Singer 211G156 Breaks Needles in Reverse

[Tsiatko]

Hello everyone, 

I recently acquired a singer 211G156 and put a servo motor on it. It seems to run great, but occasionally in REVERSE, it’s breaking needles. As best I can figure, the needle isn’t hitting dead center in the feed dog, instead it’s hitting at about 7:00 and I think the transition to reverse sometimes makes it hit the feed dog. It’s not happening every time I use reverse, just occasional - and it’s dangerous! Needle bits go flying everywhere and it’s mildly terrifying. Does anyone know how I might go about adjusting this? I didn’t see much info in the manual, but I’m new to this and may have missed something. I can take it to a local shop but I’d rather figure out how to do this on my own instead of relying on a service, in case this is something that needs adjusting again in the future. I’ve already cleaned the machine well, and oiled everything well; I thought the reverse mechanism was just sticking and oiling it / engaging it repeatedly to ensure good oiling did help, but it didn’t solve the problem. Any help / insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks for your time!

[CowboyBob]

Try pushing the needlebar front to back to see if you have any play,if so look underneath @ the reverse parts while pushing it front to back & you'll see what you need to tighten up.Some of these had a feed dog with a round hole,there is a longer slotted hole feed dog available (which we stock) that might help too.

[Tsiatko]

It does seem to move very slightly, I can hear a faint clicking when it moves. Not seeing specifically where it’s moving on the inside, but I’ll have to take a closer look with a good flashlight tomorrow when I’m off work and have time to dissect it. Thanks for your help. I thought my machine came with a different feed dog, but I don’t see it anywhere - I might have to purchase one from you, if I can figure out how to change it. 

[CowboyBob]

2 minutes ago, Tsiatko said:

It does seem to move very slightly, I can hear a faint clicking when it moves. Not seeing specifically where it’s moving on the inside, but I’ll have to take a closer look with a good flashlight tomorrow when I’m off work and have time to dissect it. Thanks for your help. I thought my machine came with a different feed dog, but I don’t see it anywhere - I might have to purchase one from you, if I can figure out how to change it. 

One more thing to check ,if you loosen the set screw that holds the needle in how much play does the needle have left to right? Sometimes after years of changing needles & tightening the screw it enlongates the hole that the needle fits into & can cause it to hit on the left.

[Wizcrafts]

3 minutes ago, Tsiatko said:

I might have to purchase one from you, if I can figure out how to change it.

To swap out feed dogs on your Singer 211, open the left sliding cover a bit, then use a long flat bade screw driver to unscrew the throat plate screws. Remove the throat plate and the feed dog and its screws will be exposed. Use a narrow magnetized blade screw driver to remove the screws. Install the new feed dog, centering it as you tighten the two screws. When you go to replace the throat plate, turn the bobbin case if necessary to place the tab into its locking position under the plate. There is a short metal frame under the right side of the plate that lets the bobbin case rotate a degree or two as the top thread gets picked off the needle and goes around the bobbin case. The tab must move freely inside the little frame. Once this is set, install the countersunk screws to secure the throat plate.

The bobbin case tab motion is controlled by an adjustable metal arm known as the opener. It is set to pull the bobbin case back then release it to let the top thread enter and exit without binding.

[Quade]

Quote

Not seeing specifically where it’s moving on the inside, b

1 - Under the cover plate on the front there's a screw that clamps the shaft that moved the needle fore and aft. 

2 - This clamp is connected to an arm that goes down into the bottom where it bolts to a crank arm.  The crank arm is adjustable. So you can make the needle movement match the feed dog movement. 

3 - The shaft that goes to the crank arm also drives the feed-dogs. 

So it could be loose at the top under cover (though unlikely) loose at the crank or there could be slop in the linkage that drives the feed dog shaft. 

I'd probably flip it up so you can see the bottom, then, with the needle not engaging the dogs, move the needle forward and backwards and see if you can detect the slop.  If the feed dogs move with the needle slop, I'd look at the mechanism and cam that moves that shaft. It's feed off the main shaft. The one with the belt on it.