dikman

It shouldn't be too hard to find a suitable pulley, just find a place that sells pulleys and ask for one with the diameter you want, with the correct profile for your v-belt and the correct shaft diameter (which I'd say is 1/2"). You'll need one with locking screws/bolts.

Hmm, mine doesn't have a spring (didn't know it was supposed to have one!). I'll have to look into it, although it works fine without it. The peg is somewhere to rest the machine head against when you tilt it back to lube/adjust it.

Brushes? I suppose it could have, but my experience with AC motors is that they're squirrel-cage type induction motors, so no brushes (not including the small ones used in power tools etc, which usually have brushes). The clutches usually are flat cork-faced devices, it could be that the cork and opposing face need cleaning. The two pulleys you mention would certainly help, but to tame a clutch motor you will probably need a speed reducer too. By the time you add up the possible fix to the motor, plus pulleys and speed reducer you'll probably find it's better value getting a servo. This will give you the best possible control, particularly for leather.

No need to apologize, industrial machines are a pretty specialized field and I wouldn't expect anyone to know much about them if they don't use them. (That was me a few months ago, btw). Find a manual for it and try and understand how it works and how to adjust it. That way you may be able to sell it as a working machine.

And he would know how? Unless he's tried it there's no way he could know what condition it's in. There's an awful lot of things that can go wrong with these machines - rusted up inside, broken bits, incorrectly adjusted parts, badly worn parts just to name a few. I recently picked up a machine (free) that turned ok by hand, and looked good, but the shuttle was so badly worn that there was no way it was going to sew. I only found this out by dismantling it once I got it home (glad I didn't actually pay anything for it). If you can't even tell buyers that it sews ok then it's essentially good for spares only, or possibly refurbishing, either of which is the low end of the market.

My first thought would be to replace the capacitor (the designation suggests it's a cap start?).

ratty, good luck with finding detail drawings - it's a pretty good effort just finding user manuals/parts lists for many of these machines! I have British, German and US machines and it's a nightmare trying to figure out threads and find suitable screws. I can understand why someone would re-tap them for modern "standard" threads (I've been tempted myself a couple of times).

Very impressive bit of work, Uwe. (Don't take this the wrong way, but the closeup of the thumb dial isn't pretty (!) and the soldering on the next one looks a bit so-so (or is that just the photo?)). Nothing personal, I just tend to notice these things.

I just fitted a new servo to my post-bed, but it's decided to be non-cooperative! It has a tendency to break needles, and it's a bit scary. I was testing it on 4 layers of thin cardboard and after about eight stitches "twang", another one bites the dust. The problem appears to be that the slightest deflection of the material (cardboard, leather, material) sideways causes the needle to hit the needle plate, which can only have one result!! I decided not to waste any more time on it, and while casting some boolits I was staring at the machine and thought "why not fit one of my other machines to the table, and make it useful?". While the width of the post-bed base is the same as the WSV77 and 331K4, the length is shorter (but both of the others are the same size). So, after much cutting, routing and filing I fitted the WSV77. Wonderful, now I had another working machine. Then I thought I'd better try the 331K4 - wouldn't fit! . The length and width were right, but the underneath of the bed had wider bumps on it. More (careful) rasping and fitting, rasping and fitting and eventually it dropped in. Success, a quick trial and it was stitching too. The job isn't particularly neat, but the cutout in the table was already pretty rough so it didn't have to be perfect. I'd previously fitted a home-built reducer on top of the table, but in order to fit these machines I had to modify it by welding it to a large hinge so that it could be tilted back to tension the top belt. By doing it this way I'd inadvertently made it easier to swap machines - loosen off a locknut, back off the adjustment bolt and the reducer tilts forward to slacken the belt, remove belt from machine and lift out. Easy. I'm feeling quite pleased with myself .

mike, I agree entirely with your sentiments, well put. It can be argued that I don't need all the machines that I have, in fact I could probably get by, for what I want to do, with just two - but there is something nice about knowing that I may have saved a couple, at least, from an unknown fate and have got them functional again. I figure I should be able to get back the cost of each machine, if I sell them, but that doesn't take into account all the work I've put into getting them running, of course. Doesn't matter, I enjoy actually owning them.

