Uwe

Page 164 of the US Army sewing machine repair guide describes how to remove the arm shaft and timing belt on a Singer 111W155. It sounds somewhat painful. The Consew 226 is perhaps similar enough to follow those directions. In any case, the procedure is probably not something you want to first-ever attempt on a super important/precious machine.

The manual page 11-11 in this Pfaff 1245 instruction manual talks about adjusting the outer presser foot lift. Perhaps the old Pfaff 1245 version has similar adjustments. The concept of these linkages shouldn't have changed dramatically. On some of my machines the amount of outer presser foot lift depends on how much material I have under the feet. Without any material under the feet, the outer presser foot doesn't lift much, if at all (this is probably not right). With some leather under the feet, the outer foot lifts and "walks" as it should. I need to look into that. I'm pretty sure the outer presser foot list is linked to the inner foot, to make sure the outer foot lifts a certain height above whatever the inner foot rests on, no matter how much material is under the feet. I did stumble across a sewing machine repair book series form the '50s recently (also available in PDF format here: http://www.occaphot-ch.com/bernina-startseite/industrie-masch/ ) . Alas, the problem is (although not for me) that they're apparently only available in German. The book series goes into great detail on how different sewing machine technologies and concepts work and how to repair machines.

You need to include an actual asking price with these for-sale posts, per LW marketplace rules. Pictures would be really useful, too. Just post them here rather than emailing them about on request.

Also check out the Kwok Hing page for the Pfaff 335 for a nice overview of what's available for the Pfaff 335. The regular needle plate and feed dog set come in three sizes - regular, medium and small. The maximum stitch length you can use decreases as the opening in the needle plate gets smaller. Almost any of the presser feet on that page should work for you. The "normal" non-binder setup would include the 91-158 206-034 needle plate and 91-059 229-04 feed dog set: and the KP335W presser feet: For the arm cover plate, you may be able to just remove the guide fingers and threaded bits that are attached now to make it flat with nothing sticking up. The Kwok Hing parts are available from various resellers, or directly from the manufacturer if you get their attention.

So is it true that this 335 version does not have needle feed? That would seem very odd indeed. I thought these Pfaff 335 machines all have compound feed, except on most of them the feed dog does not go down while moving forward (it just moves back and forth at the same height unless it's a specific sub-class with that drop feed dog feature)

Here are some detail photos of the remote foot pedal. The control box originally had some metal mounting arm sticking out at the top, which I sawed/filed off level with the top of the box. I made the connection wire longer by soldering an extension piece in the middle. The little skateboard roller bearing at the end of the control arm fits nicely on a 5/16" bolt and makes for very smooth pedal movements.

A standard belt-driven bobbin winder does not fit on this compact installation. This is where a stand-alone motorized bobbin winder comes in super handy. There's no leg or foot actuated presser foot lift either, just the manual lever. The final, permanent installation will have a proper foot lift pedal.

I decided to actually measure my machine's power usage while sewing leather with a Consew CSM 1000 (550W) servo motor. It used between 24-60 watts sewing about 10oz. of soft leather. Here's the quick-and-shaky handheld video:

While I'm deciding on a permanent installation for my new Adler 69, I decided to make a portable table-top setup so that I can use the machine while I figure out some other details. I used my Consew CMS 1000 motor where I had previously mounted the pedal mechanism on a separate board. I mounted motor and controller to the Adler 69 using existing bolts and holes. No holes were drilled and no paint was scratched on this pristine machine. A modified door hinge holds the motor and allows easy belt installation and tension adjustments. The mounts still allow tilting the machine back to get access to the internal bits. It wasn't intended to be pretty but it's functional and compact. This approach may work for folks who don't have space for permanent table setups for each machine or need to travel with their machine for some reason. The whole setup is not exactly light-weight, but it weighs no more than my previous Pfaff 335 head by itself. I took the pictures with the machine sitting on my kitchen counter ready to sew, just for fun. I don't plan on actually sewing in my kitchen, but now I could if I wanted to . Here are the pics of the project:

Oh dear, I didn't even realize I needed a pedal-driven Landis 1 or 3. This seems like a great option for a machine if you're gonna sew very thick leather without electricity, and they're reasonably priced to boot: This fellow has (or had) a Landis 1 for sale in Oregon ($900) I need a bigger basement.

