dikman

That is very clever! Some people are certainly creative.

Can't help wondering about the competency of the dealer who set that up..........

From time to time newbies have the same problem with photos, plenty of free programmes available to re-size photos. Most of the forums I'm on require photos to be re-sized before posting. You've done a good job with that machine.

The label on the machine says LS-1341. The geometry on that knee lifter looks wrong, normally you push sideways with your knee to operate it but yours looks like you have to push up with the knee?

Or connect the chain to the wire loop that hooks onto the knee lift (although hooking onto the hole at the end of the lifting bar will give greater leverage for lifting).

Thanks Mike, now I can see them - just! I find the whole thing a bit weird. They're obviously not completely hollow rivets. I doubt if I could replicate that if I tried (not that I want to).

Well, I have the book and those rivet heads are doing a good job of hiding from me.

From the crimp side they look like eyelets. Just to confuse things I don't see any rivet heads between the loops.

You don't have to have the wicks, many upholstery class machines don't have them. Just get into the habit of regularly oiling the moving parts.

I need to make myself new holsters (for Single Action shooting) and it occurred to me that a slight forward cant (a la John Wayne's holster) might be interesting. Can anyone think of any reasons why this isn't a practical idea? Or would it be better to make them "normal" upright type? I'm hoping people with experience will chime in. I have a set with a rearward cant, patterned from Steve McQueen's in The Magnificent Seven, but as I draw and use a two-handed grip to fire it seems to me that a forward cant should make for smoother drawing.

Looks good, you are a clever boy. Only one possible problem - make sure you don't buy aluminium bobbins.

Fortunately the smoke hasn't been much of an issue where I live (up in the hills, it mainly affected the lower suburbs). A cool change has come through and it's almost cold now! Won't last, of course, as Feb/March are traditionally our hottest months. There are certainly some similarities between parts of Australia and California, climate-wise, but fortunately not politically.

It looks like the tension release is working ok in that video. As Toxo said the loops on the bottom appear to be not enough upper thread tension.

Nice. Understated and simple lines.

Well, I just finished tweaking it - again - and changed a pulley on the reducer to try and get it to run smoother (the brushless motor isn't as smooth at very slow speed as a brush-type motor). I'm getting there. And I agree, having issues right from the start has been good as I've got a pretty good understanding of this machine now. As for sewing something, it could be a while. The weather's been hot, which I don't like, and my hay fever has been particularly bad this year. The doc put me on yet more medication for it (one of the problems with getting old is the number of tablets you end up taking!!!) and I have an acute lack of enthusiasm for doing much as a result. Still better than the alternative, I guess.

Nice work as always, Josh, but it looks awfully plain - for you!

Looks good, I like the method of payment. Yum yum!

The Juki engineers manual is in this post, along with Uwe's excellent adjustment video. It's probably worth becoming familiar with the basic timing of the machine, although if it's forming stitches ok (other than fraying the thread) then it's probably still in time. First thing is to get rid of the burrs on the feed dog.

Your reasoning makes sense. I doubt if there was anything wrong with the machine or they wouldn't have allowed you to test it. Simply operator error, we all suffer from that at some point. If the machine suits what you need it for, and the price is right, then it's worth considering because you will have support close by, although as you become more familiar with it you would probably be able to resolve minor issues yourself.

Carrie, I just looked at the manual for your servo and it has more settings than most that I've seen. Most of them you probably won't use, but generally there is some interaction between things like the max speed that is set and the startup speed setting, it can be trial and error to find out what works best. The main thing is that if it's working for you that's all that matters. My machines have speed reducers, which also affects the speed settings used and I generally have the servos set for pretty low max speed because that is all I need. Yes, I still don't understand that statement, but I guess it doesn't matter - it's working and you're happily sewing away!

I'd just use a Dremel with a diamond or carbide bit to carefully smooth it, then wet and dry paper (wet) to take out any remaining scratches and finish off with a polishing wheel. You just want to make sure there aren't any rough edges to catch the thread. And check the timing, as Brian said. A slightly mis-shapen hole shouldn't make any difference operationally.

Yep, I can't count how many adjustments it took to get me back to my starting point!!!! I've gone through all the adjustments in the Juki manual. Now, bear in mind that straight out of the box it sewed, using different stitch lengths and up to 3/4" thick with no real problems. To get it into spec, however, I had to tweak the hook, needlebar height (2mm low), readjust the feet height and clearances and fix that slight reverse motion of the stitching cycle (the eccentric/cam that I couldn't find). I'm getting good at this.

Thanks for confirming it Bob (although I would call it an eccentric, not a cam). I'd noticed before that the leather was actually moving slightly in reverse at the end of each stitch cycle and a quick play showed this is the adjuster, now I just need to get the setting right - my first effort threw it way out of whack!

Sorry about this but it seems I keep having questions. I decided to adjust it according to Uwe's excellent video and other than the hook needing a minor adjustment it looked fine and sews ok. I decided to go through the Juki 441Engineers manual and on page 42 it refers to top feed timing. It says the needle tip should align with the top of the feed dog when the presser foot and needle come down. My needle tip is still a few mm above the feed dog when the presser foot is resting on it, so obviously needs adjusting and it refers to the top feed cam but doesn't say where it is (the parts list isn't helpful here). Where is the adjustment for this? Edit: I think I've found it, the parts list refers to a "driving cam" which appears to be the part the Engineers manual calls a "top feed cam".

Mine doesn't have an anti-backlash spring so I don't know how high it should sit but I thought it looked pretty high, which means when it's pushed in it's likely to have quite a bit of tension against the bobbin?