Pfaff 335-17B S Journey To The Unknown!

[jimi]

Hi Everyone, as you can see by the pictures i like a challenge! i have picked up some junk hoping it will possibly sew afterwards, but cant see any 335s like this on the net. looks more or less all there apart from the base and the binder? its only cost 58 euros so its not a huge loss but saying that i am confident it will run after cleaning up. is there any older manuals or parts books out there somewhere? thanks in advance.

[leatheroo]

pfaff335 parts.pdfpfaff adjustment.pdfba_335_06-09_e.pdf

these might help

cheers

[Constabulary]

ha ha - you got it!! I saw it on ebay but forgot to bid! Good luck with it! :-)

[jimi]

Thanks letheroo, i had looked at them before on the net but thought that these manuals were for the new type machines. so i take it that they are the same? thanks constabulary, if i cant get it to sew you might see it up on ebay again haha. thanks guys.

[BradR]

I have a 335 h2 and used the adjustment manual for the new 335G and achieved great results. My machine looks the same as yours but is painted a green colour. Good luck with it.

[jimi]

Thanks bradr, i will maybe post some pictures of the results if anyone is interested.

[jimi]

Can anybody tell me what the -17B S stands for??

[jimi]

Hi everyone, well here is the news. finally got the machine here after it was almost sent back and in the end the courier has almost finished it off. they threw it about so much that it arrived with a broken balance wheel,presser foot tension screw,thread tension stud,disks etc, stitch length screw and the winged nut that holds it on the base with the latch. so faced with a new set off problems here is what happened. first was cleaning the thread path and shuttle, feet,dog and freeing the needle bar with wd-40. this to me is the most important part as you have to know if this can sew or not, otherwise there is not much point of carrying on. since the thread tension unit was shot i managed to put on a singer 18 tension unit that i had lying around to try the machine out. well it looks like it sews with no major problems or weird noises, just the tension needs looking at as i dont have it clamped in. so the next step is to tear it down as far as possible to clean off the rust. it is important to make drawings of settings and put all your parts into small bags. the hardest part now will be freeing the broken screws left behind. one good way is to drill a smaller hole in the middle of the broken screw then hammer a screw driver in and it should come out by unscrewing. for loosening the presser foot tension screw that was left behind it is best to take out the presser foot, spring and connecting parts, that way there is no tension on the screw and it will come out a lot easier. now this is where you would probably chuck the balance wheel and look for another one, but looking closely at the leftovers if you piece them together they dont exactly fit due to the knock. now the good thing is that the pully that goes on the back holds everything together in the right place just with a tap of the hammer?? .so a budy at work welded it back together from the opposite side of the pully and it just needed a little adjusting with a file on the hump that was left after welding (thousands of an inch). now it is running true with no wobbles thanks to the pully being there. here are some pictures (sorry about the quality).

[Constabulary]

Hi everyone, well here is the news. finally got the machine here after it was almost sent back and in the end the courier has almost finished it off. they threw it about so much that it arrived with a broken balance wheel,presser foot tension screw,thread tension stud,disks etc, stitch length screw and the winged nut that holds it on the base with the latch. so faced with a new set off problems here is what happened. first was cleaning the thread path and shuttle, feet,dog and freeing the needle bar with wd-40. this to me is the most important part as you have to know if this can sew or not, otherwise there is not much point of carrying on. since the thread tension unit was shot i managed to put on a singer 18 tension unit that i had lying around to try the machine out. well it looks like it sews with no major problems or weird noises, just the tension needs looking at as i dont have it clamped in. so the next step is to tear it down as far as possible to clean off the rust. it is important to make drawings of settings and put all your parts into small bags. the hardest part now will be freeing the broken screws left behind. one good way is to drill a smaller hole in the middle of the broken screw then hammer a screw driver in and it should come out by unscrewing. for loosening the presser foot tension screw that was left behind it is best to take out the presser foot, spring and connecting parts, that way there is no tension on the screw and it will come out a lot easier. now this is where you would probably chuck the balance wheel and look for another one, but looking closely at the leftovers if you piece them together they dont exactly fit due to the knock. now the good thing is that the pully that goes on the back holds everything together in the right place just with a tap of the hammer?? .so a budy at work welded it back together from the opposite side of the pully and it just needed a little adjusting with a file on the hump that was left after welding (thousands of an inch). now it is running true with no wobbles thanks to the pully being there. here are some pictures (sorry about the quality).

holy cow - thats really bad + sad! Where do you live that it took so long for delivery?

I have a Pfaff 141 or 142 (head only) which may have a couple of parts you may need but I´m not sure how the condition is - if it is "too good" I will keep it. I will look for the machine later today - maybe you are interested in it for taking spare parts from it....

[Constabulary]

I have a Pfaff 142 which I would sell for parts or I can strip the parts from if if you want, this saves shipping costs. I can send some pictures if you are interested. It´s possibly much cheaper than buying new parts but it is up to you.

