DonInReno

There are some parts available but the prices are crazy expensive - the reason so many 29-4 machines are for sale cheap.

You are in luck. With obsolete or oddball machines that don’t have any manuals available it’s usually quite acceptable to follow a manual for a different machine with similar design. 95% of all industrials use roughly the same dimensions for hook/needle timing and clearances. I only looked at the parts diagram for a minute, but there seems to be a lot of similarities with the 206 series of machines - Consew is known for poorly written manuals, but Seiko sold an identical machine and it seemed there manuals are much better. As with any sewing machine - making any adjustment without knowing what it does and knowing how to go back to the original adjustment is a quick way to disable it. On one hand this is nice because after a lot of frustration these machines are often sold for next to nothing.

You’ll notice many of the feet commonly available today are different heights - sewing thin material it can be a little frustrating - luckily feet are cheap.

Usually broken needles are caused by the material being forced in a direction that bends the needle far enough to make contact with a hard part. Often, changing how material is fed under the feet is all that’s needed. A thin needle bends more - I’ll go up one or two sizes larger than normal when sewing difficult items that are likely to put side pressure on the needle (heavy smooth vinyl with thick seams is especially bad). I’m guessing this machine has a clutch motor and the high speed makes it hard to tell what’s happening when the needle breaks. Going slower greatly reduces broken needles, but that’s probably easier said than done. There will be marks left on the part that’s breaking the needles. Maybe the needle needs to be better centered in the needle plate. Maybe you simply need a needle plate with larger hole. Maybe they are breaking on the hook - the condition of the hook’s point is where I’d look next. It’s possible something up top is loose or worn out allowing too much movement in the needle bar. I have no idea how many parts are available or what interchanges with the 206. Hopefully it’s an easy fix.

That’s a great machine for a first industrial - you will really enjoy it. Any good sewing machine oil will work just fine. As a general rule of thumb you just add one drop of oil to all the moving parts - your machine automates some of that with the oil reservoir at the hook and up above. With a new old machine it’s a good idea to remove the top and end covers to make sure the automatic oiling wicks are in place - I’d just manually oil everything while it’s open. The upper reservoir probably works and feeds oil to the wicks just fine, but there’s no guarantee. Not everyone understands how they function and someone may have disabled it. Mine over oils things so I tend to not fill the reservoir, but rather take the cover off and manually oil the wicks once each time it’s used. The hook reservoir is similar - there’s nothing wrong with filling it with oil, but it might leak heavily. I manually oil the hook each time it’s used and don’t worry about the dip stick. Many of us don’t use a metal drip pan under the machine, but rather use a rectangle of heavy canvas or leather draped underneath and held on with clips of some sort. Of course there’s nothing wrong with the metal tray. Cowboy Bob has a good suggestion with brazing the take up arm - it’s a challenge to get the old one out and new one in, not to mention replacement part quality won’t be as good as the original singer part. Enjoy your new machine!

You’ve received some great advice - good quality thread is nice to sew with. Getting it from a reputable supplier is also a safe bet. As thread ages the wax that bonds the fibers together can get hard and cause tension issues, so “good deals” on eBay may cause problems. Having said that, after you’re up the learning curve and comfortable with the new machine, it’s nice to have a selection of sizes and colors, and low cost import thread is an option if you keep in mind it may not be as easy to sew with or even the correct size. Measuring thread diameter and breaking strength isn’t necessary by any means, but if someone were to check, the cheaper import threads are generally on the thin side. Good luck and enjoy that new machine!

I really like that color - good job! The lower shafts come out pretty easily, but old screws might be really tight and everything gets disassembled so take a lot of photos and even make small scribe marks to it can be reassembled in the correct order. You might even discover a few set screws are of the wrong shape or have been out of the proper location this entire time. In general, removing something for minor issues makes more problems than it solves. An easy way to check for bent shafts is a cheap dial indicator and magnetic mount - even a $20 set from Harbor freight or Amazon will work fine for this kind of thing. It just lets you know if there is a bent shaft and if so how bad it is. You can also use it if a shaft needs to be straightened to judge if you’re bending it enough.

