Vinito Report post Posted September 29, 2019 Not sure that it would have been sent to scrap, but they did just want it out for the cleanup. It's a little beat, but it does turn over smoothly and reverses fine. I'm sure there's been a lot worse Picked it up for $50 with a table. I figger that's not too bad. Prolly take a teardown, cleanup and reassemble before I feel great about using it, but that's just my OCD. Anyways, unison feed for cheap. The table and servo motor are worth three times what I paid I think. Woohoo! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garypl Report post Posted September 29, 2019 Nice find! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pintodeluxe Report post Posted September 30, 2019 Wow, a Juki and servo for 50 clams? Good job! If you can find the hammered rosemary color spray paint from Rust-Oleum, it's a perfect match for a Juki. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted September 30, 2019 Well that figures. Perfect color match, but out of reach. Evidently they sell that color in Canada, but I can't find it in the US whatsoever, at least not anymore. I did find a color called "Verde green" so I'm gonna try that and see if it's close. Heck, maybe they just re-named the same paint. That particular green should be a highly sought-after color honestly. Seems like a good color to paint a bunch of different machinery-like things if a guy wanted to. If the Verde green is a match, I'll report back (unless somebody else already knows it doesn't match and says so). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JJN Report post Posted September 30, 2019 Great find. Maybe you can mask it and only paint the bed. The upper part of the machine looks pretty good. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dikman Report post Posted September 30, 2019 With a servo too! I hope you felt a slight tinge of guilt. I did what JJN suggested on one of my Singers, I found a fairly close match and just repainted the bed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted September 30, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, JJN said: Great find. Maybe you can mask it and only paint the bed. The upper part of the machine looks pretty good. Thanks. Yeah, I was kinda thinking the same thing. There are a bunch of flecks of some kind of paint all over it. In the past I've had fairly good luck cleaning flecks like that off with rubbing compound, plus it cleans up the paint real nice while yer at it. But yeah, the top doesn't look bad. There is a bit of a scrape at the front inside corner of the upright, but otherwise the upper machine isn't bad. If the paint is even kind of similar, a non-exact match won't bother me none. I have a can of the Verde green on its way. Prolly shooda got a couple. But supposedly a nearby Menards carries it too so I can maybe pick up more if I need it. I guess I probably won't though. I ordered a couple pulleys too so I can rig up a 3:1 reduction with a timing belt arrangement, which can be pulled off with smaller pulleys instead of that 12" diameter setup they sell. It was significantly cheaper too. The bearings and shafts are kinda what I do for a living and I'm sure I already have that on the junk shelf so it should be free + labor I guess. I think I'll really like a 3:1 reduction! The tension assembly was missing some parts so I ordered one of those too. Hopefully I won't regret blowing $13 on Amazon instead of getting a pricey one. Tension is a pretty basic mechanics thing though so I'm thinking it should work fine. If it was a hook or something, I'd pull the trigger on "real" parts. I looked it over pretty good and it looks like the tension assembly is the only goof I could notice. The knee lift doesn't even come close to actuating the levers though so I need to figure that out. Honestly, it looks to me like the table didn't match the machine - the knee lever and stuff are nowhere near the same location. I guess I need to figure out how the pros set that up before I start reinventing the wheel though. I'm probably just mentally missing something. Edited September 30, 2019 by Vinito Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted September 30, 2019 (edited) Well looks like I'm probably out of luck on the color. I saw a project a guy did where he used both Hammered Rosemary and Verde Green and they are quite different. ... though I guess I could mix them like this guy did and end up with similar look. Personally i don't like the mix of colors much, but heck, it's not awful i guess. Edited September 30, 2019 by Vinito Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted October 1, 2019 OK, just so ya know, even though ya knew before I said it... The $13 Amazon tension assembly was NOT worth the $13, so even though it's a very basic mechanical thing, they can't get it right for $13. BUT... I was able to scavenge enough parts off the thing to put together a working tension assembly. So at the end of the day, I did get the tension parts working. I haven't tested it, but it fits well enough that it should I think. I got this machine cheap enough that I'm tempted to convert it to the big bobbin, but I guess that don't make no sense until I start to hit the wall a few times I guess. Fitting the large bobbin would be kind of a fun project, but I haven't even run one bobbin of thread through the machine yet, let alone run a bobbin dry on some make-believe important project. Next step - clean it up, lube it and give it an honest test. