Help with Singer 211G166

[BrooklinCanvasDesign]

Good Morning All,

I've gone through many of the threads here. Wow. There's some great and helpful people left on the planet. Thanks in advance for reading.

I'm looking for help adjusting a singer 211G166. The stitch length adjustment is not working properly. The length gets smaller when I go through the steps to make it longer. It also causes the timing to be off when I attempt to make the stitch length longer. The longest I can get the stitch is just less than 3mm. more like 2.5mm. This machine will do a 5mm stitch. It's newish to us - was our backup machine for the last year - converted it to a servo motor and it was working pretty well. The only issue had been that the forward and reverse stitches were not the same length - the reverse was a bit shorter than the forward but we lived with it.  Forward had been around 5mm but yesterday something changed and the stitch length shortened on it's own.

Gone through the steps now a few times to time the needle/hook and reset the stitch length but it's not working. The truly odd thing that I mentioned above and that might make sense to someone about the nature of the problem is that the stitch length gets shorter (not longer) when you go through the steps to make it longer.

Maybe a kind soul here has experienced this. Appreciate you taking the time to read.

[Quade]

There's this spring loaded thing under the machine that connects to the main shaft, the one with the belt.  That's the thing that sets the stitch length. 

When the stitch length is increased, the arm on this thing should get longer and move the shaft the feed dogs is on more. It's the same shaft that moves the needle bar back and forth. 

When you press the button on the deck and turn balance wheel till it catches, then move the balance wheel forward or reverse to lengthen and shorten the stitch. It's this spring loaded thing that changes to increase and decrease the throw of the arm. 

I'd probably prop the machine open and set if to zero stitch length (turning the balance wheel away from you till it stops) release the button. Then turn the balance wheel and look at the arm. It shouldn't move at all as the balance wheel is rotated.   Then go the opposite direction, set it to max stitch length and observe the arm. It should move the most at that position.   Basically it should go from centered with no movement of the arm to moving in and out with the balance wheel to move the feed dogs. 

If zero isn't zero and max isn't that max, it suggests the spring loaded thing isn't in the proper position on the shaft.  There are set screws to hold the shaft and there should be a cut out on the shaft that one of the set screws actually screws down into. Meaning it shouldn't normally be possible for this mechanism to be in the wrong position. But who knows. My own 211 was a Frankenstein machine.  It had been messed with quite a bit. 

There's a million adjustments on the machine and the manual isn't that great at describing how to set them. 

https://quadesimages.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Sewing/IMG_20221212_171209811.jpg

Edited March 18, 2023 by Quade

[Wizcrafts]

Here's a parts manual for the Singer 211 series. It shows the parts assembled on the shaft that control the stitch length.

211G165_166_265_266.pdf

[BrooklinCanvasDesign]

whoa, thank you @Wizcrafts - that's an amazing document...and @Quade - really appreciate this picture and your very detailed words; It's snowing again here in Maine so it's a good day to learn more about this machine...hope you both have a great Sunday.

 

[BrooklinCanvasDesign]

wanted to say thank you for the help here. I knocked around under the machine and discovered that the thing that controls the stitch adjustment was not advancing or retarding properly. Not sure what the issue was but after releasing the set screws and adjusting the flange distance and some lubrication it's behaving properly. Thanks again.

[Quade]

That's great.