Rex 26-188 Jammed up

[Frodo]

Last week I had to cut the needle bar out of this machine with a dermal. Ordered new parts from Bob rr at Toledo sew machine sales 

The parts game in and I started putting the machine together while having an eye out for any parts that may be damaged,

This machine sat outside in a shed for years

everything was going fine till I noticed the v walking  foot guide bar was not lifting when it walked nor did the lifting handle budge it.  So I took the parts out to have a look. Guide bar seems to be ok just dirt 

cleaned oiled and started to reassemble

the whole machine is jammed up. I looked inside where I was working and no tools or parts were left inside  what would cause this?  Before dismantling it was freely moving

 

[Frodo]

Found it, old needle gel into the hole and jammed it up

 

[Frodo]

Walking foot lift lever

what would keep this assembly from not working?

please excuse the dirty hand, When you play with oil you get dirty 

 

[Frodo]

With the foot tension adjustment knurl bob all the way down, I can get the foot to walk

still no lift on the foot raise bar assembly

suggestions ?

[Frodo]

this is interesting

the lock nut on the tension adjustment when in the locked position is in the way of the foot bar guide as you can see in the picture

 

 

[Frodo]

I am leaning towards 1 of 2 things

Rusted or bent

the guide bar for the walking foot

any professional opinions ?

I am just a plumber, and do not know squat about what I am doing

 

 

 

[Frodo]

Come on guys, please! 
I can not do it with out you !!!!

[Wizcrafts]

My only input, being unfamiliar with your machine, is that you need to find out where the adjuster is that lets you lower the position of the inside foot. The dropping of the inside "vibrating" foot causes the raising of the presser foot. If the inside foot doesn't make firm contact with the throat plate, and maintain it, the outside foot cannot lift. On a Singer 111 type machine there is a crank coming out the mid-back that connects to a knuckle joint that is adjustable in a curved slot to adjust the amount of lift. There is a large screw on the knuckle that when loosened lets me move the inside foot up or down., then lock it in.

[Constabulary]

Videos are blurry and shaky and do not show "the whole scene". Anyway - as far as I can tell you have installed the needle bar and needle holder incorrectly and the needle clamp screw probably blocks the foot when lifting the foot lever. With other words rotate the whole needle bar until the clamp screw faces right. But I only can guess here.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Constabulary

[Quade]

On my singer, what I call the primary foot, the one on the back, the shaft has two clamps attached to it.  One clamp is for the spring that's on the back of the machine which creates the primary tension for the presser foot and the other is what the hand lift presses on to push the primary presser foot shaft up. 

I'd probably take off the both presser feet.  Unscrew the tensioner thing on the top back,  Then see if you can get that rear shaft to lift up and down.  You ought to be able to release the clamps and pull it out of the top of the machine but, I wouldn't do that initially. 

The question is where there's a mechanical jam or if the shaft itself is stuck.  When you press up on the hand lift, the inner and outer feet should both lift up.  Either one could block you.  I don't know that machine so, I can only guess. 

I have a feeling the problem is in the thing that moved the feet but that's just a guess. 

[DonInReno]

Now I’m curious - it’s a pretty simple design so it’s probably something obvious once you see it.

Rex machines are often (always?) made by someone else and simply rebranded so I started there.   A quick search shows the Nakajima TDU N62 as the same machine - there’s a lot more information on the Nakajima.   The design also appears to be based on the Singer 16-188, which there is even more information on.    I’m pretty sure Consew also copied the Singer, but I don’t know the model number off the top of my head.

Anyway, the singer parts manual was the easiest to download and the attached page shows the presser foot lifting lever and related parts.  It wouldn’t surprise me if the presser shaft clamp #1823, or knee lifter gizmo #4725 is either broken or not contacting the lifter knee/lever for some reason.  It’s not uncommon for production users to really jamb on the knee lifter and over the years those parts simply get fatigued and break.   

As far as the presser shaft bar contacting the nut - I’ll bet it’s not the correct nut - Nakajima photos show a very thin looking nut.

Hope that helps.

Edited January 23, 2023 by DonInReno

[DonInReno]

There’s also a Yakumo TDU-N62 that looks just like the Nakajima.   It’s interesting to see it in white - at first it looked like a new machine, but it’s probably a well done paint job.   The painted over screw heads gives it away.