Somewhere I saw a picture of a guy who used a drill press with no motor and the shaft had a pin so it didn’t rotate. It was essentially a low pressure arbor press. Drill presses are often free so that’s a good low $$ toy.

I’ve probably picked up 30 generic Chinese feet for singers, some directly from China, and about half of them have been noticeably out of whack and have been tossed in the trash. Mostly alignment issues so it crowds the foot next to it, but sometimes the bottom was not flat to the table. Of those that haven’t been tossed out, some are very nicely made and others not so much. It seems to be difficult making cheap feet at the same height as factory feet - at least one was about 1/8” taller than it should have been, but most are close or only 1/16” off. I still buy cheap feet, but get one from two different places and usually in the mid price range - and still expect to toss out one of the two, so I’m usually not disappointed. Lol

I have an Artisan 3200 that’s a slightly older model without the built in bobbin winder. At times it’s confused with the Cowboy 3200, but the Artisan is essentially a short armed (about 8” shorter) equivalent of either the full size class 4 or Cowboy 4500. The short arm does make a difference and just turning the smallest of items would be easier with a longer arm. As a full size 441 clone it accepts the same feet and accessories. My machine functions well and I have no complaints about fit and finish or how it sews. The stand is quite similar to other stand up stands - no better, no worse. Personally I think the 3/8” steel plate that serves as the base on any of these is thin enough that it’s not as solid feeling as it could be, but as I said they are all the same. I would upgrade it to 1/2” or even 5/8”. It will function without a speed reducer, but it’s very nice to have one. At least the new one that came up in a quick google search didn’t come with a reducer, which I think is a mistake. The new servo motor they are using has a good track record, and the long flexible led light is one of the best out there. The bad news is management at Artisan doesn’t seem to give two sh*ts about… …well, there have been issues… …let me rephrase that in a positive way. Cowboy and Cobra are more supportive, with Cowboy at the top of the list here. It’s nice supporting companies that provide support for this site and are often here providing advice. If I was in the market for a new full size 441 clone I’d get the Cowboy.

Once upon a time I saw some of those brass pins with a rosette head - I’ve searched and searched and came up with nothing. Searching for oddball things has become much harder since every searched item seems to be paid placement anymore. Lol

Old machines have tension issues more often than not - at least with my luck - a simple check I started doing with any machine I’m not used to sewing with is to thread the tensioner and manually pull thread a little while cranking the tension screw all the way out and all the way in, as well as while lifting the presser foot all the way to check the operation of the thread release. Even brand new tension disks can be the wrong shape and not function correctly.

When there’s a problem don’t forget to change to a new needle in case a slight bend is causing fits. I couldn’t get the video to run for some reason, but it’s on my end I think - one video that did play seemed to show a needle with the tip broke off, but for the life of me nothing could get it to play again so I’m not even sure that was your video. Sometimes a needle can bend and stab something with the point leaving a rough divot, that can fray thread. If the point of the hook contacted the needle the very tip of it could be damaged causing frayed thread as the hook gets behind the upper thread, but frays it or even jambs up or breaks the thread. I’m curious to see what you find out.

Nice! There are good deals out there if someone knocks on enough doors. How much was the United sewing machine selling for? The first thing that popped into my mind was it’s missing a lot of paint, but that’s not a bad thing since it shows it wasn’t a factory machine with multiple coats of paint in between rebuilds. At least with my silver 111w155, the paint seems to be thinner and less durable than the older black one - but that may be due to some aggressive cleaning with solvents at some time in its life. In upholstery shops that sew a lot of things with zippers and preinstalled snaps, the paint really takes a hammering. Same for really large canvas if it’s allowed to drag on a dirty floor and pick up sand and dirt. Heck, even the bad habit of resting scissors on the bed will strip the paint over the years.

Of course you’re right about the metric gears on your machine - it’s such an American thing to think everyone used d.p. on old gears! Lol I found this explanation of the similarities and differences between the metric and American designations that was just what I needed to better understand the gear modulus system. Best of luck on it - that’s quite a nice machine. https://qtcgears.com/tools/catalogs/PDF_Q420/Tech.pdf

Your write up of the machining project was very good!

