kgg

The photo highlighting the thread path. It appears that you have the top thread enter the upright pin in the bottom hole then go up and exit the top hole. Should be the other way around. The top thread then enters the three hole thread guide. You have threaded the top thread in a straight line through each of the holes before exiting to go to the top tensioner discs. The top thread should enter the first hole from the top (correct) then exit the hole and before entering the top of the next hole loop over the outside edge. It is hard to see from the photo's if you have the top thread properly in the lower tensioner. When you thread through the lower tensioner the thread must click behind the little pin (finger) to whole the top thread so it doesn't flop out as the thread arm moves up and down as you sew. The pin (finger) can be seen in the last photo setting in the vertical slot on the left of the tensioner aligned with the top thread exiting the tensioner. Threading through all the guide holes from the thread spool can put to much top tension on the top thread. The number of holes you thread through is going to depend on the thread size, material thickness and type of material. Getting it right my take a bit of experimenting. Also from your photo's, it appears that you are using 8 oz spools of thread. Some people have experienced problems with this size of thread spool particularly cheaper black bonded nylon thread. Make sure the thread is not going under your spool and getting caught. kgg

Taiwan is part of China with only 7 or 8 countries in the world recognizing it as independent. Neither Canada nor USA do. kgg

Welcome to Canada, and Ontario. Lots of brand name dealers and clone dealers down that end of Ontario. kgg

Which part of the country are you moving to? kgg

I would kept the good machines and sell the other then buy a new or good used replacement for the other. As far as machines go there are many suppliers of Chinese clones available just depends on where in Canada you are moving to. The highest access / selection / accessories to machines for brand names like Juki, Alder would probably be Ontario. As far as clones go, dealers / resellers are a dime a dozen so buy one from a local seller in the area you are going to setup for support / parts/ repairs. kgg

The only Juki that I know of being still made in Japan is the 1541S all the rest are sadly being made in China. But that is another discussion. kgg

From the nameplate the machine is from Japan not China. kgg

I didn't see a guide in the photos what style? If possible a picture would be nice. kgg

That is good price info for anyone looking to purchase a 1341/341 class clone gives a nice comparison. To break the price down it would have been about $2350 CA plus 13 percent tax. Don't you just love taxes. So for our US people on the list it would be about $1790 US.

As a side note what was the approximate cost of the machine as I am sure others who are thinking about buying that type of machine would like to know a ball park number. kgg

I think your present setup should work fine but think it could be improved for performance and appearance. Having a knee lift is not uncommon nor is a foot pedal activated lift. If I am not mistaken the Juki 341 and 1341 both use a cable connection to the presser foot lift lever while I have seen chain and solid round metal rods also used. The object of any configuration is to pull down on the presser foot lever to lift the presser foot up to it's highest point. The less resistance to the movement of the lever the better. Personally I think the pivot bolt connection on most machines that use your type of lift lever and pivot bolt connection could be greatly improved by incorporating a flat round bearing seated in the lever at the pivot point. That way there would be less resistance / rubbing between the pivot bolt and the lift lever. In my opinion it's just poor engineering to save the cost of a proper bearing, about a cent for the manufacturer. kgg

As an additional suggestion I would try using only one point of connection of the plastic coated wire to the presser foot lift lever to remove the need for twisting of the wire, improve / reduce lifting pressure caused by the rubbing of the twisted wire as it moves through the table and improve the appearance / performance. To do this I would remove the wire bolt connector closest to the needle on the presser foot lift lever and reuse it at the other end of the wire too form a smaller tighter loop around the small hook-like rod at the knee lift connecting rod just under the hole for the wire in the table while also changing the angle and length of the small hook on the knee lift shaft. That should help with getting the wire to travel more in the centre of the hole in the table. kgg

The main question, did it sew correctly right out of the box? kgg

I agree with Bert51. I would also add a couple of things. Have you called the dealer for some advise? I would remove the connecting cable and back off the tension return spring from the level to see if the pivoting bolt for the level is to tight / sticky and or the lever spring maybe also set to high giving more resistance then necessary. I may even try connecting the cable out to the last hole if possible to get as much leverage you can on the lift lever. The knee pad on the lifting mechanism needs to be move so the pad would be at a 7 o'clock position as a starting point. Bolts need to be really tight and bite into the round shaft or a flat spot ground into the shaft to prevent slippage. kgg

