Pearson #6 shuttle removal

[Soap]

Can someone please post a picture on how to remove the shuttle so I can reload it with a new shuttle with thread.its my fathers machine and he passed on recently? Thank you!

[Matt S]

Open the shuttle cover plate and turn the handle until the shuttle is at its maximum travel to the left. Press the pointy end until the blunt end points up a bit, then pull it out. The bobbin is retained in the shuttle with a little catch at the blunt end.

[Yzabel68]

Hi ! I have the same question but to put it in... inherited from my dad as well ... and the shuttle was out in a separate box, it doesn’t seem to want to go in but i have no clue what Side it should be placed in and i don’t want to force it, looked in the instructions but no information on this and can’t find pictures either, thanks!

[Northmount]

@Soap Moved your post to Leather Sewing Machines.

Tom

[Matt S]

4 hours ago, Yzabel68 said:

Hi ! I have the same question but to put it in... inherited from my dad as well ... and the shuttle was out in a separate box, it doesn’t seem to want to go in but i have no clue what Side it should be placed in and i don’t want to force it, looked in the instructions but no information on this and can’t find pictures either, thanks!

Shuttle goes in the bed on the left. There's a sliding cover held by a little spring inside, which you have to unhook by sticking your finger in the LHS. At one point in its cycle (near the lowest point on the needle's stroke) the shuttle carrier, a large C of steel, becomes visible. The shuttle drops in here. The pointy end of the shuttle points towards the right and (what stumped me when I first got mine) the open face of the shuttle faces towards you.

Hope that helps! If you need some photos I'll dig out my #6.

[Yzabel68]

4 hours ago, Northmount said:

@Soap

Edited March 8, 2019 by Yzabel68

[Yzabel68]

14 hours ago, Matt S said:

Shuttle goes in the bed on the left. There's a sliding cover held by a little spring inside, which you have to unhook by sticking your finger in the LHS. At one point in its cycle (near the lowest point on the needle's stroke) the shuttle carrier, a large C of steel, becomes visible. The shuttle drops in here. The pointy end of the shuttle points towards the right and (what stumped me when I first got mine) the open face of the shuttle faces towards you.

Hope that helps! If you need some photos I'll dig out my #6.

This is it ! It works, thank you so much !!! I was able to do just one stitch thought, the needle was very hard to go through and then  the thread stuck but I guess I forgot that the pedAls were not assembled... The wire for lifting the foot is not assembled either I hope that this is why it did that... will work on it this weekend and try to find the way to put this together. I will also check the needle that is on the machine since I was able to find a bunch of em in dad's stuff of different sizes.  I have no : 4-5-6-7 and 9... I will make research in needle section to see equivalent of sizes now and thread for them.

[Matt S]

1 minute ago, Yzabel68 said:

This is it ! It works, thank you so much !!! I was able to do just one stitch thought, the needle was very hard to go through and then  the thread stuck but I guess I forgot that the pedAls were not assembled... The wire for lifting the foot is not assembled either I hope that this is why it did that... will work on it this weekend and try to find the way to put this together. I will also check the needle that is on the machine since I was able to find a bunch of em in dad's stuff of different sizes.  I have no : 4-5-6-7 and 9... I will make research in needle section to see equivalent of sizes now and thread for them.

No worries, glad to help. It'd be good to see pics of your grand old lady somewhen.

The pressure required for a machine to penetrate leather from a standstill often surprises me. Even with a 1mm diameter brand new needle there's a fair bit of welly needed if you try to start with the needle in contact with the leather (the most  difficult part of the entire cycle). Now consider that an average needle in a no6 is probably 2-3mm diameter! That's why the flywheel/balance wheel is so heavy -- it "saves" energy during the easier parts of the cycle and "expends" it during the more difficult parts. The energy stored in a wheel increases exponentially with the speed it's going (F=1/2*M*V*V) so it gets much easier with just a small increase in speed. With my no6 sometimes if I'm placing the needle very precisely for the first stitch I'll touch the needle to the leather, back the wheel off a little and slam it forwards, which is usually enough to push though even stiff bridle or tooling leather and get the ball rolling. (Got to be confident that the needle's going to survive to use this technique though -- the 331 needle is long and in small sizes has a tendency to explode. I got hold of a packet of no3 needles a few years ago and even on level leather and using the correct size needle steady each one died before the bobbin was empty.)

