Tag Archives: Pfaff

Home, Knitting, Life, Photography, Spinning, Weaving, Woodturning

2023 Year End Wrap Up

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Happy belated New Year everyone!

A lot of years, it’s not until the year end wrap up that I truly understand how much I did during the previous 365.25 days.  This year even though the total yarn mileage was a bit of a shock, I was completely aware all year that I was busy.  I nearly didn’t do this post at all.

2022 ended with us knowing we were going to be redoing the shower in the bathroom.  After way too many trips to hardware stores and bathroom showrooms, we finally decided and by the end of May, that hurdle was cleared.  No more water issues in the house.  Or so I thought. Continue reading 2023 Year End Wrap Up →

3D Printing, Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Pfaff Power Switches coming back!

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I alluded to this in my previous post.  A number of years ago, the power switches for the Pfaff 1222 type machines went “NLA” or No Longer Available.  As usually happens, it takes a while for existing stock to disappear so many of us didn’t know until it was too late.  Around the middle of 2020, it finally happened.   Not long after my first order went unfilled, I started playing with the idea of rebuilding the switches.  The reason being that it’s a single piece of (sometimes 40+ year old) injection molded plastic that fails.  Every single time. Could it be 3D printed? After all, several years ago, I’d determined that the rest of the switch is high quality, modular and relatively easy to rebuild. In October of 2020, I received 4 Pfaff 1222 machines in for service and you guessed it, there was a broken switch among them and I had no more switches in stock.

After a series of unfortunate (family/personal) events that Fall, I finally began on Christmas Day 2020, and by a couple of days into the New Year, I had a working design and it took me about 15 minutes to disassemble the machine, disassemble the unnecessarily complex switch, replace the defective part, reassemble the switch and the machine.   This could be a viable solution! The problem was Continue reading Pfaff Power Switches coming back! →

CSM, Home, Knitting, Life, Photography, Sewing Machines, Spinning, Weaving

October’s Obsession

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As I mentioned in the last post, in October I became obsessed.  All summer and throughout the entire Tour de Fleece it felt like I was in crisis mode. Then as Fall descended, I began working on things outstanding.  I probably put in a couple of hundred hours at various computers. I needed a break from all of the adulting.  In the back of my mind, there were so many craft projects started and unfinished.  This is something I don’t often do.  I’m largely a serial crafter and often don’t have more than a home project and a travel project on the go at once.

When I started the Tour de Fleece this year – before all the drama started – I had 5 PHDs (Projects Half Done) of which 3 qualified as UFOs.  During the tour, I finished 2 of the projects, turned one UFO into 2 PHDs and one abandoned project, and started one new project.  Here’s what the “To do list” looked like at the end of the tour: Continue reading October’s Obsession →

3D Printing, Life, Pets, Sewing Machines, Spinning, Weaving

Better Days Are Coming Now – 2020 Year End Wrap up

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Well.   2020 is over, to the relief of most of the world, I’d think.  In reality, this annual post almost didn’t happen.  It wasn’t until I went back through the photos on my phone that I saw I wasn’t quite as idle as I’d thought.  I mean, I took almost 4000 pictures… I had to have done some things, right?

I was pretty sure I’d done nothing this year but between getting to know 2 new kittens, refurbishing a loom, finishing a spinning wheel, prepping Continue reading Better Days Are Coming Now – 2020 Year End Wrap up →

Sewing Machines, Site News

The shop is up and running!

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As I mentioned in last week’s post, I’ve decided to finally set up the shop completely.  With the way we all do things changing from day to day, this seemed like the right time.

For years, I’ve mentioned in posts that I would put this or that into the shop when I had a chance.  Now that my IT work and sewing machine repairs have slowed to a halt due to the pandemic, it’s bubbled to the top of the list. Everything’s been photographed and a description added.  I’ve tried to be as descriptive as possible but do check attached photos as well.

This means : Continue reading The shop is up and running! →

3D Printing, Life, Pets, Sewing Machines, Spinning

2019 Year End Wrap up – part 1: sewing machines

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This highlights reel / wrap up is a little later than I planned.  It’s also far longer than I’d planned – so I’m breaking it up into parts  1 and 2.  Today’s will cover the Sewing Machine related stuff and tomorrow’s will be the rest of the year in review.

In January, I moved all free help to the AA Vintage Sewing Machines Study Facebook group.  I did this because so many people would ask for help but leave incorrect contact information, or I’d respond and never hear back at all.  This way, a group of us can draw on our collective experiences and help Continue reading 2019 Year End Wrap up – part 1: sewing machines →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

The loosest thread – Those pesky thread nests

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Some of the most common sewing machine issues I hear are:

  • “The bobbin thread is bunching up around the bobbin”,
  • “I have loops under the fabric”,
  • “It looks great on the top but the bottom looks awful!”,
  • “No matter how high I turn the tension on my bobbin, I still get a mess on the bottom side of the fabric!”,
  • “I keep lowering the upper tension but I still get loops underneath!”
  • “It’s the tension”
  • or something similar.

Something like this: Continue reading The loosest thread – Those pesky thread nests →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Quick Note: Why I don’t recommend…

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simply re-threading your machine when you have problems with it.

A quick note today folks! I’m inside waiting for the anti-inflammatories to kick in before I go back outside to do some bodywork on the truck so I thought I’d jot down a little note for you.

The traditional advice when you start to have tension problems with a machine seems to be “Re-thread it.  Everything, the bobbin case and the top”.

Most of the time that usually means that people yank the thread out from the back – or some will cut it and remove from the front – then they re-thread and…. it doesn’t fix it.  Sometimes it will but often it doesn’t.

Why? Continue reading Quick Note: Why I don’t recommend… →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Automatic Tension isn’t.

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Just a quick note tonight folks! Really.

One the the biggest problems I find that people have with “newer” sewing machines is a terminology problem.

“Automatic”

IMG_2275

In the car world, an automatic transmission shifts for you.  It automatically does what you would have to do manually otherwise.

Automatic as far as your tensioner is concerned is Continue reading Automatic Tension isn’t. →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Out of the nest – Ditching the Thread nests part 2

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In the last post, we talked about ways that thread nests can be solved from a user point of view.  Today, I’m getting into the slightly more technical ways that the nests happen and how to deal with them, or when to take it in for service.

Category 2: Possibly user fixable or take it in – Depending on skill and comfort level

Continue reading Out of the nest – Ditching the Thread nests part 2 →