Uwe

That 562 does not have reverse. Don't expect the machine to be perfectly adjusted, but it should be able to make stitches. Things should turn smoothly without binding when you turn the wheel by hand. I'd look for signs of abuse or excessive wear - like feed dog or needle plate that shows major battle scar from the needle hitting them when it shouldn't. Are things loose that shouldn't be? ( e.g. can you wiggle the needle bar by hand or is it firm?) Is the timing belt inside clean or worn? The picture in the CL ad looks reasonable good, actually. Most wear parts can be replaced and are not too expensive for this machine. Watch my Consew 225 Hook Adjustment video on youtube (https://youtu.be/1wNBPX8i524). The Juki 562 is nearly identical and you'll probably need to do some of the things I do in that video to make it work really well. Having a sewing machine tech do those things for you will get expensive quickly. The sooner you get comfortable working on the machine yourself, the better.

The DDL8700 and the Juki 562 class of machines may look superficially similar, but they're VERY different machines. That's mainly because the DDL has only bottom feed (the needle and upper foot don't help to move the material) and is mainly designed to be FAST. The Juki 562 has triple (aka Unison=Bottom+Needle+Upper) feed and is built for accurately moving multiple layers of heavy material, but not necessarily fast. You'll find DDL 8700 class machines at your local dry cleaner to repair pants, shirts, dresses etc. The DDL 8700 is like a racehorse and the Juki 562 is the horse that pulls the Budweiser wagon. Neither will do particularly well in the other's role.

In terms of Kwok Hing parts the items you'll need for the Adler 69 is the KA-69 (aka KHB-69) arm cover you were looking at, plus the KP-269F binder foot set, plus the KH-69F needle plate and feed dog. The Pfaff 335 binding setup has corresponding Pfaff versions of the same parts to turn it into a binding machine. I had the Pfaff 335 binding setup once, so I have a picture of it: Pfaff actually has a document that shows which parts go with which subclass. The 6/01 is the normal setup, the 17/01 is the binding setup: Pfaff 335 Subclass parts.pdf Binders (tape folders) for various tape sizes are extra and somewhat interchangeable/universal:

The simplicity of this approach is compelling indeed. This ebay seller has a nice selection of zink die cast pulleys all in one place in his listing: http://r.ebay.com/qtGSU9

Looks like Toledo Bob has a similar 441 style presser foot here (item #10):

Here are some pictures of the harness presser feet with the ridge at the bottom, just behind the needle hole. The ridge helps press the thread into the leather as it makes a stitch. The pictures show Adler 205 style presser feet. The same may be available for the 441 style machines, but I'm not sure.

In addition to the needle style, the inner presser foot design (with bottom ridge or without) also plays a role in how deep the thread is embedded in the leather. I did a short test video using a ridged presser foot a little while ago:

Doing the math on cylinder volumes for bobbins, the U-style bobbin has, somewhat surprisingly to me, more than twice the volume of the G style bobbin (.5 vs .227 cubic inches). It doesn't look that much bigger to me visually. Alas, the U-style bobbin should hold about twice the amount of thread (even if you subtract the same size center hole). Dang, I need an Adler 167/267 after all!

Usually it's the other way around, larger thread in the top (needle), one size smaller thread in the bobbin. This is done because the bobbin thread path starts freaking out before the upper path does (things are just way tighter down there). You generally can get away with larger thread in the top path than in the bottom. I've never heard of somebody purposely using large thread in the bobbin and small thread in the needle, that's just backwards and doesn't make sense, really.

The Juki 562 seems like a perfectly good starter machine to me. Don't let the bobbin size alone rule your decision making. The only difference to the Juki 563 really is just the slightly larger bobbin as far as I know (similar to Adler 69 vs. 169). The 563 will run out of bobbin thread, too, just a little later. Whether you change bobbins four or five times during a project is not a huge deal to me. I owned a Juki 562 for all of one day, when I was trying to sell my Consew 225 about a year ago. I had taken the Juki 562 in a trade for a Singer 29. The lady who came to look at my then-for-sale Consew 225 offered me considerably more for the Juki 562 which needed some adjusting, so I kept the Consew.

