Prettiest singer 111w155... biggest pain in my butt

[BrownChicken]

I nearly gutted the machine and cleaned it, oh boy did it seem like it sat in mud! Then I gave it some new paint and fancy decals. The tension release guide has been the biggest pain in my butt. So the thing first of all was broken when I bought it, no big deal. Ordered a new one. New one broke while putting it on. Ordered a different one, same look, put it on and the thing barely worked. Wouldn't release the tension and appeared the pin wasn't long enough. Well I measured my pin against a brand new one and it's the same size sooooo I go back to it today and now the somewhat-working tension release guide doesn't work at all. What the heck. I don't see it broken but I just give up. I'm throwing my money at the one he bought below hoping it fits my singer as it seems just so much better made. 

 

Here is the link, anyone have experience if it'll work or not for my singer? 

 

 

[Constabulary]

How can you break a complete tension unit? Are you sure they are broke?

1st I´d remove the tension unit again and check if the pin that goes from front to back through the machine head is present - if not you need a new pin (obviously). #20 in below picture

The procedure you have linked above works for your 111 as well but before you rip apart everything check if that parts is present and if it is broke or not. It is covered with a large head screw on the back side.

If pin #20 is present and the tension release on the backside is present and functional you can try to bend #17 a little bit to war the pin #20 or a adjust little center bar on the tension release disc #13 by tapping it a tiny bit towards the pin #11. Or buy bicycle spoke and cut a piece a bit longer than pin #11 and replace it - all that is trial and error.

Edited May 4, 2017 by Constabulary

[dikman]

Sure does look pretty, Brown Chicken, seems almost a shame to use it . I had to fit one of those tension release guides to my 111W117, as that model doesn't normally have one. It was obviously a generic piece and required a bit of judicious bending to get it to work. The hole that slides over the shaft didn't quite line up and when I got that working I had to tweak a couple of other bits to get it to push the pin. Just make sure there's nothing binding, it should move freely. I got there in the end, but it wasn't a simple  "drop it in and it works" thing.

[Yetibelle]

WOW that really is good looking, nice job on that.  Now I feel sorry for my 111 .  This may have already been said, but what size thread are you using and how are you threading the machine?  I know there are a few different ways to thread this machine that all appear correct.

 

 

 

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

This is, like, literally, the holy grail of Singer 111W155s.  

[Yetibelle]

I just like looking at it.  BTW those decals look spot-on, where did you get them? 

 

 

[wendlynne]

The decals, the pretty. 

I am so impressed. And I would love to know where you got the decals as well!

[Constabulary]

check Ebay for Singer decals....

[wendlynne]

yeah, but the decal quality swings pretty widely between sellers on ebay. Some are just horrible scans on cheap materials =O

[Yetibelle]

 

yeah, but the decal quality swings pretty widely between sellers on ebay. Some are just horrible scans on cheap materials =O

Exactly

[BrownChicken]

For decals keelersales.com - also sells on eBay. Tell him Patricia Elaine sent you! just because he went above and beyond to help me out before I want him to know I sing nothing but gold for his company! Hands down the most professional and dedicated artist I've found! Really does an amazing job and he stands by his work. They look amazing in person and sparkle so nice in the light, you'd think they were original brand new decals (honestly I think the quality is a little nicer on his LOL!) 

 

So I bought the juki thread guide tension release and after a little dremel work it's SO MUCH BETTER than the crap before! I am very sad they do not make such an outstanding part ready made for the 111 but a little sparks and it for perfect. The release lever that actually engages the pin was wider than the slide. 

 

My next issue is i got it adjusted professionally - I was utterly sick of this thing after putting in so much work I was not wanting to tinker anymore! Well the foot lift was never very high. My dinky portable sailrite lifts way higher. After putting the new part on the presser bar I played a little with the machine and now not only is my lift low but the lift of the feet while walking is poo poo now too Ugh! There are excellent resources here so cross your fingers I don't have to end up taking my machine back and having it adjusted again because I tinkered with stuff I shouldn't have haha

[Constabulary]

Do you have a manual for this machine? The procedure of adjusting the foot lift while walking is mentioned in it - easy task if the mechanism is not gummed.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Constabulary

[leecopp]

Hey Constabulary - those are the best scans I have seen ... were they online or yours? Frustrating that C and D both look about the same in the figures. My 111w155 is out being fostered at a new home with the hope of adoption.. But .. if that beast ever comes back to my house I am gonna put a dab of paint in there to make it easier to distinguished (old guy eyes you know). 

