Restoration for Juki LU-562 & upgrade to LU-563 Bobbin

[Vinito]

I have a post about me picking up an LU-562 a while back. The cleanup is turning out pretty good so I thought I'd put its own post for the restoration effort. Thus far it's cleaned up and a coat of paint and I guess it looks unique now. Main thin is it looks much better and should be a gem (from my perspective) when I'm done.

I've looked into it and picked up a few parts so I can upgrade the bobbin too. For those who don't know, the difference between the Juki 562 and 563 is the 563 has a much larger bobbin. I picked this unit up really cheap so the cost of some parts to upgrade to the large bobbin is not prohibitive. If you have more into yours already, you'll have to determine for yourself if the cost of parts for the upgrade is worth it to you. I'll be getting more into the bobbin upgrade once I get to the point of assembling that area of the machine.

So picture 1 is as it was when I got it home. I could hand turn it, but it wasn't exactly "loose" and holy cow, there was so much lint & oil built up I don't know how it even got itself that bad. By this time, the oil had turned to tar, so yeah, it was precious. Just a bit of cleaning and scrubbing though and it was starting to come around. There are 4 shoeboxes of nice, clean and oiled parts now. They'll show up later

looking like an empty shell.

A bit of sanding...

Then primer...

And like it or not, I went with some gold hammered finish paint. If nothing else, it makes it somewhat unique.

More to come.

[Pintodeluxe]

It looks like a Pfaff with that gold paint! 

You're in for a big job converting it to a 563.  It might just be easier to start with a 563.  That big U style bobbin is nice though.  

[dikman]

I'm not sure if I like the colour or not, but you did a great job on the painting.

[Vinito]

10 hours ago, dikman said:

I'm not sure if I like the colour or not, but you did a great job on the painting.

I ain't so sure about the color either, but I figger it ain't gonna matter fer squirt once it just starts getting used and the color will just be forgotten eventually anyways. It's shiny & smooth now though and that will kinda make the sewing seem nicer.

 

11 hours ago, Pintodeluxe said:

You're in for a big job converting it to a 563.  It might just be easier to start with a 563.

... uhh... and then what? I would imagine the hard part is what I've already done, taking it all apart and the subsequent putting back together.

I couldn't find for sale the lower bronze bushing for the hook (in the saddle) so I'll just machine one myself, but it's just a bushing so that's pretty basic. Otherwise, it's mostly a matter of reassembly with different parts than what came out. If I'm mistaken, feel free to let me know and help me save some time.

Today is decal day. I printed up some waterslide laser "JUKI" decal since I had some and it's gettin' stuck on there later. After that I guess it'll need a bit of clear to seal the decal, then the painting is finally finished. It'll be interesting to see if I can remember how this thing goes back together again and figure out the rest.

[CastleLeatherWorks]

Looks great cant wait to see it reassembled !!

[Vinito]

Just a small special touch, in tribute...

well in that case, should I have made a nod to Singer instead? Oh well.

[JJN]

I like the color and the paint job. That should be a great machine when it is done. Give the paint some time to cure and it will be a nice finish to work on. I watched the video in the earlier post and that 562-563 conversion doesn't look too difficult. I think for you it is a no-brainer to do the conversion since the machine is already disassembled. I have an older 562 and just picked up a 'new old stock' 563 that is still in the factory packaging. I was going to sell off the 562 but you are inspiring me to do the conversion to the 'U' size bobbin too. I see a 'factory' hook assembly on ebay for 80 bucks. I think having both machines here will be helpful. Let me know if you need any measurements from a factory fresh machine.

[Vinito]

Thanks JJN. I might hit you up for some reference between the two bobbins parts if it's possible for you.

I already know that I don't know if there's a difference in the "bobbin case opening lever crank" (B1822-051-000 vs. B1822-563-000) other than a bit of clearance (for the larger hook) off the corner where the opening lever clamps on. Maybe it's identical (enough) otherwise?

Also I wouldn't mind having full dimensions of the 563 lower bushing for the hook shaft (in the saddle) just because it's easier to just make something from dimensions rather than try to "engineer" it beforehand. But measuring all that is 1) a bit difficult if you don't already have some experience and tools to do it and 2) difficult anyway unless it's disassembled, so prolly not worth it unless you're in there for some other reason anyway. Maybe just a couple clear, close photos showing how it all fits together would be helpful enough? Either way, if measuring doesn't happen, I should be able to figure it out. There are features on the existing 562 lower bushing that I can't extract the necessary function of (and thus translate to the 563 setup), but those facts may reveal themselves after a bit more study.

Thanks for the feedback. I sometimes feel pretty isolated taking on these kinds of projects and it's inspiring for me as well to hear that somebody else thinks my efforts are worth something.

and p.s., I just realized that I overlooked painting the hand wheel and reverse lever, so I completed coating them with some black hammered paint a few minutes ago, which ought to go good with the gold. It's coming along.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Vinito

[Pintodeluxe]

I've never done a conversion, but I've had both 562 and 563 models.  I've heard that the number of distinct parts makes it cost more than just selling the 562 and buying a 563.

I once took a Virago into a motorcycle shop and asked the mechanic how to make it faster.  He quickly replied "Sell it and buy a Ninja.". It turned out to be sage advice.

Good luck with the project.  I'd still love to see how the process goes.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Pintodeluxe

[Constabulary]

pretty sure a lot people would like to convert their Singer 111 based machine to a large hook machine.