No one here will call you an idiot. We've all done the very same thing at least once, even if we don't like to admit it.
Your description is minimal,
its a small metal rod about an inch long with a spring over it
The part that comes to mind is the rod that releases the pressure off the thread when you lift the walking foot but that does not have a spring on it. A picture may trigger something.
DW has a manual for an Adler 30 on his website. If I recall correctly the main difference is the longer arm on the 31. Find the manual in the links section of the School of Western Bootmaking, last subject: Useful Manuals.
Does anyone know where I can find a manual online for a Singer 29k-58? Seems like the foot is not responding to the length of stitch ajustment screw and not pushing the leather. Presser foot is also smooth with no ridges. Well these new fangled machines about wear my brains out, so if anyone can help, I'd be obliged.
I also need a manual for a curved needle stitcher made by Progressive mfg. co, Minneapolis MN, circa 1907. Or at least some tips on using the stitcher. Can you still get hooks and awls for these beauties?
Regards,
JesseLee
Georgene has you sussed on the manual I see, so all I can add is you'll need a feeder-foot with some teeth on the bottom to feed the work first, before you look at other causes of feeding problems. Best place to start is Pilgrim Shoe Machinery, Quincy, MA. The feeder-feet for the 29K class came (originally) in all sorts of configurations: long "toes" with super-fine teeth, one long one short "toe", short "toes" with coarse teeth, "toes" curved up like skies on the end, etc. In my drawer I have a bunch of feeder-feet that have been modified by the operator: teeth filed into a few big ones, teeth covered with suede, etc. It seems they were all trying to maintain the traction but reduce the teeth-marks in the work. What I found works best for me is the standard short-toed foot, but cranking way back on the foot pressure via the knurled knob at the top of the head--just enough pressure to grip the work, but not so much as to chew it up. I have one foot that I coated with rubber--that stuff in the can you dip tool handles in to coat them--for more delicate finish work.
Never seen a "progressive" brand stitcher. Sounds neat. Good luck finding parts.
Georgene-
Thanks for the url, still trying to get through that one. I'm not too computer savy. I know the 29k-58 is way modern from the model 29, 29-2 and 29k-4 that I am used to.
Al-
You topped it off last year when I was restoring the 29k-2. Looks loke a similar problem. I like your advice, seems my foot is not gripping. That rubber compound seems like it may be the ticket. Segue: As you know, I am strictly a Bradbury man, perhaps the only one here, as its a British machine. My first singer patcher was an 1870's model (so I am told, but I feel 1880's) and was made in Scotland and had a thick pivot arm rather than a girder. I will once again give your advice a go. This machine will be dedicated to the fancy stitching on my period cowboy boots.
I am 2 1/2 months behind setting up my shop, but will send pics of it and you will see all the old timey machines I use.
The old Progressive line finisher and curved needle welt stitcher is from 1907. It adjusts perfectly (so it seems) for side seams. I still want a Puritan low post stitcher and will soon secure a McKay77 to complete the shop as well as the woodworking machines so I can make lasts, crimping boards et al.
I want to touch bases soon, so send me a number so we can have a chat.
I made shoes and boots without any machines at all for maybe 10-12 of my 35 years at this, making strictly 18thc footwear, then I got a patcher and made a finisher out of an old furnace motor and a single sanding wheel salvaged off a Landis. I'm currently running: 2 patchers, 4-5 sewing machines, a 45k-70 cyl-arm harness, a Landis 12-L, a Landis Mackay, a Consew Fortuna-clone skiver, and a finishing line, plus a few "curio" machines like the Frobana and the Junker SD-28, plus some neat little bench machines. I envy your attachment to the earliest machines and getting them running, and I will be excited to see photos of your "stable" of iron beasties.
As my carpenter told me Monday, when I was lamenting the delays on completing my own new shop building, and missed self-imposed dead-lines for completion, he said: "dead lines are only opportunities to disappoint yourself...". So, not to fear being 2 1/2 months behind--at least you're still making progress.
PM me at dsaguto@cwf.org and I'll shoot you my phone number.
I do hear you on the 'deadline' aspect. I started at 10 years old in old John Taylor's cabin in WVa. He was way past retired. First 2 years I was not allowed to but oil and clean the machines, to wit: Davis pegger, McKay treadle sole stitcher, Blake sole and upper stitcher and treadle line finisher and my beloved Bradbury which I still have.