 

Happy Day

L

[Constabulary]

they are mine - I invested some $$$ and bought original manuals for my machine (approx $25 incl shipping to Germany) Nothing beats original manuals.

You will notice the difference when you look at the screws D has a very coarse thread

[BrownChicken]

9 hours ago, Constabulary said:

they are mine - I invested some $$$ and bought original manuals for my machine (approx $25 incl shipping to Germany) Nothing beats original manuals.

You will notice the difference when you look at the screws D has a very coarse thread

Those are really good scans. Is there any way you can scan to upload maybe for a small fee so I can print? I was looking at the manual how to change the feet height while sewing and was kind of intimidated because my sewing repair guy had said I really threw it out of adjustment because I took all that out to clean it lol. But maybe now it's adjusted I can play with it via the manual?

 

do you have any idea how to adjust the foot lift in general when you raise it? 

[Constabulary]

Will scan the manual  sooner or later but I have not the patience at the moment - sorry.

Maybe this thread gives you some helpful hints:

 

[Yetibelle]

9 hours ago, Constabulary said:

Will scan the manual  sooner or later but I have not the patience at the moment - sorry.

Maybe this thread gives you some helpful hints:

 

I thought I put the link in for the 111W guide scan, oh well here it is again.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8SsIFb6Bqz7bjBSb2Y2cjlMNGs

 

 

[mikesc]

Appreciate the thought yetibelle, But..I ( for one ) would rather see links to "guides " and pdfs" etc that do/es not require one to have google account, or create one, or "log into one" ( or an account anywhere else than leatherworker.net )..if any guide or pdf or file is too big to upload here directly,, the mods can do it..
Same applies to photos..
Lot of people recently are taking to uploading their images to other sites where to see them you have to accept a whole pile of 3rd party tracking cookies connected to the ads and or twitter, facebook , pinterest cr*p buttons on those sites ( and if you want to get rid of them afterwards they can take a long time removing all of them ) or to be forced to create accounts on those sites to see the images ( and all the ads from people who are not advertising supporters of this forum )..whereas we are all here with accounts anyway..and can upload the guides, pdfs, and photos right here..
Google docs and google drive ( and other 3rd party sites ) can, and have been used ( very recently in the case of google docs ) to serve malware ..not by you ;-) , but it is not advisable in general to trust links to google docs and google drive..or the MS version of it, et al..
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/03/google_docs_hit_phishing_email_campaign/
and search "google docs malware" for further reading..
and a huge amount of malware gets served by sites that run ads that are not hosted on the sites themselves..like all those photo sharing sites that people here like to upload their photos to.

Edited May 8, 2017 by mikesc

[Yetibelle]

35 minutes ago, mikesc said:

Appreciate the thought yetibelle, But..I ( for one ) would rather see links to "guides " and pdfs" etc that do/es not require one to have google account, or create one, or "log into one" ( or an account anywhere else than leatherworker.net )..if any guide or pdf or file is too big to upload here directly,, the mods can do it..
Same applies to photos..
Lot of people recently are taking to uploading their images to other sites where to see them you have to accept a whole pile of 3rd party tracking cookies connected to the ads and or twitter, facebook , pinterest cr*p buttons on those sites ( and if you want to get rid of them afterwards they can take a long time removing all of them ) or to be forced to create accounts on those sites to see the images ( and all the ads from people who are not advertising supporters of this forum )..whereas we are all here with accounts anyway..and can upload the guides, pdfs, and photos right here..
Google docs and google drive ( and other 3rd party sites ) can, and have been used ( very recently in the case of google docs ) to serve malware ..not by you ;-) , but it is not advisable in general to trust links to google docs and google drive..or the MS version of it, et al..
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/03/google_docs_hit_phishing_email_campaign/
and search "google docs malware" for further reading..
and a huge amount of malware gets served by sites that run ads that are not hosted on the sites themselves..like all those photo sharing sites that people here like to upload their photos to.

