Singer211U567B

[georgeandgracie]

It may have been a mistake, but I bought a Singer 211U567B. It's supposed to be a needle feed machine and similar to the 211G157 that gottaknow suggested that I buy. Well, I never could get a 211G157 so I bought this instead - the dealer claims it is the same thing except newer and with a big bobbin. I am having no end of trouble with it. At the very least I need to adjust it so that it goes over thick bumps better. It veers around bumps that my Consew 206RB would take in stride (if it weren't out for repairs). The dealer offered some advice involving the button on top that resets the clutch after it has rescued the hook from disaster, but I can't see that pressing the button, turning the wheel, and feeling the button go down has changed anything.

There seems to be no literature about the 211U567B other than parts lists - I have hunted all over Google looking in vain for something to download. YouTube is no help, either. Is there some other machine's manual that would be close enough? That would at least explain how to set the height of the needle bar or change the foot pressure or something?

[SARK9]

http://singer.en-manual.com/d-211u567b.html

 

-DC

[SARK9]

Sorry, that is misidentified as a "user's manual" but its just another parts list.

 

-DC

[georgeandgracie]

Yeah, that's what I've run into as well.

[georgeandgracie]

Would a manual for the 211G157 be relevant? If so, can it be downloaded anywhere?

[Constabulary]

I have a few service manuals and a basic operators guide for 211 type machines but not for your particular model so you have to look for similarities. Some file sizes are too large to attach but I will try to reduce the size.

Operators Guide:

Singer 211 Operators Guide-Small.pdf

Edited September 2, 2016 by Constabulary

[Constabulary]

Here is the Service Manual for 211G567 so it should cover your machine. Difference (I guess is) yours in made in Japan and the 211G567 is made in Germany.

Service Manual Singer 211G146_151_157.pdf

Hope this helps

Edited September 2, 2016 by Constabulary

[mikesc]

This "User Guide Manual" is for the 211U 566( amongst others )..I have the 21U166A ..To set mine up properly I had to use manuals that were not specifically for that model..This may help..

211U157A_165A_166A_566A THE MANUAL.pdf

[georgeandgracie]

To @mikesc and @Constabulary: Thanks so much! With all three of these manuals available, the odds of finding the needed information have improved greatly. Already I know how to change the stitch length!

 

[mikesc]

You are welcome

btw..What is the total thickness that you are trying to sew ? I can get mine to sew through 8mm to 9 mm without a problem, but if I try over 9mm ( which I should not with that machine, but one always tries eh   the presser bar lifts high enough so that the mechanism inside the end of the head pushes on the tension release rod and I lose top tension as the tension discs separate.

It "steps up" or "walks up" from  1mm or 2mm to 3mm or 4 mm and onwards to 8mm or 9mm without any problems, but it will not go ( "step up or walk up" ) directly from 1mm or 2mm ..which isn't really surprising, as the increase in thickness there butts up against the front of the feet..despite them being made with an upward angled edge to help "squash" the incoming thickness increase..

The pressure on the pressure feet is adjustable via a "knurled knob" on the top of the machine directly ( natch' ) over the pressure feet , I keep the pressure light, just enough to hold the leather down when the needle is moving the leather, not enough pressure to leave marks..The "lift" of the pressure feet on mine is controlled by a slot head screw "button" at the top of centre back of the machine..It is on a "boss" that sticks out towards the back ( away from you when you are sat operating the machine ) in the middle of the main machine body casting, just below the top cover plate that runs along the top of the machine..If you adjust it ( rare that you'd need to ) do so in small increments, like a quarter of a turn, make note of where it was set to when you began, easy to get lost and not be able to get back to a "known good setting" )..There is another button near the centre of the top plate..AFAIK this one should be pressed down when adjusting the slotted screw on the lift adjustment, but, when I did so for the first time it made a loud "click"..<= the kind that makes you think "Oh noes , that sounds broken expensive"..But nothing was broken, and it did not seem to have affected anything ( maybe it was just a bit "frozen" or "stuck" from "long time no touch or run" ) ..the machine still runs perfectly..

One day I'm going to feed a little fibre optic camera down the various holes of each of my machines, turn them over by hand and see what they are all doing in there in the darkness..A shame that so many of the machine manufacturers didn't provide better, more coherent and clear "exploded cutaway diagrams" ..or better "exploded parts diagrams"..my very first degree was in art but specialised in scientific and medical illustration ( I did others in the Arts and other actual sciences later )..and even with my background I sometimes look at sewing machine "cutaways" and "parts drawings" thinking "you could have made that a lot more clear guys"..car, truck and bike engine manuals and electro-mechanical  drawings are not great for clarity, but some sewing machine manuals are more like grimoires that try to hide the arcane stuff from the mere owner / operators eyes..some of singers own scans look like they were made by someone drunk and in a hurry with a very old scanner badly set up..

