Singer 16-188 timing vs take up spring issue

[peterstarch]

Hello all, I have very recently acquired a singer 16-188 and I have managed to mess up either the timing or the take up spring (the loop forms just before the hook has time to pick it up), I am not exactly sure which. I am using a size #138 thread with a size 23 needle (16x63) I was just wondering if anyone could tell by just looking at a picture of the BDC position of the needle to tell whether it is timed correctly or not. I believe the eye of the needle is about 1/16" too far below the hook. I wanted to ask so if in the case it is the fault of the take up spring I can save myself the trouble of removing the whole faceplate (is that what its called?) to access the needle bar. Thank you everyone! And this forum is truly a wealth of information. I do not sew with leather all that much, but even the machine information here is probably one of the best resources on the internet I have found. 

[friquant]

Welcome to the forum!

At bottom dead center, the eye of the needle must be below the point of the hook. Do you have a manual for setting the needle bar height? 

Hard to tell from the photo, but make sure the long groove in the needle is pointing left

The thread check spring has a lot more motion than it probably needs. Generally it only needs to maintain tension until the needle hits the goods. 
 

[peterstarch]

Yea, it actually tells you in the regular users manual, which is pretty cool.  The long groove as in the scarf? It was my belief that you want the scarf facing the hook which would be right in this case. Do you know if the screw of the adjustment for the check spring is actually supposed to catch it? I figure it may be bent a bit since it seems like adjusting the plate that the screw holds under it does not seems to do anything, the spring is always stopped by the screw that holds it. Anyway thanks for your response, I do appreciate it a lot. +

[friquant]

43 minutes ago, peterstarch said:

The long groove as in the scarf?

You are correct, scarf goes on the hook side. The long (longitudinal?) groove is on the other side. (Wishing for better names here haha)

 

46 minutes ago, peterstarch said:

Do you know if the screw of the adjustment for the check spring is actually supposed to catch it? I figure it may be bent a bit since it seems like adjusting the plate that the screw holds under it does not seems to do anything, the spring is always stopped by the screw that holds it.

I'm not familiar with the check spring on that model. But in general, there are two or three adjustments that can be made on the thread check spring. (I expect neither of them will have as profound an effect as getting your needle bar height correct.)

Here are the two adjustments that I understand about check springs:

1. Adjust the preload. This is usually done by loosening a screw that is down lower on the body so that the whole check spring cylinder can rotate freely. Then you put a screwdriver in the big slot on the front in between the threads of the thumb nut...use the screwdriver to gently rotate the whole check spring cylinder left (for less preload) or right (for more preload).
2. Adjust the amount of travel. Typically there is a secondary lever in a banana-shaped slide with a screw holding it in place. Loosen the screw, slide the adjuster, tighten the screw.

I'm not familiar with yours in particular, so I can't say for sure which screws do what on your model. But a little experimentation (and looking for additional screws under the mechanism) may unlock the mystery for you.

[peterstarch]

@friquant Thank you for the response! I imagine I will have to fiddle with my check spring regardless but I believe I have solved the skipped stitching issue. I bought 16x63 needles (what the manual instructs) thinking the previous owner never re-timed this machine, but I believe he actually did re-time it to take 135x17 needles. Both a blessing and a curse, because the 135x17 are much more common and offer a lot of variety, but now I have to get new needles because I don't think its worth the effort to readjust it to use an almost obsolete needle type. Thank you for your help!!!!

[friquant]

That's great!

As timing adjustments go, setting the needle bar height is the easiest. So if you do end up swapping to other needles...

The most convenient way to set the needle bar height is to put a black mark on the needle in the middle of the scarf. Then adjust the needle bar height so the hook crosses at the black mark.