except the alternating presser foot bits. The parts list reference at UniversalSewing.com has a Parts List for the Singer 153W100 which shows the timing belt as part number 235003 which runs $37 at CollegeSewing.com in the U.K. but is probably available from U.S. vendors as well: The timing belt #224195 you got is the one that goes with the Singer 153W104:

Ouch, sorry to hear about the untimely demise of your hook. I'm not really familiar with the 206RB, and I don't even know if the 206RB's use an identical hook between the various versions RB1-RB5. Chances are you have to go through the hook timing procedure to get things aligned properly after you install the new hook. Personally, I want to see a picture of a broken hook, not to embarrass you, but to learn and see what actually breaks on a hook when it breaks.

Make sure you spend some quality time with the Durkopp Adler 267 Service Manual. The tightness/binding/rubbing may be caused elsewhere in the system, nowhere near the hook or needle. I had one machine where if I set the foot lift to the max, the wing screw was slightly touching the housing, causing a tight spot during the cycle. Sometimes a machine that's been used on one setting for very long time builds up crud or dried oil varnish at the end of rods etc., causing increased friction or apparent binding if you change the settings. Oil every spot that needs oiling. Clean and oil any open moving surfaces that touch. Remove the motor drive belt from the hand wheel and loosen the foot pressure spring all the way for testing - there is some normal increased pressure as you compress the spring up during the cycle. Without spring pressure the handwheel should turn easily without "tight" spots - if not, keep looking. Inspect and clean the gears if needed - perhaps something is stuck in the teeth that gets squeezed with every turn. I'd visually inspect all of the moving parts I can see (top/bottom/inside) as you turn the wheel. Look for things touching that shouldn't. Since the feed mechanism is not quite right and not "centered" properly to give equal forward/backward stitches, that's a good point to start. According to the manual, with the needle in the lowest position and flipping the stitch length lever all the way up and down, there should be NO forward/backward movement of needle/feet/feed-dog. If things move in that needle position your forward/backward stitch length will not match. Page 9 of the service manual has this section on how to adjust: Eventually, you'll want to go methodically through most of the service manual front to back in sequence and check any applicable "rules" of the manual against your actual machine. Adjust things that don't match the rules.

I was being serious. I was focused on the stuff I had actually paid for. I glanced at the other unremarkable black machine and thought "great, another straight stitch racehorse nobody wants". Her son just grabbed the 111 with one hand to put in my car - I watched him while holding my breath afraid he'd drop it or hit my car, as I grabbed the other machine. It was all sitting in the driveway with dark clouds overhead when I got there and it started raining just as I was leaving. I was on a mission. It really was when I got home and unloaded the 16 that I noticed all that stuff going on in the back of it. Congratulations to you, too, for your new arrivals in your shop! We'll be like parents who bond because they had twins at the same time, haha. Perhaps we can share stories and info on the 16s. The 111W155's are well covered, proven and established, but not exactly news. The 16 is indeed new and exciting, at least to me.

The Singer 111W155 is the better leather machine in my mind (mainly because of the proper unison feed and hook system), but the Singer 16-88 is a much better and surprisingly more capable machine than I had expected. I paid no attention to the Singer 16 when I picked up the gear, thinking I was doing the lady a favor by helping de-junk her basement.

Thanks for offering Constabulary! I just looked up a few parts at UniversalSewing.com and to my surpise and delight these parts are in stock and cheap! The race assembly is $26 and a shuttle hook is $3.50 (!!!) . Gotta love Singer when it comes to ancient parts availability and prices. Since key parts are readily available, I think I'll give it a proper once-over. Now I'm more excited about this machine than the Singer 111W155 I bought from the lady!

I took a few more pictures. The Singer 16-88 seems to be the most likely model. Some of the Singer 16-188 pictures I've found date from the 50's. Not sure if the 188 is a follow-up to the 88 or not. It's actually a very interesting machine with an oscillating shuttle. The bobbin is on the small side. I haven't had a chance yet to try it out, but everything is moving quite smoothly. I'll report back once it's operational. Here are a few pictures of the bottom and shuttle area of the machine:

