Vinito

Very cool. Thanks. Your text description is too complicated to make sense of it on a first cursory read, but I'll print it and take it to the machine. I'm sure a step-by-step following of it will set me straight. My original guess of where the wick led was definitely incorrect compared to what you show there, so I'm glad I asked. Thanks again. Edit to add: It is done! Seems obvious now of course... The correct placement sure makes more sense and the fit does too. Finally this machine is back in business. The restoration turned out nice and I think it will really come in handy. I would guess that it will take some minor tweaks to perfect it up, but it seems to sew pretty well finally. Incidentally, I bought some el cheapo junk bobbins at first and they caused me a fair bit of grief before I finally figured out the problem. Original Juki bobbins weren't all that much more $$ but they work great, so it's definitely not worth scrimping. Night & day. The junk ones were slightly larger diameter, 1/32" wider (ouch!) and the bore was rough as can be. Bit of advice on wicks: I bought replacement felt block "wicks" using the correct original Juki part number from a reputable parts source and what they sent was a big block of foam for each one instead, so maybe the "real" ones aren't available anymore? Disappointing ... Anyways, evidently it's just best to clean up your original wicks and keep on reusing them. Now I just need to learn about how to actually use it, which needle/thread combos are correct for the work, and even what kind of thread is correct for the machine and what kind of needles are right for the work. I heard that you even need to buy the right twist (right hand vs. left hand) for stranded thread or things don't go right. So much to figure out, but at least the machine part should be pretty much set up. One less thing.

Wow. I could understand if nobody knew for sure, but no reply at all? I guess I'll just guess. I hoped there'd be a better way.

Hi folks. I'm trying to figure out where this oil felt wick is supposed to go. It's been several months since I last got into this so if I ever knew, the truth has been erased by sleep & donuts. It's for my Juki 563 (bobbin conversion from a 562). The felt block pad goes into a well which is marked in red highlight. I just can't figure out where the end of the wick is supposed to clip. Doesn't seem like the lifting foot rod needs this kind of oiler but I could be wrong, and if it's for the walking foot or needle rod, then I can't even figure out where it could go. Can somebody look at theirs and tell me where the heck the end of the wick is supposed to be clipped on? Thanks. The pad, wick & clip: The well: But where do it go?:

Excellent info. Note that the genuine 563 has a different saddle and crank than the 562, so if you're doing the budget upgrade and just changing the lever and using the 562 saddle and crank, you probably won't need to mill that relief in the bed casting. Thus going either full conversion or budget conversion, you're gonna need to do some milling, either in the saddle & crank to clear the large bobbin(budget upgrade) or the bed to clear the larger parts (full upgrade). I could be wrong about the bed not needing milling on the budget upgrade because the thing will set more to the right on the larger hook, but I've never seen or heard it mentioned before so I suspect it might not be necessary. I can switch some parts out on mine since I'm stumbling around in there anyway and I'll report what I find. I probably won't have time until the weekend though.

I started a fresh thread regarding just my restoration and (eventual) bobbin upgrade will be put there once I get to it. link to the thread JJN's post there lists these parts which would be a minimum to do the conversion: B1905-563-000 thread take-up leverB1830-563-0A0 vertical-axis sewing hook asm.B1824-563-000 bobbin case opening lever You can replace several other parts to do a more complete "genuine" 563 bobbin upgrade, but functionally it shouldn't make much difference, if any, to just replace these three and go to town. However, if you do go this route, it will require that you machine .100" off the top of the saddle, then remove a bit off the opening lever crank to make room for the larger hook,. I'm going to try to figure out and show a way to do these with some kind of less expensive tools, but I'm probably a few weeks away from that. I'm currently a bit swamped and won't have time for a while yet.

Nice thing about two identical machines is it gives you an "Arkansas blueprint" and/or spare part in case you need one now and then. Yeah, if they don't regard the Pfaff to be worth using, maybe they'll give up on even dealing with it and they'll just toss it into the bin & hit the floor of your hauler instead... fer nuthin'.

