Help With My New Singer 29K71

[The Spoonman]

i live in saint paul, MN, and just got into leatherwork recently and just completed my first project - a custom leather knife bag for a friend who is a chef. it came out really nice (i attached some low res pictures of it), but the by-hand saddle stitching took *forever* so i started looking for a machine. i don't have two grand to drop on a new cowboy machine, but i heard really good things about the old singer patchers. plus, i will be doing most of my work at home while my kids are sleeping, so i love the idea of a (mostly) silent treadle machine. well, the first day i went looking, there was a Singer 29K71 at an antique shop in minneapolis for $300, which seemed to be a pretty good deal on a pretty good machine - at least from what i can see - so i snagged it.

i am now in the process of trying to get it up and running, and have a few questions that i can't find answers to in any of the manuals i have. i'm pretty handy and mechanical (i also do woodworking - www.spoonmancuttingboards.com) and i have a PDF scan of the original manual as well as a few newer-looking instruction PDFs as well for the Singer 29K patchers. after doing some looking around here at this fabulous site (!) i took the advice of Wizcrafts and called Bob in Toledo first thing. he was great, and answered a few questions and sent me some bobbins, needles, thread, oil, a new knob for the wheel, and a new bobbin winder ring. i got it threaded and sort of sewing today, and it's working okay sometimes - i'm adjusting the tension and travel etc and observing results - but there are a few problems and i have a few questions that i'm hoping y'all can help me with. i attached some hopefully pertinent pictures.

first picture:

[what is that.jpg]

i'm wondering what this important-looking thing does. i actually don't see this L-shaped thing in the pictures in the original 29K71 manual, and can find no description of what it is/does. also, on the rod that is just to the left of that, which i believe is what adjusts my presser foot pressure, it appears i'm missing the wide flat thumb screw that goes above the smooth donut-looking thing. (?) i can adjust the donut-thing up and down with pliers, but i would think if that's what adjusts the presser foot pressure that it would have ridges and not be smooth. but if i'm missing the wide disc, how does that also adjust the donut thing both up and down if they're not welded together? am i missing a part? are pliers an adequate work-around, or should i get the wide flat thumb screw? is this something i'll adjust a lot?

second and third pictures:

[remains of take up lever tensioner.jpg] & [top of machine blurry sorry.jpg]

after my order from bob was already in the mail i discovered a new PDF diagram and found that the thing on top of the machine that maybe looked broken... was indeed broken. apparently it's the tensioner for the take up lever (?)... when i'm trying sew, sometimes it works okay but other times there's extra thread flopping around in the needle/presser foot area which snags and breaks. i'm guessing this broken part is my problem?

fourth and fifth pictures:

[how to move wheel.jpg] & [front gear close up.jpg]

i'd really like the wheel to the front, as i think it will put my hands closer to my work and make the wheel more convenient to use. i watched videos of people using the machine, and the front wheel operation seemed easier/more convenient to me. however, i cannot find anything, either in the manuals i have or online, about HOW to move the wheel from the front to the side and vice versa. i would think this would be information Singer would include in the manual (!) but maybe they only trusted their technicians to do this... anyway, i asked bob about how to move it and he gave me a little direction, but since i'm so new and it was just over the phone, it was tough to tell what he was talking about... i got the wheel off, as you can see, but am stymied as to how it goes on the front. obviously there are gears in there and i can't figure out how i would get anything that has gears on it to come off of the right side (where the hand wheel came from) and also get past the belt drive wheel... does the belt drive wheel come off and then go back on after the hand wheel gets moved? am i missing a part or parts?

i know this was a bit long, but i tried to be thorough and clear and would appreciate ANY help.

i can't seem to find anyone in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area that knows this machine well enough to help me. (if anyone knows of a shop in the twin cities area that would know what it's looking at with this machine, i'd appreciate a reference.) we are only 10 hours from toledo, and i'm wondering if it wouldn't just be worth it to load it up and road trip to see bob, although i thought i'd start here first.... as i said any help would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!!!

[Wizcrafts]

Your take-up lever spring is missing (picture 3). It rides on top of the hump protruding from the top of the take-up lever and connects under the thumb nut on top.

Check the thread check spring inside the needle bar, just above the needle mount. The paddle shaped spring needs to make good contact with the thread, or else the loops go away before the hook picks them up.

The L shaped bolt is a darning attachment. Turn it so that the take-up mechanism hits it on the way up. This causes the foot to lift off of the material so you can place the stitches any distance apart you want. You need to rethread the top thread through the front disks instead of the top disks to darn stuff.