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted October 4, 2019 (edited) Well looks like I'm probably gonna earn this machine. Been fiddling now and then with mostly inspection with a smidge of cleaning here & there, but the deeper I look, the more muck I find. I've decided this thing really needs a complete disassemble and deep cleaning. You should see the area around the bobbin. Holy cow! It's totally packed in a mix of old oil and lint which has combined into a sludgy felt. So far I've found that even solvent in a parts washer struggles with dissolving it, but turns out gasoline is hard to beat as it cleans it up pretty good. Since the color match didn't work out and the paint is pretty rough on the machine anyway, I guess while it's completely apart is a good time to just drop back and give it a whole new coat of something. I'll go with hammered just because I like it, but don't know what color yet. Might just do silver, but I have some dark-ish bronze hammered on the shelf and that might look cool even if it disguises the identity of the machine from a distance. I halfway want to have a go at changing to a large bobbin while I'm in there too. I am a machinist so if it needs any of that I can do it. I just don't know if it will be worth the money for the rest of the parts. They have hooks on eBay for under $30, but I'd bet they aren't worth the metal they are made from at that price. I hope I can make sense of the service manuals I can find. The one I've been using at (I think it's the military 111 one IIRC) keeps referring to drawing numbers that aren't included in the thing and that's super frustrating. Why bother to scan a manual and leave pages out? Especially pages with drawings which are referred to over and over? If anyone knows of a full service manual for a Juki LU-562/563 (or clone, i.e. Singer 111, etc.) which is complete and really good, please link to it here. Otherwise, I will try to keep making sense with the one I have and fill the gaps with trial and error. OK, here we go! I've taken the arm shaft apart and cleaned all those parts plus the hook stuff. What a total mess it used to was. But it's clean as a whistle now. Progress I guess. If it doesn't go as well as I hope, then I might have a basket of parts for sale coming up. Edited October 4, 2019 by Vinito Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted October 4, 2019 Looks like that edited version of the manual that's floating around is the one to use. Found it finally! I still find it awkward to have to constantly flip pages when they refer to a figure, so I edited further and printed up just the drawings separately so I can have them right there next to the text I'm reading with no flipping. Freakin' yay. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Constabulary Report post Posted October 5, 2019 (edited) reg. larger hook / bobbin - a while ago I found this Video maybe it´s idea for you. And if you want to upgrade to a larger bobbin / hook it would be nice to if you could post some "measures" regarding paint job - Can't tell from the pic if the upper arm is rusty or dirty but why not painting just the flat bed in glossy black and leave the rest as is. AFAIK the earlier Jukis or Seikos had this too. Edited October 5, 2019 by Constabulary Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted October 5, 2019 Thanks for the tip on the paint. I haven't had the time to decide yet how far I'm going to disassemble this thing in the process of just trying to get it cleaned up. But it's possible I'm gonna have it apart far enough that it wouldn't be much more difficult to just take the last few remaining things off and repaint the whole thing. Like I said, not sure yet. I ain't afraid of it, but I want to be at least a little bit practical if I can. I have already removed the hook and main shaft and parts from the underside of the machine (the bobbin area was packed and gross, so I started there). I guess I should have been capturing video for documenting the effort, dangit. Don't really want to do it twice, but I guess I could slip it back together for posterity. Speaking of "not practical at all", if there's a desire for some detailed information regarding converting to the larger bobbin size, I'll be glad to take one for the team and just dig in and do it. Constabulary! That video is awesome! I was looking for something exactly like that but nothing would come up. Must be YouTube's currently screwed up algorithm nonsense. In the process of censoring for politics, they made it so you can't find what you want to see either. Genius. Anyway, I was intrigued into the effort since the guy said he just had to buy the hook, take up lever and case opening lever. I was under the impression that converting not only needed more parts than that, but that the parts were much more expensive than ~$100. SO... I've had bad experiences buying crappy clone sewing machine parts in my short history with it, so decided to buy what are described to be "jenuine Juki" parts (in fact the photo of the hook included a Juki part box sitting next to it). So rather than costing $80 as in the video, the ones I ordered cost $130. I figure that's still not bad considering tariffs & inflation from 2017 and possible quality upgrade. The public has spoken... sounds a bit like a golf clap, but hey! I'm in... I'll take some accurate measurements and report back, hopefully with text and video both to suit individual preferences. I wish I had a set of applicable LU-563 parts so I could compare the other items which aren't included in this hack. But I'll do what I can with what I've got and let you know what I find. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
480volt Report post Posted October 6, 2019 Totally off topic, but are you the same Vinito that owned the Gorton Mill Yahoo group? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted October 6, 2019 3 hours ago, 480volt said: Totally off topic, but are you the same Vinito that owned the Gorton Mill Yahoo group? Yup, same Vinito. About 100 years ago I scanned the 1-22 manuals you find there. I haven't participated there for almost that long either, so I'm glad folks still find it a handy resource, but I just kinda outgrew interest I guess. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
