wabbit Report post Posted March 19, 2018 This is my most favorite site for sewing machine info and hoping the collective experience here can help and save me an embarrassing trip to the sewing machine shop. I mostly sew on canvas for sails and boat projects and started messing with my Pfaff 545 H3 that isn't totally new to me and sewed OK, but was obviously not tuned. I started with the available 1245 adjustment manual and followed the steps outlined there. Centering the lower dog within the needle plate was needed and easily done , so was adjusting the lower feed dog height, and the needle bar height (Sections 13.05.01 through 13.05.04). First problems occurred when trying to follow the 13.05.05 which involved centering the needle in the needle hole. The 1245, with the internal pressure foot spring, has a different needle bar frame (NBF)_ and associated adjustment compared to the 545. On my machine the needle entered the lower feed dog too far to the left (and this has caused some needle breakage if the needle got deflected too much while sewing). The only adjustment I could find was loosening the set screw on the top pivot shaft and then trying to move the NBF to the right. But it appears that the frame is out of travel space at the bottom and contacts the lower right-hand guide on the machine case. This then actually cause the needle bar frame to start "tilting" more to the left and further offsetting the needle relative to the feed dog. So with that in mind I tried tilting the whole frame the other way, which worked, but caused the outer pressure foot mechanism to bind. In the end I compromised and left the needle somewhat off center right-to-left. Am I missing some adjustment? In sorting all of the above out, I did manage to take things far enough apart to remove my broken needle bar (lowest thread guide was broken off) and replace it with a new one I had bought more than a year ago. I needed to do some serious battle to remove screw near the stitch length/reverse lever that adjusts the fore and aft centering/timing of the needle entering the lower feed dog. Somebody had previously tried and failed and left the flat head slot stripped. Small butane torch to heat things up, and then pitting German against German, my small Bosch 12V impact wrench finally did the trick. I felt pretty good after getting that screw out and doing the fore/aft adjustment. My next steps (and this is where things have gone awry) were to adjust the eccentrics related to the bottom feed dogs and drive motion eccentrics (13.05.06 and 07). In a total brain fart, I loosened the screws holding the tops of the rings riding on the eccentrics (the ones with the nice red lube holes) and not the eccentrics themselves. The machine immediately stopped turn over and no loosening/tighting of the screws, including those of the eccentrics has made things better. HELP! I assume the eccentrics themselves are round, but mounted off center on the shaft. I don't quite know where the friction is coming from - maybe the two eccentrics are rubbing against each other? Also, is there an adjustment manual specific for the 145/545? The timing instructions for the newest 1245 look a bit different although this manual (245, 1245, etc) seems to show an older machine and things look more similar to the 545. Hopefully all the above makes sense and thanks so much for any feedback and advice. BTW I am in the SF bay area and happy to meet with folks if necessary. Erik Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wabbit Report post Posted March 24, 2018 OK, further disassembly demonstrated that the two eccentrics were rubbing against each other and were not properly aligned with regards to the pivot/attachment points below the bed. Fixed . And after taking the needle frame out a couple of times, things seem to be all good at that end, too. Question about the hand/knee lift for the presser foot. The presser foot locks in the up position when the hand lift is used. The knee lift will release it from the up position, but it will not provide for any locking when raising. . I have, I believe, an original Pfaff knee lift under the table, and there is no locking mechanism in it, either. Erik Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Uwe Report post Posted March 24, 2018 Sounds like you made great progress in your machine adjustments! The mechanical knee lift works as intended/designed. The mechanical knee-operated foot lift is not supposed to lock in the up position. Some electrical knee-switch operated controllers (e.g. Efka) allow you to set the knee-operated foot lift action using two different modes. One mode is to momentarily lift the feet only for as long as switch is actively depressed. The other mode is a toggle switch, where you click the knee switch to raise the feet, then you click the switch a second time to lower the feet again. This usually requires an air cylinder or solenoid operated foot lift mechanism. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wabbit Report post Posted April 13, 2018 Uwe - Sorry to be late in replying. The machine is now running satisfactory and I finished up a couple of canvas projects for the boats and some small wallets for birthday presents for the daughter and gf. Then the needle broke and jammed in the hook and while getting the needle out I knocked the timing off and fixing all that took some effort. But all is good now. I am going to start a new thread on my Juki 563 - it needs a deep clean and I am wondering on various options given what I've tried to date. Erik Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
suzelle Report post Posted April 17, 2018 Congrats on getting the 545 running! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nuttish Report post Posted April 17, 2018 Does yours have a hand operated toggle on the back of the head for locking the needle bar in the raised position? It would help a lot with syncing the feeds, setting the bottom feed dog height, centering the needle bar, and adjusting the hook box. If you don't have this, I'm pretty sure there's a hole for it and that the part is going to be available because it was used on several machines. Worse comes to worse, I'll be happy to make a rudimentary technical drawing the part - it looks like it would be easy to fabricate by hand. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wabbit Report post Posted May 8, 2018 Heya N ~ I don't see anything on my 545 that resembles the pic or the parts drawing. I have the top mounted leaf spring to control presser foot pressure. Not the vertical, internal coil spring. It's yours a newer model? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