[Ian1783]

Others will know more, and I'm sure you'll be hearing from them, but I'll try my best (I have a lot to learn still):

L-shaped lever adjusts the height of the presser foot. The adjustor to the left adjusts presser-foot pressure.

yes, the broken piece in photo 2 is a tension spring for the take-up arm.

To move the wheel to the front of the machine, you'll need a gear-shaft-plate setup that Bob can get for you.

Ian

SF Bay Area

http://imcinnis.blogspot.com/

Well, there ya go! Nobody better than Wizcrafts to explain things.

I second the job well done on the knife bag! That would make a great project for a machine. Can you explain your design?

Edited July 10, 2013 by Ian1783

[electrathon]

I can't help you with the machine but wanted to comment on the knife bag.

Nice looking work, especially being a first project.

Aaron

[The Spoonman]

thanks for the help! i'll have to give bob a call about a take-up lever spring.

thanks also for the compliments. i mostly just took ideas from the knife bags i've seen that belong to some cooks i work with and tried to make it out of leather. LOTS of r&d and experimenting. i'll be giving it to my friend tonight or tomorrow and am anxious to see how he likes it... (he's a chicago cubs fan. i hand tooled and painted the logo on the front and chose red and blue for the saddle stitching.)

i also have a question about the slot in the bobbin. is that for holding the thread in place on an empty bobbin so you can start winding it? or is it supposed to be used during the threading/sewing process?

[Ferg]

Pull a length of thread through the slot, 3 or 4 inches, hold onto it as you start the winder allowing it to wind several times so it will hold. I usually stop when it is winding tight, clip the projecting thread so it doesn't get tangled up with the bobbin. The slot should be on the side of bobbin away from machine.

ferg

[Wizcrafts]

To clear up some confusion from another member, the L shaped bar is not used to adjust the lift of the foot during normal sewing. It is a darning foot lifter, which raises the foot well beyond its normal range of motion, allowing one to pull the material any distance they desire. This allows for temporary stitching, like 2 or 3 to the inch, or you can use it to cross over rips (darning). Because the foot is lifted so high by that rod, the tension disks are released on the upper tensioner. That is why a second set of disks is mounted on the front of the machine. This set never gives up its tension.

The bent rod is lifted by the edge of the knuckle that holds the needle bar, on its way up. The normal sewing lift is controlled by the sliding puck containing the butterfly nut and its bolt on the back of the head. At the maximum lift, the top tension disks should not be opened. That should happen only when you lift the presser foot lift lever on the lower part of the back of the head. With the foot manually lifted, the top disks are forced to open and release tension. The darning lift rod also causes them to open, as it exceeds the maximum closed disks position.

[The Spoonman]

thanks, wiz. i appreciate your expertise and excellent communication skills. i'm still wondering how i adjust my presser foot pressure... in all the manuals, the "presser foot pressure adjustment" is a wide, flat disk in the area where the L-shaped darning foot lifter is. all i have is the smooth round nut on that other screw rod... (?)

[Wizcrafts]

thanks, wiz. i appreciate your expertise and excellent communication skills. i'm still wondering how i adjust my presser foot pressure... in all the manuals, the "presser foot pressure adjustment" is a wide, flat disk in the area where the L-shaped darning foot lifter is. all i have is the smooth round nut on that other screw rod... (?)

BINGO! The smooth round nut IS the pressure adjuster! Turn it clockwise for more, or counterclockwise for less foot pressure. You'll have an easier time turning it if the foot is all the way down, rather than lifted (personal experience).

[The Spoonman]

perfect, thanks!

we rigged up an elastic band as a makeshift take up lever spring, and have been adjusting the tensions, and got it sewing again. however, we're using the front (darning) tension discs because no matter how loose we make the top tension discs (even if the nut is loose and almost falling off), the thread is REALLY hard to pull through them once we drop the presser foot and the tension gets applied up there. the darning tension discs are working for now, but it seems curious to me that the top ones would be so tight no matter what... possibly another adjustment is affecting it?

[revmadison]

On 7/10/2013 at 11:20 PM, The Spoonman said:

perfect, thanks!

we rigged up an elastic band as a makeshift take up lever spring, and have been adjusting the tensions, and got it sewing again. however, we're using the front (darning) tension discs because no matter how loose we make the top tension discs (even if the nut is loose and almost falling off), the thread is REALLY hard to pull through them once we drop the presser foot and the tension gets applied up there. the darning tension discs are working for now, but it seems curious to me that the top ones would be so tight no matter what... possibly another adjustment is affecting it?

Like on my 29K51 I bet someone replaced a broken top tension spring with a spring that is too strong. Mine works ok but only if the nut is almost  falling off. Can you pull thread if you take the nut off? If so it is probably the wrong spring.