Pfaff 138-6 Old but New to Me!

[Kohlrausch]

19 minutes ago, suzelle said:

Ralf,

On second thought, I will hunt down those bobbins you posted the link too. I'll have to see what the Pfaff Dealers around here would charge for them in the USA.  Hopefully not too crazy. I appreciate this so much, thanks again!

Hi,

 

I also just had second thoughts. The K-Bobbincase might have worked the other way round. The idea of the K-tensions was to have a very tight needlethread-tension and a rather loose bobbinthread-tension, so that the bobbinthread would be pulled up. This was supposed to look similar to a handstitched buttonhole. I think it is called petit point stitch in English and Perlstich in German. So the K-bobbincase might have a rather loose thread-tension.

 

The aforementioned "Spezial"-bobbincase on the other hand might just have a wider slot to accommodate thicker threads. I think it's general idea is to have the thicker thread in the bobbin because of the shorter threadpath and the possibility to bypass the eye of the needle. If so you might just as well put a file to a standard bobbincase  ;-)

 

Greets

Ralf C.

Edited May 19, 2016 by Kohlrausch
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[suzelle]

Ralf,

I think you are probably on the right track about the bobbin cases. I have noticed that there are bobbins for the pfaff that have different size slots to accomodate the different widths of zig zag stitches on the machines.

This brings me to another funny little thing to work out on my own machine. Why is my machine a 138-6 (capable of 6mm wide zig zag I think) but the stitch dial only goes to 4? I have a friend who has exact same machine as mine, but his stitch width dial goes to 6. Another puzzler.

Well, I just discovered that the bobbin with the crack or damage sews much much better than the other one. The broken bobbin is an Italian, Cerilini. The other one, a Toya. These both came with my machine. Shortly after I got the machine, I ordered (2) Toya bobbin cases on Ebay, believing they were the High Quality ones, as seller stated. They both were not good bobbin cases. Sent them back. I will pay more for a quality bobbin case for sure.

[suzelle]

Oopsie, I mean TOWA bobbin cases. Didn't work for me.

[suzelle]

Is this what you mean Ralf? I remember my Mother in Law stitches buttonholes like this. So cute!

[Kohlrausch]

4 hours ago, suzelle said:

Ralf,

 

This brings me to another funny little thing to work out on my own machine. Why is my machine a 138-6 (capable of 6mm wide zig zag I think) but the stitch dial only goes to 4? I have a friend who has exact same machine as mine, but his stitch width dial goes to 6. Another puzzler.

Hi,

 

that's easy to explain. Most - by a very large margin - 138 have 4,5 mm zigzag. 4,5 is sufficient for most buttonholes and allows for faster sewing than the wider movement of 6 mm. Very few 138 had 6 mm stitchwidth. These are rather sought after and command higher prices - if buyer and seller notice this detail, that is.

The dash 6 on the typeplate has nothing to do with zigzag. For some time -6 was Pfaff's way to say "basic version".

 

About the buttonholes - sorry, I have no idea what I meant ;-) I have just read the words so often that I memorized them  - like learning irregular verbs.

 

Greets

Ralf C.

[suzelle]

Thanks so much Ralf. I was beginning to wonder if the machines that go all the way to 6mm were kind of rare. Only because I have seen more of the ones Iike I have. Seller said it went to 6mm, but he was mistaken obviously. I noticed it when I went to see machine, but bought it anyways. It was only $250.00,  so I figured that if it didn't do 6mm after I got it home, well it was and is still a good buy.

I broke about 15 needles already. Using a #18 needle, trying to get a big project done. Seems when I hit a lump (Jean fabric and upholstery fabric) that is quite a bit thicker than other areas (multiple layers) it just bends the needle or breaks it right off, depending on how fast I am going. Never in my life have I broken so many needles. So, time to do something about that, I am just not sure what yet. LOL! But I will figure it out.

Thank you for your great knowlege about these machines, all who responded!

[Kohlrausch]

It's like driving a car: Slow down at the bumps. You might even try handwheeling them. (ok, don't try _that_ with the car ;-) There are needleplates with differently sized holes. Usually they have stamped into the underside of the plate. You could look if your plate fits your needlesize. Size 22 is 1.4 mm; you would at least need a needleplate type "B" with 1.8 mm stitchinghole for that.

 

The manual in the link classifies subclass A for needlesizes 10 to 11 und subclass B for needlesizes 12 to 14. It seems your are pushing it a bit, you will probably have to make some adjustments. Nothing wrong with that, upholsterer Cesar Chaflo has put up a couple of tutorials, especially interesting would be tutorial 6:

HTH

Greets

Ralf C.

 

[suzelle]

Ralf,

Thanks for the ideas. Yes, I will try those things out. I was sewing with a size 18 needle, will probably move to 20 or 21. But it may be 20 is the biggest flat needle I'll find. Thanks for all your help! Much appreciated!

[suzelle]

Ralf, 

Reading your messages again.... Lots of good info. Yes, I was wondering if I was pushing it, expecting to use the 18 needles and possible larger.

However, I read so much about how this particular machine could handle the v69 thread so easily, that I was sold on the idea of buying one. My other Pfaff which is a 545 High lift, sews with a v91 thread. I keep it set up that way. It sews mostly vinyl, banner and tarp material, sunbrealla, and leather, and multiple layers of jean fabric.

The v69 thread will be used in the Pfaff 138 mostly for applying patches, sewing curtains, sewing upholstery weight fabrics. I'm thinking it's not going to allow me to get too many layers of the materials under it, from the experimenting I have done so far. I always try to push everything to the limits in both directions at first so I can see what my range is for a machine. Maybe a crazy thing, but I do it. LOL.

[suzelle]

On 5/19/2016 at 0:01 PM, Kohlrausch said:

Hi,

 

that's easy to explain. Most - by a very large margin - 138 have 4,5 mm zigzag. 4,5 is sufficient for most buttonholes and allows for faster sewing than the wider movement of 6 mm. Very few 138 had 6 mm stitchwidth. These are rather sought after and command higher prices - if buyer and seller notice this detail, that is.

The dash 6 on the typeplate has nothing to do with zigzag. For some time -6 was Pfaff's way to say "basic version".

 

About the buttonholes - sorry, I have no idea what I meant ;-) I have just read the words so often that I memorized them  - like learning irregular verbs.

 

Greets

Ralf C.