Got a phone call today regarding my upgrade parts. Looks like the take-up lever is two weeks out (I interpret that as "minimum two weeks") and the other parts on the list are moot without all of them in-hand. So I guess I'm in no particular rush for the upgrade then. I'll continue to do some measuring and thinking on the comparison of parts and options for a bobbin upgrade, because depending on how many parts and/or how much you are willing to spend, there are at least four different levels between minimum and complete conversion a guy could choose from. I figure I might could go with a different source for my parts and luck out for getting them quicker, but I figger it will take me some time anyway to go through the machine and tweak it to my goal where it functions extremely well. Thus probably no big gain deciding to rush things. Also, I was somewhat impressed that my parts source actually called me to update me on the status - pretty rare these days I think. So I'll just start with setting it up to work as a stock 562 for now. I agree that it seems like the cover plates would look better with the black hammered paint. I think it will end up there ultimately. My competing thought is that the bare metal would be more durable vs. the occasional scratch or the like, but of course that increases the already inevitable chance of rust. So if the practical options are a wash, might as well make it pretty. And I totally echo hopes that all this effort ends up with a well-working specimen. I kinda like these mechanical puzzles so it's been fun for me. I've been restoring things in this manner for forever so I wasn't scared to jump right in. You never know exactly where things end up I guess, but I'm pretty happy with how it has turned out so far. Besides restoring the head, I'm adding some cog belt pulleys between it and the motor to slow down the machine to 1/3 of current speed. That will suit what I want out of it much better too. Before I know it, I should have a pretty sweet setup.

Well in that case, here's a taste of the whole enchilada then. It still needs about 37 adjustments before it will work, but the parts are all in place now. The original parts I mean... since I'm still waiting on upgrade parts, I figured I'd just put it back together as it was and do the upgrade once it's all ready to toss in there. How 'bout a after & before side by side? I'm considering black hammered paint on the front and top cover plates, but not sure yet. It's kinda OK as it is. We'll see.

That's an interesting observation regarding the thread guide. That probably would never have crossed my mind. I'm gonna see how it goes with what I've got first, but good catch on you I think. I can't think of any other parts. But I'm absolutely new to all this so I'm probably the last guy to ask anyway, unfortunately. But as far as I can tell, the other three parts is probably all you need for functional upgrade it at minimum expense. Note that this WILL require a bit of material removal for it to work. I am a machinist by trade so I have probably every tool known to man, but I'm going to see if I can think of a good way for a non-machinist to do it with less expensive tools and just some care applied. I would agree that it's always a good idea to check out the bushings, but it might be worth actually checking them out before buying anything. You're gonna have to mill the top off the upper bushing anyway so be a shame to buy an unnecessary bushing and immediately go whittling away on it. I'm not sure yet if the saddle needs more machined away or just the bushing. In my case, for whatever reason, even though it was packed full of guck and stuffing, my bushings show no noticeable wear at all. Are you sure it's .100" @CowboyBob? That seems excessive to me. I did a little measuring the other day and at first blush, I would have guessed it might only need .010" or so. That was all just a first glance though and it would depend on what point a guy needs to pick for a reference plane. You may very well be correct - it just hit me as maybe quite a bit more than I first thought. I do remember that I was struck thinking that the apparent scale of that big ol' bobbin was actually not a ton taller than the smaller one. It's all kinda fuzzy memory in my head now, unfortunately. I did write down my measurements, but I won't have access to them until at least Monday. p.s. @CowboyBob thanks for the kudos on the color. It's already growing on me too!

@JJN yeah I would think there's something like that going on regarding a longer take up arm. I originally ordered one of those exact arms from that seller (cutex), but they sent me a message saying they were out of stock and didn't know when they'd have them, and still didn't remove that listing either so I don't know what to think about that. I am currently waiting (for a while now) on a different supplier to either send one to me or eventually tell me the same thing I guess. I made a bit more progress today though: I just realized, you can't really see much of the progress. It's mostly all the stuff below that I've put back together so far, so sorry you can't see it there. The observant will notice I didn't put the timing belt in yet but still put the bearing and hand wheel on. I am kinda mocking up the upper stuff so far, but the nice thing is that it all slips on and off nice and smoothly since it's all clean & deburred, so partial disassembly for getting back to that is pretty easy at this point. Gotta love that part. By the way, I painted this with a spray gun and mixed in some catalyst which is the only reason it has cured and hardened well enough to handle some assembly like this. I dunno if the rest of you have used Rustoleum the past few years, but in my experience, in its unmolested state it takes days before it's even not tacky, let alone able to handle. It didn't used to be that bad, but they changed something I guess. Mixing and using spray guns is a bit of a hassle, but the results of the catalyst makes it worth it for sure.

