Working on Singer 269w8

[BFran]

Interesting info in here that as a business owner, kind of turns my stomach. Bar tackers that aren't drapery/buttonhole pattern are hard to come by in my isolated region of Canada. I'm looking at purchasing one second hand that was reconditioned by our local sewing machine guy. The current owner of it said it never worked quite right until she had it put in to be reconditioned.

Although apparently the machine is now in working order, I do have some serious reservations about bringing a brute of an "antique" into daily use in my shop.  A few questions I'd love to get some feedback on:

Is the 269 a concern for an operator who cannot service their own machine? 

Is the tacker capable of handling bonded 69 thread without silicone (or is their a reservoir for silicone at all?)

How much life is realistically left in an overcomplicated machine model like this one? 

[Wizcrafts]

10 hours ago, BFran said:

Is the 269 a concern for an operator who cannot service their own machine? 

Yes

10 hours ago, BFran said:

Is the tacker capable of handling bonded 69 thread without silicone (or is their a reservoir for silicone at all?)

I ran #69 standard bonded thread top and bottom in mine. The thread was made in Canada. There was no need for silicon.

 

10 hours ago, BFran said:

How much life is realistically left in an overcomplicated machine model like this one? 

Totally depends on how tight the mechanism is and how much wear is in the bearings and crank shafts.

[BFran]

12 hours ago, Wizcrafts said:

Yes

I ran #69 standard bonded thread top and bottom in mine. The thread was made in Canada. There was no need for silicon.

 

Totally depends on how tight the mechanism is and how much wear is in the bearings and crank shafts.

Thanks a bunch for this information. Wiz, do you think a 269 in good repair would be able to go through mil-spec webbing with marine bungee inside of it? I'm attaching a photo of a modern Juki bar tack (yellow) with my largest diameter bungee plus my current compound feed stitched product.

 

[Wizcrafts]

2 hours ago, BFran said:

Wiz, do you think a 269 in good repair would be able to go through mil-spec webbing with marine bungee inside of it?

Yes, if it is in good condition and the pressure on the clamp is able to hold down the webbing. I'd use a #18 or #19 round point titanium coated needle.

Note, that the Singer 269w8 is a bartacker, not an X tacker. It only sews a 42 stitch bar pattern, up to 5/8" long, and from 1/16" to 5/32" width. The maximum clearance under the foot/clamp is listed as 5/8 inch, but is probably best limited to actually tacking 3/8 inch. It make the most wonderful CLANG at the end of each cycle. Lifting the foot should cut the thread for you and leave about a 1 inch thread stub. The needle system is System 1628/16x5.

If you haven't purchased it already, I would strongly recommend testing the machine, or have the seller test sew on it, before buying it. A video would be good.

[nylonRigging]

19 hours ago, BFran said:

Thanks a bunch for this information. Wiz, do you think a 269 in good repair would be able to go through mil-spec webbing with marine bungee inside of it? I'm attaching a photo of a modern Juki bar tack (yellow) with my largest diameter bungee plus my current compound feed stitched product.

 

I got a old 1957 , 269W141 that is tuned nice and a solid tacker. I originally bought it for doing line-sets and bar-tacking the finger traps on Para gear . I picked it up about 15 years ago from a outdoor gear shop going out of business ( machine was bad Out of tune ) not finishing it's stitch cycle,  but owner swore it was all complete and was still solid machine . So I took a gamble because the price was right . Had it worked over by a local Tech. and he went threw it and got it running like a top, and it still running strong today.  They are handy machine to have when yo0u need it .

Tackers are pretty intimidating 'to me' and they are a different animal for sure with flywheel and and timing stitch cycles, I NEVER would have jumped on buying the used Bar Tack if I did not have a good sew repair tech. at hand to set me straight.
.

[Devorah]

Hello!

Desperate  housewife here, lol. We have a Singer bartack 269 064  which is truly a mystery machine. 

Wrote to Singer who said  they no longer support older machines. 

ANY help would be most appreciated. 

AN464448  is the serial number. Machine has been "worked" ad nauseum.  

We could  not find a 269 model ending in 064.

 

 

[CowboyBob]

@Devorah Here's a couple of manuals for the 269 & yes they aren't the easiest machine in the world to work on.

class_269w.pdf 269w.pdf

[TMart]

Hi, having some 269w troubles here as well. It’s been running fairly well for me for about 10 years, but fell out of time and I cannot get it back no matter how hard I try (I have sunk many hours at this point)

Does anyone know a good mechanic w/269 experience in the NYC area?

Thanks