 

Hence I ( and I suspect many others here do the same ) grab any manuals uploaded ( even if I don't have the machine I might one day )  ..one day ( when I get a box of 30 hour days ..and "a round tooit" ) I'm going to redraw the ones I have in a vector program, clean them up and make them coherent..

I just received a Jack 550 servo motor, manual in "Chinglish", drawings that make little sense , not next to the "text' that describes them..the "un mechanically minded" would try to follow "the instructions"..and let the magic smoke out within 5 minutes of attaching the various components to the machine table..I'm re-making a coherent manual with understandable text and clear photos for it in between building the garage and other things, I'll upload it in English when done , there seem to be a few servo motor models which use the same system and control box, maybe useful to some, when you read the "Chinglish" your brain hurts and you get the feeling that someone slipped you a roofie or you got locked in the refrigerator..

 

It has to be said though that the Chinese manufacturers written "Chinglish" is way better than my written Mandarin or Cantonese would be, at least they tried, and it isn't all skewed on the paper like the majority of the .pdf scans are at singer and other sites ( even the sites that sell you manuals that can be found for free and in better quality elsewhere )..Best manuals would be as mini websites ( HTML with .jpgs, gifs, anigifs and mpeg "how to" files )..downloadable and with "follow along" .pdf files atfached..I feel an idea for another business coming on..

 

re "The clutch reset" button on the machine bed..there is a video on youtube for singer walking foot 111..I think maybe  it was made by Eric ( gottaknow) posting there as as "thumpr2good" ( or it may be someone else and not Eric ) that explains how the clutch works and how to reset it and how to replace some parts of it..there is definitely one by Uwe ( also of this parish )..search singer clutch on youtube and you'll find them in the first 4 youtube results..

Edited September 2, 2016 by mikesc

[georgeandgracie]

@mikescI do believe I should print out your last response, take it to the sewing machine, and do some studying.

What I am sewing is filter twill waxed canvas - by itself not all that terribly heavy. But sometimes there's a hemmed edge that intersects with another hemmed edge, creating a sudden bump. My Consew 206RB (currently out of state getting a thorough going-over by someone who knows about these things) will traverse these bumps but not Bonkers the Singer.

[mikesc]

Ah..was yours the problem with the "puckering" ?

I remember a very interesting thread with a lot of interesting input, and a few sewn examples from Eric ( gottaknow ) and advice from him to get a needle feed machine..i haven't got any of what you are sewing to hand, but , if I can find some ( I might have some somewhere, or might be able to get a yard or so..or in my case a metre or so ..if I can get a hold of some , I'll try to replicate the thicknesses* that you are working on, and the seam crossings etc, to see what the machine ( I think that mine and yours will be very similar in their settings for leather or textiles or mixes of both etc ) needs setting to to work well..

Can't promise as I have no guarantee that I have some or  can get some , but , I'll try over the next week or so..

 

*my speelchucker thinks that "thicknesses" is not a real word.."uppity software" ..

 

ps..what is the weight..in ozs per sq yard ( I can do the conversion to metric ) of the basic "twill waxed canvas" textile that you are using..and what ( excuse my lack of knowledge ..) is meant by the word filter in "filter twill waxed canvas" so as I'll know what to translate the term to.."filter" translates ( word for word ) to "filtre" which is going to be wrong :)..as is almost all "word for word" translation in any language pair..

Edited September 2, 2016 by mikesc

[Tejas]

While getting your machine setup right is the focus here, there are inexpensive aids for going over humps. To sew over humps such as a flat-felled seam, I've used Jean-a-ma-jig (aka hump-jumper) that can can be gotten from Joann or Amazon, or Presser Foot Spacers http://www.threadstandhero.com/Presser_Foot_Spacers.html

Edited September 2, 2016 by Tejas

[mikesc]

Tejas ..your "link out" is malformed and just redirects to this page..can you edit it and check it ( click on it ) to make sure it works ..I know what you mean ( I make my own , as I suspect do many others here ) but others reading may not know what a "presser foot spacer" looks like ..

http://www.threadstandhero.com/Presser_Foot_Spacers.html

 

Ok belay that ..I read the page source and managed it..got an "alert" that you posted while I was sorting it..cross posting..:)

Edited September 2, 2016 by mikesc

[Tejas]

Fixed apparently while you were posting.