In my opinion, neither. Both are domestic top feed garment machines which can maybe do V69 thread. If you want something to last, with a wider range of thread, larger foot lift and don't have the space maybe a portable walking foot machine would be a better choice. Think of machines like Reliable Barracuda as I am sure there must be similar machines on the other side of the pond. kgg

How true, long live the Republic of Newfoundland. kgg

I know nothing about these machines but was wondering how you are doing with the snow. Getting 76 cm (2 1/2 feet of snow in 24hrs with winds up to 155 km ( 96 miles) an hour. In my 45 years of living and growing up in St. John's (oldest city in North America) I cann't remember that amount of snow in such a short period of time. Stay warm and safe, kgg

I would suggest looking for a machine with a safety clutch so when you jam things up and eventual you will, look at machines with a safety clutch which can save a machine from a lot of damage. I would suggest a brand name like Juki 1541S (~$2000) and for clone Consew 206RB-5 (~$1400). The Fabricator if I am not mistaken doesn't have that feature which would be more like the Consew P1206RB (~$1100) but more expense then either of the Consews. kgg

All the metal parts are new and some maybe a bit tighter then others. What I did when I got my new machine was to oil all the shafts, bearing, lube points and the ran it at low speed for a bit then gradually brought it up to full speed where I left it there for a few minutes and then reversed the procedure. Then changed the oil and re-oiled all the lube points, bearing shafts, etc. I must note that I don't strictly use sewing sewing oil in my machine. I do use the sewing machine oil in the pump reserve of the Juki 1541s but for all the other parts I use my red neck concoction (7cc's of Royal Purple Synthetic Oil SAE 5W-20 for gas engines and 5 cc's of Motormaster Full Synthetic Dexron- VI Automatic Transmission Fluid mixed together). kgg

The holders look really nice. I do have one caution when using any items with any magnet like those used in magnetic edge guides or holders. The amount metal items will be affected is going to depend upon the type and size of the magnetic, the metal of the item and how the item becomes magnetized either through passive transference (direct contact) and intentional (rubbing the item against the magnetic). Since metal items can become magnetized like bobbins which could potentially affect how the bobbin spins or is attracted to the bobbin case. The larger magnetic edge guides can lift the bobbin up in the bobbin holder which can prevent bobbin spin particularly in patcher type machines. kgg

I think so far so good but to get more movement of the waking foot part you will need to adjust the position of the cam on the main rod located at the rear front of the machine, the brass looking piece. Part #4, photo #8 in Section 9 (To Regulated the Length of Stitch) of manual. kgg

To change the amount of feed you will need to change the position on the feed drive rod. Check out the discussion in the topic "Adjusting the walking foot height" on the site it should give you the idea. It is sort of described in section 12 of the manual bit you get a better idea from the discussion. kgg

I suggest that you use V92 thread as a good stating point to get your machine stitching correctly. With older machines the tolerance get a little off as parts wear. A new machine may do V207 all day long but as it ages there may be problems. Some machines handle V207 on top and bottom but work better with a smaller bobbin thread size. Type of tanning veg vs chrome as well as the thickness will play a role. To get it forming a stitch correctly start with a thick / multi layers of fabric as your test pieces. kgg

Right off the bat Vinymo #5 thread is .53mm (www.etsy.com/listing/708202195/vinymo-mbt-5-053mm-100m-spool-japanese) which is V207 plus a bit in size and would probably need a #25 needle. Check the manual and see what is the largest needle, I think it is a #24 max and thread Vinymo #5 thread maybe to much for the machine. A good chart for the right size needles and thread size you can find at www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html I would suggest getting some V92 thread and trying it since your thread is at or beyond the machines capacity.

Forgot to ask how you are installing the bobbin? When you pull on the bobbin thread does the bobbin spin clockwise or counter clockwise. Have got the proper tension on the bobbin thread by doing the drop test? kgg