Consew 226 - Centering needle left to right

[RWL2]

As you can see in the photo below.  The needle is noticeably off center to the left side of the hole in the feed dog.  I'm aware of Uwe's video showing how to center the needle front to back, but not how to center it side to side.  My guess is that you have to loosen the three socket head screws that hold the upper casting to the table and moving the upper casting a smidge to the right.  Have any of you done this before? 

[CowboyBob]

Alot of times the hole in the end of the needlebar gets elongated,loosen the needle set screw & see if it moves left to right,if so get a new needlebar.Alot of used machines we get in need them changed so it is a common problem.

[RWL2]

Thanks for the suggestion.  That was a good thought, but loosening the needle set screw doesn't allow the needle to be wiggled at all.  The hole in the needle bar is not worn eccentrically.  The needle is pretty well centered in the vibrating foot, but not the feed dog.  The machine does sew (powered by hand at this point so I haven't done extensive testing) but I see the fabric pulling down on the right side as the needle passes through because of the needle being pretty far to the left.

 

[Constabulary]

wild guess - is the needle bar rock frame (# C) loose and has play sideways or is set too far too the left?

I´d check screw A (see picture) if it is loose - if not loosen it and try to push or carefully tap the pivot point stud (2 arrows below A) to the right and tighten screw A. Also reposition #D then.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Constabulary

[RWL2]

I loosened and reseated the stud just to be sure and there was no play there, and the rock frame was not loose behind the bracket D at the lower end.

[Pintodeluxe]

I've had a needle and foot set bent that much, which confused me for a bit.  Swap out the needle and foot set, just to quickly confirm it isn't that.  That was on a Pfaff though, but since the needle was bent and the foot was bent (manufacturing defect), it erroneously looked like the feed dog was to blame.   

Edited August 26, 2020 by Pintodeluxe

[RWL2]

This was a brand new needle and didn't look bent when I inserted it.  I can't address the foot since I only have the one set of presser feet but they didn't look bent.

[Uwe]

You may no longer have the original needle bar in that machine, who knows. If it is some cheap aftermarket part, it may just not be to spec or the needle hole is a tiny bit off center or angled. One way to check for that is to loosen the needle bar clamping screw and rotate the needle bar. Observe the tip of the needle as you rotate the bar. If the tip of the (new, unbent) needle moves in a circle while you rotate the bar, then the bar itself is faulty and needs to be replaced. 

I strongly advise against trying to move the position of the upper casting, little good can come from it. It may not be possible at all due to registration pins, and I strongly suspect that part was never intended to be adjusted once it left the factory.

If your needle bar and needle are indeed perfectly concentric and there’s nothing weird about your feed dog, then revisit checking the position of the rocker bar frame as @Constabulary suggested earlier. The right surface of rocker bar frame pivot point needs to sit flush against the casting. A bunch of linkages may need to be loosened or disconnected in order for it to move sideways at all. Normally this is done with most of the head disassembled when you install the rocker bar frame without anything else connected to it. That is really the only way to adjust the needle position sideways a tiny amount, and only if everything else is indeed perfect. The sideways needle position is normally never adjusted after the machine leaves the factory, mainly because it’s not really “adjustable” due to the design of the machine. You can only fix an incorrect installation of the rocker bar frame.

Edited August 28, 2020 by Uwe

[RWL2]

I worked on it this afternoon.  I had looked for eccentricity in the hole for the needle as suggested above by CowboyBob and hadn't noticed it the first time, but when I went to take the needle out and reinsert it this afternoon it was more noticeable.  Tightening the needle clamp screw moves the needle to the left.  It's usable as is. At least it's not striking the feed dog, so I'll let things alone for the time being.