Stitch Length HELP needed Consew 287R

[CustomDoug]

2 hours ago, Uwe said:

So here’s the video of how I adjusted my machine to center feed dog movement inside the throat plate opening:

 

Hi Uwe.. what an easy to follow and informative video you put together!! It's very helpful and appreciated.

After watching it, I've gone from flying high on a cloud to crashing solidly to the ground in defeat. Unfortunately the head of almost every screw on this machine has been chewed up at some point in its life. And, wouldn't you know - I CAN NOT BUDGE the dang screw you alluded to in your video (first one, on the upper body, in the hole under the lever)!! and in trying, it's starting to get pretty chewed up too. I've added penetrating fluid.. then tapped it, then banged on it with a hammer to the screw-driver to try and loosen it, but no luck.

Any suggestions for this issue?   

[Uwe]

Bummer about your screw heads. Some screws have loctite (essentially cyanoacrylate super glue) applied to the threads. Acetone (nail polish remover)  will dissolve super glue. Heat will also break down the glue. Getting the perfect screw driver for that particular screw head helps as well. I’ve made a trip to the hardware store in the middle of a repair job on more than one occasion to get a better screw driver. I personally like electrician’s screw drivers since they have flat, parallel sides on the tip. Most regular screw drivers have angled sides on the tip that tend to push the driver up as you turn it. Try to position the machine so that you can really lean on the screw driver as you turn it.

If you get the screw out, don’t keep using it - get a new screw instead. 

[stelmackr]

I've had too many of those ruined screw heads.  I've purchased some screw drivers that are marketed for gunsmithing. Just search for "screw drivers for gunsmithing".  I assume they are similar to the electrician’s screw drivers, that Uwe mentioned.

[CustomDoug]

10 hours ago, stelmackr said:

.. I've purchased some screw drivers that are marketed for gunsmithing. Just search for "screw drivers for gunsmithing".  ..

That's a great tip Stelmack, I've made note.. 

[shoepatcher]

Get the bad screws out any way you can and REPLACE them.  I always clean up or replace screws when i go over and rebuild machines.  Will cost you some money but well worth it in the end.  I hate when people bugger up screws and make no effort to clean them up for the next guy!!

glenn

[CustomDoug]

On 10/2/2020 at 8:52 PM, Uwe said:

.. I’ve made a trip to the hardware store in the middle of a repair job on more than one occasion to get a better screw driver.....& Try to position the machine so that you can really lean on the screw driver as you turn it.

 

..OK, did both of these over the weekend.. and after a good fight, was finally successful !! So I then made the adjustments to the feed dog and needle bar from Uwe's video posted earlier (thanks again buddy). My needle length may be about 5mm now. Again, I'm using #138 thread - Uwe, can you get 6mm out of 138 thread with your machine from the video? Maybe it's just much for this machine??? 

NEW PROBLEM - now my machine is not pulling the material equally .. it seems to be pulling the top faster. Is there a common cause for this and adjustment ?  

[Northmount]

@CustomDoug  Looks like things are progressing for you.

Not to rain on your parade, but please post your photos here instead of using a third party hosting service.  If the host changes anything or disappears, then the photos hosted by them may disappear too.  Also if you close your account, change your permissions, move or delete your photos stored on the host, they will disappear from here too!  That will make this thread almost useless for others to reference in the future.  You will find a number of threads here where this has happened.

You may need to resize your photos to make them fit the size constraints here.

I will be downloading your photos from your host, and uploading them here.

Tom

 

[CustomDoug]

1 hour ago, Northmount said:

@CustomDoug  Looks like things are progressing for you.

Not to rain on your parade, but please post your photos here instead of using a third party hosting service.  If the host changes anything or disappears, then the photos hosted by them may disappear too.  Also if you close your account, change your permissions, move or delete your photos stored on the host, they will disappear from here too!  That will make this thread almost useless for others to reference in the future.  You will find a number of threads here where this has happened.

You may need to resize your photos to make them fit the size constraints here.

I will be downloading your photos from your host, and uploading them here.

Tom

 

Duly noted, thanks. 

[shoepatcher]

Sounds like the feeding ratio is off.  Can we see a video in slow motion to see how machine is feeding?  Turn the balance wheel by hand if you have to.

glenn

[CustomDoug]

On 10/5/2020 at 9:36 AM, Northmount said:

@CustomDoug  Looks like things are progressing for you.

.. please post your photos here instead of using a third party hosting service. ..

Tom

 

Not sure if posting a video to this website is as easy as posting photos is apparently, but I shall give it a try later today.  