Here's a link for those who don't want to spend ten minutes finding it: http://omaha.craigslist.org/hvo/5269239783.html It sure is purdy and the asking price is $2,900. Here are some pictures for the archives, since CL listings have a tendency to disappear rather suddenly:

I'd recommend leaving the walking foot machine set up for the very heavy work and get a lighter duty machine better suited for clothing. If you don't need the walking foot at all, trade it in for these two: I got a Pfaff 130 for $60 and made it sing with just a good cleaning and some TLC. There's one available on Craigslist almost every time I look. It's an amazingly sturdy little machine that I've used for light curtains to fixing jeans to making sunbrella shades. The zig-zag comes in very handy. I've seen it mounted in a table with a servo motor and it looks right at home there. People also use it as a portable machine to repair sails and such. My other oldie-but-amazing Craigslist find was a Viking 6570, which can be bought on occasion for very little money (mine was $80), especially if the control knobs are all seized up. This machine cost nearly as much as a new Volkswagen Beetle when it came out! A little cleaning oil and a warm breeze from a hair dryer loosened things up quickly and now it hums along nicely. It has amazing features like a gazillion stitches I'll never use, but most importantly (to me) it has a built-in speed reducer and a REALLY good needle positioning system with a simple Up/Off/Down switch, depending on where you want the needle to stop.

Love me a good hack! It seems like a viable alternative to pricey speed reducers which I can't bring myself to spend $130+ on. Amazon has nice 1/2-inch bore 8-inch OD TB Woods cast iron pulleys for around $50 shipped to provide a bit of flywheel punching oomph or lighter aluminum pulleys for around $30. I've used TB Woods pulley on a few occasions before and they're very nice quality and nicely finished. My Consew 225 has a 1/2 inch shaft and just over 3" pulley on the hand wheel. An 8-inch pulley would slow things down significantly. With a nice powder coat finish, even the aluminum one might look pretty enough to not be embarrassed about it. I'm so tempted to give this a try. Can't really think of a reason not to.

Yup, my cover plate is different. It's held in place by a little pin that goes into a hole in the arm. The cover plate does not move when I sew (you can see it a little in my power usage test video): Yours is similar to this Kwok Hing cover plate:

Your mechanic must have been talking about the binder plate used when doing binding operations. That cover plate along with all the attached folder bits actually swivels front to back as you sew to synchronise the folder/binder movement with the presser feet movement. This video shows the moving binder plate on a similar machine. That version of the cover plate has a hole that fits snugly around the guide that sticks up, which moves the binder cover plate synchronized with the feed dog movement. The whole affair pivots around the swivel point on the right end of the arm.

I'm glad you got your pedal connections sorted out. Post some pictures when you get a chance. The cover plate on the Adler 69 cylinder arm has recess cutout on the underside to allow free movement of the swiveling binder connector below. If you replace the cover plate with a plain flat piece of metal, it'll press on the connector and nothing will move. You'll have to either machine a recess (hard), cut a hole (easier, like on the Pfaff 335,) or sandwich two plates together (bottom has a hole, top doesn't). Or you can leave the existing cover plate in place and design something that simply goes on top of it. Here are some photos that show the underside of my Adler 69 arm cover plate with the recess cutout and the part that sticks up above the arm surface that the cover plate rests on:

Check out Kwok Hing . They carry some parts for DA 269 machines, like presser feet, needle plate, needle bar etc. Contact them directly for the best price.

Judging from your initial pictures it looks like the linkage pulling down the motor's speed control arm was a pretty steep sideways angle to begin with. Lowering the table would have made that worse, pulling nearly horizontal instead of straight down on that speed control arm. You may have to switch things around to make the linkage rods point towards the back on the connecting shaft like in this picture: The little clamp piece on my flatbed table attachment was lucky find of a ready made part that fit perfectly. Any two-piece item designed to clamp onto a 2" pipe is a candidate (I've gone through muffler clamps, audio rigging clamps, etc.) I can't give away all my secrets, but I will state for the record that I live near an IKEA store.

I came very close to buying a used sewing machine on Craigslist simply because it was mounted in an electric Kessler table! I wasn't aware they're available new in the States - I spent a fair amount of time trying to track down a supplier for them. $1K is a bit more than I'm willing to spend on a table, I'm afraid.

