dikman

Not all needle bars have the timing marks on them (one of mine doesn't). Usually the manual will explain how to adjust it if there aren't any marks.

When I first saw the chisel as the tool-of-choice I cringed inside, as it's a pretty crude way of removing paint, but then I realised you can't use normal chemical paint removers without completely dismantling the machine. Anyhow, you've got me thinking that if I get this latest machine working maybe I should do the same to the bed on it, as it's a pretty yucky greeny ripple finish paint. I just need to find a suitable match to the body paint (a blue-silver colour).

Sounds like the machine is working as it should, you need to hold the threads pretty tight, I have the same issue if I don't!

Depending on the servo, you may not necessarily need a reducer as well. The main advantage, I suppose, is that it lets you slow way down without losing much, if any, torque.

I'll second that! Whenever I fiddle with a machine I always turn it by hand first and make sure it can sew properly before powering it up. (It's scary when a needle hits the needle plate under power!!!).

While I can't comment on the suitability of the various Adlers (there are others on here who are far more knowledgeable on that aspect), a cylinder arm is potentially more versatile if you only intend buying one machine.

The foot was actually hitting the shoulder on the needle, as the needle doesn't go all the way up into the bar. Anyhow, I removed the foot and cleaned some gunk off, which may have been offsetting the foot just enough. I reset the needle bar and fitted the original needle and now the needle shoulder just misses the foot, so that's ok.

I've already done what you suggested, Bob, and stripped and cleaned the race. There's definitely some slop in it. As for the needlebar, that thought had already occurred to me, but I noticed that if I drop the bar down to accommodate the shorter needle then if the bar is down when the foot is lifted the slot in the foot actually hits the shoulder on the needle. Constabulary, according to the manual the shuttle mounting is pinned at both ends of it's drive shaft. I can see a pin at one end, but not at the shuttle end, which has two grub screws. I loosened them, but I couldn't get anything to move. I've also found that an arm inside, which has a pivot screw at the end, has a noticeable amount of slop in the pivot area. I'm not sure what difference that's likely to make yet. I mentioned that the end plate isn't the correct one for this model, and while the body of the machine is a silvery grey, the base plate and end cover are different, both in colour and texture, more of a grey-green. I checked the serial number on the base plate and it belongs to a 132K6! While my original idea was to strip it, a little voice inside said no, store it somewhere for now. I'll have a look for parts, but if it's going to cost too much I won't bother but I'll keep my eyes open for something similar so that I can maybe use the parts. A bit later: I had a closer look at the shuttle. Around the circumference (the part that rotates in the race) it's a pretty good fit at the middle part, but is loose at both ends. Very close inspection shows wear marks at the ends, and a micrometer indicates that it has a definite taper towards the ends, so it looks like it's the shuttle that's worn. I would guess that it's been run without lubrication, because it seems like pretty excessive wear to me. I also noticed that the machine is actually pretty clean inside (other than dust, as it was stored under the woman's bed) with no sign of the oil and lint buildup that I have in my other machines. I'm beginning to wonder if someone else cobbled this together from other machines/spares that they had.

Well, that idea was good in theory, but didn't work in practice. In fact, it made it worse, so I brought the bar back up but it's still missing the stitches. This machine has a horizontal shuttle, and what I have noticed is that there seems to be a bit of lateral movement between the shuttle and the shuttle race. Which means it's impossible to set the hook precisely, as the gap between the hook and needle can vary randomly. I'll have to pull the shuttle assembly out again, but I don't think there's any adjustment to take up any slack. Looks like I might end up stripping it for parts after all.