For many years I was turned off of machines, like up until 1983 when I got my first old rusty line finisher in Seattle when I was with Mason Dixon Boot co. Now I just love and cherish these old fancy cast iron machines.
I will send you pics of the shop in a week or so. I still have much of Old John's shop as well as the machines from a more early mentor from MN which I inherited. Just need more room. My current shop looks like its set up in a living room ie. fancy carpet and lights (very farb), but its home right now.
I am collecting the old tables that John had back in the late 1800's this week. The big one I slept under in the shop from age 10 to 14.
Planning a mobile shop atop the bed of the 1963 GMC pickup consisting of a cutting table against the rear window, table on one side with a Bradbury bolted to it, other side a Progressive sole cutter, trimmer and small line finisher with just the necessary wheels. This will be to go around to the ranches, Amish and mennonite terrotory for harness and boot repairs.
How do you like your Consew-Fortuna clone? I have been considering one as a reasonable priced Fortuna doesn't seem to come up in my area. Mechanically the machines are suppose to be the same but do they work as well, are they as solid?
Totally off topic: your carpenter story made me think off a Fawlty Towers sketch, Mr Fawlty is talking to his Irish builder who tells him not to worry: "If the good Lord had meant us to worry, He would have given us things to worry about". To which Basel Fawlty replies: "He has; my wife...."
Much funnier if you actually watch it, episode: The builders
I've been pleased with the Consew. I got it 2nd hand from Larry Waller 8-10 years ago. As far as I can tell it's part for part copied from a Fortuna--not a flimsy thing at all. It's a bit dicey to adjust right, but once it's set up for, say, a wide skive on fine calfskin it works fine. It doesn't like to skive heavier veg. leathers though--5oz. max., as long as it's mellow or curried. It handles 5oz. chrome side leather just fine though.
For all of you who have gone through the "new shop" adventure, mine's been no exception. So far everything has relocated and gone right where I'd planned it to without mishap. Advice: 1) no matter how many electrical outlets you plan along the wall in certain positions, there're are always places where you should have had one more installed, 2) everything in the new shop (30' x 30') was in a 12' 24' garage, but it grows to fill the space like magic--you can never have "too much space", so err on the large side when planning space.
Thanks for that info. I will consider the Consew. It is indeed my understanding that that machine is an exact copy of the Fortuna. For heavy veg you should consider a skiver with an upper feed roller. Won't work on your light chrome leathers but great for skiving counters and heavier veg tanned leathers. With a steel bottom transport it will slice though the toughest leather like butter.
You are right on with your advise that one can never have enough electric outlets. I found shop grade power strips at the home center and mounted them over my benches. They come in mighty handy even if they still fill up.
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30'x30' seems like a nice space, much larger and you'll have too many places to store junk.
Keep the faith, it will come together!
Rob
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Finally I am stumped. I have broken 6 needles in less than 1/2 hour. My old Bradbury has never given me any problems up until now. The needle bar and gears, shuttle etc. are like the 29k-4 series and before. So being a Bradnury is not a deterent. Does anyone have any hints on why this is happening?
Well don't I feel like the north end of a South bound horse! Seems that the cylinder head came loose making the needle hit the bar. See, a Bradbury is like a Norton motorcycle, its a bone shaker and always needs tightened, unlike the Singer (the Harley of sewing machines) whose head is machined out.. Proof positive that even after 45 years on the same machine, ya don't know it all..
JesseLee
Okay gang here goes.... I am trying to set up an ancient (1930s-40?) Singer clutch motor stand out of an old shoe factory, but the motor is acting weird. It's a 110 volt, 1/3 hp clutch motor with no external capacitor. I cleaned all the hardened accumulated grease out of it, cleared the grease fittings, re-lubed it (probably too generously for starters) with a light greaseless oil meant for electrical motors just to flush the crud out. When wired-up directly to 110 AC line current, 4 out of 5 tries, the motor just sits and hums at me, and if I leave it sit for 5 or 10 seconds a tiny waft of white smoke comes out, which I think is the oil--smells like burnt clean oil, not burnt electricals. The armature and shaft however turn quite freely, so the bearings are not shot or frozen.
