Singer 29-4 usable?

[Wizcrafts]

1 hour ago, Gunnarsson said:

All right, thanks!
I'm keeping an eye out for a cheap(!) 29 and would be happy with an early one as long as it's complete, but I'm expecting to have to make some new or refurbish worn out parts myself. Not in the mood for buying new replacements just to find out they're (chinese?) low quality parts that don't fit well and need modification, might as well refurbish worn parts or make my own from scratch then. Trying to do the research first so I know what to look for on a machine when I find it.

Try to watch for a Singer 29k71, 72, or 73. These are among the finest and have the most compatible parts available. The last Singer patchers made were 29 K or U 171, 172 and 173. I had a 29k172 and had non-stop problems until I decided to get rid off it. That's when it began behaving as expected!

[Gunnarsson]

I'll keep that in mind. But as I'm staying in the lowest end of the price range and in my local area I have little hope for having much of a choice, there's not much available.

I just like the patchers ability to get into hard to reach spots and sew any direction, would be a nice addition to my domestic machine (for non-leather work), but i don't really need one so I'm not gonna fight people prepared to pay stupid money for one. One will turn up sooner or later, I'm not in a hurry.

[cdthayer]

40 minutes ago, Gunnarsson said:

I'm not gonna fight people prepared to pay stupid money for one. One will turn up sooner or later, I'm not in a hurry.

Care to expand on what "stupid money" (in your opinion) would be?

CD in Oklahoma USA

 

[Gunnarsson]

20 minutes ago, cdthayer said:

Care to expand on what "stupid money" (in your opinion) would be?

CD in Oklahoma USA

 

When they come up for sale here in Sweden they tend to either cost 500 or 5000 SEK suprisingly often, occasionally I've seen them up around 10000. The SEK to US dollar exchange rate is 9.37 today, so that roughly translates to 55, 550 and 1100 US dollars now.
The $55-group generally contains machines that appear to be coming from grandpas basement/attic when the kids clean it out, covered by a thick layer of dust, some rust, and no one knows anything more than you can see in the pictures of the ad. 
The $550-group is usually machines in some sort of running condition, sometimes good, sometimes not. A few are from people who don't know what they have, they've just seen others advertised at the price so they try it too.
The up to $1100-machines are straight out of a cobblers shop, just replaced by a newer machine. (When those machines are sold by a company the tax situation is different, basically making it 1/5 cheaper for another company to buy it, but not for common people, so the price isn't as high as it may seem for the likely buyers - other cobblers.)

I know 29's generally cost less here in Sweden than many other parts of the world. But still, I wouldn't pay anywhere near $550 even for a machine in perfect shape, they're good at what they do but they simply don't do enough to motivate that high price. Especially not being 50+ years old and spare part supply and quality is inconsistent. Double that money (or don't, if you're lucky) and you may have a triple feed industrial machine instead that seems way more useful and worth an investment. For someone with a lot of use for a cobbler style machine it would make sense to pay up for a good one, for a DIYer that may use it a few times a year I don't think it makes sense. Most people could make more useful investments.

Stupid money? Well, that all depends on the situation, how good the machine is, how much use you have for it, and if it'll bring in money once you are using it. I paid ~$800 for a welder that probably has paid for itself since and been a great help, I can see paying quite a bit for a good small lathe as it would be very useful (as for making 29K parts perhaps, cutting gears isn't rocket science ), but I'd be crazy to pay a lot for a sewing machine that may see the odd hour of (unpaid) work each year and take up quite a bit of space. 

[cdthayer]

Thanks for the information Gunnarsson.  It’s interesting to get an idea of prices in your country/area.

I agree that if you’re not going to use it much, the cost could be wasted money.  I have a sewing shop where I do repairs, so my 29s have paid for themselves and earned a profit.  Much of my sewing over the years couldn’t have been done without a 29-style machine.

CD in Oklahoma

 

[dikman]

Gunnarsson, if all you want is something to get into tight places and only for occasional use have you considered one of the cheap Chinese patchers? Might be good enough for what you want?

[Gunnarsson]

7 hours ago, dikman said:

Gunnarsson, if all you want is something to get into tight places and only for occasional use have you considered one of the cheap Chinese patchers? Might be good enough for what you want?

I've worked with chinese scooters. I've seen enough of their low price products to not really want a sewing machine built to the same standards, even if it's a mechanical all metal construction. But sure, if one turns up and the price is right, I would take a closer look at it - at the price they sell for new I wouldn't be interested. 

[chrisash]

I brought mine a 29K53 for £99 fist class condition and runs as smooth as a baby's bum, quite a few available at reasonable prices in the UK, but EBay prices for all Industrial sewing machines are silly over the top prices in most cases not far off new clone prices of same spec 

[Henrt]

Hello all. I’m hoping for some advise or help. I purchased a 29-4 that had spent years as a window display piece. It is well oiled and very clean, moving parts move, the leather belt from the treadle foot to the fly wheel is in good shape, everything is well lived. I’m running into a silly problem though. I can’t figure out how to put a needle in it. 
 

the manual that I have is clearly a poor scan from an old press printed manual, the pictures are unclear, the parts are labeled by old singer part numbers. Basically the literature that I have is useless. 
 

I think I’m missing the needle set screw. Or a component that the set screw goes into. I am having a very hard time finding a professional who will work on it (and it’s a pain in the ass to move) so any help would be huge. 

[shoepatcher]

pics of the machine machine!

glenn