PFAFF 1245 - adjustments sequence

[vblouindemers]

Hi, 

 

I have a new to me 80's PFAFF 1245 that needs adjustment.  Of course I bought it with an "adjustment invoice" from a technician but it's not quite it.  It sews but has glitches and clearly feet movements are not properly synchronized. I downloaded the manual, and I am getting ready to tackle adjustments.  Does anybody know if the adjustments should be performed in the sequence proposed in the service manual?   I'd like to take it from scratch and make sure everything is OK.

 

Thanks

[vblouindemers]

well I went through the whole manual and I think I have everything set correctly but 2 things still bug me:

 

1. manual says I should have 14mm under presser foot which I do not have.  I have 10mm.

2. I feel some binding / hesitation when the presser foot raises.  If I turn the handwheel slowly it will jerk to some extend instead of moving freely.  Like the spring was too stiff - I tried with the tension knob removed and still have the same effect.  If I raise and lock the foot then the jerking / hesitation disapears, which make me think it is somehow related to the presser foot movement.  If you turn the handwheel fast then it is not really noticeable.  For comparison I went to my SINGER 211U566 and confirmed this one has a perfectly smooth movement so it's either a PFAFF (which I highly doubt) or the is still something wrong with the machine.  Nothing is obviously out of place or loose.

Anybody has ever experienced this?  

https://youtu.be/TVN90AfA9Do

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by vblouindemers
add video

[DonInReno]

Assuming every moving part has a drop of oil on it....literally every place two metal surfaces meet...even if you have oil reservoirs and wicks that are supposed to keep parts oiled add oil manually to everything that moves.   Troubleshooting always starts with the easiest most basic things.

You might look carefully at the walking foots presser bar to make sure it’s straight and not binding slightly in its bushing as it’s going up.    If that’s ok I’d look for binding in the linkages that operate the presser bar.   There may be something simple that doesn’t require anything other than a very slight adjustment, something may be cracked, or bent, or whatnot.   With a strong light and looking very closely, wiggle everything related to the presser bar in question....then crank it until it starts to bind and wiggle everything again and you might feel what’s binding.  Look closely at parts to make sure there’s clearance - slide a strip of paper between parts if you can’t actually see the clearance gap.    If nothing looks obvious by this point check the presser foot spring very closely for binding - springs can bind in strange ways at times - clean it and lightly oil.    

 

 

 

[vblouindemers]

Thanks DoninReno,

 

I spent quite a lot of time observing everything but can't seem to find where the binding will occure.  Just to add that setting the pressure feet lift to maximum height will exacerbate the binding while setting it to the minimum will make it hardly noticeable.

 

Vincent

[Constabulary]

Try lowering the foot lift on the cam on the rear side a little bit... just an idea... report back please. I think I have seen this binding on a friends 145 long time ago. We lowered the foot lift and binding was gone but I´m not sure if you have the same problem. I don´t think we have been investigating this issue any further so this is / was just a workaround back then.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Constabulary

[vblouindemers]

38 minutes ago, Constabulary said:

report back please

Of course!  Well I got it,  after spending another hour or so contemplating the marvels of german engineering, I realized the presser foot bar had a little roller and that roller remained mysteriously still when I was raising / lowering the presser foot.  Ended up this roller has to rest against a little block for front / back support and it was not.  Loosened the 2 screws of the said block, moved it so it rests against the roller and voila.  Smooth movement. 

 

I still have 7mm of clearance under foot with the foot lift lever, and 11mm with the knee lift which seems off (10mm lever / 14mm knee seems to be the correct value) but that I can live with for now.

 

Thanks for chiming in gentleman.

 

Vincent

 

 

 

 

[shoepatcher]

If this does not have an H4 in the model plate, it will only lift 11mm.  The H3 in model plate is 11mm lift.  H4 is the height lift model.  send us pic of the brass model plate

glenn 

[vblouindemers]

19 minutes ago, shoepatcher said:

If this does not have an H4 in the model plate, it will only lift 11mm.  The H3 in model plate is 11mm lift.  H4 is the height lift model.  send us pic of the brass model plate

glenn 

No idea wether it's a H3 or H4.   But still, should the lift be the same if I use the knee lift or the lever?  And if I go a little after the Top bottom center on the needle so I am sur I do not skip a stitch while turning, even the knee lift will give me little clearance.  Still some fiddling to do on that I guess.  Might have tried to adjust the lift too high in my pursuit to reach the mentioned 14mm (manual said it not me, my model is a 706-47).)

[shoepatcher]

That normally  would be 14mm on the new castings.

glenn