Adler 205-64 Sewing Machine

[Trox]

Thats a possible solution Les, thats why I told him to look there first. Do not worry it is not rocket science, take of the shuttle race , two screws and inspect the bottom feed.

[leatherdog]

_{i took the feed dog out again, totally cleaned it and the slot, and put it back, tightening it very tight. so, it may be that i didn't have the screw tight enough. so far, ok. interesting thing about this machine - i've had it 10 years, never used it. decided recently to get it going. sewing with it is kind of like driving a truck. i'm used to the pfaff 545, which compared to the 205-64 is like a sports car. so, we'll see how it goes. for stylistic reasons, i want to use a heavy thread. right now, using 207. but i'm thinking of even heavier.}

_{tor - you mentioned the service manual. i found on the internet a crude document, it was poorly translated and covered a couple different adlers. maybe just a few pages. is there another one out there?}

_thanks

[Trox]

Hi,

I am afraid thats all who can be find out there. I too have a manual who covers several subclasses of the 204 (flatbed) and the 205. Only the modern 204/205 -370 subclasses has their own service manual. And thats the latest triple feed subclass. The manual has allot of errors. In your case you must only follow the bottom drive bar and shafts to find loose parts. However, it might be as simple as a loose feed dog screw. You might find some stuff here http://sew24.blogspot.no/p/downloads.html

You can also ask Thomas Brinkhoff, head of DA spare parts, he run this blog and are very helpful.

Tor

[leatherdog]

thanks, Tor. the link that you show is helpful. i also have a 169-373 that works, but i have never used it, and i found the manual and parts list there. i don't know anything about the adlers. pfaffs are my main thing. i've got a few 545s, a 1245, a 145, a 335 and a 141 with a roller foot. i'd like to have a high post machine, and a 345 but we'll have to do ok without them.

Peter

[Trox]

thanks, Tor. the link that you show is helpful. i also have a 169-373 that works, but i have never used it, and i found the manual and parts list there. i don't know anything about the Adler's. pfaffs are my main thing. i've got a few 545s, a 1245, a 145, a 335 and a 141 with a roller foot. i'd like to have a high post machine, and a 345 but we'll have to do ok without them.

Peter

Hi Peter,

U have allot of nice machines. The 169-373 is the same machine as my Pfaff 345. However, I would prefer the Adler before the Pfaff. If I find a 269 or newer I change out my 345. Because it has no clutch or drive belt, U have to adjust it pretty often because of that. Do U use all your machines or are U like me; have allot of backups.

I do have a old Singer 236 W-100 post bed that I never have used. I maybe will use it for making some watch straps and hats, it has a roller foot. Where are you located, I have a Pfaff postbed for sale. It belongs to a friend and has top/bottom roller feed and needle feed. Efka variostop motor, looks good. It has only a normal post, not a high post.

Tor

[leatherdog]

Hi Peter,

U have allot of nice machines. The 169-373 is the same machine as my Pfaff 345. However, I would prefer the Adler before the Pfaff. If I find a 269 or newer I change out my 345. Because it has no clutch or drive belt, U have to adjust it pretty often because of that. Do U use all your machines or are U like me; have allot of backups.

I do have a old Singer 236 W-100 post bed that I never have used. I maybe will use it for making some watch straps and hats, it has a roller foot. Where are you located, I have a Pfaff postbed for sale. It belongs to a friend and has top/bottom roller feed and needle feed. Efka variostop motor, looks good. It has only a normal post, not a high post.

