Potential Quilt Piecing Machine
 

Just in case I ever get the urge to piece a quilt made out of old saddles, I picked up an Adler 205-64 that I’m going to try nursing back into use this winter.

It doesn’t look it from the photo, but it’s about 9W x 24L x 18H, and weighs about 100 pounds. I want to make a handcrank out of it, but probably not a portable.

CD in Oklahoma

Anxious to see the progress and process! Good luck to you!

Have you seen Karen McTavish's Facebook page? A while ago she was trapunto-ing leather for a set of dining room chairs.

Nice beefy piece of gear!

Looks like a cross between an anvil and a sheet metal riveter.


Joe

Straight up, I showed that to my Armor students last night and the reply was "hey, that's got some really nice forming surfaces and curves, how thick is it?" lol... I said NO to re-purposing an old industrial into a metalworking tool.

Nice thread injector.

You are my hero, Miriam..... I'd have passed that one up, for sure. But you do wonders with your rusty gems. And, hey, leather tapunto could be interesting..... hmmm.

yea you could go for shoe making with it>

OOps! Another old age moment.... sorry ThayerRags..... you're the one that is going to do majic on this machine.... not Miriam. I'll be watching to see your progress.

The danged thing is heavy enough!

Depending on what they’re wanting to bend, Steve, it may stand up to it!

Not a problem, I have those moments all the time. I’ll try to post progress, but it will be on down the road probably. I’ve never rehabbed a machine this big. I’m going to see if I can get my wife to do all of the lifting on this one.....nope....she was reading over my shoulder.....it ain’t gonna happen....I’ll have to do it myself....or hire a tow truck.....

CD in Oklahoma

Well, I could reach right through the computer screen and do some fix up I suppose since I am a super member.

Size Comparison
 

This photo may help show the relative size of my Adler 205-64 that I plan to try turning into a handcrank. The machine on its cylinder arm is my 1914 Singer 20-1 handcrank, probably my smallest machine. Can you tell that I like handcranks?

CD in Oklahoma

I like hand cranks, too. I learned on one.

CD,

You'll need a transfer case with low range to turn that beast into a hand crank. I think it would work better if you hooked it to a 455 CID Chevy truck engine. :)

Joe

Did you see the “Extreme V8 Sewing Machine” video on YouTube? I think it might be a SewMor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-L39ZrL0iM

CD in Oklahoma

WOW guys and sewing machine rock...

Well, I gave up trying to find a durable drip pan big enough to put this thing in to nurse it back to life, and started its oil bath setting right out on my motorcycle airlift table. I don’t think a plastic pan would have held up while I turned the machine over for access during this process, so I’ll just have to clean up my mess a little more often. Just turning it up on end about turned me on end.

It was locked up tight, but within 2 hours after I oiled everything that I could get to, I had movement at the handwheel! Just a tiny bit, but I can feel it! And I’ve got about half of the travel of the stitch length lever! (The feed dogs are moving with it as they should too, although they were complaining loudly at first.) The bobbin case opens too! I found out that I don’t have a bobbin, so there was no thread in there to hold moisture and promote rust, so it looks pretty clean inside.

I’ll shoot more oil to it for a few days, and then start taking parts off to clean them. I might be quilt piecing cowboy boots together with this thing before you know it!

CD in Oklahoma

CD,
I watched that video. I'm still chuckling at that guy driving a sewing machine with a V-8 engine. That was a hoot!

Joe

I’m still fiddling with this Adler 205-64 machine, although I haven’t gotten very far in the past few months. I did find out that most of the parts that it needs are still available, so that’s good. Although, it will take about $700 to buy them all, so I haven’t rushed my order off for them yet. The important parts that I need are a needle clamp and a bobbin. Just the needle clamp and screw will be $250, and bobbins run about $9 each. The rest of the parts are to rebuild the automatic tension release and the hand foot-lift, so I’ll probably put those off until I find out for sure that it will sew and doesn’t have anything wrong with the hook. I can probably rig up a manual tension release to use temporarily, and I can lift the foot with the foot-peddle linkage, but I’ve got to get a needle clamp and bobbin before I can see if it will even sew or not.

Thanks to Miriam, I have a crank handle for it now. Her idea led me to buy a used suicide knob that clamps onto the solid hand wheel. I think it’s going to be workable, but I haven’t tested it extensively. It may be a problem keeping it tight when I get to actually sewing with it.

CD in Oklahoma

CD, how about a steam powered donkey motor for it? I don't think your shoulder and arm is gonna last long enough to hand crank that monster. :D


Joe

too cool for school... love it.

I wonder if a needle clamp couldnt be made or modified cheaper

Isn’t that why we have wives?


Possibly, as long as the needle bar doesn’t get damaged using a home-made clamp. I haven’t priced a needle bar yet, and I don’t think that I want to....

There’s a lot of pressure on things with these big machines. The needles (System 328) are like nails.