Any thoughts I had that it would work straight off were dashed in no uncertain terms when I fitted the needle, a 16x2, which is a direct replacement for the obsolete 16x87. I checked the hook timing and the hook was well below the eye of the needle!!! The needle bar was close enough to the correct setting. I compared the needle to the longer one for the 211G166 and thought I'd try that. It lined up almost spot on, just needed a slight tweaking of the needle bar. Very strange. Next problem, I fitted a bobbin and threaded the machine and turned it over by hand. The top thread was not slipping around the shuttle consistently, so wasn't picking up the bobbin thread every time. I pulled out the shuttle assembly and cleaned it in petrol, then polished the parts with brasso. That helped, and now the thread slipped over the shuttle assembly every time. Unfortunately it still dropped stitches. Watching the shuttle it was obvious that the hook wasn't grabbing the thread every time. The problem with this machine is that, compared to a walking foot it is actually a pretty basic machine. The shuttle is pinned at both ends of its shaft, which means it's going to be a pain to readjust it just a little. I think I'll try lowering the needle bar a bit first, so hopefully the thread will form a bigger loop for the hook to grab, otherwise I'm going to have to knock out a pin.

Yep, so does mine. My hopes that it would work straight off have been dashed somewhat! One consolation, compared to a walking foot it's a pretty simple machine.

Thanks for the info, Bob. I'm heading down to the "needle" shop today so at least I know the right questions to ask. Yep, there's this strange personality trait that I have - whenever I get interested/involved in something I start collecting!!!

Me too, I couldn't notice any difference when adjusting it. Now I know why. In my recent messing about with my machines, including re-adjusting all sorts of things, I re-adjusted the inner foot/outer foot settings and it took me ages to figure out what was going on - because, like you said, they're interlinked! I basically left it at that and worked out how to get the settings I wanted, but I admire your tenacity in working through this. Another piece in the puzzle that is industrial sewing machines.

Normally, I wouldn't bother with something like this - but it was FREE! I happened to be looking on Gumtree (our local ebay) and saw this, head unit only, no motor or table which was fine by me. It had only been up for two hours, I waited long enough to check on the 'net to see what it was and then rang the woman and said I'd take it. I figured if it didn't work at least I could salvage some bits and pieces from it. It's actually in pretty good condition, without a lot of the worn paint that seems common on used machines. The woman had never gotten around to setting it up so figured it was time to get rid of it (she actually repairs domestic machines and re-sells them). It turned over nicely and everything seemed to move ok, bobbin and shuttle are complete, the only thing wrong is a screw missing from the needle plate (found one in my spares box) and the end cover over the needle bar/lifter mechanism - it's appears to be a slightly different colour to the rest of the machine and the top mounting screw is missing, mainly because the slot in the cover doesn't line up with a hole anywhere for a screw! Other than that the cover fits properly. I've downloaded a manual for it and given it a good oiling. The base plate is the same size as the 211G166 so will fit that table, with minor adjustments to the belts. Now I just have to work out what size needles it takes - the manual says 16x87, not sure what that is in modern terminology. My wife is wondering where it will all end - and where I'm going to put this one . At least I'll now have an industrial straight stitcher too.........

FIXED IT!!! I thought I'd checked the hook timing, but I obviously confused myself and it was the 111W that I'd re-adjusted. (BIG senior's moment, that's what comes of trying to fix three machines at once!) Anyhow, the needle bar was too low and the needle guard on the shuttle was actually pushing the needle sideways (can't help wondering who had adjusted this previously). I re-adjusted it, but it still did it. I then checked the thread takeup spring and noticed it was only operating on the first couple of coils. Turns out it was a very tight fit in the hole in the machine body, so I modified a spare spring from a junked machine. Unfortunately, this wasn't the problem either. I started running some stitches, very slowly, and watched the takeup spring. I increased the speed and when the spring went slack I stopped and looked at everything. Bingo, the thread had jumped out of the tensioner!! No wonder I hadn't seen it before, because pulling on the threads had pulled it back into place each time. I pulled the tensioner apart, but couldn't see anything wrong, so I polished the inner faces of the discs anyway. The 3-hole thread guide next to it was in the same position as in the manual, but I shifted it in as close as I could to the tensioner. That was it, I ran stitches down the edge of an old belt and only missed one stitch (probably my fault). So Constabulary and hunter were right all along, but because everytime I looked it was ok I concentrated elsewhere. A nasty little problem, it's the last thing I would have thought could happen. Also, I fixed the Pfaff. Another tension issue, but this was a tricky one. Mine didn't have a tension release rod fitted (to open the tension discs when the foot is lifted) so I made one. The Pfaff has this wonderful bit of design where, as the presser foot is lifting during sewing, the slide that pushes on the release rod is also lifting. Which means that the length of that rod is absolutely critical. Mine was a fraction too long so as the foot lifted it released the tension discs and allowed slack thread in the stitch cycle! By carefully filing the rod I got it to the point where it didn't trip the discs while stitching but would still release them when the lever was lifted by hand. All in all, a pretty good day and my knowledge and understanding of these machines has increased tremendously. Mind you, if it wasn't for this forum I hate to think of the strife I'd still be in.