Tor

Tor - i'm in san francisco bay area. the machines - i used to have a factory, 40 employees, including 20 sewing machine operators, making leather bags. we used pfaffs only, except the machines for sewing lining, which any straight stitch machine is ok. now, it is just a few of us, but i still have the machines mentioned above, plus a couple straight stitch jukis and a pfaff 138 zig zag. alot of the machines are backups, or have specialized attachments. i sold a bunch of newer 1245s, the white ones. and some gray 1245s, and a couple 545s. selling gray pfaffs - i don't like doing that. i used to find them, low cost, or they used to find me. now, it takes money to get one. no easy deals.

the adler 169 373, i got that because it has a nice binder on it. set up for binding stiff veg bags. but we have never used it. the 205-64 kind of came to me, low cost. but, we never used that either. you mentioned the 205 370 - sounds like a walking foot machine. i'd rather have that than the 205-64, which seems good only for flat work.

[Trox]

Thats far away from Oslo where I live. No point in suggesting any machine trades then. Like I said before, the 169-373 would be a nice machine for me. It uses the same feet's as my 267 flatbed. Do your 169 have a binding feed dog (back and forth only), my 345 has binding feed and I use it for that.

I am a one man show, nevertheless I have ten sewing machines. Mostly cylinderbeds heavy Adler's, but also a Chinese 441 clone. I only use four of them, the rest are backups and for sale.

I like Adler, but are very impressed with the material quality in my old green/grey Pfaff 345. U talked about the 1245, I think that is a very fine machine. I found one for sale here one week ago, very cheap (325$). It looked very clean, complete on stand with a clutch. I was thinking about buying it just because of the low price. However, I have a brand new DA 267-373 with Efka DC and all extras, so I do not need anything in that class. Anyway, the 1245 is a very popular machine here and few want to part with them unless they have too. I need to sell a couple of machine before buying anything and now it was sold anyway.

I have a 204-64, same as your 205-64 but flat bed. And I agree with you, its only good for flat stuff. Before the 204 and 205 came with triple feed (sub cl. -74, -374 and todays -370), the -64 was the latest in the heavy leather industry. It should handle all kinds of feeding problems. However, I have older class 5 and cl. 105 (the forerunners) that have much better feed systems for leather than this machine has. (The other feeds are: bottom feed with jump foot, then top and bottom feed).

They both work much better on heavy leather that the - 64 does.

However, they all have bottom feed, I now use my 441 with smooth feet's and feed dog for this kind of work. I have set it up with an new Efka and currently building on a air foot lift on it (very bad foot lift system on this machine, both for hand and on pedal. The hand lift is placed in under the arm and makes problems for a dropdown guide etc.).

This machine is currently the best performer in this class. Nevertheless, the 205 has some unique features the 441 misses, I miss them too. I also miss the sound of a German machine, the Chinese will never be able to reproduce that, thats the sound of quality.

[leatherdog]

right, a long way from oslo.

the 169-373, yes, binding feed dog. we might use it some day. the binding attachments - we have 2 - don't match the width of our strap cutter. we have a strap cutting machine that is very hard to modify. but, we might solve that some day.

345 - it would be nice to have one with the same feed dog action as the 545.

the 205-64 - i'm going to make it more civilized, easier to use, and then maybe sell it. the ones with the triple feed would be a lot more useful.

i'm not really in machine buying mode. mostly not selling, not buying. usually, i only buy pfaffs. i understand them. but, if an interesting machine shows up at the right price, that is another story.

noted the air lift - that is a good idea. while we use clutch motors only on the 1245 and 545, i can see the needle position motor would be a good idea for the 205 64.

[Trox]

right, a long way from oslo.

the 169-373, yes, binding feed dog. we might use it some day. the binding attachments - we have 2 - don't match the width of our strap cutter. we have a strap cutting machine that is very hard to modify. but, we might solve that some day.

345 - it would be nice to have one with the same feed dog action as the 545.

the 205-64 - i'm going to make it more civilized, easier to use, and then maybe sell it. the ones with the triple feed would be a lot more useful.

i'm not really in machine buying mode. mostly not selling, not buying. usually, i only buy pfaffs. i understand them. but, if an interesting machine shows up at the right price, that is another story.

noted the air lift - that is a good idea. while we use clutch motors only on the 1245 and 545, i can see the needle position motor would be a good idea for the 205 64.