The really cool convertible table setups for cylinder arm machines are only available in Germany, it seems. At least that's where I get my ideas from. Sieck has a few nice examples, like the Adler 69 setup with an arm-attached flatbed: Or how about this Pfaff 335 arrangement with a flatbed slide-in table: None of the above options are available commercially in the US, as far as I know. For your table, it would not be too hard to make an extension that attaches to the existing table and a support leg or two on the left. Once you have a flat surface, you can make a four-legged slide-in table with a suitable cutout for the cylinder arm like the Pfaff 335 example above. This is the concept: My Pfaff 335 flatbed table attachment (thanks for the mention, TinkerTailor!) actually does not fit the Adler 69 because the Adler has a longer arm. I plan to make an Adler 69 version over the next month or so, now that I actually have an Adler 69 in my possession to take measurements. There are some U-shaped table options available in the US like this example from Toledo Industrial below. It would also work with both varieties of flatbed table attachments. I'm not sure if Toledo Ind. sells it separately, though: I've also contemplated hacking this electrically height adjustable BEKANT Ikea table to make a sewing machine stand:

I'm glad you got it to work properly all by yourself - that's a big deal! Clearly you're more successful getting to know this machine than the people who sold it to you.

I've not seen a repair manual for the 205-370 machines. It seems unlikely that your machine is broken and needs repair, but it's very likely that it's not properly adjusted to work according to specs. I've not gone through all the adjustments myself yet. I'm contemplating making an how-to video for adjusting the 205-370 once I'm comfortable with making the adjustments. I'd recommend going through the various adjustment chapters in the service manual and check if the machine is in the target settings. No need to loosen screws etc. to simply check current adjustment settings against specs. If one or more of these adjustments are off the target mark, they can have multiple, often interconnected effects. One important adjustment for your stitch length troubles: in the hook timing position with the needle raised 4mm from the very bottom, the feed dog and inner foot should not move at all when flipping the reverse lever up and down. For example, if the feed movement is not "centered" on the hook timing position, it may prevent you from stitching at the maximum stitch length and at the same time introduce an offset that makes forward and backward stitches not match. Reversing into the same holes is a bit dependent on material thickness. My 205-370 happily reverses into the same holes for 10 or more holes in a row when stitching a thin sheet of cardboard without thread. When stitching thick leather with thick thread, the reversing matches only for only a stitch or two if I'm lucky. I have a feeling the FWD/REV stitching may need to be adjusted for a particular material thickness by purposely introducing a slight offset. Even with a perfectly adjusted machine, the maximum stitch length may decrease with increasing material thickness due to the pendulum effect (thanks to JLSleather for posting the nice graphic image below in another topic) Certain things like feed dog height cannot be adjusted on the 205-370, they are simply fixed due to how it's designed/built.

I think the stitch length indicator on this version of the 226 is right next to the hand wheel like shown in the photo of a pristine 226 below. The older style 226 had the indicator wheel inside under the top cover (also visible by peeking through the hole in the front). The missing button normally just engages a notch in a disk on the underside to keep a shaft from rotating as you turn the hand wheel to adjust the stitch length. You can stick a screwdriver or something else suitable into hole to engage that notch.

I'm glad you were able to figure it out! Clearly the control box knows exactly why it can't provide the needle position function - it just doesn't tell you about it. They must have run out of money programming useful error codes into the control box logic. The only error code the manual mentions is one for power failure - I'm not exactly sure how it will display that particular error code if there's no power.

So the control box can at least tell if the sensor is plugged in or not, that's a good sign. With the needle position sensor connected, does the machine keep running past the next needle-down position and make another stitch or two before it gives up, or does it run out of juice before it reaches the next needle-down position? I'd try these debugging steps: Does the motor always stop at the same needle position or does it stop at random positions. If it always stops at the same absolute position, the position calibration is off. If it stops at random positions, the position signal is missing and the motor gives up. While sewing VERY slowly, let go of the pedal shortly before the next needle-down position. Does the machine run past the next needle-down position? Second try while sewing slowly, let go of the pedal shortly AFTER it reaches needle-down position. If it does not continue until the next needle-down, the control board gives up before the next position signal gets sent due to too many rotations without position signal, likely due to speed reduction gearing. If it still runs past the next needle-down, the sensor signal is definitely not working and the gearing is not at fault for the motor giving up too early. After the machine stops, heel the pedal. Does the motor advance to the next needle-UP position? If yes, then only the needle-down sensor signal is not working - needle-up sensor and control box work properly. If no, neither position sensor signals work or control board ignores them. On a side-note: with one of my needle position servo motors, if I had the speed dialed way down, the motor would actually speed up when I let go of the pedal to move to the next needle-down position. That was just too freaky for me to get used to, so I disconnected it. I'm actually not using needle positioning on any of my NPS-enabled motors. Because I sew leather extremely slow at about a stitch per second, my reaction time is plenty fast to stop the needle exactly where I want it and the NPS just seems intrusive to me. But that's just my personal preference. I do have unused position sensors sitting around for testing if need be. My Consew CSM1000 position sensor may be the same design as yours.