Question about technique

[chuckgaudette]

Hello All, I have a PFAFF 335 but I'm very inexperienced with sewing machines (like a month). I work on mostly small leather accessories like watch straps. My question is, when you are coming to an edge and you see that your last stitch will either be too long or too short, what is the best way to adjust for that? I've watched Al Bane's video using a Cobra 4 and it appears that he is able to adjust the amount of back stitch to compensate. The 335 doesn't seem to have such adjustment. It just does a full stitch back. Unless I'm missing something on this machine. So do I lift the presser foot and manually try to reposition the leather to try and make it work out? Or is there a better way?

Thanks

Chuck

 

[MADMAX22]

I dont trust my 441 clown to even make close to a resemblance of a back stitch work properly so I treat it as a non reversing machine. My backstitches are either twice as long on the first one or two stitches or dont even come near lining up so I manually adjust the stitch length as necessary. If your talking about coming up on a stitch line say in a closed loop then ya need to adjust as necessary to minimize the difference in stitch length so it blends together well. Atleast thats what I do. 

[chuckgaudette]

Thanks Madmax22. So you do it like I thought. You lift the presser foot and reposition the material. It's only way I could think of. Does it make a difference where the needle is when you do this? I would assume to position the needle better it would be close to the material. 

[Hockeymender]

On my 335 I have made this type of adjustment by moving up the stitch length lever to a point that will give me the right stitch at the end. It's not easy as you need to develop a feel for how far up to lift and hold the lever to get the desired result. With some practice you will learn where to lift and hold the lever to get to a desired endpoint. 

[chuckgaudette]

Thats a skill that is beyond me at this point. But I think I will play around with the technique 

[brmax]

Nope cant skip the lesson Chuck : ) although its Friday.

I'm sure its a lot tougher on that machine versus one with the reverse lever at a lower point, so one can push the reverse/forward lever a bit and at the same time turn the hand wheel by hand manually to land the stitch.  All crossed up arms for a second for sure! but manually not to bad.

Good luck with it, and its funny looking at some videos and picking up these tips as mentioned above with,  oh! afterwards.

I thought it was so cool to learn pulling thread from the take up lever before removing fabric/leather from needle when it and pressure foot was down just made the process a routine.

Have a good day

Floyd

Edited June 3, 2016 by brmax

[Darren Brosowski]

Maddmax22!!!!!!!!!!

The adjustment for that is in the manual.

If the reverse is variable than there is a loose screw in the mechanism.

Most of the time the Cowboy machines are set correctly but in transit things can move so I need to make adjustments and tighten everything up. There is no inherent problem with the design of the 441 clones or the majority of the parts used so you need to look at the specific mechanism and adjust it.

Usually the dealer sorts these things and any of the dealers on this site would be very unhappy if the machine arrived out of tune as it means they need to spend time placating the customer and then sorting the problem!! None of us mind the time with the customer but we are always unhappy that the problem arose in the first place.

 

[RockyAussie]

Sorry to but in at the risk of looking foolish but, when you do watch straps and such the thickness of material variances would make it difficult to rely on back stitching left alone to almost any machine. I mostly work with Porosus crocodile and to have it go wrong at the end would be to much for me to risk. All machines i have, have either a knee lifter or other method of raising the feet between stitches or mid way etc. I always stop with needle in then raise the foot and hand wheel back some stitches. No crossing arms or any problems other than being careful to get the needle back in same holes.

[MADMAX22]

9 hours ago, Darren Brosowski said:

Maddmax22!!!!!!!!!!

The adjustment for that is in the manual.

If the reverse is variable than there is a loose screw in the mechanism.

Most of the time the Cowboy machines are set correctly but in transit things can move so I need to make adjustments and tighten everything up. There is no inherent problem with the design of the 441 clones or the majority of the parts used so you need to look at the specific mechanism and adjust it.

Usually the dealer sorts these things and any of the dealers on this site would be very unhappy if the machine arrived out of tune as it means they need to spend time placating the customer and then sorting the problem!! None of us mind the time with the customer but we are always unhappy that the problem arose in the first place.

 

Yeah read thru that and watched Steve's video on the adjustments. Ive had the machine since mid 2011 I think. For the most part it has worked pretty good. I had to put the washers under the stitch adjustment lever slide which helped. Bob has helped and so has Neel. I have gotten it to mostly work in reverse for the most part but it still seems to be hit and miss on if it aligns correctly. A little nerve racking on nice projects. 

[Darren Brosowski]

Very much sounds like something is loose. If everything is tight it will hit the same pot every time - right or wrong

[Hockeymender]

Looks like there has been a hijacking