cdthayer

Alex, it sounds to me like the tension screw in your shuttle is backing off on its own as you sew. I have one like that for my 1943 Singer 29K70. The screw won’t stay where I set it. I switched to a different shuttle until I can figure something out on it. It’s not a split screw that can be spread with a narrow knife blade like some shuttles and bobbin cases have, so I’m trying to figure out some other way to increase drag on the screw. CD in Oklahoma

Looks like a good project to me. CD in Oklahoma

You have an interesting machine and stand there. It’s only the second straight-leg 29-style stand that I’ve noticed, and I saw the other one just recently on that auction site with a 29K71 on it. Maybe there are a lot of them out there, but I hadn’t noticed them. Your machine looks like it’s a Centennial model, which means that it’s from around 1951. The stand doesn’t look like it was ever set up to treadle, but was intended for electric power only. The crank that would be needed for a pitman rod has been replaced by a straight shaft, and the dual-pulley flywheel will act as speed reducer from the motor to the machine. CD in Oklahoma

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is overloading the bobbin with thread. I finally figured out that I was doing that to myself. It’s natural to try getting as much thread on the bobbin as possible to avoid running out of thread or having to load the bobbin more often. But too much thread on the bobbin can cause binding when the thread pays off of the bobbin, and can create havoc with normally balanced thread tension. Overloaded bobbin means that the thread layers extend out past the rims of the bobbin. I’ve gotten to the point that I make sure they even stop short of being even with the rims, just to make sure the thread won’t contact the bobbin case when the bobbin turns. I don’t know if this could be any of your problem, but if you’ve got a freshly wound bobbin in and suspect it could be contributing to the problem, simply pull a couple of feet of the bobbin thread out, cut it off, and try sewing again. CD in Oklahoma

I believe that the “D” (and the Singer Badge) indicates that the machine was made in the Singer factory in Wittenberge, Prussia. CD in Oklahoma

What size thread are you using? Make sure that the bobbin is not overloaded with thread to where it can’t rotate. Make sure that the bobbin is placed in the shuttle so that the thread feeds correctly. Make sure a loop of thread isn’t being dropped under the bobbin when loading the bobbin into the shuttle. CD in Oklahoma

To give you a comparison, I run Bonded Polyester T-92 & V-92 thread top and bottom with a Size 18 needle in my 1939 Singer 31-15 treadle, and have never had a problem with thread damage or breakage. I’ve never used any other thread size in it, and have sewn off & on with it for a year and a half. The material that I’m sewing ranges from thin to medium-thickness vinyl, and thick woven fabrics. Very little thin leather. The slow speed of my treadle application probably makes a difference for me. I’ve never run my machine on a power stand, so I don’t know what it would do at higher speeds. I don’t know how much different the hook assembly might be between Wizcraft’s machine and mine, but mine is over a decade newer machine. CD in Oklahoma

What are you planning to sew? I’ve recently been setting my Singer 95-40 up as a dedicated denim jeans hemming machine. It was designed for sewing light and medium weight fabrics, so it’s not really designed for heavy work or leather. I was even concerned about how it would handle the cotton-covered polyester Tex80 thread that we use for jeans hemming, and while I’ve only done a few test-sew trials hand cranking it, it looks like it might handle it alright, but Tex80 is probably close to the largest thread that it will like. I’m using a size 18 needle for woven fabric, sewing through 3 to 6 layers of new blue denim fabric (six layers when I cross the fake flat-felled side seams). I’m going to have to run it more to find out how the bobbin case gets along with the jeans thread. To achieve the tension that I wanted for setting the stitch in the denim fabric, I swapped out the light-weight bee-hive spring in the upper tension with one out of a Singer 31-15 to avoid having the spring nearly mashed flat. So, if it was the original spring, which I’m guessing it was, that told me that my thread size may be above the intended limit for the machine. CD in Oklahoma

I was going to say.... I just bought a pound of 277 Bonded Polyester thread from Cowboy Bob at the Wichita Falls Boot & Saddle Show a couple of weeks ago....... CD in Oklahoma