Yeah, that would be handy. There also might be a difference in angle (or coordinate delta) of the thread eye to the fulcrum/lower stem which would also be important (maybe) for clearances or timing or whatever. A bit more tricky to measure, but (obviously) could be done. Maybe I'm missing something, but if it just had more arc and nothing else different, that would seem completely unnecessary for function. It appears to me, at least on my parts, that the actual opener lever is no different. I've ordered a 563 opener lever and it looks to be the exact same thing, but I suppose it could be that my machine came to me with the lever replaced with the wrong one at some point. I have noticed that the 562 opening lever crank is indeed too tight on one corner and will interfere with a 563 hook, thus will need a bit of material removed for clearance. In the parts book, there does indeed appear to have a corner milled away on the "proper" part so the larger hook will clear, but there are other subtle differences in the profile between the two parts as well so I'm not positive if there are other dimensional differences or not. Hopefully I'll verify either way on that soon too.

I've been doing just a bit of preliminary digging, and to me it looks like what the bobbin situation is, is: The hook shaft and cam are identical diameter, so that could be extremely helpful for fitting things together without having to purchase a couple or few hundred dollars of parts. There is extra shaft length on the larger hook, but essentially that doesn't functionally make any difference and would be just a bit of extra shaft sticking out the bottom of the 562 saddle. Things are otherwise very similar. It seems to me that the only modification necessary to make things function for the least money is that the hook/bobbin is only slightly taller on the 563 vs. the 562 parts, so one might be able to mill a tad off the top of the bushing so the 563 bobbin sets deep enough. However, a better solution would be to loosen the set screw holding that bushing in place, slip it out and turn the excess length off in a lathe. The reason is a bit esoteric, but it would probably be important to do it this way rather than shave the top of the bushing down with an end mill as was demonstrated in the bobbin conversion video by BRE. The short story is that the result will be a flat plane rather than a slight cone thus would last longer / wear much slower. If this is all a bit confusing, don't worry - I'll explain what I need to do on it in detail a little later. I am picking up a few other parts both for comparison and also to feed my OCD which leads me to want the hook assembly conversion to be more as-designed. Honestly, I can't think of any reason why the smaller 562 parts (saddle, etc.) wouldn't last most any of us a lifetime of perfect function, so I'd say "save yer money". But another side reason for me to get these additional 563 parts is simply because out of curiosity I want to know the difference, and also to report these differences and subsequent opinions for posterity. Also as an additional note, apparently it is necessary for proper function to upgrade the take-up lever as the 563 lever is a bit longer. I have found that this 563 take-up lever is a bit difficult to acquire for whatever reason. Maybe it's just a bad moment in time or something. But it's not exactly cheap either, so I'm going to think on other options to solve this problem. I can't think of any good reason why the 563 take-up lever needs additional arc to it such that it has. As long as it clears obstacles and the thread hole is the proper distance from the fulcrum, it should be all disco. I don't think there's going to be a way to lengthen the take up lever without welding, brazing or at least soldering. But if you can do one of those, that might be the most economical way to still end up with perfect functionality. I'm kinda just guessing on this so far though so I'll report back once I lern somethin'. If anybody knows something I'm missing, please yell it at me. p.s. just a couple more added touches of progress:

Thanks JJN. I might hit you up for some reference between the two bobbins parts if it's possible for you. I already know that I don't know if there's a difference in the "bobbin case opening lever crank" (B1822-051-000 vs. B1822-563-000) other than a bit of clearance (for the larger hook) off the corner where the opening lever clamps on. Maybe it's identical (enough) otherwise? Also I wouldn't mind having full dimensions of the 563 lower bushing for the hook shaft (in the saddle) just because it's easier to just make something from dimensions rather than try to "engineer" it beforehand. But measuring all that is 1) a bit difficult if you don't already have some experience and tools to do it and 2) difficult anyway unless it's disassembled, so prolly not worth it unless you're in there for some other reason anyway. Maybe just a couple clear, close photos showing how it all fits together would be helpful enough? Either way, if measuring doesn't happen, I should be able to figure it out. There are features on the existing 562 lower bushing that I can't extract the necessary function of (and thus translate to the 563 setup), but those facts may reveal themselves after a bit more study. Thanks for the feedback. I sometimes feel pretty isolated taking on these kinds of projects and it's inspiring for me as well to hear that somebody else thinks my efforts are worth something. and p.s., I just realized that I overlooked painting the hand wheel and reverse lever, so I completed coating them with some black hammered paint a few minutes ago, which ought to go good with the gold. It's coming along.