I picked up some machinery from a lady who gave me an extra bonus machine she "had sitting around." It's rather old and the unusual part is the Bottom+Top feed mechanism, which reminds me of a Singer 7 class top feeding mechanism, except this one isn't super-sized like the Class 7's. It has no model identifying marks other than "Singer" script labels. The serial number of G2721050 places it in the year 1913 as a class 16 machine, according to the Singer dating chart . So it's perhaps a Singer 16-141 or 16-188 based on the descriptions in the Singer 16 manual. If any of you Singer vintage experts recognize this machine, I'd appreciate help in identifying the correct model subclass and any additional info you might have. Here are some photos of the machine:

I'm going by the 136W110 parts diagram which surely shows your bobbin case (238304+238305) alongside the 203470 bobbin. Not sure why Singer would put these together if they don't go together. The apparent discrepancy may stem from the fact that Bob is talking about a bobbin with a different part number with two transposed digits("204370" vs "203470")

Sale pending for this machine.

If the swivel head and the super thin and long cylinder arm are not important to you, a patcher is not the right machine for you. (Did you buy it off Omaha Craigslist a few months back? If so - I want it, that machine was gorgeous!) A normal cylinder arm sewing machine with unison feed is a very different animal from a patcher, much better suited to general leather work unless you actually want to repair shoes and such. But sewing 24oz worth of leather with very thin thread is asking for trouble because there are really no machines that do both well at the same time. Most machines that can handle 24 oz of leather without choking are a NOT designed to sew with thin thread. Attempting to sew very thin thread with big 441 or 205 class cylinder arm machines has already been discussed in several other threads. Do a search and read up on those. The discussion essentially boils down to this: to cover both very thick leather and very thin tread, you need two machines, and you can't do both at once.

Sounds to me like the bobbin you have is too big and binding when you latch down the bobbin cover. Many bobbins are similar in size and often that "close-enough" bobbin that ends up in a machine is not the right one to work properly. Bobbins are cheap, get some that are new and the right size, before spend hours trying to make this one work. The Singer parts list for the 136W110 lists a Bobbin part number as 203470 ($5.95 for a pack of ten)

My local hardware store has a drawer full of gun related screws in weird x/64-40 sizes if I recall correctly, some quite long. Canadian hardware stores may not have drawers like that since you have way more sewing machines than guns up there.

I'm on my third glass of wine, does that count? Sorry to hear about your lost screw. I've contemplated swapping my dark grey berber carpet in my workshop area for light colored wood flooring just because of the amount of time I've spent looking foot tiny screws on that carpet. The way that Juki 441 outer foot mount works with the all-the-way-through screw and nut, can you not limp along for a while using a slightly smaller, available screw and matching nut? It seems the bulk of the holding is done by the channel and nested square bar design.

I'm not sure which online version you're looking at to see how bad it is, but the two online versions I've seen are quite nice and readable, actually. Singer's website has a PDF version of the Singer 211G155/156 Service Manual for download and it's probably as nice as these things get unless you have a pristine hardcopy version to scan. The images could use a bit more grayscale definition, but it takes somebody who's really into scanning to make that happen. I have the gear and know-how to do it, so I'll volunteer my time if somebody has a good hardcopy version I can borrow. The Singer 211 Illustrated Parts List has nice line drawings.

Who knows what's going on behind the scenes regarding chinese factories and brand labels - I certainly don't. Vendors are loathe to discuss sourcing details for various reasons. Insiders who talk, disappear (kidding, I hope!) Buying a motor on Ebay will carry more risk than from a vendor who participates here. They don't want a bunch of their motors coming back from disappointed customers, because we'd surely gripe about it here. Get the motor from LW banner vendor that answers your call and offers a good warranty. If it survives the first few months, it'll probably last a lifetime. Having said all that, I freely admit I've bought all my motors either on Ebay or from Universalsewing.com One of my Enduro motors died suddenly with a rather loud bang and a puff of smoke. Enduro promptly sent me new control board without hassle after a call to UniversalSewing.