Sorry I'm a little confused, but that is normal.  Does the link I added ask you to make a Google account before you can see it?

I thought I just made is a link to the PDF public and you could get to it without an account?  If there is a better way to share these larger files I am all for it I understand the concern. 

 

[Wizcrafts]

31 minutes ago, Yetibelle said:

Sorry I'm a little confused, but that is normal.  Does the link I added ask you to make a Google account before you can see it?

I thought I just made is a link to the PDF public and you could get to it without an account?  If there is a better way to share these larger files I am all for it I understand the concern. 

 

The document you uploaded to your Google account requires the viewers to also have Google account, or to create one. You can drag and drop or choose a file to upload directly into a post using: "Drag files here to attach, or choose files " Then the viewers can either download the pdf, or open it in their default pdf reader, which in Windows 10 is called Twinui

111W152_W153_W154_W155.pdf

[mikesc]

Thanks wiz ;) the direct link from "here" is much appreciated, I currently have 14 windows and nearly 2000 tabs open on this machine..logging into G would crash my machine as all the G analytics and their other scripts ran in each tab that has a page that calls to them.
..@yetibelle..yes..like wiz explained to get to the file that is uploaded to a google drive account, one either has to have a google account ( and log in to it ) or make a google drive account, and be logged in to it..and accept all the google cookies..and all their "tracking scripts", including their "ever cookie"..which they then use to "personalise" your search results ( skew them to what they want you to see ) and they skew ads that they show you when you go to any site that runs adsense or double click..
G are not the only ones who do this kind of thing..it can be a real PITA..means that unless you clean your cookies out that any searches that you do will be tweaked by them..you won't get "clean" results..facebook is even worse with their like buttons , which are really tracking buttons that log your IP address to facebook and that then spy on you and record every page that you go to on any site anywhere on the web that has a facebook button on it, whether you "like " something or not, they record what you look at and where you go..for years or even decades..even if you don't have a facebook account..sites that use google analytics allow google to do the same spying on your browsing habits to you..unless you block the calls to the "social" buttons etc and to ganalytics in your browser..easy to do..but a "how to" would be OT for this thread..

But the ads here on leatherworker.net do not allow the advertisers to track ..:)..and I always block the ganalytics.

Edited May 8, 2017 by mikesc

[Yetibelle]

Ok - thanks for the update.  I typically attach them to the post, but that scanned guide was to large. So I linked it via the google drive.  If the file is larger than the Max size your saying there is a way I can add them to my forum profile, and link them from there?  I will have to figure that out tomorrow.   

 

[dikman]

Mike, if you ever have the time (!) such a how-to would be most interesting.

[Wizcrafts]

3 hours ago, Yetibelle said:

Ok - thanks for the update.  I typically attach them to the post, but that scanned guide was to large. So I linked it via the google drive.  If the file is larger than the Max size your saying there is a way I can add them to my forum profile, and link them from there?  I will have to figure that out tomorrow.   

 

Yes, we have size limits that vary according to your level of membership. Some of the file limits are very low.

There are other options that people can use to share documents that exceed our limits. If you have a commercially hosted website, you can upload PDF files to a new directory (aka "folder") and simply provide a link to it in a forum reply. Or, maybe you have a website hosted on a free service that might allow you to upload files larger than our limits and to provide links to them.

Another way to share files is to create an account on Dropbox. You can upload files, create a link to them, then share that link with anybody, even non-members. The details are here.

[BrownChicken]

Btw for anyone that stumbles on this thread and are wondering you can infact use the thread tension release guide for the juki Uwe posted and used for a singer similar to the 111w155 so long as you have a grinder to slightly make the lever less wide. It'll fit perfectly after that and probably last a hell of a lot longer. I just got another 111w today and guess what was broken on that one? Thread tension release lever too lol they just are so thin and get old i guess. Was very brittle. The replacements on eBay even sucked. This one posted above is really nice