Singer 29-4 foot bar #8685 vs. #8675, small hole (pin) location

[Constabulary]

Hope you have not brazed the wedge of the inside of the squared frame. Same with the wedge on the small gib that goes into the frame. You need the wedges for proper foot movement. Also make sure you install the frame and gib correctly (see attached pictures). If you install them incorrectly your stitch length will suffer.

Be careful with modern 29K parts - there were a lot of changes between your 29 and the latest model 29K71 - only a few parts of the nowadays 29K clones fit for the century old 29.

Ford F-100 parts of the 1st generation cannot be replaced with Ford F-100 parts of the 13th generation, some screws may work but thats it. Pretty much the same with your 29 model and the nowadays 29K71 clones. Only because its a Singer 29 model does not mean all parts work for all machines!

Do you have a parts number of your 29 needle bar? I may have an original Singer needle bar.

Edited March 9, 2021 by Constabulary

[AlizabethThomas]

8 hours ago, Constabulary said:

Hope you have not brazed the wedge of the inside of the squared frame. Same with the wedge on the small gib that goes into the frame. You need the wedges for proper foot movement. Also make sure you install the frame and gib correctly (see attached pictures). If you install them incorrectly your stitch length will suffer.

Be careful with modern 29K parts - there were a lot of changes between your 29 and the latest model 29K71 - only a few parts of the nowadays 29K clones fit for the century old 29.

Ford F-100 parts of the 1st generation cannot be replaced with Ford F-100 parts of the 13th generation, some screws may work but thats it. Pretty much the same with your 29 model and the nowadays 29K71 clones. Only because its a Singer 29 model does not mean all parts work for all machines!

Do you have a parts number of your 29 needle bar? I may have an original Singer needle bar.

 

I didn't do anything to the gib wedge, and I have it positioned as shown. The wedge's groove is ramped different amounts, so part number up or down inside the gib, I'm about to find out. I only brazed worn off material inside opposite the wedge in the box, filing flat with surrounding original material. I guess the needle bar had been rubbing the outside as well, that also got the treatment. I can tell what is wear and original surface, that's all I brazed .The foot lift rod to the side that has a block pressed in for the lifting lever has a lot of wear that I didn't get to surface out, I'm hoping to once I could be sure that area would fit in a lathe chuck to finish it off. Brass/bronze will be better for the other surfaces and rebuildable. 

It's not the needle bar, but the foot bar that I was looking for. It has a weaker upper hole since I brazed it. I'm aware of the differences in the other parts, and William Hopgood had a blog about using bellcrank and lever with a decent amount of filing to get it to work, but he didn't need a foot bar #8586, so I had no info there. Someone on Victorian Sweatshop convinced me to try the newer one, but it's now back in the outbox.

I suppose next time I could TIG weld it, but to remove all the brass now would require more of it to be ground away, and I'd *really* have to be careful of the dimensions and hole location then. I could also try to TIG some of that special silicon bronze filler with it too. We'll see how it holds up. If you had part #8685 for less than $75 total to USA, I might have to get that from you. I know of a website purportedly run by the Amish on the east coast that parts them out for that much.   

Edited March 9, 2021 by AlizabethThomas

[AlizabethThomas]

The gib had some braze in it needing to be filed out. There was some other troubleshooting. This rod shown has the last of the slop affecting stitch length. If I could get a weld buildup and lathe treatment, possibly also oversize drill/ream and a bushing fitted if needed, i would be able to get 5 or maybe even 4 SPI. I get a respectable 6 through a few modest thicknesses, and like a 16 oz. stack sends the max length down to a still respectable 10 SPI. I put a rolled up neatly cut strip of beer can shim in the needle bar hole of the foot bar revolving joint, after re-crimping the center ring which had come apart during testing. Previous owner had thought that had to be un-crimped to be disassembled, in fact tried to manstruct me to do so as well. I also had to file down the skeleton key end of the revolving joint's shaft to make free play between it and the foot lift lever. It better matches it's profile on the parts list this way as well. At least the depiction of it assembled. The rectangle part shown disassembled from the shaft (not something that can really be done outside of a well-equipped machine shop), it is still 90* at all corners. Filing for free play must be something of a setup job for these. I did that because I was having trouble geting the foot to fall fully, and wanted to be sure it has it's full range of motion. Now it seems to rest fully on it's bottom of the cylindrical shaft hole or the skeleton key tooth slot, and not the lifting lever, and does it's lift in a crisp, smooth movement in spite of the slop in that shaft. I am tempted to use some of my upcoming stimulus money to buy and have a new one resurfaced, though a welder and a lathe are also seeming like the better investment...   

[LeatherBuilt]

In need of a needle bar part #8591  and tension stud part #668