31-15 Roller Foot Conversion--parts don't add up!

[Darren Brosowski]

On 26/08/2016 at 10:41 AM, Uwe said:

The Singer 31-15 was not really designed to accommodate any roller feet, it seems. At least the parts manual for the Singer 31-15 doesn't show any roller feet options. Sometimes you get  lucky and a part designed for another machine fits and actually works.

I'm guessing that your big roller foot ends up being much taller than a regular foot, and the standard presser bar does not have enough of an adjustment range to accommodate the big roller foot. You may be out of luck making the big roller foot work with your existing presser bar, even though you can mount the roller foot.

Perhaps that is also why the original roller foot you bought came with a special presser bar to make it work. 

Not sure what you mean by the 31-15 "not being designed for" a roller foot.

Most machines take any standard high shank foot which includes the roller foot.

The special presser bar is the style used on the 31 class roller foot, roller feed machines and while not necessary is more solid than the screw on version

 

 

[Uwe]

The "it seems" part makes it less of an absolute statement. Perhaps I should have used "intended" instead of "designed."  What I meant was that in the SInger 31 class of machines, the 31-15 subclass was not originally configured with roller feet and no roller foot options were listed in the parts book. The 31-17 subclass on the other hand is configured with roller feet and drop feed and the 31-18 subclass has roller feet and roller feed. I suspect there's more to the 31-17 subclass than just the different roller foot.

Yes, you can swap feet/parts and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. In this case it kind of didn't at first.

If Singer had a specific roller foot in mind to be used with the 31-15, they probably would have included it in the list of optional parts. Instead they seemed (<- see what I did there?) to say that if you want a roller foot machine, you should use the 31-17 or 31-18 subclass instead, which were designed/intended for roller feet.

[MADMAX22]

Uwe do you know if there are any differences in the body casting? Just curious, looking at the different models and I dont decerne any difference so it would have to be a combination of parts I would think that would make up the difference between models so it "should" be as simple as getting the right parts. Atleast I would think.I am just curious because I would like to do the same thing to my 15 but would probably stick with a smaller roller. 

 

Forgot to add why the rough wheels, why not smooth? I was wondering if its just supplying pressure to the material but doesnt provide movement like a walking foot and smooth wheel should work fine but I have no experience with these. 

Edited September 12, 2016 by MADMAX22

[CowboyBob]

The roller foot that everyone buys for the 31-15 was standard on some 17 class,like 17-30 (I think) that have a higher shank,that's why you have to raise the pressure bar to install it on a 31-15.If your doing designs where you need to make tight turns the smaller roller works better & the larger roller is what the shoe people like to go over seams.

[Uwe]

1 hour ago, MADMAX22 said:

Uwe do you know if there are any differences in the body casting?

I would hope the castings are the same but I don't know for sure, sorry. Of the 31 class I've only seen a 31-15 in real life so far. Singer does not include the body of the machine in their 31 class parts diagrams. But even if it's the same basic 31 class body casting, the different subclasses may vary subtly in how they are machined and/or have holes drilled in different sizes and locations.

[Darren Brosowski]

There are differences in the body castings between model classes and even by factory and date.

The front of the upper casting is different on the walking foot machines to allow for the outer foot to move

Some of the 31 class walking foot machines from Kilbowie have more clearance under the head and are able to use the DPX17 needle but the US ones can't. That is only for the later machines (1950+) so I assume they had to make new tooling at around this time and decided to make some changes.

Obviously the lower casting varies on the bottom end and there are at least three variations-

Small shuttle

large shuttle

roller feed

There are multiple variations

 

[Darren Brosowski]

On 13/09/2016 at 1:54 AM, CowboyBob said:

The roller foot that everyone buys for the 31-15 was standard on some 17 class,like 17-30 (I think) that have a higher shank,that's why you have to raise the pressure bar to install it on a 31-15.If your doing designs where you need to make tight turns the smaller roller works better & the larger roller is what the shoe people like to go over seams.

As an engineer I cannot understand why everyone copies the 17 class roller foot when in 99% of applications it goes on the straight sewers.

[Darren Brosowski]

On 13/09/2016 at 1:35 AM, MADMAX22 said:

Uwe do you know if there are any differences in the body casting? Just curious, looking at the different models and I dont decerne any difference so it would have to be a combination of parts I would think that would make up the difference between models so it "should" be as simple as getting the right parts. Atleast I would think.I am just curious because I would like to do the same thing to my 15 but would probably stick with a smaller roller. 

 

Forgot to add why the rough wheels, why not smooth? I was wondering if its just supplying pressure to the material but doesnt provide movement like a walking foot and smooth wheel should work fine but I have no experience with these. 

There are rubber versions available

[needlesin]

On 8/26/2016 at 2:27 AM, oxeyenyc said:

Success getting the large roller onto the existing foot bar!  So hopefully this thread might be useful to anyone who is looking to switch to a roller foot--you don't need to buy an entire new foot bar, even if someone on the other end of the phone tries to sell you one!

Now the only issue I am having is that I got the foot bar to move up (by loosening the screw and then loosening the screw on top of the machine...)but now it won't go back down!  I think I maybe loosened too far?  

(sorry for such a long thread, y'all

 

Hey i know its been a very long time but can you put some instructions on how to remove the swivel roller from its foot bar?
from my understanding its holding in place from a captive T shape inside the notch of the foot bar.