Quade

Yeah the gap is like a couple thickness of paper. In my manual it didn't show actual thickness. It's got to be wide enough to let whatever thicknesses of bobbin thread you're using slip through the gap.

It depends on how many layers. I have a Juki equivalent of that. The DDL-5500. It seems to struggle much beyond 2 layers of thick canvas. My machine can't control thicker thread. The tension is just never right when I use thicker thread and larger needles. Larger than 90/14. I just use it for regular cloth. Once I get above a certain number of layers or thickness, I switch to the walking foot.

It's still probably binding at speed but you're just powering through it. I might disconnect the belt and try turning the upper and lower shafts by hand and see if you feel the binding. I'd take the needle out before doing this because disconnecting the belt disconnects the positioning between the feed dog position and needle position. I'd also take off the needle plate and try turning the machine over. I've had two machines where the feed dog touched the needle plate and cause both noises and binding. It depended on stitch length too. Smaller stitch lengths had no contact. I think it's unlikely to have anything to do with the belt.

Looks like a decent clone of the Juki. I recently got a 1541. I really like it. I played with older machines and while they work great, the newer machines with easier to set and calibrated stitch lengths are far more convenient. I'd probably buy it if I was in your shoes.

I have two walking foot machines here (one new). Both have a tight spot where the inner foot presses down on the feed dogs. I also have a needle feed only machine which is smooth as butter. From that, I sort of figured all walking foots had a tight spot where the inner presses down and lifts the outer off the needle plate. I was able to reduce the tight spot on one by reducing the foot pressure. It was way too high from the factory. I'm a noob and this is just something I thought was normal. Please let me know if others don't have this same issue. It's kinda hard to tell from the video but it almost looks like the inner foot isn't pressing down on the feed dog like I'd expect.

Haha that's China for you.

I had one of these. I'm going to let it go with a machine I'm getting rid of. It functions, but I don't like the feel as much as the digital motors. The digitals seem to have more slow speed torque. Looking at the "workhorse". It seems pretty decent. I might have to try one.

Did it come with a table you bought from them? I got a machine from them last week with table and the servo is pretty cheeseball. While it's the same design as the "Consew" I recently bought, the consew is an altogether better motor. You can reduce the start speed of this motor by programming the box. The default start speed is 200. It's functional but I am planning on switching to a smaller pulley for now. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z7F6W79/ I have this on one table. Pretty happy with it. Better than the one that came with the new machine.

Neat looking machine.

Thanks. That seems so much beefier than what Consew is selling today.

Seiko is the actual builder of many of the older Consews out there. I have a Consew 224 which is actually a Seiko. I'm reducing my collection, I have a Juki 1541 now and a Juki DDL 5500. One for heavier work and one for light duty stuff. Not sure what I'm going to do with my 211. It seems about equivalent of the Juki 1508.

My advice would be to replace it with a 750 watt servo motor. They're quiet and power efficient and you have much better control of sewing speed. I tossed all my clutch motors.

Great minds think alike... I did something similar with my A1121. What I really want to find is a non-air bracket for that part so I can remove the cylinder altogether. Having that cylinder and the fat bracket prevents you from installing a conventional foot lift. It takes up too much space between the bracket and the body so the foot lift lever won't fit in there. Knowing what I know now, I probably should have bought a more common 211. Still I rebuilt it and it sews well.

What kind of servo is that?

Mine just came in. Thanks.

Looks like it's in the same class as my Juki DDL 5500. The 5500 is a light to medium duty machine for clothes and such. It doesn't much like thick work. I stripped down and powder coated a Singer 211. I'd advise many pics before you take it apart. I ended up having to dig around the internet to find information on some of the settings. Singer manuals are garbage. I'd suggest bagging the screws for each sub-section. Singer uses all sorts of oddball screws. Many are hard to come by because singer uses bizarre thread pitches.

I'm not sure if it's just the angle of the picture but the hook looks mighty blunt and even beat up in the top two pics. If it was my machine, I'd probably replace that hook. Not that that's necessarily related to your problem. Have you tried different bobbin holders on the two machines? One thing I like about the 1541 style is the easily replaceable bobbin holders. Whereas on the vertical hooks, the bobbin tension spring is built into the hook. The downside is you can't easily see remaining bobbin thread on the 1541. I think the gap between the hook and the needle is too wide on the 1341. Notice the gap on the 1541. I almost wonder if the 1541 is too close so it's been hitting the needle and that's why the hook has gotten blunted.

Nothing is "free". It took me 15 minutes to mounts up a servo and be ready to go. Your "free" treadmill motor costs disassembly time, time to hook up speed control. Time to fab up mounts. You might need a speed reduced to keep the RPM's on the treadmill motor up because many DC motors depend on RPM's to run the cooling fan fast enough. You'll need some hookup for the pedal. From my perspective, it's a mistake to discount "time" as part of the cost. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't do it. It sounds like fun. Just that it won't necessarily cost less when you're done.

Considering you can buy a DC servo for $200 it doesn't make much economic sense. It could be a fun project. I mounted a "Sailrite" worker B to my Singer 211. It worked pretty great but wasn't as convenient as a conventional servo motor. What I'm seeing more and more is people re-purposing DC sewing servo's to drill presses and small lathes. They're compact, powerful and cheap. Lots of torque from a low RPM.

I've only had one industrial completely apart. A Singer 211. There were two dowel pins and 4 bolts that held the casing together and in alignment. With the dowel pins, it would be pretty much impossible for them to mate incorrectly and/or go out of alignment. I'd look to see if you have dowel pins, if they're there or not and whether the bolts are tight.

That's just step one of the timing dance. 1 - This large gear is how you set the fine hook timing. You slide it sideways to change the hook timing then lock it into place with the set screws. It shouldn't move axially when operational. There's a procedure in the naval 111 manual for how to re-assemble this but you can do it by eyeballing it too. If you find you're out of the range of hook timing, you might need to slide it away and re-engage the hook on a different tooth to get you closer. Another reason you might need to slide the large gear is when you move the saddle closer or farther from the needle. You have to loosen it before moving the saddle. That same shaft uses a linkage to another shaft that drives the feed dogs. It also connects to an arm that goes up into the body of the machine to rock the shaft that moves the needle back and forth. So feed dog and needle timing are locked together. If you find the needle and feed dogs aren't moving in concert, you might need to change the position where the needle rocker arm connects to the feed dog shaft. It's a lever so, moving the lever connection point in and out changes the how much the needle rocks compared to the feed dogs. After you get that timing correct, you might need to verify the timing of the foot lifting. On the back side of the machine, the lever that rocks the feet is driven by an eccentric on the top shaft. This can be rotated to change when the feet lift. I wouldn't mess with it if it seems correct.

I'm pretty sure the OEM pins already have the head. Same for my Logan lathe.

This is gold. I'm re-doing a Singer 403 and uses a couple of these. Oddly most of the plates are held in place with tiny counter-sunk screws.

Helicoils are fine if you have a part that doesn't get taken apart often or ever. They can unscrew with the bolt. I primarily use time-serts for anything that has to be taking about more than once. The inserts can be removed and replaced of they're damaged. There's a tool that comes with the kit that both expands the threads and wedges the insert into the hole. That's why they don't back out. I use them in aluminum quite often. I used one to repair an arm on my Singer 211.

Thanks. He used a 3/4" end mill to open up the hook hole. I guess he wanted to install a larger bushing or the hook required a larger bushing? It wasn't clear. He said he was able to do the conversion for about $100 but that doesn't include labor or the milling. I could see this costing $600 if you had to pay someone.