Contributing Member friquant Posted 1 hour ago Contributing Member Report Posted 1 hour ago (edited) Review of Jianglong 341 purchased March 2025 I am quite happy with my Jianglong 341. It only took two months to get it, cost me a total of $1115 with a table, knee lift, foot lift, flatbed table attachment, servo motor, needle positioner, and a couple of binding attachments. It’s been quite versatile. I’ve been able to stitch a stack of vinyl 12mm high using TEX 270 thread. I’ve also been able to repair my watchband with TEX 70 thread. Not that I expect it to be exactly as good as an original Juki 341, but in areas where it is a little less polished, I have been able to adapt. First Impressions On arrival it sewed well. It stitched slightly longer stitches in reverse than in forward. I would say it was not perfectly in adjustment, but I had no complaints about it at the time. Here is my “first impressions” forum post: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/125619-jianglong-341-first-impressions/ Representative Work Here are some photos representative of things that I stitch. On the left is a tote with liner and heavy interfacing in the base. In the middle is a backpack compartment that uses plastic corrugated signboard for two of its interior walls. On the right is a heavy belt made of webbing on the outside and a plastic core for stiffness. Thread Size Supposedly this machine is rated up to TEX 207. I’ve used TEX 30 on up to UNbonded TEX 270. Mind you, I’m mostly sewing textiles so I can’t vouch for its abilities with large thread going through thick stacks of leather. Major Quibbles after Four Months of Use Here are the main things that I hope Jianglong will correct in the future. 1. No Hook Safety Mechanism The juki 341 manual shows a hook safety mechanism, but the Jianglong 341 has none. (You can run low belt tension to help keep you from damaging) 2. Advertised Stitch Length The factory advertises 9.5mm stitch length. This is only achievable if you optimize for forward stitch length, leaving your reverse stitches about 3mm long. If you balance the stitch length, you can get 8mm forward and reverse. 3. Banana Slide The arm that connects to the banana slide is too long in my opinion. What this means is that when you adjust the height of the walking feet, you must also adjust the timing of the walking feet. (Ideally this would only require a single adjustment, not two) Forum post: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/125832-juki-341-lift-height-adjustment/ 4. Reverse Spring The reverse spring is so stiff that it was hurting my arm to use it. Ultimately, I disconnected the spring where it hooks under the frame and used a number 64 rubber band to hold the lever in the “up” position. 5. Cylinder Bed End caps The upper end cap on the cylinder bed is not solidly located. That is, there is a range of fore-aft positions you can position it at before tightening the screws. This presents a challenge, because if you inadvertently tighten it down in a different position than last time, then your bobbin latch opener will open a different amount than before. Somewhat related forum post: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/126148-hook-off-the-shoulder/ 6. Hook Shoulder When stitching medium or long stitches in reverse, the thread does not ride in the hook shoulder. I suspect this machine would do better with a larger diameter hook, which would give less side-to-side deviation between the needle and the hook when the needle moves front to back. Forum post: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/126148-hook-off-the-shoulder/ Minor Quibbles Here are some minor annoyances 7. bobbin winder if you move the handwheel in reverse, the bobbin winder goes in reverse. (May be a problem if you need to raise the needle to remove material) The height of the exit on the bobbin winder tensioner is incorrect. to get a bobbin to wind evenly, I bent a piece of wire to hold the thread higher for an even wind. 8. Hook timing cover plate The hook timing cover plate has a hole in it so that you can supposedly loosen/tighten the set screws in the hook gear without removing the cover plate. But the hole is in the wrong position, so you have to remove the cover plate anyway. 9. Check Spring limited adjustment When you slide the check spring stroke limiter out of the way to let the check spring drop down farther, the machine casting is in the way so the check spring does not actually drop down much. You can bend the check spring to match the contour of the machine casting, and then you will have full range of motion. 10. Stitch Length Dial On the stitch length dial, the number at the top of the dial is not what it’s actually set at. If you were to draw a line to indicate what length you are at, the line would be at more like the 11:15 position. 