Timing got off with reducer pulley!

[rockthecasbah121]

On 7/14/2018 at 2:38 PM, Gregg From Keystone Sewing said:

I'm assuming that that the hook's timing didn't stand a chance against the power of the speed reducer.

I can't find the DDL-5550 but I have a link that should work for a Juki DDL-8700 CLICK HERE.  Hook timing, needle distance to hook point, and needle bar height adjustments are all in there.  

 

Gregg- that file was helpful and has better pictures than the one I found online for the 5550. 

I think I identified and fixed the issue- but I don’t know the exact order things occurred in. My wife snapped a smaller size 18 needle on a collar. After looking through that document, I could tell my timing was still correct, but the hook had somehow drifted too far to the left and was now slightly nudging the needle when it came back up through the plate. 

Whether something got messed up with the pulley or whether the snapping of the smaller needle caused the movement, I might not ever know. 

 

Does anyone know if it is possible to align the take up lever and the needle to both be in the highest position at the same time?

[Uwe]

On some machines, if you change needle size drastically you may need to adjust hook-to-needle distance. I'm guessing that you put in a much thicker needle after your wife broke the thin one - although you haven't really told us yet what size needle you're using now. A thicker needle will simply come closer to the hook because it's ,well, thicker. Some machine designs are more sensitive to this than others. Many industrial machines are not the one-adjustment-fits-all needles kind of machines. It's often more of a one adjustment fits exactly one particular combination of needle/thread/material etc. Some needle manufacturers make specialty needles where the hook-to-needle-scarf distance does not change as you change needle size to avoid the need for hook distance adjustments. 

As for adjusting needle and take-up lever to reach the high point at the same time, I'm afraid you're out of luck. Both are driven by the main arm shaft and the relative movement/timing is fixed in the design on most machines - and for a good reason. I am curious as to why you'd want to change that.