Singer 211G166 Restoration

[Coeta]

Ladies & Gents this machine was lying in the backyard as an garden ornament. As you can see from the pics attached from awful to something that might work again. I managed to get new lifting and vibrating pressure foot and the thread tension system...I have put everything apart again and followed a few videos on you tube to see how I need to go to set and align everything to be in sync again from the needle bar height to the hook timing..when threaded and turning the hand wheel i cant get the material to feed under the pressure foot even if it is set to the max stitch length.

So the machine does turn over.

I got these manuals: 211G165_166_265_266.....211U157A_165A_166A_566A....I also watched the video on the Consew 225 Hook Timing

Somewhere I must be missing something in the manual is there a set sequence from the start to the end to be able to get it to work again.

If anybody can elaborate i would sincerely appreciate it or if somebody has a personalized video made of the setting and adjustment and can be able to share it online I would appreciate. I dont want to go to a specialist and pay them to do it because that would help me nothing if something happens again that it does not want to work and need to pay again.

DIY here is of utmost importance.

[mikesc]

If it isn't feeding, are the feet and the feed dogs moving ?

I'm definitely not an expert ( one of the resident experts will hopefully know exactly what is wrong ), but I bought a 211U166A about 15 days ago ( or it might be a 211U166, hard to tell, but mine has a max stitch length of 5mm, so I think it is the 211U166A ),..got all the same manuals and watched all the same videos

"One careful lady owner since new", she used to sew made to measure leather jackets in a small French boutique, ( they had a mechanic for their 3 machines, the operators were not allowed to adjust anything, the lady didn't even know how to adjust the stitch length, nor that she had been sewing all the time with a broken off middle foot, the mechanic told her the foot was short, so as "to be able to see what you were doing when turning corners or backstitching".

Slightly different body to your model, but I can take a movie of what it is doing ( it works very well ) if you can tell me what area you need to see.

Mine has the metallic brown body, with the big horizontal panel on the front in black, white and beige , but it just says Singer 211 , no specific model number, took me a while to find which model it was, Singer made some with the exact model number marked after where it says 211 and some with nothing at all marked after 211 ..Serial number marked on the back U844311020 and "made in Japan".

Small bobbin.

Nice restoration there

[Coeta]

Feed and feed dogs are moving...I thought I had the timing done correclty when slowly turning to check if the needle does not catch the hook..I somewhat loosen the screw for the needle bar because the needle eye was below the hook...tighten it up then the hook was to far away from the needle I loosen up the bottom 2 screws and tapped it slightly closer to the needle during this I have changed the stitch length as well and this is where it started to get messy, and everything started to cacth and scratch on everything and now it does not want to make complete full turns as it catch somewhere so I think the timing is now completely srewed up.

I struggle with the adjustment of the lifting eccentric and the alt pressing feet,,,I am missing something in the manual procedure

Edited March 3, 2016 by Coeta

[Constabulary]

Are you serious? From just looking at these pictures no one knows if this clunker is even complete or if you meanwhile have reassembled everything or if the hook and / or timing belt are missing. So what do you think one should start with?

[Coeta]

Are you serious? From just looking at these pictures no one knows if this clunker is even complete or if you meanwhile have reassembled everything or if the hook and / or timing belt are missing. So what do you think one should start with?

Lol...I also thought about that if it is complete,,indeed everything is there except for the oil reservoir system and the needlebar thread guide that broke...

If somebody can just list the order sequence of what to set i will give it a go again, then on the sequence where I struggle I will ask for assistance again and might get this to work again.

thanx

[gottaknow]

You have to start with the upper and lower shaft timing. If that's not exactly right, everything else will be a waste of time. Have fun!

Regards, Eric

[mikesc]

If everything is getting "scratchy", and it is jamming , don't force it..

As I said , I'm not a sewing machine expert ( I'd count Constabulary amongst those who are, and Eric, who joined in while I was typing ) , but, from your description of what you did, you have introduced too many variables at once ( general rule when dealing with machinery, or most things for that matter ) - "only change one thing at a time"..

Something I did learn while setting up another machine I bought ( whose timing was waaaay off ) was that a needle that hits into the hook can do a lot of damage ( it's previous owner tried needles that were too long )..I broke off around a centimetre from a needle that was the correct size ( so it was now waaay too short ), and the needle couldn't hit the hook and leave nicks and scratches, and then turned it all over by hand, until everything was doing more or less what it should ( feeding etc ..this was on a top and bottom feed juki, not a compound "needle feed" machine ) at the times that it should..then I put in a full length correct needle..and did final timing adjustments, again turning by hand..

First powered run showed me that I still had some nicks and scratches left over..( loud "snicketty", "snappetty" noises as the top thread went around the hook ) so , polished some more, now it sews.

Edited March 3, 2016 by mikesc

[Coeta]

Ok I got that correct the upper timing and lower timing,,,,

mark B on the belt pully is in line with the cut out line on the casting and the the take up lever is in the upper most position the I slipped the fan belt over gave it a few turns checked it again and they are still lined up...

ok the next step?

[gottaknow]

Your shaft timing is only correct if you didn't remove either shaft and change the orientation of both the upper and lower timing belt cogs. If you did and you don't have the correct set screw in the V of both shafts, you may be out of time, (these should always be marked if removed). After that, if you don't want to pay an expert, now is the time for discovery. We all had to start somewhere, for me it was 1980. The apprenticeship for an industrial machine mechanic is 3-5 years, full time in a factory.

I have been impressed over the years I've been on this site at the determination of folks. Very few things in life are free. The people that offer advice and technical expertise on this site do so as a service to the site. I wish I had the time to walk folks through the various machine issues, but it's difficult on a project like yours and I don't have near enough time. That being said, there are several threads of mine if you search our site where I get pretty in depth on 111's and 211's. Invest your time, it's your machine. Don't just ask what's next.........

Regards, Eric

[Coeta]

Eric thank you very much for your input and the honesty from your side as mechanical expert and your inputs already given, much appreciated.

One more and maybe or definitely not the last question ....

The only shaft that were in fact removed was the hook driving shaft and I did take pictures during the removal of the parts but during the cleaning there were supposed to be a line/mark on the shaft to indicate the timing mark so as it is now there is no line visible ....

in order to line it up again with the B letter on the belt pulley from the pic before disassembly it appears that the groove in the shaft for the screw's were at the bottom side. pic 25

I have used the groove on the inside edge of the shaft where the pulley slide over as the timing line(pic 22).......would this be correct before I continue with the rest of the timing...

found the link to the rebirth of a singer ...currently reading and will reply again...thanx to all

Edited March 3, 2016 by Coeta