I picked up a Pfaff 145 at a yard sale the other day. I've been running a Juki LU563, but this Pfaff has a reverse, so I'm looking forward to adding it to the shop.
Problem is, it is missing the knee lift hardware: post that goes through base, cast arm that runs across and other hardware.
Does anyone here work on these old machines and maybe have parts for them?
Thanks. :)
Give Bob Kovar a call at Toledo Sewing Machine. He is our resident parts supplier.
866-362-7397
Mojo
Dont know if they are all the same but I had a 145 for 30 years. Great machine but the knee lifter was so hard to move it never got used. As far as I remember there was no adjustment. Just food for thought.
Quote from: MinUph on October 24, 2018, 09:39:25 am
Dont know if they are all the same but I had a 145 for 30 years. Great machine but the knee lifter was so hard to move it never got used. As far as I remember there was no adjustment. Just food for thought.
I concur. We had a 145 that was the same way. Knee lift was so hard, we never used it. The hand lift was pretty hard too.
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Are you saying that your Juki 563 doesn't have reverse? Never seen one that didn't.
Strange. My 545 knee lift is stiff, but I love it. Use it all the time. There is no adjustment. Maybe the spring is just more worn.
65 maybe it is just the model 145. It really was so hard it would have bruised a knee if it was used for any amount of time. I sewed on that machine for 30 years before using anything other than that. When I could use a knee lifter I felt like it was really the cats ass. I love them now.
Good points...with my Juki, I always just bumped the knee lift to move the fabric back a bit to lock the stitches....this one has reverse, so I guess that eliminates the need for that.
I'll follow up with the vendor listed above and see what I'd be looking at.
The lever lift on this was pretty sticky at first. I took that all apart and cleaned it up, adjusted the foot height etc, cleaned and oiled everything up and it's a beautiful working machine.
It was locked up when I first got it.. that turned out to be a bent needle plate blocking the hook...whew! But I figured it was worth repairing if needed for the price.....
We hardly ever go to yard sales, but my wife saw this one online and suggested going. Was a company that buys storage units then sells off during the year and this was their year end sale. I looked at the pics and spied just the corner of this machine behind other items, so we went. The owner said I was the first person to ever ask about it, so how does $25 sound?....uh..yep, sounds fine to me sir. Thank you. Then he threw in a HUGE box of cotton thread spools (I'll find a use somewhere for them lol), a couple big rolls of waterproof canvas material, a pair of Wiss 22W shears, thread stand, basically anything he could find related so he wouldn't have to chuck it in the bin lol.
I'm still thanking my Wife for suggesting we go. :)
That was a great find for 25 bucks.
25 bucks? Hey can't complain there!
I think I paid near a grand for my 545. It had been prof. Serviced. But you win some, you lose some.
I don't know about the knee lift Paul. I trust what you're saying. Glad mine's not like that - and the guy who sold me the machine was ecstatic that it was still there and functioning well.
Only other thing he said was that it was modified to accept a larger needle. It was used for canvas awnings.
But heck even as much as I paid, love that dang machine. I really highly doubt you could break it, unless it was completely unlubed.
Pfaff machines, especially the old ones are in my opinion the best machines out there. They sew forever if taken care of. These new machines are OK once you get them setup properly but they are no comparison to the older Pfaffs. I do remember taking mine in once every couple years to have him set the timing. But that was the extent of maintenance for 30+ years. Clean and oiled is all we did.
One of our first machines was a Pfaff 145. As mentioned, the knee lift was so hard we never used it. In fact, we got so used to raising the foot by hand, when we got a second machine (Juki LU-562), we never bothered to even install the knee lift.
We continued to raise the foot on both machines by hand for another 10-15 years. Then one day, I decided to install the knee lift. And like Paul says, I realized it was the "cat's ass".
What I didn't know then, was that you get a little extra clearance with the knee lift that you don't get with the hand lift.
I always found the Juki 562 to be a little more versatile than the Pfaff 145. In the 80's when paper thin chintz and polished cottons were all the rage, the Pfaff tended to "eat up" thin fabrics whereas the Juki didn't. So the Juki became my favorite machine.
If I still had that old Pfaff, I'd probably use it a lot more now than I did then.
If I stumbled up on most any old Singer, Pfaff, Juki, or Consew WF machine for 25 bucks at a garage sale, I'd jump on it.
My first industrial machine was a Pfaff 545, still my number 1 machine today. I bought it second hand & it come fitted with a foot pedal lift.
Never had any problems with it. Now my 'standby' machine is a Seiko with a knee lift, what a pita it always seems to catch or jump might need some adjustment I guess but I've never taken the time as I rarely use it.
Give me the foot pedal anyday.