rockthecasbah121

Gregg- that file was helpful and has better pictures than the one I found online for the 5550. I think I identified and fixed the issue- but I don’t know the exact order things occurred in. My wife snapped a smaller size 18 needle on a collar. After looking through that document, I could tell my timing was still correct, but the hook had somehow drifted too far to the left and was now slightly nudging the needle when it came back up through the plate. Whether something got messed up with the pulley or whether the snapping of the smaller needle caused the movement, I might not ever know. Does anyone know if it is possible to align the take up lever and the needle to both be in the highest position at the same time?

So after a speed reducer we broker a needle and kept getting a couple of issues with the bottom thread. I looked at the motion of the machine without the belt on and can see the bobbin pushing the thread slightly to the left when it hits the bottom of the indent (Juki 5550). As a total novice, how do I adjust this?

Two new belts later and the machines speed and power are perfect! my wife has OK’ed the speed for sewing collars. One last question on a problem she is having. She is used to the machine automatically raising the needle to the position to remove the item and release the bobbin thread. I know there is an attachment to do this on Juki’s. Can I use this attachment with the pulley adjustment or can I adjust the timing so that it releases the bobbin thread at the highest point of the needle?

After about four hours, the new pulley is on. My bobbin winder may not fit back on afterwards, but that’s ok. I will need to cut out some additional room for the belt and also get a new belt for the motor to fit around the largest wheel- the one it came with left it slightly too loose. Right now I have the motor going to the 6 inch pulley and the sewing machine going to the 3 inch. Anyone have any idea what that reduction on speed ends up being? Even in this configuration, it’s a lot more manageable.

Ok- 3-6-9 pulley reducer ordered with 3 day shipping. I’ll let everyone know how it goes installing it and seeing how it works.

I’m thinking about leaving it on. The shaft size seems to be a strange one at 11/16”- I’m assuming I’d have to get that custom made.

Any advice on taking this pulley off? I assumed all I had to do was loosen the set screw and slide it off, but it feels like I’m going to break my hex socket before it budges. Am I missing something else I need to do first?

I'm going to get a caliper tonight and confirm the size of my current pulley and then try and find a 1.5" or smaller one to attach to the motor. If that doesn't work, I'll move on to a pre-made speed reducer. No returns on this machine, so I've got to make it work for my wife.

The “0” setting does not spin the shaft at all- I’m assuming this is to facilitate hand cranking? The next slowest setting is 350 rpm, but when we do our thickest runs which are only 7-12 stitches long, it needs more torque to get started and then takes off on us. This is probably something that could be overcome by practice, but my wife would rather just get rid of the machine rather than mess up a bunch of collars.

My machine has a family FESM 550s Servo motor in it. When I looked it up, the only thing I can find is that it has an amco shaft. Are all amco shafts 3/4 bore? It looks like this pulley will probably work on my machine if so and reduce the rpm by half: https://www.amazon.com/Industrial-Sewing-Machine-Motor-Pulley/dp/B01CXNRK6S/ref=pd_aw_sim_201_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=42421DT2Y031XF8H0A0M&th=1

Do you know how much it costs? It looks like you can’t buy it through the site but have to call them. We looked at some of the programmable machines- but my wife is OCD and was not OK with the stitch quality. She is used to her machine that has a one stitch button on it, hence the need to slow down our current machine.

Just measured and it does have the 3" pulley on the motor. What's the smallest size you can go down to? Looks like the interior bore is 5/8 inch. Is there a site most people get their pulleys from?

That's an interesting solution I had not thought of. I'll take a look at my motor when I get home to get an idea of how easy/hard it would be to replace. Do you notice any low torque issues when using this method? I know at the slowest speed I can get my machine to with very little pedal compression, I sometimes have to give the flywheel a nudge to get it going.

Do you have any issues with the machine not coming to a quick stop with the pulleys being used?

My wife and I own a dog collar business, and although we don't typically work with leather, our collars are relatively thick and we recently upgraded to an industrial machine after breaking numerous home machines. We now have a Juki DDL-5550 with a servo motor. It goes through our collars with little effort, but we're having trouble controlling the speed. Even with the servo motor on the lowest setting and the pedal adjusted to not fully pull down the motor lever, the machine continues to take off of us when we're doing small runs (we have stitch lines that are only 2 inches in max length but have to go through two layers of collar). I've looked in to two possible alternatives- the reliable 6000SM which claims to be able to do one stitch at a time by tapping the pedal, and a superior 3-6-9 speed reducer pulley. Both items are pretty expensive, so I'd like some opinions on either one before I move forward. Is there one I should choose over the other? Should I go for both? Is there any issue with attaching the reducer pulley to a servo motor I should consider?