I was reading an amazing thread from this site about the humble check spring. It seems there can be 2 or sometimes THREE different adjustments on the check spring mechanism: TENSION - pretty sell explanatory. The STROKE or where the spring STOP is positioned. This determines when thread tension is released on the needle down stroke. The THROW, which adjusts how much length of slack thread is given out before the tension comes back on. It seems the purpose of the THROW is to allow enough slack thread while it is wrapping around/under the case, before it is pulled taught again to pull the thread off the case. Viewing various threads and Google search results I've seen people suggesting adjusting the THROW so the thread becomes taught just as the needle eye enters the material. That appears incorrect to me, and I think they are talking about adjusting the STROKE or the spring stop position. Could anyone confirm that I have the 3 listed adjustments above correct, or if I'm completely wrong. Please be blunt with me LOL.

LOL, Chuck! Rocky mountain oysters are something I'd like to try if I ever get the chance. Many farmers I know here in Ontario castrate their own piglets, but with more sanitary methods than the shepherds! They also dock the tails and remove the canine teeth (tusks) from the male piglets. Bull calves are castrated at just a few days old, using elastic bands. You don't survive as a farmer if you're calling the vet out for every little thing.

My #1 son and I do the occasional toy car faires. We are usually first to set up and last to leave. Other traders take their time getting in and are usually packed up about 45 minutes before the show ends. We do a ton of trade before the rest arrive & after the other traders are packed up It has been known for us to be still selling an hour after the show closed with the toy collectors coming out to our cars to see what we have We can't understand why the other traders pay a heap of money for a stand and don't stay to the death Our stuff is easily arranged in several plastic boxes; one box is all £1, another is £2 et cetera. Everything is secretly marked to show which box it came from. No sly ones get past us

It looks like you've been busy with this 'new' hobby. Those projects turned out great. I really like the sling backpack on the right.

@hansgruber you can get paint pens with an 0.8 mm point. The paint in them can either be acrylic or oil. They are meant for detailing automobiles. I use them on my game boards. I'd use deer skin rather than sheep

I would if I can find a pallet.

Go ahead. Buy a couple spools of TEX 270. Try it out on your machines. Experimentation is a great teacher.

You can do that too. In a different setup I have a 3-phase clutch motor being driven by VFD. Instead of running the motor at full speed (60Hz) I usually run it between 17-25 Hz. This means it's quieter and the pace is easier to manage.

See my post here: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/131403-my-first-vfd-w-3-phase-ac-gearmotor/ and blog entry here: https://leatherworker.net/forum/blogs/entry/518-option-d-3-phase-ac-gearmotor-with-vfd-variable-frequency-drive/ In the blog you'll see reference from other folks too. (I'm actually using an asynchronous (induction) motor, if I've got my terminology right) It's not actually a resistor...but yes the braking is quite effective. The braking settings on mine are confusing but I did get it to brake less than it used to 😃 Yes mine has maybe five options for ramp up speed. Would be better if the ramp-up was exponential instead of linear, but I'm being picky. Sewing at very slow speeds does not add any more energy to the coils than sewing at high speed. Yes the fan will spin slower, but there is also less heat going into the bearings because they are moving slowly. To even get the motor warm you will have to run it both at a considerable duty cycle and at considerable load. (At low load the motor doesn't slip much, meaning not much inductance, meaning not much heat generation.) When I'm sewing it's typically one minute or less of slow stitching followed by lots of minutes of figuring. My motor never feels warm...always feels room temperature. Adoption The biggest hurdle at the moment for the adoption of VFD is finding an inexpensive source for an AC induction gearmotor.

What I done with my cylinder arm machines Class 1341 and Class 441 is I 3D printed table top attachments for three reasons: i) I am a cheap old geezer and there is a considerable cost difference between your standard inline binding attachments vs the 90 degree ones. ii) As I have quite a collection from 1/4" up to 3 1/2" I wanted to be able to use the standard inline binding attachments that I have on all my machines whether they are a flatbed or cylinder arm machine. That said I will coincide you can get tighter bends with a 90 degree binding attachment then with a standard inline. iii) None of the table top attachments for cylinder arm machines that I have seen have the ability to accept standard inline attachments. Here is a sample of what I mean. First photo is a Class 1341 and the second is a Class 441 with a standard inline binding attachment using a swing-away binding attachment. kgg

I like that wide basket carving/tooling. I've done it as sort of a tufted pillow motif.

Heel tap functionality is typically done by rotating the lever on the hall sensor the other way. That is, the hall sensor lever is sprung in two directions...one for forward, the other for heel tap.

its horrible. cause i need tables for my 132k6 en 2 k7,s so ik keep checking the market dailly. seeing new models doing research on them and finding out all kinds of cool little facts and history its turning into a passion or fetish 🤣 and especially good deals i cant resist. i was gonna sell the machine and keep the table but even thats hard for me to let go even though i dont need it 😆

My step-daughter asked for a case to hold her Tarot cards and a crystal. Here's what I came up with.

Careful, buying old sewing machines can become addictive!! Been there, done that, fortunately I managed to wean myself off it - but I still keep looking.