On occasion when I power it up at a dead stop the armature moves back, then forward, then very, very slowly it begins to turn in the right direction and slowly builds up to full speed in maybe 30-40 seconds. If I jump start it by spinning it by hand, then power it up, it starts fine but still slow to achieve full speed. Once it's at full speed it runs fine forever, but tends to run a bit hot--the motor housing gets a wee bit more than "warm to the touch". After I cut power it spins and spins for 5+ minutes--so I'm sure the armature is turning freely and nothing is seized-up or rubbing. Maybe it's a dead spot in the magnet coil? If I cut power and allow it to spin down to anything above a dead stop, and switch the power back on, it springs back to life just fine. After running it for maybe 30 minutes, then shutting it down and allowing it to come to a stop, I get a tiny waft of smoke too, but I think it's because I over oiled it, as it's dripping the oil out the bottom. It has grease fittings, and once cleaned I intend to shoot it of full of wheel-bearing grease.
The motor and stand had had the switch box removed, just wires sticking out, so I'm not sure if this one had one of those starter capacitors inside the switch box, and that's another mystery problem. I have a capacitor switch box (250 mfd. 110 volts) with two large metal can caps inside that I could try, but my question there is how to wire it in. The box has four leads going out to the motor, my motor has but 3 leads: black, white, +, -, and red=ground/earth. The caps are wired in series and only on one leg of the circuit, but which one? And what's the fourth lead all about? Anybody have a wiring diagram they could post, or a link to a schematic I could go look at if it's this starter capacitor I need?
Oh, the motor, when it's up to speed is a little noisy--kind of rattles--but no worse than any old motor. When slowing down to near stopping the rattle turns to a regular click, click, click, click.... I know just enough about old motors to be dangerous--old fans and kitchen mixers.
Before I bury this motor in the backyard and buy a new one, I'd really to restore it to run if possible. Help!
I really don't have an answer for you other than to suggest checking if your motor wires are indeed + - and ground. I have learned the hard way that it is common practice in this country to ground through the neutral (white), that could make your red wire something other than ground. Still if it spins when you start it by hand it probably needs a starter capacitor.
I bookmarked this site some time ago, it's way over my head but you may be able to make sense of it
Take it to your local "electric motors R us", I'm sure they can help you out once they are done trying to sell you a new motor.
My experience with sewing machines is limited but a couple of years ago I did strip down and rebuild a singer that sounds a lot like the one you describe.
The one I had did need a capacitor, and it was in the switch box. The symptoms you describe do sound a lot like an A/C motor that is lacking it's capacitor. They don't just need them to start, they really need them to run right too.
If the magic smoke is escaping when the motor isn't turning over I'd be worried about burning the insulation varnish off the coils. That would damage the motor quite badly.
The capacitor placement should be the same for any A/C motor, and the giveaway should be that you have more wires going from the switchbox to the motor than you have going from the switchbox to the wall. I'll see if I can find pictures of the one I took apart.
Alasdair
I think you have a machine wired for 220 that you are trying to run on 110 volt North American Voltage don't know where you are from? As far as I know if it's 110 you need a capacitor not heaters. As I rable maybe it was hooked up for 3 phase power about 550 volts here but not always avalible in rural areas. Call an elecrtician and spend the cash. Smoking motors are not insurance freindly!
Best of uck
Regards
Brendan
Not sure if you meant this for Al or me since you aimed it at me and seemed to respond to Al's points. FWIW, I'm in New Zealand, where we have 240vAC 50hz mains.
Most big single-phase A/C motors are induction motors and require a capacitor to start correctly, regardless of the voltage they're running at.
Sorry, I can't find the pictures I took of the inside of the switch box before I pulled my one apart. I'll keep hunting but I suspect I've deleted them.
It definetly had a capacitor in the switch box though.
1) the plate on the motor indeed states it's 60 cycles, 110 volts AC--it's not a 220 single phase motor.
2) I was cautious about running it so as not to burn the varnish off the coil-wires. The little whiffs of smoke were burnt fresh oil.
3) I tried wiring it several ways, because having the red lead be ground/earth seemed rather weird--usually the black one is ground/earth. I rigged the line power in through an intermittent switch on a circuit protected power bar, so I could give it momentary power in case it was shorted-out. Only tripped the circuit-breaker in one configuration, not in this one.
