Frustration and feed dogs.
 

I was finishing up the assembly of the smaller of the two 'All Machines' quilts. I had made so many squares I made a lap quilt to go with the bed quilt. The lap quilt is 48"x60", made from 6 1/2" denim squares with a fleece back.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...pquilt_web.jpg
I had sewn the squares together with my HOTHER and had intended to finish it with the same machine but then we began talking trade with another forum member here in IL. We had agreed to trade her a 66 for the machines she had and I wanted to make sure it was running good.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...cs/MrLucky.jpg
So I took Mr Lucky off the shelf and checked him over. Looked pretty good for an old phart. Mr Lucky was made in 1927 and was sold to me as a parts machine :( but I borrowed the missing parts from a couple of my other 66s and gave him a try. He sewed so nice I refurbished him. But I never really did anything major with him. So to make sure he was fit to be rehomed I decided to quilt my lap quilt with him.

But I ran into problems. All the testing I'd done with this machine was light weight materials, two flat layers of denim or pre-quilted materials.
Because of the decorative stitches in each square we decided to use the SITD method and with a seam every 6" it was a nightmare. He'd stall out at every hump. I had to actually pull the quilt through the foot and feed dogs because he would not feed it. That made no sense to me or my wife and we were pulling out our hair trying to figure this out. I tried different feet and presser foot shaft tensions and nothing worked. The machine was sewing just fine even when it wouldn't feed so that made it even more confusing. I had not run into this before, to this extent anyway, and Elaine hadn't run into this in her life as a sewist.

Then after finishing the first direction of stitches I decided to switch machines. I had to try something. As we were thinking on which machine to try I had a thought. Perhaps the feed dogs were slipping on the fleece backing rather than feeding it. How to verify this? Well, sew a seam with a different machine. Then I said; that doesn't make sense .... the feed dogs are up why won't they feed?
At this point I looked at the feed dogs on Mr Lucky and at the highest they would go, the teeth were not completely above the needle plate.
I opened up my Singer 66 Treadle #1 Mr Lucky was sitting on and compared them.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...ics/Mdl66a.jpg
Yep, the feed dogs were higher by a bunch.
I tried to sew a row on the quilt and 66 T1 even with the small straight stitch foot it fed the quilt through without a hitch.

So while Elaine held the flash light I used a dime as a reference and raised the feed dogs on Mr. Lucky to match 66 T1 and tried that. Success. Mr Lucky now fed the quilt sandwich without any trouble at all. I put the regular SS foot back on and adjusted the presser foot tension back to normal and ran a few SITD rows. Much much better.
Then after all the trouble was fixed Elaine sat down and finished the rows and stitched down the edges. :D :(
All we need to do now is put the binding on it.

So I guess the moral to this story goes something like this. If your machine won't feed like it should and everything mechanical has been checked and eliminated, check the feed dog height, they just might be set too low.

Joe

Whoa, good thing to know!

Fleece *is* a pain in the rear (or in the feed dogs LOL ) for many machines, older and newer.

Forgot to mention, that is a great-looking quilt you put together.

One of my old Singers had tired feed dogs. Since I am not a master mechanic like you Joe, I was able to take off the feed dogs and cut a little cardboard gasket to go under them. I screwed the feed dogs back on over the gasket and they worked much better with the added height. Whatever works.:)

toolazy,
Wait till I post pics of it's big brother. Eeekkkkkk!

Tartan,
The 66s, 99, and quite a few others have a single screw that fastens the feed dogs to the machine. There is some adjustment. Other more modern machines have the dogs mounted on a cross bar. I'm sure there is an adjustment somewhere but I don't know for sure. Your fix sounds easy and as long as it works, great.

Joe

Can we see closeups of the blocks? I am liking your quilt a lot.

Ummm, not all of the blocks I hope :). I'll have to shrink them and get them on P-bucket so I'll post a few in a while.

Joe

Caroline,

Here's some close ups. Some are from the lap quilt, some from the big quilt.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...tedsquares.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...uares_crop.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...lts/Smiley.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...ts/Him-Her.jpg

Joe

Oh my. Love those blocks. The smiley face and the little people are to die for, and the others are dressed up just enough to make them sing when you put it all together. Good job!

Joe, Your blocks are beautuful! Thanks for sharing.

I love reading your posts, Joe, whether or not they have anything to do with my own machines or issues. I like "watching" you problem solve; you have great mechanical insight and ability and you write so well about what you're doing!

Hope you got it fixed Joe, finally got the singer feed dogs to work. Little more adjusting on tension and it should sew very nice for an 1980's singer, but at least it is working. May pass it along to someone who needs and inexpensive sewing maching or keep it as it has Cams, a first for me.
Love your cat, she is a real beauty.

Those feeddogs do slip, so readjusting fit the bill. Usually the are are tightly screwed down so it is a mystery of nature that it happens. Good job.

Dan,

That would explain a lot. I checked my 1913 vintage 66-1 and it's feed dogs were way down too. I'll have to readjust them.
I guess all the years of use tends to push them down a bit.

Joe

You're welcome. Those decorations are the one thing I can't do with a vintage machine :( .

Joe

Well, sorta vintage I guess. I've used Singers from my wife's 319 all the way up to her 86 vintage Bernina then up to a 2001 Singer plastic wannabee.

I guess I sorta consider vintage as pre ZZ era.

Joe

Hey Joe,

The first zig zag sewing machine was invented in the 1870s.
I think vintage is considerably younger that that. VBG I tend to think of a vintage sewing machine as pre-early 70s.

Cathy

1870s?? Hmmmm, I'd like to see a pic or three of that one. Who made it?


Joe

Thanks for this info !

Joe,

A lady, Helen Augusta Blanchard invented the zig zag sewing machine. She was a very prolific inventor. She held many sewing machine patents. She started the Blanchard Over-Seam Company in the early 1880s.

As to which company actually made and sold the 1st ZZ machine I don't know unless it was her BO-S company. I do remember reading that the 1st ZZ machines were for industrial applications. I don't know when the 1st home ZZ machines were sold. But Bernina does claim to have come out with the first portable ZZ with freearm in 1945.

That's not a lot of info, but it is the best I can do right now.

Cathy

I sure learn a lot of interesting and useful stuff when I browse the vintage threads. I will check my old machines to see where the dog teeth stand. Thanks for the info!

Just wanted to add that the adorable little calico looks so concerned, as if she's saying, "I have thumbs - I can help, too!"

Rose,

Pollyanna is a polydactyl kitty. She has 24 toes instead of 18. She uses the extras on her front feet like we do thumbs. She'll pick things up with her toes / fingers, turn them this way and that as she decides weather or not they are worth playing with, or knocking off the table. She has a most friendly attitude as well. Very friendly.

Joe

I agree totally with mme3924! And Cathy, I *loved* the lesson! =))