Well, a lot has happened to my Adler 205-64 since my last post. I have it sewing today! Not bad stitches starting out, and it never missed a one! That lets me know that the hook is good (and without being able to try it before spending some major bucks, I was worried), so I’m a happy camper.
Here’s what is going on with my handcranked Adler 205-64 so far:
1. I went with using a suicide knob clamped onto the rim of the balance wheel as I said before. I think it will clamp tight enough to work without damaging the wheel or the knob. I’ll have to see how it holds up to heavy sewing. I put a piece of vinyl in the clamp to help with grip. It will need a counter-balance on the opposite side of the wheel to offset the weight of the knob (it’s a heavy one) so that the needle doesn’t come down when I’m not ready. I’m thinking rolls of pennies in thin rubber tubing tucked into the curve of the rim, but I’ll have to experiment.
2. Since I don’t have a suitable stand, I mounted the machine on the top of a fairly large toolbox. Without a motor to counter-balance the weight of the machine, I’m going to use tools in a cabinet instead. The toolbox has wheels under it too, so that’s important when you’re getting stove-up like I am. I’m always having to move my machines around in my small quarters. The two wheels that are pivot castors have locks on them, but I didn’t need them for my test-sewing.
3. I opted to forgo the replacement parts to the automatic tension release for the time being (it’s a money thing). I’ll just release the tension manually for now using a thumb and finger to spread the tension disks.
4. For winding bobbins manually, I’m using my handcrank bobbin winder. A piece of rubber vacuum hose on the unused small spindle (I don’t have any bobbins with that small of a center hole), along with the thickness of the thread laced through the center of the bobbin when I slide it on, makes a nice tight connection to turn the bobbin. I provide tension with my left hand as well as guide the thread wraps while I crank with my right hand. I could have done the first bobbin a little neater, but I was anxious and in a hurry.
5. My test-sew indicates that my top tension is too loose. The knot is just barely inside of the bottom side of the leather in my sample. I could catch the knot with my fingernail every once in a while along the stitchline, so I’ll be working on getting the tensions set better.
I think that most of my sewing will be making repairs in woven materials (mostly webbing), so before I go too far with tension settings, I’ll get a different test-sew sample. I’m using poly 277 in both top and bottom right now, and I’ve heard that some Adler 205 machines work better with a size smaller thread in the bobbin, so I’ll have to experiment. For repair work, I’d like to use the same size top and bottom. Here are photos of the orphaned Adler 205-64 as it looks now.
CD in Oklahoma