I'm Going To Scrap My Machine Soon

[venator]

So I have a Durkopp Adler 467. Got it and it worked great. Somehow I appear to have screwed it up beyond belief and I don't know how.

Basically I'm using a 207 thread (nylon, I swapped from a poly because it kept breaking strands and bunching) and when I sew it seems okay right up until I reverse then the thread breaks. On test pieces of vegetan it doesn't seem to happen but I've sewn through the same holes about 30 times on my prodject and snap snap f'ing snap. Sometimes right away, sometimes reversing, sometimes part way thoguh but always freaking snapping.

I've even loosened the tension off to the point I get a nest of thread underneath and it still snaps.

Help. I'm at the end of my rope and know nothing about sewing machines. Things I can say:

1) It's got a new needle, it's straight and the right way in for sure.

2) It's threaded the way it was when it arrived from NIck-o-sew

3) I've played with the top tension repeatedly but that's all.

I'm going to snap soon. I desperately need help here please.

STU

[Wizcrafts]

Check the travel on the check spring. Too little travel allows the thread to form a semi loop near the point of the needle, on top of the work, leading to thread separation. Too much travel dissolves the loop before the hook picks it up, causing skipped stitches. The check spring should keep your top thread under tension until the needle penetrates the material. then, it should release the tension and allow slack so the loop can form underneath.

IHTH.

[venator]

Check the travel on the check spring. Too little travel allows the thread to form a semi loop near the point of the needle, on top of the work, leading to thread separation. Too much travel dissolves the loop before the hook picks it up, causing skipped stitches. The check spring should keep your top thread under tension until the needle penetrates the material. then, it should release the tension and allow slack so the loop can form underneath.

IHTH.

Check the travel on the check spring. Too little travel allows the thread to form a semi loop near the point of the needle, on top of the work, leading to thread separation. Too much travel dissolves the loop before the hook picks it up, causing skipped stitches. The check spring should keep your top thread under tension until the needle penetrates the material. then, it should release the tension and allow slack so the loop can form underneath.

IHTH.

Thank you. I have absolutely no idea what this means unfortunately as I know nothing about sewing machines. I am quite mechanically inclined and handy but no specific knowledge here. . . Can you simplify?

[Wizcrafts]

Thank you. I have absolutely no idea what this means unfortunately as I know nothing about sewing machines. I am quite mechanically inclined and handy but no specific knowledge here. . . Can you simplify?

I Googled for close up images of your machine and found this one, which clearly shows the lower left knob has an external "check" spring on its shaft. Your thread must pass through this spring on the way to the take up lever. That spring follows the thread with the upward and downward motion of the take up. As the needle descends, so does the take up lever. The check spring should be adjusted to maintain tension on the thread as the take-up moves down. The travel of the spring can be adjusted by moving some kind of limiting tab on the mechanism where the spring is mounted. Please consult your user manual for better instructions.

[venator]

I have this device! And when I reD the manual it doesn't seem to mention it...

[Wizcrafts]

That little spring is very important. Did you run the thread through it until you heard it snap in? pulling up on the thread should lift the top of the spring, if threaded correctly. If this spring was not threaded, it explains your ripped thread problem.

[Wishful]

If all else fails, take it to a shop that can 'fix' it or show you how it works.

[venator]

That little spring is very important. Did you run the thread through it until you heard it snap in? pulling up on the thread should lift the top of the spring, if threaded correctly. If this spring was not threaded, it explains your ripped thread problem.

That little spring is very important. Did you run the thread through it until you heard it snap in? pulling up on the thread should lift the top of the spring, if threaded correctly. If this spring was not threaded, it explains your ripped thread problem.

Snap in?

It's through that spring but still snapping.

Unfortunately I can't take it in anywhere as that would require a truck which I don't have.

[venator]

Even with the tension so loose it pulls the top thread through to the bottom the thread breaks when it reverses

[venator]

Not sure if the laxity in the thread should be happening or not. . .

Video.MOV

[Wizcrafts]

Lengthen the travel on your check spring. It is letting go to soon.

[gottaknow]

Wiz is right. After watching your video, your check spring is hardly doing anything. It should be moving about 3 times the distance it is and you probably need to put more tension on it, in other words, when it's pulling against your thread, it should be pulling harder. It's entirely possible your check spring has come loose inside the tension unit and not only decreased it's travel distance, but also it's strength. That would explain why the machine was working good when you got it and now it's not. The manual should explain the exact adjustment for the check spring. If you can figure out how to readjust that, you'll have to re-balance your tensions.

Regards, Eric

[venator]

I can't adjust the travel on the spring, there's a stopper and I can't seem to move it or remove it. I took the whole assembly apart but the stopper is very firmly attached so the distance that spring moves seems immutable.

I put different feet on it to see if that would help (in case of a burr) and it seemed to but it is still breaking sometimes once I get the tension high enough to not pull through. . .

[venator]

Besides which that was where tehy had the spring set when they reconditioned the machine and sent it to me.

[TinkerTailor]

There is alot of very good advice here from very knowledgeable people. Add up your time not making things, and working on your machine. All of us have things we choose not to learn and pay people to do, because its cheaper than wasting time figuring out things we aren't interested in. While i have never had an industrial machine serviced, i imagine the repairman will make housecalls. Think about a garment factory, are they going to bring them all in for service? It may cost a few bucks to get him there, but you are back working again at something you enjoy, not fighting something you want to smash. If you are in the sticks like Vegreville or Edson or something, the pick-up to person quotient goes way up.....Put up an ad at the local grocery store, and at UFA if they have a board, looking for a truck haul it in. With the price of oil putting guys out of work and such, i imagine there are a few guys odd jobbing it to get by.