Don't give up. Listen To Eric before anybody else, including me, haha! Eric makes a living repairing and adjusting sewing machines, I just spend money. It is, however, very rewarding figuring out how your machine works. That manual is actually super nice compared to others I've seen. It's hard to wrestle with multiple problems at once. After you get over this bump and your machine is sewing again nicely, I'd recommend going through the manual section by section and just comparing the machine with what the manual describes. Make one adjustment at a time once you're comfortable and soon it all will start to make sense. Figuring out how things work before they break is worth a lot, especially if you can avoid a trip to the repair shop. The clutch mechanism is described on the last page of the manual I referenced earlier. You should be able to look at that cylinder and see the little ball that pops into the hole to engage the clutch. I'm showing how to set a very similar safety clutch in my Adler 67 hook timing video (the hook is very different, but the safety clutch is very similar). We've had a couple instances on this forum lately with old machines where the safety clutch was frozen in place due to corrosion or hardened oil varnish, and did not function at all (include my own Consew 225 machine). Even if yours is properly engaged right now, it's good to check and make sure it actually lets go when it's supposed to. If it doesn't let go when it's supposed to, you may get a piece of thread lodged so hard inside the hook track that you have to dismantle it to get it out again.

The cheapest and most likely perfectly adequate setup would be a FESM550 style 550Watt motor with a 3:1 speed reducer. The FESM style motors are old-school in the sense of using brushes and a simple dial knob to adjust speed (as opposed to brushless motors with digital display controllers), but they actually work surprisingly well. The 441 class of machines is WAY more popular and has nearly equal specs to the Adler 205. Many vendors (check the banner ads) sell 441 style machines with servo motors and speed reducers. Look what motor+reducer combos these vendors use (e.g. Cowboy 4500, TechSew 5100, Cobra 4, etc.) and you're probably looking at a good system. Top speed of the motor is irrelevant because you will never use it at top speed sewing leather. Power and torque are related, but any difference in motor torque will be far outweighed by installing a 3:1 speed reducer. The weakest servo motors WITH a speed reducer will provide more torque than the more powerful motors WITHOUT a speed reducer. Out of all the servo motors I've tried, the FESM550 actually had the best low speed control out of the box. The others had an optical sensor that needed tweaking to work right (Enduro style motors), or a magnetic sensor that couldn't be tweaked (Consew CMS 1000). I currently have an Enduro motor (220V , 1000 Watt) with a tweaked optical speed sensor and a homemade 3:1 speed reducer on my 205, but I don't feel like I'm getting a huge benefit over the other systems. My belt tip demo video shows how slow this setup can sew. If you want a needle positioning system, you'll have to go with the newer style digital controllers (beware, the NPS on the 110V Enduro systems does NOT work properly due to design flaws). Alas, I actually disconnected my needle positioning system on my 205 because I didn't like using it. The "best" system in terms of low-end torque and control is probably a 220V 3-Phase vector motor with variable frequency controller and fancy speed control pedal. These systems have full torque at 0 RPM, super precise and smooth pedal input, and don't need a speed reducer, but they're expensive ($600+), heavy (60lbs+), and simply not available as a plug-it-in-and-go system you can just buy. I'm working on just such a setup, but it's not done yet (still saving up for that $400 motor)

It looks like, the tension adjustment has no effect, really. Perhaps something totally different is goin on. Are you positive it's threaded correctly? Is the tension release activated/stuck somehow? Is the timing itself reasonable when you look at the needle and hook movement? Is the safety clutch engaged (if you have one?) Sometimes a sticky safety clutch disengages but hangs on tight enough make it appear engaged. The fist step in timing adjustment is to make sure the safety clutch (if present) is properly engaged, Perhaps timing slipped a little during your fix and needs to be put back to normal. It almost looks like the thread take-up lever is not pulling far enough to pull the stitch tight. I'd manually turn the hand wheel and observe the whole movement of parts (hook,needle,take-up lever,etc.) to make sure it looks reasonable. If the thread take-up lever starts to descend again before it ever has a chance to pull the stitch tight, something is definitely out of synch. I once adjusted timing on a machine using a manual with incorrect needle rise info. It made the thread super tight as it wrapped around the bobbin. I can imagine an opposite scenario where the thread is way too loose because of timing being off in the other direction. Just because the hook manages to pick up the thread, does not mean that timing is spot-on. Find the timing specs and verify them on your machine. It's usually boils down to something simple like "The needle rises X mm from the bottom when the hook meets the needle in the middle of the scarf, as close a possible without touching the needle." Verifying the timing should be fairly easy. Adjusting the timing may be a little trickier, depending on the machine's design. The Consew 206RB-5 manual (http://www.rubyrube.com/Consew/downloads/206RB-5.pdf) has timing instructions and safety clutch reset info. You can use the manual to verify that the various adjustment requirements are correct on your machine.