Thread Tension Adler 30-1

[Orrin]

Brought my 30-1 home this past Thursday. According to the lady I bought it from it had originally been used by a cobbler making orthopedic shoes and the like. The cobbler, in his early nineties and too old to continue his work, sold the machine on to the lady who said she didn't get to working with it and decided to sell it on.... After settling on $200 with me she mentioned she had payed $150.

Before buying the machine I looked it over as best as any first time buyer could. I had spent time reading the manual, browsing this forum and other relevant sites on the internet. Machine looked to be complete, movement seemed tight and clean. Machine came with treadle table, some (seemingly original) tools and a collection of threads, bobbins and needles.... really looked like it had just been removed from the old man's shop.

Spent the Friday morning (surface) cleaning the machine, acquainting myself with parts and working movement and finally sliding a piece of vegtan on under that walking foot to see just exactly what this baby could do.

The machine came ready to go... bobbin loaded and spool of thread on the pin and fed through to the needle.

The first few stitches went in seemingly well and I was excited... but then it all went south.

The needle and bobbin threads weren't locking in the material. The needle thread was being released on the material and the bobbin thread just kept looping up with each stitch..... according to the manual a case of "excessive needle thread tension".

I started tweaking the nut regulating the tension disks. I had noticed that the disks loosen their grip when the sewing foot lifting lever is in the raised position so I made sure to lift the lever before each tweak.

Since then I have run through almost all of the thread that came with the machine and all of my scrap leather trying to get a few good stitches from this machine.

I have seen the "excessive needle thread tension" and the "insufficient needle thread tension" but and more than five or ten decent stitches in all the yards of thread I have seen pass.

My final attempt was to loosen the tension nut as far as I could while keeping thread on the pin (maximal tension) and start sewing to stop every ten or so stitches to raise the sewing foot lifting lever and tighten the nut half a turn (reducing tension) until the max. finger tightness.

Logically I have trouble wrapping my head around the concept that tighter disks offer less tension but whatever the case... ain't no good stitches coming out from under that sewing foot any which way.

Needle thread catches bobbin thread on every stitch and stitch spacing is fine, everything seems to work but this.

Upside is that I now have an intimate knowledge of the machine... I can thread needle and bobbin blindfolded. I can run that treadle as smooth as the best electro-motor. I can dump a load of thread straight and true in holes along the edge of my work and do the same with 90 degree corners and log flowing lines.

But now I really want to get to the real work.

Help!

[CowboyBob]

Either the thread isn't under the bobbin tension spring or the bobbin needs more tension or the spring needs to be replaced.

[Orrin]

Either the thread isn't under the bobbin tension spring or the bobbin needs more tension or the spring needs to be replaced.

Thanks for the quick reply CowboyBob.... ordered a new spring for the bobbin and should be able to report back, hopefully with a good result, before weeks end.