Just a small special touch, in tribute... well in that case, should I have made a nod to Singer instead? Oh well.

I ain't so sure about the color either, but I figger it ain't gonna matter fer squirt once it just starts getting used and the color will just be forgotten eventually anyways. It's shiny & smooth now though and that will kinda make the sewing seem nicer. ... uhh... and then what? I would imagine the hard part is what I've already done, taking it all apart and the subsequent putting back together. I couldn't find for sale the lower bronze bushing for the hook (in the saddle) so I'll just machine one myself, but it's just a bushing so that's pretty basic. Otherwise, it's mostly a matter of reassembly with different parts than what came out. If I'm mistaken, feel free to let me know and help me save some time. Today is decal day. I printed up some waterslide laser "JUKI" decal since I had some and it's gettin' stuck on there later. After that I guess it'll need a bit of clear to seal the decal, then the painting is finally finished. It'll be interesting to see if I can remember how this thing goes back together again and figure out the rest.

I have a post about me picking up an LU-562 a while back. The cleanup is turning out pretty good so I thought I'd put its own post for the restoration effort. Thus far it's cleaned up and a coat of paint and I guess it looks unique now. Main thin is it looks much better and should be a gem (from my perspective) when I'm done. I've looked into it and picked up a few parts so I can upgrade the bobbin too. For those who don't know, the difference between the Juki 562 and 563 is the 563 has a much larger bobbin. I picked this unit up really cheap so the cost of some parts to upgrade to the large bobbin is not prohibitive. If you have more into yours already, you'll have to determine for yourself if the cost of parts for the upgrade is worth it to you. I'll be getting more into the bobbin upgrade once I get to the point of assembling that area of the machine. So picture 1 is as it was when I got it home. I could hand turn it, but it wasn't exactly "loose" and holy cow, there was so much lint & oil built up I don't know how it even got itself that bad. By this time, the oil had turned to tar, so yeah, it was precious. Just a bit of cleaning and scrubbing though and it was starting to come around. There are 4 shoeboxes of nice, clean and oiled parts now. They'll show up later looking like an empty shell. A bit of sanding... Then primer... And like it or not, I went with some gold hammered finish paint. If nothing else, it makes it somewhat unique. More to come.

Stepping back to the bodywork... I have decided that the gold hammered paint should look OK and take a dark decal I can print myself. However, i'd have to use the spray gun instead of a rattle can and I have one of those in a blue hammered. Any votes for either? Prolly not the ideal primer color, but I already had it so.... thus far's progress (primed and sanded, ready for paint):

Measured the hook assemblies up today. Looks like it would not be too bad to make the big 563 hook work in the 562 saddle. However, I think I found a genuine Juki saddle for pretty reasonable. We'll see if that pans out, but if it does, it will help in a couple ways. First, this should make the upgrade easier for me. But second, it gives me parts to measure so I can directly compare the 563 against the 562 parts for some analysis and recommendations for "making do" if someone wants to do the upgrade with less cash outlay. That's about all - update Du Jour.

Got the hook in the mail today. Uuh... it is a bit larger than the 562 indeed, isn't it? I'll be able to make it work, but unless you're at least a halfway decent hobby machinist, it would be a tricky endeavor I think. Oh, I suppose you could do less and make it work, but I think it would be nice to make it somewhat close to what it was designed to be rather than "barely fit". We'll see. I just wish I had some 563 parts in hand to measure and analyze for comparison. Anybody want to send yours to me for a day so I can measure it up? Yeah, I don't guess the chances of that are remotely likely, but ya never know. I do think that large bobbin will be a nice upgrade. It looks enormous compared to the small one. I talked briefly to Tony Luberto today. Nice feller. I think I'll check his video out. I'm sure it will be helpful once I get to putting things back together. Well I'm about halfway through the tricky and tedious business of masking holes and screw heads, so I guess a paint job isn't far off. I am considering just making things super simple on that front and simply painting it hammered silver since it's available and I even have a quart of it on the shelf already. Register your posts to the contrary before it's too late. Hmmm. I could go with hammered bronze instead maybe. Need to test them and compare I guess.