I grew up in northern Alberta, and i know for sure that there are quite a few people around with a pickup that can be bribed to haul a machine in for a little fermented barley and hops.......If i still lived there i would help ya out..I bet the repair guy would be able to fix it right away in one trip if you bring it to him with a timmies card.

When your car breaks, you have a choice to either fix it yourself or take it in. Sometimes you have to get somebody to take it in for you.

[gottaknow]

That's some good advice there TinkerTailor. I get frustrated for folks trying to solve their issues on the internet when I know if I had 15 minutes in person with the machine it'd be purring in no time. Even though I make a really good living as a head mechanic in a factory, I still travel to upholstery shops, drapery shops, a mattress factory, and even a guy who makes hot air balloons. I charge a modest amount for travel, and just a fraction of what most repair places charge. I do it to help folks out, plus I'm a people person. I've even had people ship me the heads and I put it in one of my tables to fix. I'm convinced if you're going to have an industrial machine, you either need to learn yourself, or think outside the box a bit and find someone to make a house call. If you can find a sewing factory nearby, call and talk to their mechanic. You'd be surprised that most of us are willing to make house calls. I wish you the best of luck.

Regards, Eric

[venator]

I appreciate the advice unfortunately I have no friends who can be convinced to loan me a truck as i have no friends with trucks.

I'm just insanely frustrated because I dropped $2k on a machine, it was working great, then suddenly it no longer works. This has forced me to refund a number of customer orders for which I'd already purchased all the materials as well as stop taking any future orders so I'm already a lot of money there now I have to drop another $500-$600 to bring a mechanic out to fix it, assuming there's a mechanic in Edmonton who makes house calls.

I'm moving to Toronto at the end of the summer and so i'm supposed to be saving for that not losing thousands of $$ due to my machine. Its been a bad week.

[SantaFeMarie]

If you seriously are at the end of your tether, can't find anyone to make house calls, but can find someone who will service it at their location, I can think of three options.

One, box up the machine and get UPS to pick it up from your home. I think you may have to open an account with them first. And you'll have to make a pretty good estimate of the weight as well before arranging the pick-up.

Two, see if there is a Canadian version of Uship. If so, you maybe able to find someone who will come to your home and pick-up the machine and get it to the repair shop. They may even be able to box it or blanket-wrap it for you. And I think you can arrange to get insurance as well.

Three, Craig's List>Services>Labor/Move. My local list always has listings from men with trucks who would love to haul things for a bit of beer money. Totally uninsured, of course.

Edited April 12, 2015 by SantaFeMarie

[gottaknow]

Calculate the freight to Post Falls, ID 83854 for the head only. No charge for the repair. Seriously.

Regards, Eric

[venator]

Well first I'll see if anyone in town makes housecalls, I'd rather pay the $500 to get them to come out than have to try and drag the thing down to a shop in a stranger's truck. It's just frustrating to pay so much then lose a ton of money because it randomly decided to stop working.

[venator]

Thanks Eric,

If I can't find someone locally then I'll do that, shipping from Canada is stupidly expensive so it would probably run me around $500-$600 unless I'm willing to wait 6 months for it to get there.

[Wizcrafts]

Venator;

There are several industrial sewing machine dealers in Toronto, most of whom know Adler machines inside out. Techsew is a division of Raphael Sewing in Montreal and is one of our advertisers.

However, I think you should return to the check spring assembly and try again to loosen up the sliding stop bracket on the bottom that acts as a spring travel stopper. Most machines that have that type of check assembly secure the movable stop bracket with a screw on the lower right side. This is separate from the screw that secures the entire assembly to the hole in the body of the machine. That screw lets you turn the assembly, which either loosens or tightens the action on the check spring. You will probably want to tighten it to get the full amount of travel, as limited by the stop bracket under the spring.

Where did you buy your Adler? Have you tried contacting the seller for help?

[venator]

Venator;

There are several industrial sewing machine dealers in Toronto, most of whom know Adler machines inside out. Techsew is a division of Raphael Sewing in Montreal and is one of our advertisers.

However, I think you should return to the check spring assembly and try again to loosen up the sliding stop bracket on the bottom that acts as a spring travel stopper. Most machines that have that type of check assembly secure the movable stop bracket with a screw on the lower right side. This is separate from the screw that secures the entire assembly to the hole in the body of the machine. That screw lets you turn the assembly, which either loosens or tightens the action on the check spring. You will probably want to tighten it to get the full amount of travel, as limited by the stop bracket under the spring.

Where did you buy your Adler? Have you tried contacting the seller for help?

I looked at the stop but there's no screw to loosen or adjust it, I took the whole assembly apart but even with pliers I wasn't able to move the stop in any way so I think unless someone has a better idea it's staying where it is.

I bought it from Nick-O-Sew and I don't really see any point in calling them since they're in Tennessee and I'm in Alberta and there's no way I'm going to waste $1000 or more shipping it back to them for repair, I'm sure they'll just say "it worked fine when it shipped so it's your problem now" like every other retailer in the world does, and they wouldn't be wrong.

Slight update, I've managed to get it sewing without breaking except when i try to sew through dyed vegetan. . . weird huh? undyed it'll rock but dyed vegetan and snappy snap snap. Unfortuantely the products I sell are dyed vegetan so that's not really helping me.

[SantaFeMarie]

I don't think you should be putting words in their mouths.

[venator]

I lied turns out I just got lucky a few times and it didn't break, it breaks much more easily on the dyed leather though.

I can tell you that the thread breaks right as the upstroke on the needle begins.