That's the kind of pedaling setup I was thinking of, very cool!

D'oh! Now I notice this darn thread is nearly two years old - how did this pop back onto my front page for this forum, making me think it's all new?

If you want to get a new pre-tension unit (presumably with bigger tension disks), it's available from AAAsew in Canada (USD $96, search for part number 0221-110154-DAD. Slightly sketchy ordering system, but I've successfully ordered twice from them), or from College Sewing in the UK for 50 pounds (USD $75, world class ordering system)

Sometimes it pays to look in the most obvious place: I found an operating instructions document hiding in plain sight at the Durkopp Adler documentation page for the 269 Here's the relevant diagram on how to properly thread the pre-tension unit for the bobbin winder:

The detail highlighted in your photo looks like it's only used for winding the bobbin and is not in the thread path for normal sewing. I think the description right above from chikitti is the closest to what Adler intended, based on this diagram I found in a 267-373 manual using the same tension device in a different location (and turned around). The tension device in this diagram IS used for sewing. Yours looks very much like the exact same device, just in a different spot and turnaround. Perhaps this diagram helps: I hesitate to even mention this video below about 267 bobbin winding because it kinda shows how NOT to do it, even though he manages to wind a bobbin. The fellow runs that poor machine at full speed with the presser feet just slamming metal to metal - that has got be wrong! At least lift the presser feet up so they don't make contact. He also does not use the threading path intended for the device - but it works for him perhaps because of the larger disks.

I can imagine a pedal driven setup similar to a kids pedal car or a regular bicycle that powers a regular sewing machine via belt pulleys. With the right size belt pulley or gear ratios you can sew nice and slow with plenty of torque and punching power. Most treadle machines will not have the right pulley gearing ratio to provide enough torque for sewing holsters. Of course pedaling while sewing may take a little practice. With the right (i.e. 1:1) gearing it may actually offer a nice synchronicity and needle positioning - pedal down = needle down, or something like that. Servo motors only use noticeable electricity when you press the pedal. Even a 200W weakling of a motor can drive a sewing machine with a speed reducer. Post some pictures of your solution before you totally disconnect from the grid! BTW, I have a 7KW solar system with 55 megawatt-hours produced to date. I feel reasonably guilt-free driving my electric car around town. We're almost net zero, but not quite. Another 10 solar panels should do it, although I'm not planning to live off the grid.

Joe (Hockeymender) kindly lent me his copied vintage Pfaff 335 Instruction Book and a set of mechanic's service training instructions pages. I've scanned them into PDFs in the best quality the originals would allow, which is overall quite nice. I also ran text recognition (OCR) on the files, so the PDFs should be text searchable. You can download the Pfaff 335 Instruction Book here: Pfaff 335 Instruction Book (old casting, until the late '90s) The service instructions cover various older Pfaff models: Pfaff Service Instructions (various older models) I'll also try to upload the instruction book to manualslib.com to make it accessible to a larger audience.