Is this progress or destruction?

Well crapola. Took the place I bought parts from only 3 days to tell me that the take up lever is out of stock and they don't know if they'[ll ever get it. They list it on eBay and Amazon both, and both say "in stock" and both the listings are still there. Morons. Anyway, they are the only ones I could find for a while. I did find the parts on IndustrialMachineMan so I'm hoping that source isn't awful. Turns out the problem upgrading bobbins isn't the expense, it's finding the dang parts in the first place. It just seems odd to me that such a popular (albeit older) machine should be difficult to find parts for it. I wonder if the genuine singer 111 lever would be easier to find (probably not) and if it would even fit? Actually I wonder if there is even a large bobbin version of the singer variant...

I doubt I took enough pictures or video. What have I done? Oh the humanity. I was looking in my paint stash and I have some silver, gold, black and bronze hammered enamel quarts. I wonder if I can mix a tad of regular gloss enamel (with the silver probably) to give it that touch of green without messing up the hammered texture? I'll try a small batch and see what happens.

Yeah, that tends to happen anyway. You get into something at the start because you need lots of info, then after a while it's just a machine you use now & then and even though it's still cool, you're not all excited about it anymore. I'm sure the same thing will happen here for me. Once I get this machine all restored and using it, then get through a bit of other kinds of leatherwork projects, then it'll just be another hobby "notch in the belt" and something else will start to suck my time in another direction. In the meantime I hope to have something to offer the world. In this case, I'm hoping to supply a specific recipe for converting a small bobbin to a large one for these machines. The parts are on their way so I'll be able to dig in a little hopefully later this week. I just completed cleaning up all the parts in gasoline - after pretty much totally disassembling the machine. It's a shell of a casting and four shoeboxes full of parts. Now that I've cleaned them up, I'm glad I dug in that far though. Everything had a coating of brown varnish on it inside & out, so it's all back to bare metal and oil now. I don't know, but I would think it will operate a ton smoother than it would have otherwise. It always bothers me on a project when I get more dirt on myself from handling the tools & machines than I get off the materials. This Juki should be pretty nice when it's done - large bobbin conversion and clean as a whistle with brand new paint job. Here's hoping I don't screw it up!

Yup, same Vinito. About 100 years ago I scanned the 1-22 manuals you find there. I haven't participated there for almost that long either, so I'm glad folks still find it a handy resource, but I just kinda outgrew interest I guess.

Thanks for the tip on the paint. I haven't had the time to decide yet how far I'm going to disassemble this thing in the process of just trying to get it cleaned up. But it's possible I'm gonna have it apart far enough that it wouldn't be much more difficult to just take the last few remaining things off and repaint the whole thing. Like I said, not sure yet. I ain't afraid of it, but I want to be at least a little bit practical if I can. I have already removed the hook and main shaft and parts from the underside of the machine (the bobbin area was packed and gross, so I started there). I guess I should have been capturing video for documenting the effort, dangit. Don't really want to do it twice, but I guess I could slip it back together for posterity. Speaking of "not practical at all", if there's a desire for some detailed information regarding converting to the larger bobbin size, I'll be glad to take one for the team and just dig in and do it. Constabulary! That video is awesome! I was looking for something exactly like that but nothing would come up. Must be YouTube's currently screwed up algorithm nonsense. In the process of censoring for politics, they made it so you can't find what you want to see either. Genius. Anyway, I was intrigued into the effort since the guy said he just had to buy the hook, take up lever and case opening lever. I was under the impression that converting not only needed more parts than that, but that the parts were much more expensive than ~$100. SO... I've had bad experiences buying crappy clone sewing machine parts in my short history with it, so decided to buy what are described to be "jenuine Juki" parts (in fact the photo of the hook included a Juki part box sitting next to it). So rather than costing $80 as in the video, the ones I ordered cost $130. I figure that's still not bad considering tariffs & inflation from 2017 and possible quality upgrade. The public has spoken... sounds a bit like a golf clap, but hey! I'm in... I'll take some accurate measurements and report back, hopefully with text and video both to suit individual preferences. I wish I had a set of applicable LU-563 parts so I could compare the other items which aren't included in this hack. But I'll do what I can with what I've got and let you know what I find.