Hi, most of the German machines here comes with Rotan (Pfaff) and Efka (for DA) needle position motors. The latest Efka 1550 DC motor is so small you can place it inside the new DA M types machines (367, 867 machines). They place it in direct drive on the main shaft (behind the clutch) and have the control box under the table.

The new system do not need the position head on the flywheel this way, all calculating on stop/start etc is done in the control box. The position head is only used to calculate belt slippage with use of a traditional V belt under table mounting. The motor is 8 Nm torque and up to 1800 W of power, all parameter are adjustable on the box or in your computer if you want too. You do not need any speed reducer, and I only use half the power of it on my 441 machine.

You can of course built on everything you like. I have Efka`s from the 1980`s that still works perfect. Is a bit pricey, but no need of a speed reducer saves you some bucks. I paid 840 $ for mine in Germany, and Efka support you free on Skype video call if you need help setting it up. Some dealer had sent me the wrong control box ( not the Efka company, but a company who sold them) and he did not answer my call when I wanted a new box. I called the German Efka and they sat down with me and reprogramming the control box on Skype. The box was for a DA 205-370 and had no parameters for my 441 Juki clone.

He told me; "no matter where you bought you motor, as long as it is typed EFKA on it; its my job to help you until the machine sews as you want it to do".

Then I understand why I have to pay a bit more $, it has great low speed control too. You get spoiled on them and work goes much faster. You have to pay 500 $ for a Chinese pos motor too. No, get a Efka or a HO Sing you will not regret it. One of the advantages is the option you have to built further on a system later. When you have new needs you can add on a solenoid, air pneumatic or step-motor (possibility to drive several step motors on your motor control), then you can meet all future demands. You can transform an old 545 to a hyper modern machine this way. I do not work for Efka, I just love a good tool.

I like Pfaff machines too, but they have a very high spare part price. More than twice the prices of DA over here. You maybe buy aftermarket parts like hooks and feet's? I buy most of my feet`s and binders from Hong Kong ; Kwokhing.com, do you know them. Very good prices, they make every attachment related to sewing and take paypal. Check them out.

Ok

Later

Tor

[leatherdog]

tor

parts for pfaff - i have a nice collection. we used to have to maintain quite a few in daily production, and when we needed a spring or screw, we'd buy 5 or 10. haven't had to replace a hook for quite a few years. feet, still have a lot left over. the part that wears out the most, or that i've replaced quite a few of, is the small shaft on top - 91 011 727 05 and the bushings 91 010 360 05. the bushings are about $25, and the shaft, $3. which makes me suspicious. good german steel does not cost $3. so, i assume it is a 21st century global product, and worth the $3. time will tell. no big deal, easy to replace. in the meantime, the machine is nice and tight. i calculated that this set of parts usually lasts 20,000 to 40,000 hours. 10 - 20 years. not bad.

noted your comments on the dc motors. we never liked them, i'm not sure why. it may be everyone was used to clutch motors. also, with soft leather, it is easier to navigate than with thick veg. replacing clutch motors with new ones has turned out to be tricky. low quality is readily available. i recently had the bearings replaced in a 30 year old (taiwan) motor. better than what is available today. parts cost - recently i needed a bobbin case for the 335. and, if i recall correctly, the bobbin basket. we were using bobbin cases from japanese straight stitch machines. cost about $3, available everywhere. but they wouldn't fit the new basket. had to buy a new bobbin case, has an italian name, can't remember, and the cost was $65. genuine pfaff cost something like $100. but, it all works well.

attachments - i looked at the hong kong site. interseting, that industry used to be here in the states. most of those guys are gone. all hand fabricated, bent metal. the attachments that came with the 169 373 are solid milled, made in usa, and that made the machine, to me, very desireable. now, if only the machine were a pfaff instead of adler. my life would be more simple.

peter