The spinner knob for hand cranking is working alright for now. A servo motor may be in the future, but I still need to get about $300 worth of parts to restore the hand presser bar lift and the automatic tension release. I’ll probably concentrate on getting those parts before a motor. I’ve only used the machine a couple of times in the past couple of months, and one of those was a free gratis job, so it may take me a while to make enough money for just the parts. In the mean time, it’s one of the quietest-running machines that I have..... CD in Oklahoma

Nice group of machines there. CD in Oklahoma

I got a foot presser bar lift rigged up on my Adler 205-64 that I have mounted on a 3-drawer, 1-compartment Popular Mechanics toolbox that I happened to have had available. I think the foot lift is going to work fine, but I haven’t sewn anything with it yet. I sewed some on a dog leash the other day, and sure wished then that I’d have gotten a foot lift on it sooner. The only lift that I had was by hand on the foot lift actuator lever. I haven’t replaced the hand lift lever parts that are damaged yet, and I have to release the tension manually each time. I power the machine by hand from a seated position using a steering wheel spinner knob on the balance wheel. I drilled a hole with a step drill bit in each side of the cabinet, as close to the bottom of the lowest compartment as I could get. Then I put 1/2” black rigid pipe across through the holes, added an old Singer foot plate that I had, a shim on either side of the plate, and put hose clamps on both ends of the pipe to keep it from walking out one end or the other. I used 1/8” plastic-coated cable and cable clamps to attach the peddle to the foot lift actuator arm. The cable doesn’t rub the edge of the cabinet very hard, and it’s rubbing on wood, so if I get a groove worn I’ll put some kind of metal shim under the cable to protect it. The whole set-up looks Redneck, but it’s just perfect for a small repair shop like mine. Cost of the new parts was about $15. CD in Oklahoma

I enjoyed myself at the 2014 Wichita Falls Texas Boot and Saddle Makers Roundup, and I thank all of the vendors for bringing their wares to my area. I just love the smell of leather when I go into that room. I got to meet two of our celebrities in person and visit for a bit with each. The lovely and famous Bespoke Cowboy Boot Maker Lisa Sorrell, and the helpful and well-known sewing machine man Bob Kovar (Sr) of Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. Lisa is so fun to talk to I could have stayed there for a while, but she had a line of fans to say hello to her, so I moved along. Bob was busy too of course, especially when that loose thread got hooked on a boot and began paying off of the cone like a fishing line. I got a big kick out of Bob telling us that we should see it when the floor sweeper catches a loose thread! I had fun, and came home with some new goodies. CD in Oklahoma

I like to see shop-built solutions like this. Thanks for posting. You really went all-out on the speed reducer, but is the foot-lift made out of heavy enough material to hold up? I’ve got to get busy and rig up a foot-lift for the presser bar on my Adler 205-64, and then learn how to use it. All of my other machines have knee-lift presser bar lifts on them (that have anything other than a hand lever lift). Having my machine mounted on a mechanic’s tool box will make rigging a challenge. CD in Oklahoma

Looking at his member silhouette, I think I’ve seen him somewhere before....but I can’t place him..... CD in Oklahoma

This afternoon I fiddled with my Adler 205-64 Handcrank. A friend of mine broke his big tow strap close to one end, so I sewed a new eye into the end to rebuild it. It’s the first real “project” with the Adler, and I’m pleased with how it sews. I really do need to get to work on rigging up a foot-operated presser foot lift though. I found a peddle for it, but need to locate a piece of pipe to run across under the toolbox to mount it on. It’s something that’s really needed to operate the machine for any length of time. The eye splice took quite a bit of sewing, and my arm was starting to feel the strain by the time I was finished. One full revolution per stitch makes for a lot of cranking, but the steering wheel spinner knob works just fine. I think it will be just fine for these kinds of repairs, but wouldn’t be adequate for any type of production with the machine. CD in Oklahoma

The Singer 66K uses a Singer type 15x1 (or Japanese HAx1, or Schmetz 130/705H) Universal Needles, available in sizes up to size 18. CD in Oklahoma

Be cautious with machines that have the SV (Special Version) tag on them. They generally all do something different than the same model number without the SV does. Sometimes it’s a minor difference, sometimes it’s a major difference, but there will be something special about its operation. CD in Oklahoma

