Juki LU-563 needle / presser foot alignment

[SewMuchToLearn]

I am having trouble figuring out how to fine tune my Juki LU-563 walking foot machine. The needle isn’t centered (right to left) in the center presser foot hole, and the center foot isn’t centered with relation to the outer foot.  

Here is a link to a video of me hand turning the wheel — you can see some slop in the center foot — is this normal?

Please share any suggestions of how I can dial this in better, or let me know if you think it already as it should be. I started looking at it more closely when it looked like my needle holes were excessively large for the needle/thread that I’m using. Photos show front and back side of a seam. (needle: 100/16 LR/RTW, thread: 69 bonded nylon, leather: veg tan two layers totaling 3mm or 7-8 oz).
 

[kgg]

50 minutes ago, SewMuchToLearn said:

The needle isn’t centered (right to left) in the center presser foot hole, and the center foot isn’t centered with relation to the outer foot.

The center pressor foot needs to be centered by slacking the nut which holds it in place on the shaft.

 

53 minutes ago, SewMuchToLearn said:

needle: 100/16 LR/RTW, thread: 69 bonded nylon, leather: veg tan two layers totaling 3mm or 7-8 oz

Here is a good needle to thread size chart that will help you. ( https://www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html ) The suggested needle size for a thread size will need to be upped a size when in thicker tougher material, I would personally suggest using a #18 needle for V69. You may will find that you will have to change to V92 or greater with a larger needle to help reduce needle deflection / strikes in thicker / tougher leather.

kgg

[SewMuchToLearn]

2 hours ago, kgg said:

The center pressor foot needs to be centered by slacking the nut which holds it in place on the shaft.

Do you mean I should make it less tight? I cranked down on it in hopes of getting rid of the extra slop. If I loosen it, the center foot wobbles even more.

[kgg]

55 minutes ago, SewMuchToLearn said:

Do you mean I should make it less tight?

Slack the bolt holding the center presser foot to the shaft then move the presser foot so it lines up allowing the needle to be in the center of the presser foot hole and then retighten it on the shaft.

kgg

[Quade]

It you take the front cover off and look at the shafts for the needle bar and the center presser foot, you can see they both feed through a cast iron arm. The arm pivots at the top.   The point is that you can't adjust the relative position of these two shafts. They're fixed in relation to each other.  So, Kgg's method of loosening the foot and re-positioning it is probably your only way to tweek the position.   I'd probably want to verify the needle isn't bent.  

Quote

 I cranked down on it in hopes of getting rid of the extra slop. If I loosen it, the center foot wobbles even more.

You might want to pull the cover off and then try to determine how much slop there is in the center presser foot shaft.  The 211 I have apart now is pretty worn but the inner presser foot still doesn't have any slop as it passes through the arm.  

I was wondering if the whole cast iron arm that holds both the presser and the needle bar might have slop in it?  There's a pin the arm pivots on at the top of the arm which goes into the machine body. It's held in place by a set screw. Might want to make sure it's not loose and that the whole pivoting arm doesn't have much play.  

[DonInReno]

It looks like the needle is pretty well centered on the feed dog and like kgg said your feet need to be adjusted, not the needle.

Keep in mind there is a lot of variability in replacement presser feet - if it never quite aligns as well as you’d like, a different set of feet will fit noticeably differently - for better or worse.

Another option is making any needed adjustments to the feet rather than replacing a set that not quite shaped correctly.  Many of us sand or file down areas of presser feet that rub or otherwise could function better with slightly different shape.