480volt Report post Posted October 6, 2019 Was a good thing up till the neo debacle. I was annoyed that the serial# data base that I’d been compiling was (I think) wiped out and gave up shortly after that. Still have an 8 1/2D though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted October 7, 2019 Yeah, that tends to happen anyway. You get into something at the start because you need lots of info, then after a while it's just a machine you use now & then and even though it's still cool, you're not all excited about it anymore. I'm sure the same thing will happen here for me. Once I get this machine all restored and using it, then get through a bit of other kinds of leatherwork projects, then it'll just be another hobby "notch in the belt" and something else will start to suck my time in another direction. In the meantime I hope to have something to offer the world. In this case, I'm hoping to supply a specific recipe for converting a small bobbin to a large one for these machines. The parts are on their way so I'll be able to dig in a little hopefully later this week. I just completed cleaning up all the parts in gasoline - after pretty much totally disassembling the machine. It's a shell of a casting and four shoeboxes full of parts. Now that I've cleaned them up, I'm glad I dug in that far though. Everything had a coating of brown varnish on it inside & out, so it's all back to bare metal and oil now. I don't know, but I would think it will operate a ton smoother than it would have otherwise. It always bothers me on a project when I get more dirt on myself from handling the tools & machines than I get off the materials. This Juki should be pretty nice when it's done - large bobbin conversion and clean as a whistle with brand new paint job. Here's hoping I don't screw it up! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted October 7, 2019 (edited) I doubt I took enough pictures or video. What have I done? Oh the humanity. I was looking in my paint stash and I have some silver, gold, black and bronze hammered enamel quarts. I wonder if I can mix a tad of regular gloss enamel (with the silver probably) to give it that touch of green without messing up the hammered texture? I'll try a small batch and see what happens. Edited October 7, 2019 by Vinito Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted October 8, 2019 (edited) Well crapola. Took the place I bought parts from only 3 days to tell me that the take up lever is out of stock and they don't know if they'[ll ever get it. They list it on eBay and Amazon both, and both say "in stock" and both the listings are still there. Morons. Anyway, they are the only ones I could find for a while. I did find the parts on IndustrialMachineMan so I'm hoping that source isn't awful. Turns out the problem upgrading bobbins isn't the expense, it's finding the dang parts in the first place. It just seems odd to me that such a popular (albeit older) machine should be difficult to find parts for it. I wonder if the genuine singer 111 lever would be easier to find (probably not) and if it would even fit? Actually I wonder if there is even a large bobbin version of the singer variant... Edited October 8, 2019 by Vinito Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted October 8, 2019 Is this progress or destruction? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shoepatcher Report post Posted October 8, 2019 call Bob at Toledo or Greg at Keystone. They can get a take up lever for you. glenn Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mixmkr Report post Posted October 9, 2019 I was under the impression that the change over to the larger bobbin was too much effort and basically best to just find a LU563. Not speaking from experience....just reading previously on this forum, but some machining is needed, etc, etc... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mixmkr Report post Posted October 9, 2019 Well....great video and totally convinced me I won't by trying this myself...ha..... dang... I can see taking my machine in a box to a repair place to reassemble. ….for the cost of a new machine. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrisash Report post Posted October 9, 2019 Sometimes the challenge is more important than the financials. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vinito Report post Posted October 10, 2019 (edited) Got the hook in the mail today. Uuh... it is a bit larger than the 562 indeed, isn't it? I'll be able to make it work, but unless you're at least a halfway decent hobby machinist, it would be a tricky endeavor I think. Oh, I suppose you could do less and make it work, but I think it would be nice to make it somewhat close to what it was designed to be rather than "barely fit". We'll see. I just wish I had some 563 parts in hand to measure and analyze for comparison. Anybody want to send yours to me for a day so I can measure it up? Yeah, I don't guess the chances of that are remotely likely, but ya never know. I do think that large bobbin will be a nice upgrade. It looks enormous compared to the small one. I talked briefly to Tony Luberto today. Nice feller. I think I'll check his video out. I'm sure it will be helpful once I get to putting things back together. Well I'm about halfway through the tricky and tedious business of masking holes and screw heads, so I guess a paint job isn't far off. I am considering just making things super simple on that front and simply painting it hammered silver since it's available and I even have a quart of it on the shelf already. Register your posts to the contrary before it's too late. Hmmm. I could go with hammered bronze instead maybe. Need to test them and compare I guess. Edited October 10, 2019 by Vinito Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