Dang. It looks like you know what’s going to be taking up your time for a while! Best wishes on a speedy recovery. CD in Oklahoma

Interesting old iron, and your clean-up looks good. In the parts manual, it says the Singer 133K3 is “Cylinder Bed, Drop Feed, Roller Presser, Needle Bar Link, Link Take-up, for Leather Work”. What does “Needle Bar Link” and “Link Take-up” mean? CD in Oklahoma

Nice old machine! I like the "Rusty Old Iron" too. What size thread were you using? Did the manual bobbin winder come with it, or is it something you've rigged up? CD in Oklahoma

Everybody wants the gravy, and not the old cold tater. Sometimes you have to buy the tater to get the gravy. Thanks for your negative posts, it keeps bumping this thread back up again so that maybe that old boy can sell his outfit before he goes completely blind. CD in Oklahoma

Since this is a thread about “Singer Class 95 Question”, and the OP appears to have gotten his question answered, I thought I’d ask another question pertaining to a 95. I have a Singer 95-40 that I’ve been toying with the idea of making into a dedicated denim jeans hemming machine. At the current time, we’re using our Singer 20U33 with straight stitch needle plate, feed dog, and presser foot for the task, and it seems to me that we’re wasting the use of the zigzag capabilities on it. If the old iron will do the job as well, I can turn the 20U33 back into a zigzag machine. The jeans topstitch thread that we use is Tex80, and should work alright in the 95. I have needles coming to try it out for sure. I plan on putting the 95 in an old chopping block type H-leg stand that has the correct cutout, but I’ll have to come up with a motor. I have an old Atlas Clutch that I got along with a basket-case Singer 31-15 that I put into a newer power stand and then sold to a local wallet-maker. Before that, I had bought and resold another 31-15 that was powered by another Atlas Clutch, although it was in much better shape. That’s the only Atlas Clutch that I’ve ever played with, and I was amazed at the slow control that it provided. Much better than the newer clutch motors that I have on my other machines, and plenty slow enough for a jeans hemming machine. Before I put much effort (and probably another motor) into this Atlas Clutch, would the folks that have more experience with them tell me if I just got lucky and found one that was better than most, or were all of them pretty good for slow control? Thanks. CD in Oklahoma

That is not a “normal” Davis Vertical Feed machine. I have now or have had copies of most of the versions of the Davis VF, and they all look different than this one. The round inspection plate on the back of the pillar makes me think it’s a later model, but it’s the first one that I’ve seen with the knee-lift lever on it. The presser bar lift design is different than on the normal NVF (New Vertical Feed - later version machine) to accommodate it. I can’t even find a photo of one like this. The NVF takes a 15x1 needle (the earlier models took a “Davis Long” needle that are hard to find now and an MTx90 is a substitute), but I don’t know if this machine would also take a 15x1. Being a different machine, it may take an industrial needle. The long shuttle will still limit thread size, but then, the shuttle and bobbin on this one may be different, allowing a slightly larger thread than an NVF. The Singer stand is interesting as well, and makes me think it may be an early “Artisan” semi-industrial electric power stand. I can’t see enough of it. It’s probably not what a leather man would want, but it’s an interesting unit, and Davis VF Fans might be interested at his price. Here’s a photo of a Davis NVF for comparison. CD in Oklahoma

Thanks for not blasting me for having fun with your triple post. I’ve been having problems posting too, and I was just having a little fun. As to your quantity problem: The problem is, that most companies have figured out that everything that they sell needs to generate a minimum of profit margin to make pulling the parts and shipping them feasible. Back in the day, those small quantities that cost more money to provide than they brought in, were simply averaged out with the larger sales. They thought it was good for business to take a loss on an order every now and then, because the larger sales would offset them. Nowadays, with the new trimmed-down bottom lines, they package things in larger quantities to help keep from having those extremely negative income occurrences, and they’re working on eliminated the negative orders all-together. My wife and I run into the same thing when buying merchandise for resale. Our Distributors make us buy a minimum quantity of everything, or we can’t buy any. I’ll get back out of here now, in hopes that someone else can provide you with a smaller quantity to help you out. CD in Oklahoma