I've only just learned about timing of the inner foot (is there no end to learning with these machines?). I'm pretty sure that was why I snapped two needles in the Pfaff, the needle was reaching the leather way before the inner foot, and I'm pretty sure it was causing the needle to deflect. In the process of adjusting it I managed to get the needle/foot to run in reverse . Sounds like you're almost there, Uwe.

Nope, Piece of veg, about 3-4 mm thick. Machine should handle at least 10mm. Going down later to finish off the Pfaff and then start on the Singer (again).

Great job guys, excellent quality .

C'mon, admit it, Uwe, blundering around in the dark is good fun .

Uwe makes a good point. While I admired the great workmanship I didn't pay any attention to the actual stitch lengths. Doing short runs with a machine will be, at times, annoying, and the potential to miss a stitch or otherwise stuff up will increase. Hand stitching gives you absolute control of the work. Plus machines require attention to function at their best (once you get them running properly!!). A machine may be of use with belts, but for the small bits what you're doing now may be the best way.

Nah, that was the Pfaff, it obviously decided not to like me yesterday. I've already checked the timing, but yep, I guess it's time to start double checking everything again. It has to be something relatively simple.

Don't feel bad, I broke two needles in succession yesterday!!

Sorry guys, I was talking about the wrong machine. This is what happens when I try and do more than one thing at a time! The used spool is on the Pfaff - that's been cutting the thread, but I've found a very small nick on the outside of the shuttle assembly which may be the problem. The spool on the Singer is a new, previously unused one and looks good, so I don't think that's the problem - but I won't rule it out just yet. I'll swap spools to prove it. The fact that it works for a while suggests the tensions are reasonably close and everything is working correctly, so why does it suddenly start causing loops? That sort of points to an outside interference, and the spool is the only thing "external" to the operation. Most puzzling.

It's great that it worked first time, makes life a lot easier when you don't have to fault-find. I would think that bobbins would be the best way to go, then you can wind whatever colour/size thread you want. As for the speed, yep, I think most of us newbies (to industrial machines) probably got the same shock the first time that we pressed the pedal with a clutch motor!! I know that some can develop fine control with them, but I decided I wasn't going to waste time and replaced all three of mine with servo motors - so much better for what I want to do. I find that I definitely have to hold both threads tightly when starting, with the Singer 166 it needs to be held for several stitches, but with the Pfaff only for the first couple (I'm beginning to think these machines all have their own individual, and unique, character. If I'm not careful I'll be giving them names soon!).

I've already stripped and cleaned the tension assembly and had the bobbin out to check that area. Last night it occurred to me to that the only thing different is that I'd changed the thread I was using to a different colour. The one I grabbed was an old, part-spool that came with one of the machines and the thread is a little uneven on the spool in places. I didn't think it would make any difference, but from what Wiz said that may be the problem. Once I've re-assembled everything I'll change to a clean spool.