JKHelms Report post Posted October 30, 2017 I bought a Ferdco 2000 cylinder arm machine and wanted a narrow right, center, and left presser foot set. Orderded them from one of our LW advertisers, got them in and the L& R feet were a 1/4” to long. Dont know if they were the wrong ones or what, but couldn’t adjust the pressure to keep from marking the leather. So being the redneck engineer, welder, machinist that I am, i cut one into and shortened it a 1/4”, tig welded it back together so it was the same length as my double foot. Works perfect . Have to do the right one now. Moral of the story is, never under estimate a determined South Georgia redneck,,, Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Uwe Report post Posted October 30, 2017 You can also raise the presser foot bar up to where it's supposed to be. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikesc Report post Posted October 30, 2017 :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Constabulary Report post Posted October 31, 2017 (edited) Really? Cutting and Bubba welding instead of adjusting the machine? And when you need a truck but have a sedan you cut off the roof? Edited October 31, 2017 by Constabulary Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingsCountyLeather Report post Posted October 31, 2017 11 hours ago, Uwe said: You can also raise the presser foot bar up to where it's supposed to be. Oops! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alexitbe Report post Posted October 31, 2017 Well I do admire his get up and go...and refusal to be beaten... (honestly) However, maybe a few minutes thought would have been appropriate... Alex Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RockyAussie Report post Posted October 31, 2017 57 minutes ago, KingsCountyLeather said: Oops! What do you mean Oops??? If he raises that presser bar he'll have a higher clearance for thicker stuff Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dwight Report post Posted October 31, 2017 17 hours ago, JKHelms said: Moral of the story is, never under estimate a determined redneck,,, Thanks for the laugh, JKHelms, . . . and the inspiration, . . . I changed your last sentence, hope you don't mind, . . . there are a bunch of determined rednecks outside of South Georgia, . . . May God bless, Dwight Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingsCountyLeather Report post Posted October 31, 2017 3 hours ago, RockyAussie said: What do you mean Oops??? If he raises that presser bar he'll have a higher clearance for thicker stuff Showed this to my wife for a laugh! She goes... that’s like something you’d do!! Sad thing is, She’s right! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JKHelms Report post Posted November 1, 2017 On 10/31/2017 at 2:56 AM, Constabulary said: Really? Cutting and Bubba welding instead of adjusting the machine? And when you need a truck but have a sedan you cut off the roof? I don’t see anything “bubba” about it. I’ve owned my own welding and machine shop for 40 years until my cancer forced me to retire last year. Where I’m from, we figure out a way to make stuff work. (Lots of farm equipment and industrial repairs) And I do drive a truck, not much use for cars. That’s for city folks. And the presser feet were a 1/4” longer than my standard feet on this machine. I didn’t want to have to adjust the presser bar every time I changed the feet. Would be a PITA. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RhodesAveDesigns Report post Posted November 1, 2017 On 10/31/2017 at 2:56 AM, Constabulary said: Really? Cutting and Bubba welding instead of adjusting the machine? And when you need a truck but have a sedan you cut off the roof? Honestly, was this response either necessary or at all useful to any other members of this forum? I read this hours ago, and the seemingly crude and unnecessary use of stereotypes to make a post comment has not left me with a particularly "good" feeling about this at all... and I suspect there are others who feel the same. There's enough negativity in this world without using this forum to spread more, IMHO. Most who post here do so in a spirit of comradery and friendship, sharing helpful information (and, often, a good dose of humor). Those are the types of posts and comments I think most members enjoy reading. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Constabulary Report post Posted November 2, 2017 Oh - I also can figure out how to make things work Thats not to difficult. I live in a quite rural area too. Question is why should I do cutting and welding instead of adjusting something? A Ferdco 2000 is a Juki 441 clone, right? There are for sure some (no - A LOT OF) users or dealers who could help with the adjustment procedure. So - you honestly think cutting and welding a presser foot was the better idea instead of adjusting the machine? I don´t think so. This has nothing to do with "negativity". The idea simply was "not so clever" - or was it? I accept your critic on my post and I can deal with it. It´s not my style to sugarcoat something and I honestly hope when I do "not so clever things" people let me know their honest opinion instead of claiming: Ooooh - thats sooo nice, wooooow - you did so well, meeeen - not a better solution out there. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RockyAussie Report post Posted November 2, 2017 2 hours ago, Constabulary said: The idea simply was "not so clever" - or was it? I'm generally not much for sugar coating things myself and rather than make a negative comment I will think best to make no comment at all. Not so this time. I can make adjustments alright and I have a similar machine but I have to say if this works for JK Helms and he is happy to share that with us then good on him. If you are interchanging feet for jobs and this saves doing several adjustments is this wrong? Its easy to buy a new set of longer feet again if needed so I don't see a big problem myself. I do admire your machine knowledge and appreciate your frequent and helpful assistance to members here but in this case asking why he elected to do it this way first, would have been a good thought. After all we all make mistakes at times and as you said .... I honestly hope when I do "not so clever things" people let me know their honest opinion . And I'll skip the rest... Brian Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JKHelms Report post Posted November 2, 2017 5 hours ago, Constabulary said: Oh - I also can figure out how to