HighTex CB243 help needed

[Damas]

Yes, allen wrench and nothing stronger than wd40

It's the red circle, the blue ones are ok. I am supposed to free all three in order to move the all shuttle part according to engineer's manual

 

As shown here :

Edited Wednesday at 05:37 AM by Damas

[friquant]

20 minutes ago, Damas said:

Yes, allen wrench

Once you get your allen wrench in the screw circled in red, rock it both ways. That is, attempt clockwise, then attempt counterclockwise, then clockwise, then counterclockwise.

Make sure you have the correct sized allen wrench. Also make sure you are NOT using the ball end of the allen wrench (if your wrenches have that), as the ball end only provides a small contact patch.

[AlZilla]

4 hours ago, Damas said:

It's the red circle, the blue ones are ok. I am supposed to free all three in order to move the all shuttle part according to engineer's manual

You can get a socket with that Allen key end on it. As long as you have the correct one (metric or SAE) and everything is in good condition, there's little chance you'll strip that head out. You'll break the Allen key first.

Judicious use of something like this ...

[Damas]

Thank you to all your advices, I finally succeeded to unfroze that screw.

I tryed to move the shuttle race accordingly to manual but the shuttle itself was then rubbing on the other side of the race so I revert to initial position... to realized that I messed timing up and had to resync everything...

I then decided to see if I could move the feeddog, and messed up everything again... It took me another hour to understand what to do and fix that issue

So I am now back to the start point. I am considering doing the procedure below as suggested by @friquant but i am messing up so much that I feel a bit scared... My situation is number II so it won't be an easy fix procedure

 

[AlZilla]

21 minutes ago, Damas said:

messed up everything again..

Most of us have been there. So, at this point, is the feed dog still located all the way right in the needle plate? If so, have you decided it won't move to the center?

I think I'd be scouring the net for pictures  of that same machine that show the feed dog. It just seems like it should ride closer to center.

Well, @CowboyBob should be able to tell us if the feed dog riding all the way right in the needle plate is normal.  The picture in this post;

 

[Damas]

15 minutes ago, AlZilla said:

So, at this point, is the feed dog still located all the way right in the needle plate? If so, have you decided it won't move to the center?

Yes, it is still all the way to the right, as it was in the begining. I messed up eveything trying to do what @Constabulary was suggesting.

It's been the hard way to learn that these screws/settings will only allow me to move feed dog original position from :

- Up or down

- Back and forth

The procedure I should now try is the one suggested by @friquant and it should allow me to move the needle bar block in order to center the needle. This is why I am reluctant. It's clearly the feed dog which should be moved but there is no way to do that. My last option is now to move the whole needle bar block

[AlZilla]

1 hour ago, Damas said:

Yes, it is still all the way to the right, as it was in the begining. I messed up eveything trying to do what @Constabulary was suggesting.

It's been the hard way to learn that these screws/settings will only allow me to move feed dog original position from :

- Up or down

- Back and forth

The procedure I should now try is the one suggested by @friquant and it should allow me to move the needle bar block in order to center the needle. This is why I am reluctant. It's clearly the feed dog which should be moved but there is no way to do that. My last option is now to move the whole needle bar block

I think you're going to end up having to move that needle, too, in any event. At least get it centered in the foot.

The feed dog placement does seem odd, though.

Don't get discouraged. Most of us have been down a similar road. Get through this and it'll be easy the next time. You'll be in here coaching the next guy.

[AlZilla]

Do parts 2, 3 and 4 all go together to hold the feed dog? If so, would loosening 2 screws #25 allow a little lateral movement?  Could if be that simple?

Or maybe screw #21 is some kind of set screw?

[friquant]

Have you already verified that you are using a new needle of the correct system?

In my Singer 31-15 my needle looked off in the throat plate until I discovered that I was using 2mm shanked needles, and the machine actually needed 2.5mm shanks.

[Damas]

@AlZilla I tried this already, no lateral movement...

@friquant yes, I used a brand new 230 needle as recommanded in engineer's manual and then my usual 160 to check every modification 

Thank you both of you for your kind words and help through this journey 😅 it helps ! I feel less alone 😆