Singer 111W155 knee lifter

[Wyowally]

I've been working on my Singer, trying to make the knee lifter work more smoothly with less effort. I've seen some other brands which have some design and mechanical components that work really well. Friend has a Chandler that works beautifully.  Mine came with a rod attached to the bellcrank at the top, but nothing at the bottom. I see being sold a part #508210 "rod roller which has a female threaded attachment. Did some of these machines have that attached?  The lifter itself has a flat oval plate designed to push the machine's lifter rod up, but provide separation when tilting the machine head back. I'm thinking the roller was attached to lessen the friction between the two, as the tip of the machine rod needs to move on that plate slightly.  Willing to try anything.

[Wyowally]

Since I'm into backtacking w/o reverse, there's going to be a lot more foot lifting going on!

 

[DonInReno]

Yes, that roller will help a lot. I always assumed it came as original equipment, but looking at an old parts manual it doesn't show the roller.

It also is worth checking that the knee lifter is attached to your table in the correct location.  If it's offset too far away, the linkages will still adjust so it's usable, but extra force is required.  You can have less movement and extra force, or more movement and less force, at least to a small degree.

The vertical rod with the flat oval on top is generally adjusted so it's as near to straight up and down as possible half way through it's travel, but as long as it's not at the far limits either way they seem to work fine.

After the roller is installed, if it still seems much stiffer than it should be I'd look at where the external lever enters the machine for damage to the end of that shaft.   I've never broken one, but I did buy an old factory machine that had the very tip of that lever repaired.  If the tip was cracked or bent and dragging to the side, metal on metal internally could greatly increase resistance.  Also, the internal link that the lever activates can be damaged or binding.

 

 

[LanceR]

Wally, I've been working through a similar machine, a Consew 226R-2 and the knee lifter was clunky on it, too.  The machine came from a correctional institution although it wasn't beat up and didn't have the kind of use that I'd have anticipated.  The lifter was harder to operate than I would have expected and wasn't at all as smooth as one would wish.  I'm not even sure it was reaching full height.

When I looked at it closer, the lifter was off center by a good bit and was pushing diagonally on the lift rod throughout it's range of motion.  A look under the table revealed so many oversized and stripped out screw holes around the lifter that it was no wonder they couldn't properly position it.  As a last resort before drilling them out and gluing in plugs of dowel I used 1/4" lag screws to put the lifter where it needed to go. 

And the lift rod on the machine had a roller tip attached with a set screw that was clocked perpendicular to the travel of the oval pad on the lifter.  After that got turned 90 degrees and in line with the lifting pads travel and the arm for the pad was properly adjusted the whole thing is much smoother and now it requires maybe 1/2 to 2/3 as much force as before to raise the foot.

The lifter has an adjustable length rod to eliminate any over-travel of the knee lift and the rod is too short so the knee lift lever can be pushed too far and put a lot of force on the machine's lift mechanism even when that's at full travel already.   I will be replacing that rod with a longer rod to prevent abusing the machine by the knee pad arm traveling too far.

I'm very much learning as I go and for me a little time laying on my back under the machine was very rewarding in reducing the effort needed and reducing the chances of damaging the machine.

Best regards to all,

 

Lance

[bj139]

On 6/10/2021 at 11:40 AM, DonInReno said:

Yes, that roller will help a lot. I always assumed it came as original equipment, but looking at an old parts manual it doesn't show the roller.

It also is worth checking that the knee lifter is attached to your table in the correct location.  If it's offset too far away, the linkages will still adjust so it's usable, but extra force is required.  You can have less movement and extra force, or more movement and less force, at least to a small degree.

The vertical rod with the flat oval on top is generally adjusted so it's as near to straight up and down as possible half way through it's travel, but as long as it's not at the far limits either way they seem to work fine.

After the roller is installed, if it still seems much stiffer than it should be I'd look at where the external lever enters the machine for damage to the end of that shaft.   I've never broken one, but I did buy an old factory machine that had the very tip of that lever repaired.  If the tip was cracked or bent and dragging to the side, metal on metal internally could greatly increase resistance.  Also, the internal link that the lever activates can be damaged or binding.

 

 

In the picture from Sharpsewing, isn't it assembled incorrectly?  I recently bought a 111W155 without a table and now I need to get a knee lift.  The one from my Singer 95-40 gets in the way of the undercarriage of the 111 so I can't use that one on my table.  I've found that Sharpsewing seems to be the only place that has them in stock.  I need to figure out how to install it since I doubt instructions are included.  It seems to be a different design than most.

Edited September 21, 2021 by bj139

[bj139]

I just checked and it is Cutex that has the complete knee lift not Sharpsewing.

Is this the roller you were talking about?  I think this knee lifter might work on my Mercury M-337 since it has a straight rod pointed down to activate the foot lift.  I might as well order 2 rollers for the Mercury and the 111.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/402941886480?hash=item5dd1354010:g:oJkAAOSwiHJg01cd

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by bj139