Singer 111W155 presser foot adjustment

[Ole South]

I've rebuilt a "parts machine" 111W155.  Initially it sewed well but I tried to adjust the alternating presser foot height by the manual and things went in the crapper.  The vibrating foot lifts 3/8ths -1.2 inch. the alternating presser foot (outside) barely clears the material being sewn.  This makes it difficult to sew across height variations like seams. The mechanics appear to pivot the outer foot off the inner.... but when I adjust them for the same lift (standard) the inner foot binds on the feed dogs and locks up the machine.

The manual doesn't specify where/what their starting point/position should be.  Anyone else experienced this?

Thanks.

(Needle bar height is set correctly)

[Uwe]

Things may actually bind on the housing, not the fed dog.

I've had a few machines where I managed to get the adjustment so out of whack so that the foot lift linkage was touching the cast body and causing a bind. Make sure your foot lift linkage looks something like this:

 

The linkages are all connected and it may be tricky to get it into the right position.

Sometimes you can adjust the linkage like shown below to get it back into the correct range of motion:

 

This arm should be vertical in the middle of its range of motion:

If things are really out of whack you may need to re-set all the linkages as as shown in this video where I replaced the thread tension release guide:

 

Edited February 26, 2017 by Uwe

[MADMAX22]

Uwe on my 111w155 that linkage has enough room to clear the hole on the side without making contact of any sort, curious if they had different machining specs on these things for that portion of the body. 

[leecopp]

Hi All,

Getting my timing reset from previous owner was indeed tedious. I was also impeded by contact issue. Ultimately resolved after much fussing about.

Thanks Uwe for the clarifying photos.

 

Lee

[brmax]

I'm not to familiar so I have to ask if in the 2nd photo above: right side top hole can the linkage there be adjusted as "is it on a cam" like the 15 series Juki so calling it a feed cam.

 

Thankyou

 Floyd

 

[Uwe]

Floyd, you are correct - the clamping arm itself (where we loosen the screw) is indeed fixed in its position by its connection to the feed cam arm on the main shaft.

But we're really rotating the shaft that the clamping arm holds on to, not the clamping arm itself. It's hard to explain in words without writing a novel. Might be a good video topic. 

[Ole South]

Thanks Uwe, the vibrating foot actually clamps down too hard on the feed dog to turn the hand wheel.  I will revisit the linkage set screw.  Where (just picking a random point) should things be when the L shaped pivot arm {red/green} is at exactly 3 o'clock position.

And thank you so VERY much for the pictures of the thread tension release guide... I wondered why mine shot out of the back of the machine if the pressure lift arm was hyper-extended.  I ordered one and I got the rod for a 152/3 (different diameter).  I eventually fabricated one of correct diameter from brass rod but if you push lifter release too high it binds the presser feet... basically how I got the presser feet out of whak in the first place.

[brmax]

I have found the adjustments on many of these machines have a "or" require to be on a certain stitch setting. Also this may need to be changed for the next adjustment in the manual listing. I mention this only because this particular adjustment is what matters most or gets jacked up and even me doing it earlier on. I can say that because it was a stumble i had to figure out on some, re-adjust my own mess. And following up in the future found that doing each step in step with the manual was critical for this issue whatever machine i had and this seemed to worked better for me.

 

good day

Floyd

Edited February 27, 2017 by brmax

[Uwe]

10 hours ago, Ole South said:

the vibrating foot actually clamps down too hard on the feed dog to turn the hand wheel

As you turn the wheel, the outer presser foot is supposed to start lifting up the moment the vibrating presser foot presses against the feed dog (or against the material if there is any). There must be something that prevents that from happening. Your foot lift linkage is not working properly. I have strong feeling it has to do with how you adjusted the feet for same lift. What exactly did you do to adjust the foot lift?

[Ole South]

Loosened the lock screw and turned the worm screw rotating the eccentric at the middle of the upper drive shaft.

[Uwe]

Ouch, that was probably a mistake, I'm sorry to say.  That is one setting that almost never needs to be (or should be) adjusted after the machine leaves the factory, unless you replace the main shaft. Press the "undo" button. 

[Ole South]

Wish I could... manual says it's to change the lift ratio between vibrating foot and outside presser foot.  I suspect it's the correlation between both the eccentric and the pivot pin adjustment.

