Just bought a Singer 45K52, Did I make the right choice?

[warhorse1700]

Jimi, Thank you for the parts list and links! I couldn't find that stuff anywhere.

I finally got ahold of the local repair guy. He came out this afternoon and found what was wrong. Are you ready...? THE NEEDLE WAS IN BACKWARDS!

I had seen the warning about the needle being backwards in another thread so I was already suspecting this might be the problem. I could have fixed it myself but I wanted to be sure that the whole machine was ready to go so I'm happy that I had the repair guy look at it and confirm it's readiness.

So far I've been practicing on scrap pieces of veg and latigo and it zips right through them without missing a stitch. Two 9/10oz layers of latigo cause noticeably more drag but i'm barely giving it any pressure on the clutch and I still have to use my hand as break on the fly wheel so it's really not that much of a strain. 

Overall I think I'm going to be quite happy with this machine. Thanks for all the advice and information, Jimi and Constabulary! 

I just put a short 49 second video up on YouTube.

 

[Darren Brosowski]

The feet remind me of the set I sell to do outsole seaming with the CB4500

 

[Constabulary]

Darren - you should probably link your Ebay shop in your signature here:

http://leatherworker.net/forum/settings/?area=signature

Edited August 7, 2016 by Constabulary

[Darren Brosowski]

Not being a sponsor of the site I will not do that but I do not mind mentioning if I have a product that nobody else seems to sell

[Wizcrafts]

1 hour ago, Darren Brosowski said:

The feet remind me of the set I sell to do outsole seaming with the CB4500

 

You got a photo of that outsole foot set?

[Colt W Knight]

I'd love to have that machine

 

[Evo160K]

Warhorse 1700,

Here are several pictures of the 45K53 that member Jimi mentioned I was restoring.  The 53 subclass feeds from the top and bottom independent of one another, either can feed faster or slower than the other, and either can be shut down to make it top feed or bottom feed only.  I think this type of feed may be advantages when sewing tubular goods or goods that tend to slip on one another.  Others on LW may know for sure.

The knob shown by the upper red arrow adjusts the stitch length of the needle thread by moving the knob/fulcrum shown by the middle arrow up and down,  Up is the longest stitch, down the shortest.   The knob/fulcrum at the middle arrow can be tightened down to prevent the stitch length from moving unintentionally.

The screw and locking thumb nut shown by the lower red arrow move the feeding presser foot with respect to the needle.  As far as I can tell, it doesn't change stitch length at all, it only positions where the presser foot comes down on the goods.  This may be to insure the points on the bottom of presser feet, such as yours, drop exactly into the needle holes.  Sure would appreciate it if some of you good people familiar with this type of feed would comment.

 

This next two pictures show the tension release bracket with hook and the thread retainer bracket that I had to fabricate thanks in great measure to a lot of guidance from Jimi.  Thank you Jimi.  The machine is amazing, it's taken a lot of fabrication, but it's running perfectly, and I've enjoyed every minute working on it.  It'll get paint once the 45K25 I'm redoing is completed..

 

 

Here's a picture of the front.

and a couple of pictures of the lifting mechanism.  The lift is adjustable.

And the face

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2016 by Evo160K

[Constabulary]

Nice to see all the details on theses machines - was about time for some documentation pictures. Lots of knowledge (and manuals?) got lost over the time.

AWESOME !!!

[warhorse1700]

Sorry I haven't posted recently. It's been a busy week. I did get to practice with it a little and am getting better at keeping my lines straight. It was pulling the bottom thread up through the top no matter how loose I had the top tension. I adjusted the bobbin case tension screw all the way in but it still pulled the bottom thread up. I took the screw out and removed that tension plate and could see that the thread has worn a groove so it wasn't going to give me enough tension. I found a new assembly on ebay for $35 with 5 bobbins so I'm going to give that one a try. In the meantime while I'm waiting for the new one, I bent the tension plate a little and I'm able to get good bottom tension and my stitches look a lot better now. 

 

[warhorse1700]

On August 7, 2016 at 6:09 PM, Evo160K said:

Warhorse 1700,

Here are several pictures of the 45K53 that member Jimi mentioned I was restoring.  The 53 subclass feeds from the top and bottom independent of one another, either can feed faster or slower than the other, and either can be shut down to make it top feed or bottom feed only.  I think this type of feed may be advantages when sewing tubular goods or goods that tend to slip on one another.  Others on LW may know for sure.

The knob shown by the upper red arrow adjusts the stitch length of the needle thread by moving the knob/fulcrum shown by the middle arrow up and down,  Up is the longest stitch, down the shortest.   The knob/fulcrum at the middle arrow can be tightened down to prevent the stitch length from moving unintentionally.

The screw and locking thumb nut shown by the lower red arrow move the feeding presser foot with respect to the needle.  As far as I can tell, it doesn't change stitch length at all, it only positions where the presser foot comes down on the goods.  This may be to insure the points on the bottom of presser feet, such as yours, drop exactly into the needle holes.  Sure would appreciate it if some of you good people familiar with this type of feed would comment.

 

This next two pictures show the tension release bracket with hook and the thread retainer bracket that I had to fabricate thanks in great measure to a lot of guidance from Jimi.  Thank you Jimi.  The machine is amazing, it's taken a lot of fabrication, but it's running perfectly, and I've enjoyed every minute working on it.  It'll get paint once the 45K25 I'm redoing is completed..

 

 

Here's a picture of the front.

and a couple of pictures of the lifting mechanism.  The lift is adjustable.

And the face

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, Evo160K! Yours even has the wax pot on top! I'd like to find one of those for my machine just for show. 

For the tension release, is that the top end of the needle bar that It's attached to? Mine doesn't come that far up. In fact when in the down position, it's below the surface of the housing and when up only extends 3/4" out of the top.

Edited August 14, 2016 by warhorse1700
I was able to adjust my foot so that the dimples on the bottom line up with the stitch holes. Now it feeds straighter and doesn't leave dots next to the line.