CD in Oklahoma

I agree. Cant see the needle bar very well, but if it's round with a groove, and a stop pin to set needle height, then a shaft collar with a set screw shouldnt cause damage, just guessing in the dark, for what thats worth.

When I was in Florida in January there was a man making things out of alligator hide - he was using a monster Singer 15 with a walking foot - he had it on a treadle and he had welded an auger handle to the wheel so he could tread or hand crank or do both. Those gator hides are THICK. The 15 he had was large but it took regular bobbins.

I'm guessing if you get that machine working a hand crank would quilt saddles if you wanted. You might want the option of treadle AND hand crank to give you a little more leverage. Those old industrial machines turn very easily so it might not be that much of a chore to hand crank unless you really do quilt those saddles.

looks like Cowboy makes a clone
http://reno.craigslist.org/for/4534879732.html

http://www.sailrite.com/Monster-II-B...t1GJrAPSbw_wcB
Maybe you can rig up something like that...

The sewing machine looked so small, I'm sure he could have hooked a 96K or (even better) 132K6, which can probably sew through the engine. All that water from the exhaust usually means a blown head gasket. Interestingly, that motor was designed by Buick, who sold the design to Rover (BMC) in the early '60s. Leyland Australia made an awesome 4.4 litre version in the '70s. Old cars are my other hobby too :thumbup:

CD, are they so rare that another won't come up for sale? A parts machine would probably save you a fortune.

The Adler was, and still is, the “Cadillac of Sewing Machines” with the heavy sewer crowd. Genuine Adler parts demand a premium because of the German Engineering that went into them. That, and the fact that this model is one of the earlier models that takes some parts that had been made pretty much obsolete by new designs on the more recent Adler machines, so there’s getting to be less and less replacement parts.

Finding a parts machine is difficult, not to mention expensive. Owners hold on to them. I doubt that I could touch a parts machine for as little as $700, even if I could find someone willing to sell one.

CD in Oklahoma

I'd keep an eye for ya, but the shipping would be murder!!

Some of the parts that I need for this Adler 205-64 have arrived, and I find that I have more work to do. I was hoping that the center hole of the bobbins would fit onto the tapered pin in my handcrank bobbin winder that I use for some of my other machines, but nope. So now I need to figure out a bobbin winder.

I dug out the surface-mount BW that came with the machine, and of course, its seized-up solid just like the machine was when I got it. So, I’ve got it soaking with oil now to see if it can be limbered back up again. And then, I’ll have to figure out a way to hand-operate it. Just like the machine, any modifications that I do to it can’t be something that I can’t “undo” if I ever want to power this unit with a motor again.

The belt wheel of the BW is plastic, so I think that I can easily drill a single hole next to the outer rim and mount a tiny knob on it to turn the wheel with thumb and finger. I’ve seen a YouTube video of one made for a similar machine by the Morris Sewing Machine Co. They sell a hand-operated-only machine like this for use with no power.

CD in Oklahoma

Good grief, what a brute! I think that's the heftiest 'cylinder bed' I ever saw. Great find, I'm rooting for you!

kath

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

It feels good to win one doesn't it.
I like to put a piece of bicycle inner tube between the suicide clamp and the wheel - it is a problem where to stop the hand wheel. But if you want it to always stop with the needle up you can weight the knob accordingly. If you want the needle down - weight accordingly otherwise they have a mind of their own. Maybe you need a door stop to slide in there to park it.
Did you make that needle guard, buy it or did it come with the machine?

Yes, I was very excited that it sewed right off, since I’d had a lot of things taken apart getting it limbered back up again.

I mounted the Necker Knob so that when the needle is completely up, the knob is at the top, and when the needle is down so is the knob. The knob will stay up, as long as it’s centered on top, otherwise, it will roll down one way or the other. It could function alright that way, but I still might counter-balance it for safety. Actually, having the added weight just on the down stroke may help with sewing on some things, but having additional weight in two places on the balance wheel could increase inertia like a flywheel, so either way will probably be a benefit.

The finger guard was on it, although it was bent all to heck and I had to straighten it. I got it bent back nearly to what it was originally, as far as I can tell.

I have to raise the foot with the lever intended for foot use, by reaching over the top of the machine and pushing the lever down with my hand. It’s not a hard push, just awkward. The parts that raise and lock the presser foot up by hand are damaged or missing, so I will be saving my pennies to get them back in order. With the limited use that I expect this machine to see, it may be a while before I have enough pennies. In the mean time, I may try rigging up a way to raise the presser by foot.

CD in Oklahoma

Maybe you can rig up a stick to hold it in place when you want the needle up.

It hand cranks through 1/2” of webbing easy enough, if you start with the needle up and keep just a little momentum going. I’ll miss having both hands on the webbing straps, but it is workable.

CD in Oklahoma

That is sooooo cool!