Adler 267 - Engine Question And Vs Fomax Ws 1335

[276ccm]

I´m in Spain and I´m maybe about to buy a Adler 267 class GK 373

Would that be a good machine to use both for relatively light leather work and some normal upholstery work?

When I say light leather work, I think I normally would sew maximum two layers of 4 mm veg tanned leather.. I guess it depends of the engine too, but is it a good machine to use for leather?

As far as I can see for this machine, it has a clutch engine without needle position, and I think I want to replace the engine to a servo engine, with needle position, so the most important question: does anyone know anywhere in Europe they sell powerful engines with needle position, that would fit a Adler 267? And is it easy to replace the ending and attache the needle position?

As for the second question, I´m also offered a Fomax SW 1335 (which looks like a copy of Pfaff 335)

as for the things I´m going to sew, I prefer the cylinder arm machine, but how would you think the Fomax (Pfaff 335) is compared to the Adler 267?

Anyone got any thoughts of this? Posting some pictures of the Adler and one of the Fomax I´m offered:

Adler:

Fomax

Thanks in advance! :-)

Edited July 30, 2015 by 276ccm

[276ccm]

Ops i wrote 276 in the subject, of course I ment 267 :-)

Fixed it for you.

Edited July 30, 2015 by northmount

[Uwe]

Out of the two machines you're considering, I think the Adler is more desirable because it's an original as opposed to a clone, likely to retain its value better and allow you to sew thicker materials and user thicker threads. That Adler looks like it's in super nice condition!

The Pfaff 335 clones will be more versatile for getting into tight spots on bags etc. Clones in general are more risky in terms of quality, longevity and value retention. The 335 clones don't have a drop bottom feed, the feed dogs moves back and forth, but it does not lower or raise as it moves (except for one subclass, which I doubt was ever cloned.)

Both machines will work fine a with a servo motor with positioner capability. A speed reducer will translate excess speed into punching power and will make almost any motor powerful enough for both machines. In Europe, Sieck.de and College-sewing.co.uk keep coming up as good resource for sewing parts. I saw a nice Efka positioning motor in German eBay(http://www.ebay.de/itm/Efka-Variostop-380-V-Industrienahmaschinen-Motor-/201397421450?hash=item2ee438c58a)

Local Oslo member Tor (user name Trox) has a vast knowledge and experience in all things sewing machines and has some very cool variable frequency speed control setups ( not sure if they are position sensor capable).

[DrmCa]

I am almost 100% sure that you will not be able to stitch a total of 8mm veg tan on a clone of Pfaff 335.

[276ccm]

Thanks a lot for reply! I have also talked with Trox :-)

The Adler looks like in mint condition, and I will test it tomorrow.. and the Fomax is forgotten. I would prefer a cylinder arm machine, but I think this might be a good start! :-)

Thanks again! :-)

[276ccm]

Hola again! :-)

I´m going to look at the Adler machine today.. and I have been thinking of either of these two machines:

https://www.college-sewing.co.uk/JK-561A-1-220V-750W-1-HP-SERVO-MOTOR-WITH-NEEDLE-POSITION for 130 BP. This one got 1 HP and are 750 Watt

or this one:

https://www.college-sewing.co.uk/SV71-650-WATT-220V-0.87-HP-SERVO-MOTOR-WITH-NEEDLE-POSITION for 168 BP. This one has 0,87 HP and are 650 Watt.

Could anyone say anything about what the advantage of buying the more expensive? Does the 0,13 HP less have any big impact on how strong it will be for heavier leather?

Both motors has needle position, but would it be any different on how accurate the needle position will be?

Anyone got any suggestion for this?

Marius :-)

[Uwe]

Hola Marius,

The topic of servo motor variations and relative benefits deserves its own topic. From my personal experience here's what I found:

There's only a handful of variations on these motors that seemingly come out of even fewer factories in China. All of them benefit from installing the smaller pulley (50mm) if you want to sew slow and leather. All of them can be combined with a speed reducer which will make them powerful enough to deal with your machine and leather.

Some motors have optical sensors to translate pedal movement to speed, others have a magnetic sensor. I think the jk model has a magnetic sensor because it looks identical to my Consew branded motor. The optical sensors can be easily modified to improve pedal response - many post on that topic on YouTube and this website. No such modification is possible with magnetic sensors to my knowledge and pedal response is just okay but not great on my Consew motor.

The build quality and materials vary, from plastic mounting brackets to cast aluminum parts. The JK version appears to the cast aluminum version, the ISM version appears to be plastic.

The needle positioning should be accurate enough on either of them if you adjust/set the hand wheel position correctly.

I tried two different servo motors with needle positioning and didn't like either of them, mainly because I set my sewing speed very slow at about a stitch per second and the needle positioning happens at normal speed. This means as I sew slowly and let go of the pedal, the motor speeds up to move the needle to next target needle position very quickly. I could not get used to the motor speeding up when I let go of the pedal and removed the needle position sensor. Personally I prefer to have good, gradual speed control at the low end and the motor to just stop exactly when I let go of the pedal.

Reporting live from Hurtigruten ship MS Lofoten in the Norwegian Fjords . . .

[276ccm]

Thanks a lot for your info and personal view Uwe! :-) I´ll do some more searches and probably come up with some more questions.. I ended up buying the Adler 267 as it really looked like mint condition from what I could see and test. And Trox gave me some very useful advises to what to look for, so now I have to start the search for the "perfect" motor! :-)

Enjoy Hurtigruten, it´s a really beautiful trip, but dont spend all the money in one place, Norway is expensive, but I guess you already experienced that hehe :-)

Edited August 4, 2015 by 276ccm

[DrmCa]

If by "needle position" they mean every time you take your foot off the pedal and stop the motor, it will raise the needle to the TDC, then I would be careful.

This is a great feature for sewing knit textiles on a coverstitch machine with automatic thread trimmer, but for making turns on leather you want the needle to stay down.

With my "dumb" motor the needle is down in 50% cases and in other 50% cases I just give it a little more kick or turn the wheel by hand to lower the needle into leather and make a turn.

See maybe you can set up those motors to leave the needle always down, maybe they can do that too. The seller should be able to tell you if that is possible.

[276ccm]

With needle position, I mean that the needle always stops in the same position as I started.. and I always starts with the needle down, so in this case it means that the needle always will stop down. I've had this feature on my other machine, and the machine we had at work, and I think it's so much easier to work with.

People say that a speed reduced and a needle position is not a good combination, tho.. But I was hoping the servo motor was giving me the option to sew more slow than the old clutch motor that is attached.