Wizcrafts

The more the slack, the better. Do whatever it takes to move the brake pad away from the clutch drive plate. If it's already on the verge of engaging, back off the screw to give it more hold vs motion time. Somebody with a shop should come up with an adjustable clutch/brake pad accessory for these motors.

Run on is the reason for leaing the brake on. But, open the motor housing where the lever comes out and look to see is there is a screw adjustment to preposition the lever downward, or to move the brake pad outward. If so, you can move the lever down to a point where the cork just engages, then fine tune it so it to minimize the free play before it engages with the motor. Some folks have actually sanded down the cork brake pad to get more movement before it hits the metal drive plate. That's the ideal situation. Clutch motors have an adjustment for free play that most servo motors lack.

You can read or download the documentation directly from Adler's website, here. There have been discussions about this model on Leatherworker.net. Just use our search box to search for all topics containing the term: Adler 269-373

@reveau There is an online manual for the Efka Variostop sewing machine motors, here. Page 25 deals with the motor's brake action. You must study the manual to learn how to set the braking action to get the motor to stop when you take your foot off the speed control pedal. Please note that the brand name is EFKA, not ELKA.

That needle alignment is weird. It appears to be too far forward in the hole. A proper alignment is dead center front to back. The needle clamp itself can be moved sideways to get closer or farther away from the hook. Remove that clamp and check for foreign material that might be causing the needle to sit on an angle. Maybe the clamp screw is loose. Tighten it after centering it sideways.. If this doesn't solve the problem, maybe the throat plate has two different size holes. Rotate the plate if the other hole is larger. Also, that needle looks very large. Try a smaller needle.

If the needle is splitting the top thread on the way into the material, your check spring ie either not properly set, or is accidentally bypassed, or is missing. The purpose of a check spring is to maintain some tension on the top thread as the take-up arm moves down. The assembly should have a bottom stopper bracket that can be adjusted to stop the downward movement of the spring at a position where the needle has just entered the top of the material. The spring action should be adjustable too. Set it to just hold the thread taut. This should solve the thread splitting problem.

Almost any walking foot machine based on the design of the Singer 111w155 will do that work. Look in your local ads for a SInger 111w155, a Juki LU-563, a Consew 205rb-(number), or any other brand that has triple (compound) feed. They are usually found in upholstery shops and they sell them off when they buy new machines. Expect to pay between $500 and $1200 for a good condition walking foot machine.

The machine is a lockstitch machine, meaning that the top and bottom threads are pulled up in a fist-like knot and into the material. The slightest tug on the top or bottom may pull the knots out and cause stitches to unravel. You should either reverse over the starting stitches, or sew all the way around and go over the first 4 or 5 stitches, or set the stitch length lever to the zero motion position and sew up and down in place about 2 or 3 times, then move on with the preset stitch length. Sewing in place requires a little more aggressive top tension to pull the knots up among multiple passes. Sometimes, just two hits is all it takes to keep the knots from coming out.

What they call upholstery thread is usually v69, aka: T70 bonded nylon thread. It has about 11 pounds breaking strength. You can buy Cowboy bonded nylon or polyester thread in 8 ounce and 16 ounce spools from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. Bob Kovar is the owner and is an advertiser here. I use Cowboy thread from him and it works just fine. He has multiple sizes, from v69 through v346, and possibly other sizes outside that range. He also has all manner of sewing machine needles and spare parts.

When I bought my first industrial sewing machine, to sew a leather vest I was making, I didn't know my ass from a hole in the ground when it came to machine capabilities! I was sold a tailoring 96k40 machine as a leather sewing machine. The dealer either lied, or wasn't aware. I ended up with a walking foot machine to finish sewing the vest. Most folks who do sew at home use a plastic body domestic sewing machine that was made to sew cloth. Cloth glides easily under the flat presser foot. The take-up and tensioning mechanisms are strong enough to tension #50 cotton or polycore thread. When such a person tries to sew leather, it drags on the top because the feed dog teeth aren't aggressive enough to claw into the flesh side. When they hunt for an industrial sewing machine, the first results are usually tailoring machines, many of which are meant to spin at high speed to distribute the oil that's fed by a sump pump on the bottom. These machines and speeds are no good for sewing leather.

It can sew 15 ounces of shoe upper leather. These machines were built to fix (patch) shoe and boot uppers, but not the soles. The bobbins are tiny due to the small 1 inch width of the nose on the arm. They are meant to use relatively thin bonded thread, usually #69. There used to be boxes of a gross of prewound bobbins available that eliminated the need to wind metal bobbins. Anybody who does have to wind their own bobbins keeps a magnetic pickup tool handy to fin them after they fall out of your fingers and roll across the floor to places previously unknown. When they roll, they also unwind! The range of thread and needles limits patchers to #138 bonded thread. There isn't much capacity on the bobbin for this size of thread. So, while a patcher can sew 1/4 inch maximum thickness, it is normally into soft to medium density shoe or chap leather, not veg-tan. I would limit veg-tan to about 10 ounces. Note, that the maximum stitch length of a pristine, late model Singer patcher is 5 stitches per inch at 6 ounces. As the thickness increases, the stitch length decreases. One might only get 8 to the inch at 15 ounces thickness, or less if the bottom drags against the throat plate. It helps to keep the throat plate highly polished/buffed and use a foot with aggressive teeth to pull the leather along. These feet leave noticeable tooth marks in the top of the leather.

This is what I have, manual-wise. You'll have to figure out the rest of the story. Or, ask a specific question pertaining to its operation. 30.pdf adler30servicemanualpdf.pdf

I like the dipped effects on the axes.

I'm interested too.

I have several used industrial sewing machines that I picked up from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. One is a 20" flat bed walking foot machine that is based on the Singer 111w155. Bob modified the hook saddle to take Juki U size bobbins. They are 2x the capacity of a standard G size bobbin. It has an analog servo motor that lets me sew individual stitches if I need to. One time when I went there, he had a couple of needle and awl lockstitch machines, like a Landis and a Campbell Randall. I think he even had a Union Lockstitch. These machines last over a hundred years and can sew 3/4 inch of saddle skirting.