[mikesc]

mods...accident in aisle 5 ..thread clean up..if you get the time

[georgeandgracie]

@mikesc It is this 18-ounce fabric from Fairfield Textiles: http://www.fairfieldfabrics.com/18-oz-Filter-Twill_c_12.html

And yes, that previous discussion about puckering was started by me. Gottaknow (Eric) thought I should get a Singer 211G157 but I couldn't find one. Alberoni, in Anaheim, had this 211U167B that they said was the same except newer and a little fancier. Eric approved it.

Having sent all my needles away with my Consew when I sent it out for repairs, I was stuck with the size 23 needles that came with the Singer. It turns out that finer needles and lighter fabric (such as 8.25 ounce waxed canvas) work MUCH better with the Singer, making it practically a changed personality.

[georgeandgracie]

@mikescWhat causes all this gook to build up? There was a little on the feed dog when the machine first arrived but it has gotten worse. Is it from the thread? Or the fabric? And what is this thread lubrication thing all about? My old machine didn't worry about such matters.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2016 by georgeandgracie
Can't get the video to work.

[mikesc]

That looks like it is made up of fibres coming off the thread you are using , same colour as the thread ( might be from the fabric, what colour is the fabric, but IMO, if it was the fabric then your other machine would show the same thing ) .."thread lubrication" via filling the oil reservoir and letting it "bleed" onto the felt pad in the thread path, personally I don't bother, I tried it, the reservoir "bleed" cannot be set to allow only a tiny amount, the felt pad got saturated, thread got waaay too oily, I didn't get the "gunk" , but it made the leather messy..it looks like something is fraying the thread and breaking off fibres from it as it passes down the thread path to the needle..can you take a photo of the thread path from the tension disc down to the needle ( just in case you are threading it in a way that is abrading the thread ) you might have a burr on a metal edge somewhere between the take up spring and the needle eye..I'm out for a while today, but I'll look in again later..

[dikman]

I had a quick look at that manual you posted, Mike, and the major difference that I could see between the 566 and the 166 is that the 566 is an auto-oiler?

[georgeandgracie]

Here are pictures of the thread path. That last thread guide before the needle bar is of a type I haven't seen before, so I may have routed the thread incorrectly there. However, it seems like there was some of this gook on the feed dog when I first got the machine from the dealer.

[mikesc]

Ok..Yesterday took longer than expected , ( looked in , saw your post but was too tired to be typing ) and was out again today..now I an hour or so to catch up on "web stuff" ..

First..your top picture..showing what we could call "the last element in the thread path before the thread gets to the needle area"..or "unusual thread guide" for short..I have only seen these sort on twin needle machines ..each thread passes to a separate side of the middle screw..

I have seen them called "butterfly" thread guides..

I think that it may have been "cannibalized" from another machine..to know if the problem comes from there.

Pull out some slack thread from between it and the felt pad above it..about a half a yard.. hold the thread ( pinch between thumb and forefinger ) above the "slack" you just made, just below where it comes out from the felt pad* ( the one that Singer say to lubricate via the oil tank at the top at the rear of the machine ) to the left of the take up arm..Now with the other hand, pull the thread ( still threaded through the needle ) to take up the "slack" that you made, this will pull it through that "butterfly thread guide", watch there closely, is it stripping fibres, even a little, does the thread enter clean and smooth, but come out slightly furry , does it feel like it is abrading and not merely guiding ?

* The "shiny clip where the oiled felt pad lives is your machine is identical to the one on mine..

They look nothing like the Singer diagram, the Singer diagram shows what looks like a wedge shaped felt pad, totally enclosed in a metal wedge shaped box with the "apex" ( yes normally we say apex for the top, but, work with me ) pointing downwards towards the needle..doesn't help at all when they draw one thing and then fit a different thing..

They say that the thread should pass at the back of this felt pad, between it and the metal clip, up close to the machine casing, and that the oil reservoir should be set to allow the felt pad to be permanently oiled and so the thread picks up the oil..

Maybe that works if the machine is running at 3500 to 5000 stitches per minute, in that case any given yard of thread which passes will get only a minute amount of oil..

However , running the machines as slow as we do for leather ( or in your case waxed canvas ), during any given  minute lot less thread ( shorter length of thread ) goes past the felt pad, consequently it gets a lot more oil, it gets saturated with oil, and messes up the work and the mechanism around the hook and the feed dogs, if the thread is also being subjected to any abrasion, however slight, that makes for sticky oily gunk where it shouldn't be, and eventual hook jams..