So sounds like it wants a capacitor to start up. I'd appreciate whatever diagrams you all can post or link me to, but in the mean time, the switch box I grabbed at the same factory had 4 black lead wires going out to the motor--my motor has only the 3. All these black leads went to various positions on the on/off switch, and only one went to the two big capacitor cans wired in series. Do I want the caps on the "+" leg, the "-" or what? This switch box with caps is marked 110 volts and "1 or 3 phase", so I presume it's triple phase. It has a power cord still on it--two prong, normal wall outlet size. (In the USA 220 single phase outlets have a special extra big/heavy wall plug, so it's easy to tell the difference).
The only electrician I was able to get out here after months of begging, suggested what I ought to try, then shrugged and left... but he didn't charge me
I don't have much to add to this discussion but here's a long shot:
I had a motor that developed a dead spot on my finisher some years ago. Looking around for help, I knew, as you say, that an electrician wasn't gonna get it. Not really their cuppa, so to speak.
But what I did find was a small shop that rebuilt motors--primarily, in this case, for large industrial concerns. I'm pretty sure that if there's one of these in tiny Redmond, Oregon there must be one (or more) in the Richmond/Williamsburg area.
These kind of shops will do motor rewinding etc., but more to the point they are forever taking in old motors and tearing them apart and they often have huge bins of parts and so forth. Such a shop would not only be able to tell you what's wrong but also probably provide a used but serviceable capacitor and wire it up for you in a jiffy.
Look in the yellow pages under "electric motors" or just "motors." [The yellow page are an ancient, historical precursor to Google. ]
I'm a part time lurker so I missed most of the discussion, but if you need any electric motor rebuilt in the Richmond Va area there is a company near the Diamond (our ball field) named Electrical Equipment Company that will do this. They work on any size motors. My Dad retired from them. Call first to make sure they don't have a closer outlet as they are a regional concern, but the main shop is off of Boulevard Avenue.
whenever i need to buy or repair a broken sewing machine or buy parts,i go to the second hand sewing machine shops,they are most of the time sewing machines mechanics and carry parts, On a couple of occasions they came to my shop,had to pay him extra for gas money.
Wow, right up the road in Richmond. I'll give them a whirl if I can't find anybody closer to old Williamsburg. If I can get more time this weekend I may try to add the capacitor switch box.... hold my breath, and throw the switch. Heck, worst thing the circuit breaker would cut it off immediately.
Funny story (on myself): years ago I was replacing the switch in an Auto-Soler wire-nailer. I carefully tagged all the wires and which terminals they came from, etc. Got my new switch, examined it, popped it in and hooked up the wiring...no big deal right? Everytime I hit the power, off went the lights in the shop when the circuit breaker tripped. After double and triple checking, and knocking the lights out 3 or 4 more times, I called Auto Soler. Seems in the umpteen years since my machine was made, they changed the terminals on the bloody replacement switches around, which now have to be wired differently. I switched two wires, and voila! It worked fine. *mutter*, *grumble*, *grumble*. Mere change is not progress...I keep saying that, but nobody listens
Thanks for the moral support here folks.. much more of this motor trouble and I'm going back to 100% hand-sewn shoemaking. Jim Kladder stopped by this AM and was talking up "servo-motors" to solve my problem... now I ask you, what's sexy about running a 72 year old machine, on a 70+ year old stand, out of a factory established in the 1920s, and popping-in a "Flash Gordon" modern motor? Yeah, yeah, yeah, "it works better" I hear you say, but it would be like popping a modern hybrid auto engine into a venerable old 1935 Ford that's otherwise good to go. This power table boasts an 18-class left-handed cylinder arm, which went O.P. in 1935. Something that hoary must have an equally hoary clutch-motor IMO, a pack of Lucky Strike green sitting there, and happy foxtrot music playing in the background *teheehee*.
Ah but if there were only second-hand sewing machine shops in Tidewater, VA. None that I know of. Used to be one across town that repaired domestic sewing machines the guy operated out of his house, but he's since closed. As close as we are to Megalopolis, it's still pretty provincial down here--lots of gated golf communities, MacMansions, and high-priced resturants, but few "essential" services sad to say.
All,
Looking for a manual for the Progressive sole stitcher circa 1907. I also need the curved hooks and awls for this machine as well as bobbins. I imagine curved needles were standard so perhaps the Landis or Champion curved needles fit. I just don't know. Any help is appreciated.
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