Theres a YouTube video on this model talking about setting the presser feet so they walk correctly.

Edited January 23, 2023 by DonInReno

[CowboyBob]

Maybe the (back) aka pressure bar is stuck?

[Quade]

Quote

The painted over screw heads gives it away.

You see this a bunch with old machining tools re-sellers too. They buy a rough lathe or mill at scrap prices, slap a coat of paint on it then sell for decent coin. 

[Frodo]

Update

The presser foot bar I find is binding up. I ordered a new one

The flat bar was binding up where it went through the outer case of the machine

I polished them till they slide smoothly. Then I noticed the top of the flat bar was touching the cover plate. And it looks like that cover is not original. So I cut a slight notch to clear the outer housing

I found in the list of singer parts a set of tension plates that are missing. Part #2111   Heads Up Mr Bob  I will be ordering   even without the correct tension I threaded the machine and tried it out

the bobbin was picked up on the first try and it sewed a 12” stitch line

[Frodo]

I just spent 3.5 hours getting the hook Timmy  right

if any has any tricks, i’M all eats 

[Quade]

What's it not doing?

1- The needle and the hook need to pass next to each other as closely as possible without touching so, you might need to move the entire hook assembly towards or away from the needle.  The hook actually passes inside the cutout on the needle.  On my 211, there's two clamp screws and the actual gear needs to be loosened so I can move the hook either closer or farther to the needle. Then everything needs to be clamped down.  If you know where the hook is, you automatically know the orientation of the needle. 

2- The hook should be 1/16th of an inch above the needle eye on the upward stroke. So take the needle to the bottom, then as it starts to move up, the hook needs to be 1/16 above the needle eye. 

[Constabulary]

maybe the manual helps

 

Rex Chandler 26-188 Singer 16-188 manual.pdf

[Frodo]

5 hours ago, Constabulary said:

maybe the manual helps

 

Rex Chandler 26-188 Singer 16-188 manual.pdf 1.13 MB · 1 download

Good stuff!!!!

Thank you Constabulary

[Frodo]

According to the manual Constabulary provided (Thank you). When the eye of the needle is at its lowest position it should be on a level line with the tip of the hook 

I am there, the needle picks up the Bo in thread first try

but when I sew all I get is loops under the leather with no horizontal bobbin thread

Remove the leather, and the needle picks up the bobbin first time

 

[Frodo]

Huh,   I guess 3 times is the charm

Top and bottom

 

[chuck123wapati]

14 minutes ago, Frodo said:

Huh,   I guess 3 times is the charm

Top and bottom

 

that could just be needle thread combo now, my  chi chi patcher does that when the thread is to thick for the needle. Oh and i also found that the needle scarf ( flat spot) was to far away from the bobbin hook so the hook would miss the loop.

[Frodo]

Shat

Back to the rats nest again 

[Wizcrafts]

1 hour ago, Frodo said:

Shat

Back to the rats nest again 

I'm not sure you timed it right. SOP on most walking foot machines is to hand-wheel the needle to BDC, then come up 3/32 inch. At that point the tip of the hook should intersect the needle at 1/16 inch above the top of the eye, inside the scarf area. With this timing there is plenty of upward motion to form a good loop. When sewing through leather the needle and thread meets resistance and the loop may not be as robust. The longer timing may help the loop form better.

Another setting to dink with is the check spring, aka: thread controller. You can try increasing the throw by lowering the bottom stopper bracket under the spring.

[Quade]

Quote

I'm not sure you timed it right.

I was thinking this from the picture too.  Particularly the picture that shows the hook and needle.   I was thinking it might be better to pull the two screws off so, and the cover plate so you can see the hook more easily.  The hook is pretty deep on that pic. I wonder if the OP is timing off the wrong part of the hook? 

 

if you read section 8 of the manual, it's pretty much saying what I said. About the needle eye and hook placement.  Needle to the bottom, starts going up,  the hook should be right in line with the needle, 1.6 mm from the needle eye.  Often there are timing marks on the needle bar. Bottom mark is used to set the needle bar length and the top is for where the needle and hook should intersect.   This machine, it seems you set the needle bar length to get the timing position correct.