[Uwe]

Now I'm really curious. Can you post a picture or scan of that section in the manual? 

[Ole South]

Page 17 of Singer-Class-111-Instructions

[Uwe]

Well, I learned something new today. Thank you for prompting that lesson, Ole South!  I take back what I said earlier - what you did was not some grave mistake. I was thinking of the other almost-but-not-quite identical machines in that class (e.g. Consew 225, which has a different mechanism for foot lift height adjustment.)

The relative foot lift height is adjusted similar to what I described above in the 1. 2. 3. step picture, but the total foot lift is indeed adjusted via that worm screw on the eccentric on the main shaft. 

There are various scans of that manual floating around, some of them with really poor picture scans. Here's one that has very good detail in the pictures: Singer Class 111 Instructions.pdf , just so we all look at the same instructions.

I just pulled out my SInger 111W155 project machine to take a closer look. I'll report back.

 

[Uwe]

I was able to get my machine to bind and stop turning over just by adjusting it to max foot lift (turning the worm screw counter-clockwise all the way after loosening set screw.)

I had taken my machine head apart a few days ago for cleaning, so I know for sure nothing else was interfering. You don't have to take your machine head apart to fix the bind, I just took the pictures like this to show only the parts that matter.

Of course you can also back off the foot lift adjustment worm screw a little bit until there is no more bind. The adjustment shown below should avoid the possibility of dialing in a foot lift amount that causes a bind condition. 

Here's the picture of how my machine bound up at max foot lift and how I fixed it.

Timing-wise, when the main shaft points straight down  (blue line), the foot lift arm should be in its right-most position (yellow arrow). This should give you equal foot lift 

This is also where the foot lift arm may touch the housing and cause a bind condition (red star). There should be a tiny gap between the foot lift arm and housing in this position.

Fix:

1. Loosen the screw (purple arrow)

2. Turn the handwheel until the main shaft points straight down (blue line)

3. Adjust foot lift arm to have a tiny gap to housing

4. Tighten screw (purple arrow)

Turn the hand wheel  a full turn to verify fix 

[Ole South]

How does the presser foot rise relative to the vibrating foot?  The problem I'm seeing is that when I get the vibrating foot rising 1/4-1/2" the presser foot barely lifts.

But I will try this tomorrow.

 

Thank you so much for all this!

Edited March 1, 2017 by Ole South

[Uwe]

The above adjustment should also equalise foot lift. Try the adjustment above and then check if foot lift is equalized.

If not, try these steps:

1. Turn the handwheel until tip of descending needle is level with top of throat plate

2. Loosen purple arrow screw (Both feet will drop to be level with throat plate)

3. Tighten purple-arrow screw again.

4. Verify full turn with no bind

In a well-adjusted walking foot machine everything lines up at the top of throat plate level at the exact same time in the cycle. That's the standard adjustment. 

A you turn the handwheel, when the tip of the descending needle is level with the top of the throat plate, the ascending feed dog is also level with top of throat plate. Both Presser feet are level with top of throat plate.

 

 

I show this foot lift equalizing step on a Juki LU-563 in this video starting at the 4:00 minute mark:

 

[Ole South]

I think I've a different problem. When decending needle is level with the top of the throat plate the feed dogs have risen and are ready to begin their back stroke; if I drop the presser feet by loosening the screw, further handwheel motion causes the eccentric toggle (top of the L pivot bar, green line) to bind on THE OUTSIDE PRESSER BAR rather than the casting.  Could this be a top end / bottom end timing issue?

Note: vibrating foot lifts 1/2", outside presser only lifts 1/16".

Edited March 2, 2017 by Ole South

[brmax]

Many times because these presser feet bars and needle bars have a spring and pressure on them one needs to put a spacer under the lower one then release the tension/adjustment lock srew. This helps sometimes as they both work off each other when walking. So getting a reasonable equal foot height here sure is the ticket  

Floyd

[Uwe]

Have you tried these steps I had listed above?

1. Turn the handwheel until tip of descending needle is level with top of throat plate

2. Loosen purple arrow screw (Both feet will drop to be level with throat plate)

3. Tighten purple-arrow screw again.

4. Verify full turn with no bind

We'll need to see some pictures or a short video to see what's going on. We're just doing a lot of guessing based on vague descriptions.  