make things work Thats not to difficult. I live in a quite rural area too. Question is why should I do cutting and welding instead of adjusting something? A Ferdco 2000 is a Juki 441 clone, right? There are for sure some (no - A LOT OF) users or dealers who could help with the adjustment procedure. So - you honestly think cutting and welding a presser foot was the better idea instead of adjusting the machine? I don´t think so. This has nothing to do with "negativity". The idea simply was "not so clever" - or was it? I accept your critic on my post and I can deal with it. It´s not my style to sugarcoat something and I honestly hope when I do "not so clever things" people let me know their honest opinion instead of claiming: Ooooh - thats sooo nice, wooooow - you did so well, meeeen - not a better solution out there. I’m a grown man and can take criticism with no problem. I wasn’t looking for anyone’s approval or an attaboy. I certainly didn’t want to start cutting on a 200.00 set of presser feet either. I did reach out to the seller and couldn’t get much help there. I could care less if anyone thinks I “bubba’d” it up. I did what I thought was the best overall and least time consuming way to fix it for my usage. IMHO. I’m new to sewing machines and still in the learning stage and don’t mind asking for and taking advice from those more knowledgeable than I. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dikman Report post Posted November 2, 2017 Regardless of the pros and cons of doing it this way, it's a nice delicate job of welding! If I tried that I'd probably end up with a blob! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gottaknow Report post Posted November 3, 2017 On 11/1/2017 at 2:24 PM, RhodesAveDesigns said: Honestly, was this response either necessary or at all useful to any other members of this forum? I read this hours ago, and the seemingly crude and unnecessary use of stereotypes to make a post comment has not left me with a particularly "good" feeling about this at all... and I suspect there are others who feel the same. There's enough negativity in this world without using this forum to spread more, IMHO. Most who post here do so in a spirit of comradery and friendship, sharing helpful information (and, often, a good dose of humor). Those are the types of posts and comments I think most members enjoy reading. Let's face it, any forum on the net will have different personalities. This particular forum has a very wide range, including a lot of international members whose nuances and phrasing is very different. My advice is to always put on your grown up pants and take everything with a grain of salt. When you post in an open forum, you are inviting responses from a wide variety of folks and I personally appreciate all points of view. I have been training mechanics for over 30 years and I start each apprentice with the same opening statement. "The journey you are beginning is a long, arduous process. It won't be pleasant at times and you will make many mistakes, some will be expensive. The main thing you will learn is not so much turning screwdrivers. Monkeys can turn screwdrivers. I will however teach you how to think as it relates to sewing machines. I will bore you with theory, a step at a time building on what you've learned. I expect mistakes as it's part of the training. I will correct, criticize and repeat this process thousands of times until you learn how to think as it relates to machines. In the end, you can either go through this process and reap the financial rewards as I have, or quit and do something else." I've had far more trainees quit than to complete the 5 year apprenticeship. I had to go through this and there were many days I wanted to quit. I was driven to succeed because the man who trained me was 10 times harsher than anything I've seen here in this forum and I wasn't about to let him get to me. I eventually took his job. Most folks come here to learn about things they don't know about. Realizing there may have been a better method is a lesson and will only benefit a person down the road. After 38 years of machine repair, I'm still learning. Learning comes in many forms, you just have to glean what's useful. Don't let the different personalities be a hinderence to the learning process. Regards, Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted November 3, 2017 JK; if you thought it needful to do, then thats fine. If it works out for you thats fine too A tidy job on the welding. Long time since I did any, most times I got pigeon-poo as I was never trained. Just my preference - I'd grind the weld down till it was even with the main piece Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Colt W Knight Report post Posted November 3, 2017 Being able to change feet with out adjusting the machine sounds like a good idea to me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Uwe Report post Posted November 4, 2017 (edited) I'm curious how that Ferdco 2000 got started down path of short feet. I have a feeling that the short foot that came with the Ferdco 2000 was not designed for a 441 class machine. I have a bunch of Singer presser feet (36K class, I think) that will mount nicely on my Ferdco Pro 2000 presser bar. Alas, I'd have to lower the rear presser bar about 1/4" for the feet to actually touch the throat plate. Might be a fine and cheap(er) way to go if you run the machine in Bottom+Needle feed configuration. You just have to decide whether you want to retire that one short foot and raise the presser bar to be compatible with all unmodified 441 style feet again, or if you want to commit to modifying every 441 style foot you buy going forward to make them all match that one not-so-original short foot. At this point you probably already have three short feet and they may be all you ever need and work perfectly on your machine. Edited November 4, 2017 by Uwe Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GPaudler Report post Posted November 4, 2017 It seems completely reasonable to me to consider the feet that came with an unfamiliar machine, along with all the other parts, to be correct and to make replacement feet match. I think that's what I would do and I'd be very pleased to not have to adjust the presser bar every time I changed feet. I have made feet for my Adler 105 and it never occurred to me to not make them match the essential dimensions of the single foot that came with the machine. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