There's also the chance that your needle is blunt or damaged. The manual recommends sharpening blunt needles with an oilstone. Even though they cost me £2-3 each damaged needles go straight in the bin.

Glad you've got a selection of needles. I've never seen a 9 -- largest I've got are a few 8s but they used to make 10s! The number refers to the linen thread they recommended for that needle size -- 18/5 linen (what I think you guys call 5-cord), for instance, needs a no5 needle. There were also half-sizes. GB were the last company making the needles for these machines and the only commonly available ones this size of the pond are nm230, equivalent to the old no5 size. This chart does a pretty good job of translating the thread and needle sizes: https://www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html

[Yzabel68]

1 hour ago, Matt S said:

No worries, glad to help. It'd be good to see pics of your grand old lady somewhen.

The pressure required for a machine to penetrate leather from a standstill often surprises me. Even with a 1mm diameter brand new needle there's a fair bit of welly needed if you try to start with the needle in contact with the leather (the most  difficult part of the entire cycle). Now consider that an average needle in a no6 is probably 2-3mm diameter! That's why the flywheel/balance wheel is so heavy -- it "saves" energy during the easier parts of the cycle and "expends" it during the more difficult parts. The energy stored in a wheel increases exponentially with the speed it's going (F=1/2*M*V*V) so it gets much easier with just a small increase in speed. With my no6 sometimes if I'm placing the needle very precisely for the first stitch I'll touch the needle to the leather, back the wheel off a little and slam it forwards, which is usually enough to push though even stiff bridle or tooling leather and get the ball rolling. (Got to be confident that the needle's going to survive to use this technique though -- the 331 needle is long and in small sizes has a tendency to explode. I got hold of a packet of no3 needles a few years ago and even on level leather and using the correct size needle steady each one died before the bobbin was empty.)

There's also the chance that your needle is blunt or damaged. The manual recommends sharpening blunt needles with an oilstone. Even though they cost me £2-3 each damaged needles go straight in the bin.

Glad you've got a selection of needles. I've never seen a 9 -- largest I've got are a few 8s but they used to make 10s! The number refers to the linen thread they recommended for that needle size -- 18/5 linen (what I think you guys call 5-cord), for instance, needs a no5 needle. There were also half-sizes. GB were the last company making the needles for these machines and the only commonly available ones this size of the pond are nm230, equivalent to the old no5 size. This chart does a pretty good job of translating the thread and needle sizes: https://www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html

I think I tried it un the past without the thread in the needle and it was fairly easy, I will try again to see. Since I didn’t know if things were setup wright I was careful since i don’t want any damage on it. Seems I have to resise my picks, coming soon!

thanks alot for all this precious information.

Edited March 8, 2019 by Yzabel68

[Matt S]

On 3/8/2019 at 4:05 PM, Yzabel68 said:

I think I tried it un the past without the thread in the needle and it was fairly easy, I will try again to see. Since I didn’t know if things were setup wright I was careful since i don’t want any damage on it.

Almost all the timing is fixed on a no6 so about the only thing to worry about is the needle assitant thing that's under the needle plate. If it doesn't get hit by the needle on the way down the machine is probably safe to use.

Looks like a good machine. The little shelf is intact on yours, which mine has missing. Does your oil/wax pot have the wiper present?

[Yzabel68]

Hi ! i have those parts loose in the wax pot have no clue how it goes..they seem pretty old and the entire pot as well as those parts are covered with a layer of hardened deposits of probably cooked wax or something similar.   tried again without thread and it is as hard to go thru the leather as with the thread so I will get this needle out and check it and probably replace it !? 

[Yzabel68]

I just figured out (hope I am right) how to fix the steel wire to the pedal (thanks to the net and picture there !!!) it goes on the front and not on the back as thought at first !!! I was asking to you about this in a previous message that was never here because when i went to get the picture...my message was gone, anyway.  So I ''wired'' the pedal figuring out the stiffness of the pedal, and just wired it snug. It seems to work