 

[Ole South]

Yes Uwe, That's what led me to where the bind actually was.  Brmax, I've shimmed both feet and used that as a starting point too. I'll try and get some pictures. Ty all. 

[Ole South]

Okay, with the help of a friend of mine (real live Sewing Machine mechanic) I got to work on the beast today.  She's lifting both feet now, not quite as high as spec says but we both learned a lot about the 111w155.  Our pdf doesn't give a starting point for the adjustment but it is correct.  Turning the eccentric worm gear counter clockwise creates a "cam" effect off the motion of the upper drive shaft resulting in a greater range of motion of the (exposed) lifter rocker/swing arms (visible in Figs 4, 18 & 19) which drive both presser feet bars via the Lifting Bell Crank Lever(Simanco p/n 240205 plate 16993, Consew #2 pg 5).  This results in a higher lift of one or both feet.  Since the presser foot basically pivots off the vibrating foot you only see vibrating foot rise or fall as you are making the adjustment at screw D.  There are a lot of moving pieces to getting the machine to lift both feet as you desire.  Basically this is a complex equivalent of the 29-4 L-M-H wingnut setting.

We got both feet lifting about 3/8", synchronized correctly and sewing well.  All the settings are not perfect as the needle bar now impacts and binds the top of the vibrating foot when the Presser Lift Lever is up and the hand wheel is rotated but sews well.  The major culprit appears to be the Presser Bar Spring Bracket wasn't set properly.  As brmax noted shimming or prying one or both of the feet up/down is necessary to accomplish adjustment if the machine is too far out of spec (I used a stack of pennies or dimes as a shim).  It would be nice to create a beginning to end procedure for setting the lift.  The pdf manual assumes a correctly adjusted machine, I'll try and come up with written procedure but finding a set starting point is the trick.

Set screws involved (ref: INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING AND ADJUSTING SINGER* SEWING MACHINES CLASS 111 VARIETIES 152, 153, 154 and 155 {pdf}):
G (Fig 4 pg. 5) -Positions rocker arms and releases feet
C* (Fig 19 pg 17) -Supposed to lock Eccentric Regulating (worm) Screw
D (Fig 20 pg 17) Lift Eccentric Regulating Screw - Sets lift height
Pinch Screw 200086c & Presser Bar Spring Bracket (Simanco p/n 210949 Part Manual Plate 16693, Consew #15&16 pg 7) Sets the height the Presser Foot rises

Additionally I discovered why the tension release bar comes flying out the back of the machine or may lock both presser feet it the UP position when the Presser Release handle is hyper extended. Either the Tension Release Slide (Consew #11 pg 7 or Simanco p/n 264527 plate 16693) is binding and/or gummed up or the Presser Bar Spring Bracket is set too high.

I've included a link to the Consew 206rb parts manual as the exploded diagrams (similar tho not exactly the same) show relative positioning better than the Singer Parts Lists

Reference: http://consew.com/Files/112347/PartsBooks/206RB-5.pdf

* On my 111W155 there are two screws on Fig 19 instead of a single "C" set screw as shown.  Neither seem have any effect on locking the regulating screw adjustment on my machine (too much wear??).  The one on the left (as you are looking from the back of the machine) is the Eccentric Body Set Screw (I assume locks the eccentric to the upper drive shaft) and the right-most is the Lift Eccentric Set Screw (locks the Regulating Screw??).

Edited March 4, 2017 by Ole South

[bj139]

I know this is an old thread but searching for 111w155 foot lift led me here. 

Isn't the maximum foot lift limited by the needle bar coming down and hitting the top of the foot?  I have mine adjusted so I can fit about 7/16" of material under the foot and the needle bar comes down and barely touches the top of the foot.  I don't know if  sewing 1/2" is possible because of the needle bar hitting the foot. 

It looks like I am getting a tiny bit less than 4 SPI at maximum stitch length.

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by bj139

[bj139]

Here is this solid cardboard thickness I sewed.  The servo motor had trouble sewing this but I helped with the handwheel.  A larger handwheel would work better.  I tried pushing another layer of cardboard under the foot but no go.

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by bj139