ThayerRags

I really can’t say yet. I put the spoked wheel on the 306W before I ever used it in the treadle, and I haven’t yet tried the 319W with the spoked wheel on it, so I can’t compare spoke to disc on either machine. I only use the multi-zigzag stitch on both machines (mending denim jeans or coveralls), and the 319 is easier to treadle with the disc wheel than the 306 was with the spoked wheel. The built-in cam on the 319 operates smoother than the snap-on cam did on the 306, at least it seems like to me.

I’m mainly going for ease of use to start the machine by hand. The larger wheel is easier to handle than the disc. Yea, I know. I’m supposed to start the treadle hands-free, but I’m not there yet, and by habit, I may never be. I doubt that the spoked wheel will add very much centrifugal inertia to the machine. It’s just not heavy enough, although it is cast iron instead of aluminum. The old hand wheels that came out on the early machines had a much thicker rim, and probably did act more like a flywheel in that respect.

Another thing to take into consideration is the hand wheel pulley size. The spoked wheel has a smaller pulley than the disc wheel. I’m not sure what that will do to the force needed to drive the machine. I may be trading down-hill. I’ll have to wait until I have another pair of jeans to mend to find out.

CD in Oklahoma

JudyTheSewer

Thanks CD. I'll be waiting to hear what you think once you've mended some jeans.

Rodney

The smaller diameter should be a little more force to spin but will be a faster stitcher for the same speed of drive pulley. I doubt you'll notice much change in effort.
Rodney

miriam

I fought with one today. This was one someone was going to throw away so I got it. It is a nice machine now... Someone worked on it... Egor did not have a good temper IMHO and he didn't know what to look for.... Egor said he bought a cheap machine from Walmart to replace it... The machine was filthy. It is still beat up but who cares about that. OK I cleaned the kitties and puppies out of there. Then It was a bit stiff so I gave it a few drops of oil. Then I checked the tension. BAD - as in Egor took it apart but had no clue how to get it re-assembled - it was on there but not in the right order or on the little notches - just swinging... Lucky for me I had another identical machine nearby. I figured it out. Yup it took some fiddling but the tension now works just fine. So time to test sew. Sews a nice stitch then all of a sudden the thread snaps. AH HA - no doubt what Egor was trying to fix by taking apart the tension... Since this isn't my first rodeo I figured broken thread may mean a burr... So I started looking for burrs. Since I had a duplicate machine, I just changed out parts from the other machine to eliminate the culprit. Well, it was the bobbin holder/shuttle. I put on a new one and she sews and she sews sweetly. So I examined the piece. Nothing the naked eye can see right off - I guess that's why I missed it. I usually look things over. This time it wasn't on the tip of the hook - it was further back - just a bit of rough area. I'd say the needle was bumping at some point. I could have polished the problem out but I save bad hooks to show Wilbur and Lovie. I want them to be able to see what to look for. I think I may even put them in a machine and show them how the machine acts. Maybe somebody who can draw circles on pictures can find the burr and draw a picture. The space between my thumb and finger is pointing right at that rough spot.
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ThayerRags

That damage is quite a ways back from where I normally see needle strikes of a hook. Usually needle strikes are close to the hook tip on the slanted area near the hook tip. I wonder if a broken needle tip got down in the channel where the hook runs and got jammed in there to cause that damage?

CD in Oklahoma

miriam

good question... I think Egor was trying to sew on leather. It is a first for me to see damage there, too. I was looking at it with my fingernail and there is more damage than that. I have another with a very damaged hook point. I'm saving them for when the kidos are up for a challenge.

Champanier

Oh, that is spectacular!!

ThayerRags

To answer your question, I really do like the spoked wheel better than the smaller rimmed solid disk. It felt easier to treadle with less fatigue on my part, and today’s mending went very well except for a broken drive belt, and a couple of backwards stitches.

I just finished mending a pair of denim jeans that had three torn places about the size of quarters, and in areas of the jeans to give a good test to my Singer 319W treadle with the after-market spoked wheel in place of the original disc wheel. One hole was in the front, right on the bottom edge of the zipper closure where the most bulk of fabric is stacked up, one hole in the back below a hip pocket, out in open country with only one layer of fabric, and the third was a hip pocket corner.

About the broken belt, I use a two-piece belt in my MUTT so that I can change machines easily by simply changing a short section of leather belting to match the differences in pulley sizes between machines. The short belting that broke pulled the wire clip out through the side of it on one end. It was an old piece of belt that I’d taken off of something, and it was just a little too rotten to hold. I made a new short section out of another piece of belting and was quickly back in business.

Treadling a multizigzag stitch up, over, and around on the bulky zipper closure wasn’t as bad as I was afraid it would be. I had a little bit of belt slippage that I had to help along with the balance wheel at one point, but for the most part, it didn’t work me hard doing the treadling. Now keep in mind that I’ve hanged the belt between using the original disc wheel and the spoked wheel, so I may have gotten my belt tension set better for the spoked wheel. (I had to use a shorter piece of belting)

As for the backwards stitches, one thing that I’ve learned about the Singer 306 and 319 machines is that they aren’t very forgiving when treadled backwards for a stitch. I’ve gotten by with it on other treadles, but not on these two. I got lazy and let the machine run backwards a couple of times today, and had to cut my way loose both times. It didn’t hurt my project because I was mending, but it would be bad if top stitching.

Other than having a good way for making sure that I start the machine going in the right direction (which I need to pay more attention to), the spoked wheel is also very useful when hand cranking up and over a wad of fabric like reattaching the corner of the hip pocket. I replaced the gold-colored top stitches up the edge of the pocket, across the top, and back down the edge of the pocket by spinning the wheel with my index finger to get the best needle placement. I had forgotten about that use for the spoked wheel. That stitching shows, so I wanted to line it up in the old stitch lines as much as possible. I replaced the pocket corner tack by foot-power, and although I got my ZZ a little narrow, it went well.

I’m glad that I put the spoked wheel on my Singer 319W.

CD in Oklahoma

ThayerRags

The machine that I fiddled with yesterday is a 5-drawer plain Singer treadle cabinet. The cabinet is in decent shape, but the iron stand wasn’t, so I repainted another iron stand and swapped them out. This is the first time that I’ve used gloss black paint on a treadle. I usually use a satin or flat finish paint, and I think I like them better.

CD in Oklahoma

JudyTheSewer

Thanks for the great review CD! Your repairs look wonderful. After reading about your experience with the spoked wheel and seeing the results of the multi-layer denim repairs I am a believer and will be changing the wheel on my treadled 319 to be spoked too. Thanks again for the great post.