Singer 29K72 Stitch Length Problem

[Hidalgo]

Recently obtained a Singer 29K72. All appears to work well except the length of stitch adjustment.

Even though I move the stitch regulator as far down as possible so that the point of the arrow is below

the 5 stitch mark, the machine stitches at 7 to 8 stitches per inch.

Moving the regulator up to the 7 to 8 stitches per inch position results in stitches on top of each other.

Something somewhere is out of spec.

I have a 16 page Service manual for the machine but can find no other stitch length adjustment information.

Really need it to do bigger stitches so any advice would be gratefully received.

Peter

[catskin]

Sounds to me like it is worn bad in the track that the piece runs in above the foot runs in.Plus bits of wear other places that adds up.

If you look up into the ring that you turn to change the direction you are sewing you will likely see that there is slack. You will likely need new parts or build up and refit the worn ones. I believe these machines only do about 6 stiches / inch when new.

Recently obtained a Singer 29K72. All appears to work well except the length of stitch adjustment.

Even though I move the stitch regulator as far down as possible so that the point of the arrow is below

the 5 stitch mark, the machine stitches at 7 to 8 stitches per inch.

Moving the regulator up to the 7 to 8 stitches per inch position results in stitches on top of each other.

Something somewhere is out of spec.

I have a 16 page Service manual for the machine but can find no other stitch length adjustment information.

Really need it to do bigger stitches so any advice would be gratefully received.

Peter

[Wizcrafts]

A mint condition Singer patcher is lucky to sew 5 stitches per inch; and only in relatively thin leather. I get 5/inch maximum when sewing under 8 ounces. After 8 ounces it begins to decline fast. The only way to get long stitches at 1/4" is to help the material, by pulling it behind the foot.

There are some adjustments that affect stitch length. The lift of the foot can reduce your maximum length. I set my foot to maximum lift, always. This is not what the manual recommends, but it works for me. If your machine has a long tension spring on the back, the sliding puck near the front end controls the lift. Move it all the way towards the back, where the notch is in the metal. That is your maximum lift location. If the machine uses a sliding metal lever and block with L-M-H engraved, on the back of the head, loosen the wing-nut and move the lever forward, to the H position. The puck at the back should just be out of contact with the lever protruding from the rear of the head, which lifts to foot as the machine rotates. If there is too much clearance before the lever engages, foot lift and stitch length will suffer. Adjust as necessary.

You do need sufficient pressure on the foot to pull the material. Tighten the spring a bit and see if this helps.

Old patchers tend to wear out under the head, in the ring that causes the foot to mover forward and backward. See how much slack there is when you rotate the machine to lift the foot, then push and pull on the foot. Any motion beyond about 1/16" will limit your maximum stitch length. At 1/8" free motion, the machine is shot and the mechanism needs replaced or rebuilt.

Edited April 11, 2011 by Wizcrafts

[Hidalgo]

A big thank you for your help & advice. It's age & wear by the looks of it.

Studying the parts manual now.

Peter

[spurdude101]

hello, I had a similar problem. replaced what is called in the parts list a "bell crank" $28.00 part and $400.00 labor!. but thats my story. a "GOOD " shop should be able to do the job for $125.00 total.

[Wizcrafts]

If the motion feed crank has a worn down feed puck, you can braze bronze onto it, then shape it with a file, then buff it to a polished finish. If you take your time and get the clearance and ends shaped just loose enough to allow the crank to turn 360 degrees, you will get the maximum stitch length possible (~5/inch). I did this to two Singer patchers and both gave 5 stitches per inch after the bronze build up job.

Edited April 13, 2011 by Wizcrafts

[Anne Bonnys Locker]

As Wiz suggests, the 29k is a machine that a handy user can muck about with.

If you are prepared to do the work yourself you can build up parts or look for a reputable repairer who has good second hand parts available. Plenty of cheap Chinese parts are also out there. They may fit, or may not.

[DougVL]

Go look for "Ken Jer­rems’ 29K13 Restoration" on the page at

http://alasdair.muckart.net/sm/industrial/singerpatchers/

and read "MY FIRST SINGER 29K13".

Ken rebuilt the end of his bellcrank, and described the process with pictures. I have the same feed length problem and intend to try the repair as well. Or buy a new bellcrank for $28, but finding the source is the hard part.

DougVL

Recently obtained a Singer 29K72. All appears to work well except the length of stitch adjustment.

Even though I move the stitch regulator as far down as possible so that the point of the arrow is below

the 5 stitch mark, the machine stitches at 7 to 8 stitches per inch.

Moving the regulator up to the 7 to 8 stitches per inch position results in stitches on top of each other.

Something somewhere is out of spec.

I have a 16 page Service manual for the machine but can find no other stitch length adjustment information.

Really need it to do bigger stitches so any advice would be gratefully received.

Peter

[DougVL]

[edit] It turns out that the links on the site I gave do not work.

This description is there, though:

"Ken Jer­rems in Aus­tralia wrote a great doc­u­ment detail­ing his res­tor­a­tion of a 29k13 which he has given me per­mis­sion to host here since the needlebar.org site where it was ori­gin­ally hos­ted is off-​line to non sub­scribers nowadays. It includes engin­eer­ing draw­ings of the shims he made to tighten up the feed mech­an­ism and an excel­lent descrip­tion of the oper­a­tion of the walk­ing foot mech­an­ism on these machines."

The original article by Ken is still available at "NEEDLEBAR MAIN SITE INDEX" at

http://needlebar.org/main~nb/~index.html - BUT you must sign up for membership (free) in order to get to that page. You can go to their forum page at http://needlebar.org/bb2/ to register.

Ken's article is in MS Word DOC format and is about 4 MB in size. It has many color pictures, and has drawings of feed parts, including one for fixing the feed length problem by making a "shim" to build up the worn part. You can get Microsoft's "Word Viewer" for free in order to read and print the article. That's what I did.

This article is VERY worthwhile for anyone who would like to do any refurbishing on a 29K series machine.

Go look for "Ken Jer­rems’ 29K13 Restoration" on the page at

http://alasdair.muckart.net/sm/industrial/singerpatchers/

and read "MY FIRST SINGER 29K13".

Ken rebuilt the end of his bellcrank, and described the process with pictures. I have the same feed length problem and intend to try the repair as well. Or buy a new bellcrank for $28, but finding the source is the hard part.

DougVL

Edited July 31, 2011 by DougVL

[amuckart]

Sorry the file links on my site are 404'ing at the moment. I'm having a fight with wordpress to make 'em work.

Try college sewing for the bell crank parts.