I had a look at the parts manual, Wiz, 'cos you got me curious. A bit hard to tell, but the wheel that the pulley is attached to (or is part of?) is certainly a bit more complex than other machines I've looked at! So my idea probably wouldn't work. llucas, while it might be painful on the wallet, like TT said I reckon you'll love it once it's set up.

Looks like you've got room for even more machines!

Wouldn't be too hard to make a suitable horizontal spool holder. Reminds me of the difference between overhead/baitcaster fishing reels and the "eggbeater" type - the overhead type are effectively horizontal spools, so the line "spools" off with no twisting, unlike the other type of reel. Something to ponder.......

The other option is to use a servo and fit a larger pulley to the machine itself. This will have the effect of slowing things down and retaining torque.

The hook needed a bit more judicious re-shaping and polishing where I'd already worked on it, as there was an edge that looked a little bit sharp. That seems to have fixed it, as I can now handwheel a row of stitches in a piece of leather. While the baseplate is the same size as the 211G166 (so will fit the table) the belt, of course, is the wrong size and it's a fair bit of messing around to swap the machines. Also, the knee lifter mechanism on this machine doesn't line up with the table's lifter, so no knee lifter. Other than that, it's a goer. Total cost $45 - hook $26, paint $12, needles $7. Not bad for an industrial machine, I reckon.

Horizontal spool holder?

Those clutch motors are actually very nicely made motors, well balanced and with excellent bearings. They also have a very hefty flywheel inside, which is why, when you turn them off, they will keep spinning for ages and can still turn over the machine if engaged (in other words, be very careful where you put your fingers!). I have three servos, all the same brand, 2 x 550w and 1 x 750w. All of them stop dead when I take my foot off the pedal.

Good point, Constabulary. I suppose as long as I didn't use it..........nah, very unlikely. Black decals? All I've found do far have been gold ones.

A lightly tinted clearcoat over a silver base is an interesting idea.

TT, I thought I detected a subtle reference to a certain Mr. Scott (I hear there's a new movie due out soon, and also that there's a remake of the original series happening). Darren, based on my recent experiences, I would say your percentages are spot on. (It's amazing what a difference it makes when you thread the needle from the correct side ).

Coincidentally, last weekend I was talking to a member at my shooting club about this very thing - repairing horse rugs. He has horses, and knows people who repair the rugs. He said that if the rugs come in dirty then the cleaning cost is added to the repair, as dirty rugs do nasty things to a sewing machine! It was recommended on here by a member that for someone who repairs rugs it's a good idea to have an old, heavy duty machine just for that purpose, and keep the rugs away from good machines. I guess only you can decide which machine will suit your needs, based on what you do (or want to do), but a cylinder arm has to be more versatile overall, and with a table fitted, as you mentioned, should do pretty much everything that a flat bed will do.

They look almost brand new!

The black doesn't look too bad, maybe I should re-do mine black........maybe. To remove the paint on mine, I used a gel paint stripper first and was careful to keep it away from the body/bed join. Once it had softened the paint I scraped it off with a paint scraper and paper towels, used a chisel to remove what was left and then wiped it down with methylated spirits. Funny thing was, as the gel started softening the grungy green stuff it showed silver just underneath, with a grey primer under that.

Sorry, I thought you had sourced the decals in the past. This is the final result of repainting the bed. The first coat gave a nice hammered finish, the second coat smoothed it out!! The difference in colours is more noticeable in the photo, but I'm still happy with it as it looks infinitely better than the previous paint job. Whoever did the last one didn't make much attempt, if any, to mask off the main body - the overspray you can see is from the previous job.

Now THAT is one heck of a hijack!