Here's some sourcing info: I bought the video's background music loop at http://melodyloops.com. This particular piece is called Red Book of Nature by Alex Grey. Youtube keeps flagging me for copyright violations if I use "real" music that is copyrighted (e.g. that "Time" piece by Hans Zimmer.) If you like this kind of piano and strings music, check out Ludovico Einaudi, which is the style of music I was looking for. The main parts for this project were sourced on Ebay/Amazon: Buehler 315 RPM Heavy Duty 25 V DC Right Angle Gearhead Motor - 5500 g-cm Torque ($39) FWD/REV momentary switch ($5) Aluminum enclosure box ($13) (a little too small, actually) 24V Power supply ($12) Speed Control unit ($9) Spool stand (handrail mount) ($12) Various bits and pieces came from my local hardware, electronics, and hobby stores. The two-part bobbin holder itself is a combination of a long M4 screw, fender washers, garden hose rubber gaskets, and two pieces of nesting brass tubing (model airplane supply). The tubes slide over the M4 screw and perfectly fill the space between the M4 screw and the inner diameter of the bobbin spool. The drive shaft of the geared motor already has an M4 female thread. So all together about $100 of materials and countless hours of parts research and tinkering. Not exactly cheap but functional and priceless to me. I can't buy an industrial strength motorized large bobbin winder like this anywhere at any price, as far as I know.

I do have the original Adler bobbin winder that came with the machine that runs off the machine's belt. It does an okay job but not great, despite the fancy cam driven thread guide mechanism. With the large bobbins and 415 thread its hard to get a perfectly wound bobbin on the standard winder and with the thick thread, every winding layer counts. People use stand-alone bobbin winders for various reasons. The build-in ones that wind as you sew never quite appealed to me. I'd rather have a little stash of wound bobbins sitting ready when I start a sewing project. With the thick 415 thread, you end up changing bobbins fairly often. I also have OCD and a perfectly wound bobbin gives me pleasure, lol! I had used a hand drill and made little bobbin hooks to wind bobbins. That worked quite nicely to make perfectly wound bobbins, but it was a pain to hold the drill steady and reverse it if the thread reversed direction before it reached the edge of the bobbin. I had seen commercial motorized bobbin winders for the small bobbins and thin thread, but never one for the big shuttle hook style bobbin. So I decided to make one just because, well, SEWING! Here are some pictures of my little bobbin hook that I used with my hand drill for a while:

I've been working on this stand-alone motorized bobbin winder for shuttle hook style bobbins for a little while. The project is far enough advanced to do a little show-and-tell. Control box and geared motor runs on harmless 24V DC, has a speed control knob and a forward/reverse switch. For the thread spool stand, I used the approach that Adler uses for the newer models, running the thread through the center and out the bottom - it works quite nicely. The bobbin holder has rubber rings (from my garden hose, haha!) to hold the bobbin and the thread while it's winding. Here's the little video that shows how it works.

Somebody asked me if the Consew 225 will sew 6mm (15oz) of hard veg tan leather. I doubted it somewhat but hadn't actually tried. So I installed a 3:1 speed reducer to kick up the torque and punching power and gave it a whirl. It actually did okay with 6mm using size 207 bonded polyester thread top and bobbin, and a size 22 regular point needle (I know, I know - it's not ideal, but it was the largest needle I had on hand). It even fought it's way through 9mm (25oz) of veg tan leather, but that's really abusing the machine in my mind. I tried it out so you don't have to. I would normally reach for my Adler 205 to sew material this thick or hard. Here's the video:

Thanks for offering Sonydaze. I have a feeling your '09 manuals are for the new casting white Pfaff 335 models. The manuals that apparently have no online presence at all are for the old casting of the Pfaff 335, about 30 or more years old. I'd like to find hard copies of vintage owner/parts/service manuals from the '80s or earlier for the Pfaff 335 and put them online as PDFs.

Great info Glenn, thanks! Any chance I can borrow your hardcopy manual to scan it into a PDF file and make it available to others?

No experience with strap sewing standards, sorry. But if you're looking to do work sewing straps that people's lives depend on, check out SL-Spezial in Germany. They make licensed Durkopp Adler Class 120 strap sewing machines similar to the one shown in the video. If the situation calls for it, I want to be dangling from a strap sewn on their machines.

Looks like a design based on the Singer Class 7 type machine. There are many present day variations, some of them listed in this Kaplan Sewing web page.