Need 206RB help, advice

[Dave4]

New to me 206RB4, from a wildland firefighter apparel factory.  Came with servo table.  I bought a smaller motor pulley.  

I initially thought it was a 3, but it's a 4 TH.  

It was well oiled, but really dirty. A lot of the wicks were clogged or torn.

I removed covers, plates, and wicks, then rolled the head around in a tub while hosing it with kerosene from a deck sprayer, then blew it out.  I looks much better inside than I expected, rolls really smooth.   

Apparently, fasteners come loose over time in a factory machine.  The nut for the oil wick clamp fell out of the upper rear window while I was cleaning.  One set screw for the arm shaft bushing collar is missing.  

A set screw for the lower shaft gear had come loose, backed all the way out until it hit the inside of the gear cover BANG broke the gear cover and then hung up in the excess grease.  I bet that was loud.  No telling how long ago it happened.  Lucky that screw didn't get caught up in the gears.  The set screw and hole and gears are fine, i cleaned and re-used the set screw.  Gonna need a new gear cover.  See photo.  

Moral: it might be worth checking the 8 set screws for the 4 gears periodically when you service your machine.

I have multiple diameters of new felt I can use to cut & replace wick pads.  I took photos of the long wick routes.  Most of them look like easy installs except for the one that routes leftward into the arm shaft area.  

Questions:

1 - This machine will be used for slow-speed work, only 5 hours per week average.  In this environment, are the long wicks even necessary?  I'm pretty good about oiling my machines, and have some nice long dispenser tubes for my oil cans.  Thoughts?  Don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate the engineering and convenience of the oiling system, and a full set of wicks is less than $20, I don't mind going either way.  I know that my work environment is less demanding, I have a machine maintenance day every month, and I know how to oil a machine.  Just curious if anyone else has relevant experience.  

2 - I pulled a couple of pretty fat felt wick pads out some pretty small holes.  I anticipate some potential swearing getting some of those back in place.  For future reference, are there any wicks or pads on this machine that are typically "never removed because you gotta take something apart to reinstall the wick"?  Any tips or tricks for reinstalling any certain wicks?

3 - On my machine, the long wick that hangs down from the right side of the upper oil reservoir was torn up and dangling inside the tower, so I don't have any reference as to routing or destination of this wick.  Way down inside the tower, I see the dime-sized concave-dished oil hole on the upper surface of the casting that holds the lower shaft bushing between gears and clutch.  Mine was blocked with lint and dirt, but it's totally clean now.  How is that hole oiled?  Was the torn wick supposed to reach that far down?  If so, routing?  I can reach that hole with an oil can extension tube, but I like learning how it was supposed to be from the factory.  

4 - There is a long screw with 2 lock nuts spanning the top of the big feed fork.  It's loose, not really doing anything.  It is apparently some kind of reinforcing pinch screw to stabilize the top end of the big fork.  What is the procedure or spec for setting this screw?  See photo.

5 - I'd love to find a source for the big Consew sticker that goes on the front of the arm.  Mine is long gone.  Are these still available? 

That's it for now.  I'm sure I'll have more questions soon.  

Thanks for your help!

DS

 

[brmax]

Have ya located a manual, I'm sure we can locate one here on site.

Sure put the clean on it, now just surgically oiling it with plenty oil. Watch out! it may just keep turning with no need for a motor now, just spin on the wheel.

Good work there

Floyd

 

[Dave4]

Thanks Floyd, it's pretty smooth, maybe I better go out and check if it's still going from the last time I cranked it.  

I have a User and Parts manual, would love a 206RB service manual if one is floating around.  

I do have the Navy Chapter 4 225 service manual, 1541 service manual, and an "adjustment procedure" manual for 145/545, so I'm not completely in the dark.  

Those manuals don't help with the questions above.  

Thx.

 

 

 

 

[CowboyBob]

The wicks are designed for last people that don't want to open the lids & oil each individual part.That being said if you oil everything that you should(every bearing ,sliding part & hole) in the machine you won't need to rely on the wicks.

 

The feed fork screw can be tightened alittle if there's play but be careful that screw can break,they are still available.

Edited November 9, 2016 by CowboyBob

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

I've attached the part of the owners manual that 'explains' how to adjust this feed fork.  Pretty useless, but here it is!  Like CowboyBob, set this so there is at least oil clearance.

[TinkerTailor]

Classic case of adding oil to fix everything, and apparently this time it worked for a while...... How you could smash that cover and not notice or care is crazy

 

Edited November 9, 2016 by TinkerTailor

[Dave4]

Awesome, thanks guys, I really appreciate it.  

More questions:

1 - My check spring stop has a notch where the spring hits the stop.  Is that notch supposed to be there, or did it get cut by the spring?       

2 - See photos.  My presser bar spring made a black dent in the paint where it hits the casting when the presser is down.  Is that normal, or is my spring wore out?  Maybe something else is out of whack?  I also noticed the regulating screw doesn't line up with the notch on the spine of the spring, but I'm not sure if that's important.  

3 - Who sells a service manual?  

4 - Who sells a pedal kit to convert the presser lift to pedal-chain?  

Thanks!

 

 

[gottaknow]

http://www.consew.com/Resources/

These are free to download. Have fun!

Regards, Eric

[Dave4]

Thanks Eric, I have those manuals: both Instruction and Parts.  The adjuster's section of the Instr manual is handy, but if there is an actual service manual floating around, I'd love to have a copy.  

I finished the clean-up yesterday.  Waiting on a few parts.  I must have found 15 different fasteners that were loose.  Set screws, pinch screws, etc.  I'm seriously considering taking this thing apart so I can check the 20 or so screws you can't get to without taking it down, but I hesitate to just start ripping stuff off without a true service manual for parts specs and reassembly.

Maybe I'll just bend that presser bar spring a little and see how it goes.  

Thx,

DS

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

On 11/9/2016 at 8:28 PM, Dave4 said:

Maybe I'll just bend that presser bar spring a little and see how it goes.  

Thx,

DS

See attached, your presser bar spring bracket is incorrectly adjusted.  This is not in the book so here it goes; 

The bracket, if not adjusted correctly, will bottom out, and relieve proper presser bar spring pressure.  Make sure that, with the presser feet down in a normal sewing operation, that the bracket clears both the presser bar bushing as seen in the picture, and also clears your machine's frame.  This will provide constant pressure to the presser bar in order for this to work correctly.  To adjust, cycle the machine by hand to where both presser feet are in contact with needle plate and feed dog, use a flat head screw driver to loosen the bracket clamp screw, lift the still under spring pressure bracket, also with a tool, I would use a flat head screw driver also to lift and then and the same time tighten with another screw driver the bracket screw.  

[Dave4]

On 11/11/2016 at 8:28 AM, Gregg From Keystone Sewing said:

...will bottom out, and relieve proper presser bar spring pressure.  ...  

That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw it.  

Many thanks for the procedure Gregg.  

DS