I shut off the oil flow from that tank  on mine completely, I pass the thread at the front of the felt pad ( but still behind the part of the "clip" nearest to me,  and at the beginning of a sewing day, I put a drop of oil on the pad manually..this works fine..no gunk, and when the foot is raised ( so no tension on the discs ) the thread pulls freely through all the thread path and through the needle..

A shame that the second picture you posted wasn't as big as the first one, and was "head on" as I can't actually see if you have a felt pad in there, nor whether your thread is passing at the front or the back of the felt pad ? , if there is any felt pad there ?..

 

btw..One other thing the first thread guide ( the bar with holes in it ) above the thread tension system and slightly to the right, almost above the part where it says "Singer" ..on yours you have it set at about 5 minutes past 3 o' clock..and the thread makes a steep angle as it exits the last hole and goes to the tension discs..mine I keep set at about the 7 o'clock position..ie ; the pivot point is at the middle of the clock face and the bar is pointing downwards at around the 7 o'clock position, this means that the thread enters the first hole from the bobbin on the thread stand at almost no angle at all and leaves almost in a straight line, no impediment to the "flow"..the way yours is set the thread goes through the holes entering and leaving a some quite tight angles, this can add to any abrasion if everything is not mirror polished , and it adds to tension even before the thread gets to the tension discs, these guides with the holes in are to guide the thread and to help correct any "kinks" that it might pick up as it comes off the bobbin , they are not meant to be used to put additional tension on the thread ( however small the amount it may be ) before it gets to the tension discs..But I know there are a lot of videos on the web that would lead you to believe otherwise..Anything that introduces tension or slows the thread up other than the tension discs is a bad thing..all the "bright wear" is meant to guide only. Only the springs ( take up spring etc ) and the tension discs are meant to "control"..

 

Oh ..and before I forget..there is at least one guy on the web ( I think it is atlaslevy, he of the videos that make you feel sea sick )..that says that you should pass the thread ( as it comes off from between the tension discs ) over the little pin that is at the bottom right of them and which "bites into them" in a tiny crescent, and then on down and around the check spring discs control area..Well he is 100% wrong, do not do that..that little "pin" is there to stop the tension discs spinning ( "revolving" ) and so not keeping the thread under constant tension..you do not pass the thread around this pin you go straight down out of the tension discs to the check spring discs and around them and up to the check spring.. You may be doing yours the correct way, but I can' tell from the photo you posted above, so just a "heads up" in case.

 

HTH M

I'd be interested to hear from Eric and or Wiz re the "auto thread oiling" in an industrial high speed setting versus the "manual oil drop" in a slow speed leather sewing setting..

Edited September 4, 2016 by mikesc

[brmax]

I'm not familiar with this view or haven't read the post very well, but is the bobbin basket always set in this position must have slipped by.  Seems a bit different than other machines I see setup, as having the basket tab at 9:00 or 3 for a double needle.

On the other hand that machine looks new, or very good shape.

Good day

Floyd

[mikesc]

Can't see where you got anything about the setting of the bobbin basket tab  ( what is a "basket tab" ? ) from any of the posts in this thread there Floyd..

Enjoy your Sunday anyway :)..I'm going to start cooking dinner and  mix me a sunrise and break open a pack of beer..raises glass to you

 

I forgot to reply to dikman..sorry / mes excuses yes..I think the only real differences are the internal lubrication ( not talking about the "thread lubrication" here ) is automated on the 566/7..and that the min stitch count is 3 spi on the 566/7 as opposed to 5 spi on the 166 etc..3 spi I'd like very much ..I might see if there could be a way of "tuning" my 166a to get longer stitches at the extreme end of the count..given that the reverse stitch spi count of the 566/7 is 5 spi, the same as mine it just might be possible, if it was totally different internals to drive the feed dogs ( which governs forward and reverse spi *) it wouldn't strike me as possible , but if they used a "tweaked" drive to get the extra length on the 566/7 it might be worth a try..

Not that I'd need the extra length stitch, but the urge to tinker and tweak sometimes sneaks up on one in the wee small hours

 

*Yes..terrible oversimplification in that phrase, but you get where I'm thinking ..

Edited September 4, 2016 by mikesc

[georgeandgracie]

It does not feel like the butterfly is abrading the thread.

The felt pad was taken out in the picture you refer to - the thread was simply going through the felt pad's clip. Guess I could put the pad back in - there is no oil in the oiler anyway.

That "first thread guide" was set that way when I got the machine - just a few days ago. It is not a very old machine but it is not new, either. Except to me. How does this orientation look to you? I just aimed the opening of the little tube toward the nearest hole in the "second thread guide" - that black thing.