Walking foot letting fabric slip

[MilesB]

Hi

I am a complete novice.. never sewed before in my life. I restore old cars and have picked up a used Zoje 0628 walking foot machine that seems very similar to a Consew 206RB. I don't have aspirations of doing full interior jobs, but I would like to be able to do some door panel and carpet work. My first project is some simple canvas covers for some of my machines.

I am having a little trouble with the fabric wandering while sewing. I'm working with very thin material and only 2 to 4 plies at the moment. The pieces are quite long, and as I feed them in, if I push a bit hard the stitches lengthen. If I push to the side, it can zag a diagonal stitch. I think my timing may be off, if that's possible?

I fed in a scrap and started turning the pulley very slowly by hand. At one point in the rotation, just for an instant, the inner foot lifts before the outer foot touches down. At this point I can freely move the fabric. The needle is up, the feet aren't holding it down. When I move the pulley just a little further, the outer foot seems to snap down with a little clack noise as if it was stuck on the inner? Or maybe that's just part of the mechanism working normally making that noise. I'm not sure if I should be looking at the outer foot possibly hanging up on the inner foot, or looking for a timing adjustment to just make the inner foot raise a little later. I do have a copy of the manual.

The previous owner used the machine for multiple plies of heavy leather and only in small pieces. I'm guessing they either didn't notice the machine doing this because of the heavy material, or they adjusted it this way on purpose.

Any advice would be appreciated, before I go messing something up.

[DrmCa]

They might have lifted the foot bars, to cheat the 8mm lift.

[brmax]

To start I think your lead thought could be correct with something being adjusted, but first we should address the material thickness just to understand our limits. 
These compound machines as they are a bit heavier duty are not into real thin materials. With that out the way, we can agree those feet in their proper action should have pressure on the material and a good amount. So particularly the snap crackle sound needs a bit more looking at but in any case material in a free state is not normal So I agree in a few ideas to discuss and look at. 
I always liked having two strips of material, so to measure each at their end of a test run to see which one is shorter, in order to adjust an even feed. 
So maybe first look at the feet and their non obstruction around the feed dog teeth for the back one, then post some results. 
 

Good day there

[SARK9]

Most of the common walking foot mechanisms (as seen on the Singer 111W class machines) are very similar in construction and adjust in nearly the same way. Uwe has uploaded a video with a segment covering this adjustment:   

 

The manual also describes the procedure:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/a.teamworksales.com/CONSEW+PDF/CONSEW+NEW/CONSEW+206RB-5+INSTRUCTION+MANUAL.pdf

I would point out that many of the *bargain priced feet* available from our Asian trading partners are absolute crap and wildly variable in the as-installed length, this will produce lots of puzzlement as you swap out foot styles. The feed dog height can also be poorly adjusted as well.

-DC

Edited January 9, 2022 by SARK9
added link

[MilesB]

Awesome, thank you all, I will start working through this. Could you suggest a quality brand for feet? I had seen the "bargain" prices of feet packages on the usual outlets but am definitely used to getting what I pay for. I'm more than happy to just assume these feet are worn out or are garbage quality to start with and replace with known quality stuff.

I did buy one of those Chinese stepper motor setups with the variable speed. We'll see how long it lasts, but the functionality seems OK. I put the 2" pulley on it and it does go pretty slow (once I could actually work out how to change the starting speed!). The mounts are utter garbage and bend, and the bearings in the motor are questionable as even the slightest extra tension results in some growling noises. I'm considering mounting a second shaft to use a looser toothed belt on it and step it down a further 2:1.

Edited January 9, 2022 by MilesB

[MilesB]

An update, in case this helps somebody in future.....

The video was VERY helpful.

I adjusted my foot height to the minimum as brmax suggested. I am sewing thin canvas and I have the smooth bottom leather feet. This corrected most of the problem, and stopped the clack noise altogether.

Then I timed the feet as instructed in the video. The feet clunked down solidly as soon as I backed off the screw. The timing was way out. At this point, I tested by putting pressure on the material and slowly advancing the hand wheel. There seems to be no loss of material contact by the feet; I think I can now sew canvas without wandering stitches!

But I was still concerned about the clack, so I opened the foot height to maximum and it returned. I narrowed it down to the end of the presser bar spring popping in and out of the groove in the bracket that it rests in (above the feet). It seems that the other end of the presser bar spring had gotten twisted a little, as there is just a screw holding it in. At some point the spring might have been bumped and it was cocked a little non-horizontal in its mount. I fixed that and the clack noise has disappeared, and the feet don't seem to "pop" as much on the downstroke.

Thanks all, now I can start trying to learn again!

Can anyone point me to a supplier with good quality feet sets? I would like to pick up a small selection but don't want more frustration from cheap parts.