[Trox]

Hi Jimi,

first; there are tools for pulling out broken screws (see pic.). We call them "grisepigg" in Norwegian; and direct translated to English that will be "pigtails". I do not know if thats the English name of them, thought. you drill a small hole in the middle off the screw and screw it in, its links threaded and will unscrew your broken bolt. Then soak your "project" in diesel or paraffin (if you can afford that) and let it stay for some days, leave it in there when you work on small parts (24 hours will help too). That will take care of the stuck parts and some surface rust. looks like you missing its base, with the hinge and screw tabs? Write to Pfaff industrial info@pfaff-industrial.com and ask for the service manual and part list (report every number on its brass plate in right order) I am sure they will send you the original pdf`s for your machine, they are very helpful there. So far I have not seen any of your pictured broken parts that cannot be replaced with aftermarket parts, or can be taken from another Pfaff class.

Good luck

Tor

[Trox]

You can forget about original Pfaff parts, then its cheaper to buy a new machine. Example Pfaff 345 binding needle plate $900,-

They are hand made in Germany and are out of the question if you want to keep your budget low. There are old broken sewing machines laying all over the world, it was made allot of these 335`s. Everybody used this class, small leather, jeans, synchronized binding work and so on. Its a nice little machine for small project and thin threads (max tex 69 or tkt 40). They where made of the best German steel ever made, so you better hope your broken screw are not hardened ones. Every one that have tried to modify original Pfaff plates and feet`s know what I am talking about. These machines are pretty easy to find used to a descent price, because the smaller subclasses will not take heavy threads. So its important to keep you budget low.

good luck

Tor

[billybopp]

That looks like a challenging project, but if it works out a good one. Before you start drilling or cutting on screws to remove them, try some of this if you can find it: http://crcindustries.com/auto/?s=05330 It's sold under a few different names and brands which are listed on the CRC website.

It's been around for decades in one form or another and just about works miracles. My grandfather used to work on heavy construction equipment that sat out in the weather year round, and was all too often rusted. Spray some on where it will penetrate .. Ideally from both sides of the screw if you can get to it, let it sit for awhile .. even over night .. and then give the screw a try.

Tor: We call them "screw extractors" here in the US. They do indeed work well as a last resort. Be careful when using them, however, as they are usually EXTREMELY hard to the point of being brittle and will easily break if you aren't careful with them.

Hope that helps

Bill

[Trox]

Can anybody tell me what the -17B S stands for??

This is a old machine and before they started to use H subclasses (I guess, since it misses on the plate) Normally (on later machines) the "B" always stands for version B. "17" stands for sewing equipment class number (which feed dog, foot and so on) "S" stands for "Stoff"= fabric and "L"= for leather and so on. Where are you based? in case I find some old Pfaff parts laying around.

Tor

[jimi]

Thanks for the replys, i am based in spain tor and the only parts for now needed are the presser foot screw on top and the nut that holds the pully and balance wheel on. i managed to get all of the broken screws out by drilling a small hole and hammering in the screwdriver. i can even manage to get by with the presser foot screw by sawing a cut in the head and screwing it in with a small screwdriver? i will upload some more pictures as it is moving faster than my typing he he.

[jimi]

Here are some more updates, and more to come!!

[jimi]

I hope this is not to boring?? here are more!

[jimi]

As you can see the stitch length regulator screw had to be stolen from my stanley 50 plane. lucky i had a spare part one lying around, because the threads are unf,unc etc so you cant go to the hardware store and get one. fits great and it is nickel plated! the base is made from scrap sheet metal, 7mm thick and then sanded to get the rust off. tell you the truth there is not much rust there. to help get the right size i have screwed the sides on the base which helps me put the machine on top and adjust better.

[Constabulary]

oooh men - you really have fully stripped it. Good luck with adjusting it when you have assembled it again.

I will send pictures of my "spare parts machine" tomorrow.

[jimi]

more stuff here.

[jimi]

Thanks again to my buddies at work for welding the base. then it is just a case of grinding the corners to adapt to the head. lots of small parts to wire brush clean. then a new look is given to the tired looking machine! you see all that crap that has come off those parts with the wire brush!

[jimi]

I hope so too constabulary ho ho. more pictures coming!

[jimi]

OK, this is where i am at now. i have just got a hinge (big i know) which cost €2.50 good thing and bad thing about it. first it has the barrels too big! good thing is that the width off the plate and the thickness is almost exact, but even better is that there are no holes in it which means i can drill the new ones in the right place according to the old ones. all i have to do now is to cut it down a little with the grinder. as you can see constabulary i managed to fiddle around and got it sewing again. the hardest part was getting the two feet to lift up to the right height. i realized that the presser foot tension screw ( the broken one ) was not screwed in far enough so the back foot would stay up?? now it has a cut in the head and is screwed in with the screw driver.

[Constabulary]

THIS IS REALLY AWESOME !!!!

[jimi]

well i cant go any further today. i will look for some m6 threaded screws with a similar head tomorrow as i have some m6 taps lying around. almost there!!