Obscure French Mckay

[JRoberts]

Hello,

 

Following on from my post in the introductions thread, this is a bit of a display post with a few questions attached.

 

I'm in the process of restoring a bunch of old shoemaking machinery and I hope some people here can help.

 

Firstly, after contacting Standard many months ago I got put in the right direction sorting out my old Standard Outsole Stitcher. I took it apart completely, stripped off 60 years of dried wax, took out all the wax heaters and wax trays, re-wired it and re-painted it black. Finally got it stitching again last week and all went well. (The hand wheel and bobbin winder etc are missing in the photo but they are now attached and are still original).

 

My next project is this obscure French Mckay/Blake Stitcher. It's in average shape at best. And I have no experience with these type of machines so I am running a bit blind. It is a chainstitch machine and is maybe similar to a Landis/Champion 77 Mckay in how it sews. There is a similar needle and foot mechanism. Here are the problems and I welcome any suggestions.

 

1. The motor is 2 (yes two) phase. So it's obviously old, I know they still have two phase supply in some parts of America but otherwise its pretty uncommon. I ordered a single phase induction motor that is of similar RPM and HP. Will that be fine? or is there more to consider here?

 

2. There is a broken spring that controls the movement of the 'Cast-Off' (or bit that covers the barb of the needle as it is moving upward) and the only way to replace it is to remove a part with a screw that has it's head broken off. Also,the set screw for the the actual Cast-Off part is broken and doesn't thread in enough to hold the Cast-Off in place. Both of these problems lead to the machine re-picking up the first loop while it is trying to pick up the second. I have managed to temporarily fix the problem using a cable tie and some leather but I would love to do it properly. Is it possible to drill out this broken screws and re tap them? They are tiny and the parts they tap into are tiny too.

 

3. The next problem is my most confounding and probably the easiest answered. I can get it to sew with the flywheel turning clockwise and anti-clockwise. In both directions the work still moves in the correct direction, to the left. Which way is correct? Which way should the whirl move around the needle? Also in either direction I don't have great control over the presser foot and I'm not sure how it is supposed to act. It has a bit that would likely sit in a channel and an 'awl' type bit that moves the work. Any insight would be helpfull? If I knew which way it was supposed to go I could have a guess at how to adjust it to work better.

 

4. Finally, has anyone ever seen this machine before? I need new needles but my only contact so far is Groz Beckert and I need to buy a pack of a hundred minimum. Does anyone have another contact for parts?

 

Cheers,

 

James