Top thread tension: I mentioned earlier that my top thread was difficult to pull (too much tension thru the discs even when loosened).. I found the reason - I'd added a supplemental spring to the tension disc for heavier thread a few years ago (and forgot because I haven't used this machine in so long). I removed that extra spring and now the thread is much easier to pull thru at the end of a line of stitching - however, removing it did NOT improve my stitch length as I hoped it would. Nor did adjusting/centering the feed-dog.. & honestly the stitch length is no better than when I started this thread. Stitch too small at max adjustment w/138 thread. Frustrated. 

[Northmount]

11 minutes ago, CustomDoug said:

Not sure if posting a video to this website is as easy as posting photos is apparently

Most videos are too large to be able to meet the file size restriction here, so you will likely have to use a 3rd party host like YouTube.  That is unfortunate that many of them will be lost as permissions, moves, deletions happen.

Thanks for being aware.  I downloaded Uwe's video for my own future reference.  144 MB

Tom

[Wizcrafts]

7 hours ago, CustomDoug said:

Not sure if posting a video to this website is as easy as posting photos is apparently, but I shall give it a try later today.

You can use the freeware Faststone Photo Resizer to reduce the file size for use on forums with filesize restrictions.

[Grosent]

Hey, I realize this thread hasn't been active in a while, but I think I'm dealing with the same issue and the same machine as @CustomDoug...My stitches are shorter in reverse than when going forward. It's not massively off, but enough to make a messy backstitch. The machine is a Consew 227R-2. I followed @Uwe's video on adjusting the needle and feed dog (which was excellent!) but just like Doug it didn't fix my issue. 

Here's a photo of the stitches - forward on top and backwards on the bottom:

 

I also used Uwe's awesome stitch length gauge. It looks like forward is just a hair under 4mm and reverse is a hair under 3.5mm.

 

@CustomDoug did you ever get it sorted out?

Does anyone else have other recommendations?

It may be useful to know that a few days ago I had a jam that threw off the hook timing. It took me hours to figure out but I got it back in sync, many thanks to these forums and @Uwe's videos!

Edited June 9, 2021 by Grosent

[Grosent]

I uploaded a video showing it in forward and reverse: 

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by Grosent

[RockyAussie]

Firstly I must thank @Uwe for his fantastic help to us all and his excellent video work. I can't say my answer here is all that good but here goes.....I ran into a similar problem on a different machine and how I fixed it was by putting a spacer under the plate that the stitch length adjustment rod goes through. By putting a spacer at the top you would stop the adjustment rod going up so high thus making the back stitch length shorter and conversely by putting a spacer at the bottom you would limit the forward stitch length whilst not affecting the reverse stitch length. You could possibly wind the knob back a couple of notches every time you went into reverse but the spacer idea would cut out the need to do this once you get the spacing right. Bad side to this solution is that you may lose a little off of the maximum stitch length going forward perhaps.

[Grosent]

On 6/9/2021 at 10:44 PM, RockyAussie said:

putting a spacer under the plate that the stitch length adjustment rod goes through.

Interesting! @RockyAussie Would you possibly be able to share a photo of where you put the spacer?

Edited June 11, 2021 by Grosent

[RockyAussie]

9 hours ago, Grosent said:

Interesting! @RockyAussie Would you possibly be able to share a photo of where you put the spacer?

I think the machine I did this on along time ago has been packed away but I can show you where on some other machines if that is of any help. As your model pulls downward to go into reverse it would need the spacer at the top. On the machines in these pictures the forward stitch has the rod at the bottom and reverse is at the top.

Note that on this 441 style machine that the plate that the stitching adjustment rod goes through is wider at the top to reduce the stitch length in reverse. It is common on these machines for people to further increase this measurement with a wedge to get a better reverse stitch length.

On this old 331 Pfaff I have taken the plate on the front off all together to obtain a longer stitch length. This involved a LOT of checking first to be sure that the dog foot length etc would not go longer than the hole would allow. This allowed quite a lot wider stitch length than standard and I have had no issues in over 20 years with it.

In this 335 style machine where I am pointing I could put in a spacer under this plate to reduce the forward length stitch in comparison to the reverse stitch length. By spacer I mean something on the one end to angle the plate. Some people use a washer. Myself I would print up a plate once I determined exactly how much angle it needed. A spring under the screw would be great if there were room as that would allow for variations if need be. Note that at the top in this case also has a wider section to correct the stitch length in reverse.

Now this Adler below has one interesting feature in that it has an adjustable stopper to set which stops the forward stitching from being able to go longer than it is set to. Now if the forward stitch is limited by this stopper and the rod adjustment nut is turned out further then the reverse stitch length is free to still have a longer stitch in reverse depending on how far the nut is opened out. Note: on this machine the reverse plate gets smaller at the top instead of wider. (Just something to think about)

I hope that this is of some help.