Originally Posted by
J Miller
Janey,
The feed dogs are not jammed up, they just are set to far to the rear. The teeth hit the back of the slot of the needle plate and part of the feed dog under the needle plate is hitting the body of the machine. Has actualy deformed the corner a bit.
I've studied the feed dog adjustment under the needle plate and from what I can see all that does is raise and lower them. I need to find the adjustment to move them forward and backwards.
Joe
I know this is a long time ago now - but my answer might help someone now. Set the machine on its longest stitch length and lay the machine on its side/back, hinge side down, and locate the link from the top of the machine to the long connecting rod that goes across under the machine to the feed-dog area. If the hinge side is down the linkage should be located in the top-right (upper) corner of the underbed area as you look at it.
Loosen the nut on this linkage (it will be facing toward the inside of the underbed area - in the same direction as the rod). A 3/8” AF spanner is about right, the ring ones are easiest. Hold the bolt still with a screwdriver while you loosen the nut - otherwise the whole thing might turn, preventing you from loosening the nut. You don't need to remove that nut all the way off - it only needs to be loose enough so you can turn the bolt freely. That bolt is an eccentric and as you turn it you'll see the position of the feed dogs in the cover plate slots forward-and-aft is changed.
Test the position by turning the balance wheel until the feed dog is at the far end of its travel. Use the screwdriver to turn the bolt until the feed dog approaches the end of the slot in the cover plate. Turn the balance wheel for a full stitch cycle to make sure that you've got your adjustment just right - as you know, you don't want the feed dogs to catch or bang into the cover plate slots at front or back.
When you've got it just right (full length of travel for the whole stitch cycle and no banging into the cover plate slots anywhere) tighten the nut while holding the bolt still with the screwdriver so that the eccentric part of it doesn't change position and mess up your adjustment. Test for a full stitch cycle again just in case your bolt moved while you were tightening it. If it did, just loosen the nut and try again.