For some reason the catalog image doesn’t show up, but that is a clickable link to the catalog nonetheless.

I do not have any information - I’ve never seen one until yours. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a gear to match, although sewing machines are famous for oddball gears and screw threads to prevent others from making spare parts so it might not be an exact fit. There are three things you’ll use to identify the gear - the number of teeth, the relative size (diametrical pitch or dp), and the angle formed where the teeth meet (pressure angle or pa). Spur gears in the US that were used on older machines are normally a 14.5 degree pressure angle, vs 20 degree pressure angle used on new machines. I have no idea what type of gears were common when and where your machine was made. The number of teeth can vary since all gears of the same dp and pressure angle mesh with each other, but most reducers are 3:1 and then there’s the reduction between the reducer and handwheel pulley, which can be up to 6:1. All combined the reduction is something between 10:1 and 18:1. If your main gear has about 50 teeth you’ll want a small gear and it probably won’t give enough reduction on its own and you’ll have to have a large pulley driving the small gear and small pulley on the motor. For size (dp) it’s not going to be easy to determine other than comparing it to gears of a known size. In the photo these are both dp of 8 and number of teeth are 20, but the one with squarish teeth is 14.5 pa and the other is 20 pa. They somewhat mesh, but if used together it would be a very loud setup. Just a wild guess, but it seems your gear is somewhat close to dp 8, but probably the larger dp 6 or even a dp 5. The catch is, there is no requirement for them to follow these common gears and it might be a weird pa and nonstandard tooth shape. This catalog somewhat describes the differences and commonly available inch (not metric) size gears from Boston Gear.

Machines with a walking foot won’t spin much so that’s normal. I also just use wd40 and rags with a small brush to clean most parts then oil everything well. There’s no need to ever take the machine apart to clean. Normally every day it’s used, just one drop of oil in each oil hole and every place two pieces of metal rub together is all it needs, but on a dirty machine I’ll maybe do 5 drops each day knowing it’s going to drip oil so place extra rags under it.

Sounds like you know what you’re doing and shouldn’t have any problems welding it! I’m always surprised by the amount of oil that can soak into cast iron, and sewing machines are always covered in oil, so it definitely helps to get it hot enough to burn up any oil - automotive stuff must be the same.

I’d vote for a mechanical linkage to a simple foot peddle - like a clutch pedal in a pickup. With air cylinders or small hydraulics, the small amount of stickiness in the cylinders eliminate the nice feel the stitch should have. There are some very nice cables that would be smooth, but it shouldn’t be too much work to rig a pedal with some pivots up to the machine. 3/8” heim joints and various length fine threaded rods or internally threaded tubes are readily available for the links from places like Summit Racing or even eBay.

That’s going to be a lot more valuable than the Singer 111w - I’ve never seen a big gear used as a speed reducer - quite unique. I guess the exposed gears took off a few finger tips so the idea never gained much popularity. I bought a few helical gears off eBay for a geared speed reducer thinking they would be much more compact than a belt driven 3:1 reducer, but by the time the gears are fully enclosed to be finger friendly it’s not much different, so that experiment is on hold. Lol

I’m more familiar with brass/bronze brazing so that’s what I’ve used in the past. After beveling the joint and grinding out any small cracks, you’ll want to heat the area well to burn out oil that is hiding in the pores and small cracks you didn’t catch originally, then finish prepping the area before fluxing. In general there is no big advantage to either brazing brass/bronze or welding with nickel welding rods - I’d use what you’re most familiar with. On larger parts there is an advantage to welding with nickel since gas welding setups have a hard time producing enough heat in deep grooves and inside corners. Sewing machines are often made with ductile iron so it can bend a little before cracking - before sinking a lot of time and effort into fixing the small bits, I’d carefully check the alignment of the arm - it might not be worth fixing if you have to cut the arm off and reattach to fix an alignment problem due to a bend. edit: What do you mean by bed extension is broken? Maybe I just missed that in the photos.

These are available in all sorts of head shapes and diameters once you search for the correct name - that I can never spell correctly

That is really cool!