11. Oil hole in End Cap The oil hole in the center of the lower cylinder bed end cap is in an awkward position. I’m not convinced that there is any reliable way of oiling through that hole and having the oil arrive to the feed dog cam. 12. Screw Holes for Edge Guide The screw holes for attaching the swing down edge guide are filled with paint. The screws that come with edge guide do fit fine after installing/reinstalling a couple times to squash the paint down. But at first I thought it might be the wrong screws. 13. Missing Screws for Foot Lift The foot lift bar (extension of the knee lift bar) attaches with two screws. Mine came without the screws. I ended up using some smaller screws and putting nuts on the back. 14. Needle Threading Path I like that some of the paths downstream of the tension discs have side entry. But the loop at the bottom of the needle bar has no side entry…you must thread that manually. 15. No slots in cover plates The cover plate on the back of the machine and the one on the left end have standard holes (enclosed on all sides) for the retaining screws. This means you have to remove at least one screw on the left cover (or at least three screws on the rear cover) in order to rotate the cover out of the way. It would be more convenient if some of these holes had a slot running out the side so you could simply loosen some screws and rotate the cover plates out of the way. 15. Thread Post Too Long The thread post—the one that the thread goes through before descending toward the tension disks—is quite long. When I tilt the machine head back, this post runs into the window blinds. It could be quite a bit shorter IMO. 16. Feed Dog Eccentric 16.1 There are no markings on the main shaft indicating optimal position of the feed dog eccentric. The first time I adjusted this eccentric, I actually adjusted it 180 degrees out, such that it stitched in reverse when the feed lever was in the forward position, and vice versa. 16.2 With the handwheel in the needle bottom dead center position, neither of the set screws for the feed dog eccentric are visible through the rear cover. It takes a little extra work to rotate the handwheel to needle bottom dead center, check the adjustment of the feed dog eccentric, then rotate the handwheel to a position where the set screws can be reached to adjust to a new position. 17. Squeak Sound At low speed (80-90 stitches per minute) it makes a sing-song sound when the inner toe moves upward or downward. The sound goes away at higher speeds. Notes on Ordering Accessories https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uaZYioWcaXI They sell several accessories to go with it, if you ask. Ask for a speed reducer Ask for a knee lift Ask for a foot lift Ask for any binding attachments that interest you Ask for a flat top table attachment Ask for a motor if you want theirs Ask for a needle position sensor if you want one Ask for a table if you want one. (Not sure how much this inflates the shipping cost) Verification Video https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/112102-new-machine/page/2/#findComment-733498 After they get your machine ready, they will provide a video of it running. You can ask for additional videos that demonstrate the machine doing certain things. I didn’t know what to ask for then, but now I realize this is prime time to ask for verification that the machine is adjusted properly. (This will save you time dialing it in yourself) I would ask for these things: Ask to see your machine stitching synchronized holes (forward/reverse same length) Ask them to measure the distance between the holes (they may be less than their advertised “maximum stitch length”) Ask for a video showing the feed dog moving with no fabric to show that the min clearance at the front of the feed dog matches the min clearance at the rear of the feed dog Ask to see the hook to needle distance. Ask for it to touch the needle. Ask to see close-up photo of needle in throat plate. (should be exactly centered. Mine is not) (see this post where a jianglong 441 was out of alignment: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/109373-441-clone/ ) Ask to see close-up video of hook in slow motion (crank handwheel) in REVERSE at MAX stitch length (make sure it clears the notch gracefully) (make sure the thread rides in the hook shoulder, and not off the side of the shoulder) Ask to see stitching using your maximum intended thread size (or larger) Ask to see forward and reverse stitching that goes into the same holes at your chosen stitch length. If you want it without the jianglong logo, ask to not include. (My demo video had no jianglong logo in it, so I was hopeful it would come without one but no) Ask to see the screws that hold the foot lift extension bar (mine came without those) Note when they demo your machine, they will use their own table and motor but your head unit. Edited 3 minutes ago by Wizcrafts I disabled the link to the Chinese seller's website. Quote friquant. Like a frequent, piquant flyer. Check out my blog: Choosing a Motor for your Industrial Sewing Machine
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