upgrading to oldschool singer 132k6 and 132k7

[VinnyK]

hi everybody

after reading allot of posts on here on the oldschool sewing machines i found myself wanting to upgrade to oldschool 😎.

i have a upholstery shop in the automotive world. classic cars and bikes and boats and sometimes furniture.

i started with a new bulletproof durkopp adler 267. never had issues with it at al thats why i bought it.

but i want to expand my machine park with the classic sewing machine mostly for fun and the challange.

would like to restore a few get to know them in and out so i can fix them and maintain them when needed.

ashamed to say if something happens to the 267 i bring it to a sewingmachine mechanic i dont dare to touch it 😄

buying it new and costing 2 grand i always feel afraid to mess it up or something.

so i bought these 4 singers i thought they where all 132k6,s but turns out 2 are k7,s

my first question for the experts on here would be. the difference between the k6 and k7.

as far as i have seen the k6 has the walking foot system on it. and the k7 only the bottom feed right ?

the next question is can the walkingfoot system be put ok a k7 ? and are the metal bed and head bolted or welded together ?

i have one k6 with a broken bed. would be nice if i could put a good one on it from a parts machine.

the seller also had a 111w155. i should have bought it as wel same condition as these.

but i was going for 2 machines and then came home with 4 already so i skipped it. but i might go back for it 😅

my plans are cleaning them up and see what i got for now. im in between houses and workshops at the moment so cant do much yet.

but i would like to restore them to new condition and use them in my upholstery shop eventually.

ill mis the reverse for sure. but i know they exist so hopefully i find one again.

cause i seen one but was to stupid and didnt wanna pay up and now i have regrets 😂

thank you for adding me to the community. seen many great posts already and great people on here

[friquant]

Working on one of these old machines will give you confidence to make adjustments on your new machine.

For example, you could take one of these machines and oil it up and make sure it sews...then locate all the possible timing adjustments on it (there are several) and one by one adjust them to match factory spec. Not much disassembly is required to make timing adjustments.

 

[Wizcrafts]

The Singer 132k6, with the spring loaded follow foot, was actually designed for the buffing wheel industry. I think there was an attachment that secured the center of the wheel and moved it slowly in time with the action of the machine to sew through all of the layers of cloth in a circular spiral pattern. The capacity is 1/2 inch, or 12.5mm.

The follow foot is only useful if it can grab a hold of the top surface, like it can in cloth items. I tried sewing slicked leather belts along the edges only to have the foot slide on the top and do nothing to help the feed. As a result, the stitch length varied and I ruined some things until I got wise and sold the machine.

Assuming you can get one of them to work, it might be good for upholstery that is thicker than the Adler can handle, or requires a heavier weight thread. The 132 I had was able to handle up to #346 bonded nylon thread.

[VinnyK]

53 minutes ago, Wizcrafts said:

The Singer 132k6, with the spring loaded follow foot, was actually designed for the buffing wheel industry. I think there was an attachment that secured the center of the wheel and moved it slowly in time with the action of the machine to sew through all of the layers of cloth in a circular spiral pattern. The capacity is 1/2 inch, or 12.5mm.

The follow foot is only useful if it can grab a hold of the top surface, like it can in cloth items. I tried sewing slicked leather belts along the edges only to have the foot slide on the top and do nothing to help the feed. As a result, the stitch length varied and I ruined some things until I got wise and sold the machine.

Assuming you can get one of them to work, it might be good for upholstery that is thicker than the Adler can handle, or requires a heavier weight thread. The 132 I had was able to handle up to #346 bonded nylon thread.

thanks for the mm next to the inch measurment  and yeah i think this kinda walking foot system wil do good with car upholstery work.

as the materials dont really slide much and i already use mostly hand control with the materials as i sew to keep everything perfectly lined up.

on thicker leather i understand it wont do much good as it needs more force to hold the material in place then these machines offer.

they all came from the same sailshop. so i think they just got replaced all together at one point instead of being worn out or broken. but ill see.

the heavy topstitsch is really populair these days in upholstery in cars and on bike seats so that would be cool to use them for.

i just hope they have double needle versions and long arm versions but havent been looking yet for those.

1 hour ago, friquant said:

Working on one of these old machines will give you confidence to make adjustments on your new machine.

For example, you could take one of these machines and oil it up and make sure it sews...then locate all the possible timing adjustments on it (there are several) and one by one adjust them to match factory spec. Not much disassembly is required to make timing adjustments.

 

thats what im hoping. getting some trust and experience with these. and im sure ill get more comfortable with my 267 if something goes wrong to work on it. 

these are a fun and beautifull platform to start on

[Constabulary]

I once owned a similar machine

I stripped mine for parts back then after I found a 132K6 and I do not look back. I think they are not worth upgrading to 132K6 as parts are rare and expensive - IF the upgrade is technically possible at all. But maybe you have luck - dunu.

a lot of parts (in general) can be found at College Sewing or Trojan Sewing in the UK or MARFAR in Australia.

Edited 1 hour ago by Constabulary

[VinnyK]

1 hour ago, Constabulary said:

I once owned a similar machine

I stripped mine for parts back then after I found a 132K6 and I do not look back. I think they are not worth upgrading to 132K6 as parts are rare and expensive - IF the upgrade is technically possible at all. But maybe you have luck - dunu.

a lot of parts (in general) can be found at College Sewing or Trojan Sewing in the UK or MARFAR in Australia.

wow thats beautifull work and a interesting machine man. i like how you fixed up the real k6 with an old table tob and some vintage legs.

that would be my route aswell.

but ill just have to wait and see what comes up on my path here and there. and thanks for the tips on parts. ill go take a look

always good to have adresses for hard to get parts. but my main goal is fetching up parts machines. they come up around here now and again.

i would like a few restored ones and set them up for a few different jobs in my upholstery work.

thank you for sharing your post. it was inspiring 😇

Edited 18 minutes ago by VinnyK