Is this still available and would you consider putting it on a pallet? I’m in Cheshire and Chatham is a long drive

its horrible 😆 bought this sewing machine as i needed a table for my 132k6 but it doesnt fit XD so i was thinking maybe fixing it up for my pfaff 545 but it has a decent table under it just needs a paintjob and tabletop its a cool machine and should be in working order the seller told me. it moves smoothly but have not tested it yet as i dont have power in my storage area. ive noticed its missing a spring in the stitchlength and reverse lever but that should be a easy fix im geussing. its the basic pfaff 34 industrial sewing machine. probably around a 100 years old. i havent checked the serial number the 4AL decodes to Subclass 4 a machine equipped with a wheel feed and often a swing-away roller foot. setup designed for sewing materials that require visibility and easy maneuvering, such as leather footwear or gloves. A = Light materials L = This means a Leather configuration or specialized leather parts, reinforcing its use in artisan leather trades so a cool little machine. it came with 20 bobbins. and a whole bunch of extra parts i bought it for the table but i dont have a machine for it yet to put into it. so maybe ill sell it as is and let someone else give it the love and care it deserves. for now ill set it aside and maybe clean it and oil it and see if she runs and stitches and then see what ill do with it. i dont use it in my line of work so fixing it up for myself would be useless sadly cause its a cool one

LOL, now you have a new years goal, good luck!!🙂

Definitely. Attaching here. The .stl file is probably what you need/want. The .f3d file is my original in Autodesk Fusion 360. The README is notes on printing it. By the way, the material I used is PETG. (It's tougher than PLA, and the creep issues are less than with PLA) pulley.f3d pulley.stl README.txt

That's great! Happy to hear What is your bobbin diameter? Did that hook come with your machine, or did you order it separately? My bobbins are diameter 25.7mm. There is enough take-up lever throw to accommodate a larger hook than mine has. Getting reverse stitch to match the same holes has some challenges on lots of machine. For one, there is no knob to turn...you loosen a screw then make your adjustment then tighten down. So it's hard to get a reliable small change in the direction you want. Beyond that, the feed dogs have a slant to them to optimize forward feeding. We can accommodate this for a particular material, material thickness, thread tension, stitch length, and presser foot tension. But then we change one of those variables and still hope that it matches up the holes in forward/reverse. I bought two binding attachments with the machine. I don't see how to attach them either. One of us could send a message to the Jianglong factory to ask. They usually reply with photos or videos.

Position filled!

A few more pictures. This first one shows the rigging, which I think is what made this saddle "unique" compared to the more common double D rigging saddles in the 1930's. The ring placement, leather back ring, and the full wrap around anchoring on front and back all look to make this a good saddle. Now some of the rougher bits. The tree feels really solid and most of the rawhide is intact, but there are places it has torn and pulled apart and the wood under it has damage from too many nails. The leather bits on the swells are some past repair reinforcing patches and some of my Dad's prior efforts to repair the saddle as it is, and I think I want to start by removing those to really see how the tree is. I think I would rather repair the rawhide than patch reinforce it. The other thing is all those tacks are not helping the wood underneath and with my luck I'll be hitting them right and left tacking in the following layers of material, so I'd rather get them out and glue up the holes. Similarly, the ground seat is a bit more compacted and rotten than I initially thought, so I'm going to take a lot of pictures, measurements, and make a plug for the front hole to model, than remove it as well. The horn seems to be good and I'm thinking I might keep it intact in an effort to preserve at least some of the original leather? Not sure yet. Now to fix the tree ends, Initially I was thinking about filling and leveling the voids with some kind of putty epoxy, but while I think it's a good solution for the wood underneath, I'm having 2nd thoughts about doing it on the surface too thinking it won't stretch and flex the same as the original rawhide and lead to problems later. I'm thinking once the leather is out of the way, I'm going to see if I can re-hydrate the rawhide to pull it out of the way, but hopefully not induce too much moisture into the wood under it. Once the rawhide is pulled back I'll let everything dry, putty and epoxy the wood, sand it smooth, then see if I can hydrate and stitch the rawhide back together perhaps using some swatches of new rawhide. Worst case, I might need to replace the rawhide all together, which itself doesn't seem to be too much of a challenge, but getting it to integrate with the good parts of the old rawhide might be a challenge. If I must, all of the leather including the horn will need to come off and all of the rawhide will get replaced. I want to take it in steps to preserve what I can, but also intend to make this saddle every bit as durable and reliable as it once was, and that starts with having a solid foundation. I can always come back and fix and improve parts later, but fixing the tree is a big first step before everything else. If all of the leather and rawhide has to go.... then that's just the way it's got to be.

I would shy away from lining a purse with animal skin unless it's a specialty purse or a purse that's just a fashion piece. Purses get really dirty on the inside because of makeup and just things that fall into it. Imagine not emptying your pockets for months/years at a time lol. Most purses I make are lined with a cotton material that's easier to clean. With that said I make fashion purses from time that I line with pig suede and it holds up well but it's pretty thin. You can use vegtan pig, lamb, goat as a lining but it'll be pretty thin, it's more expensive, it'll get dirty or stain easily, and it won't get clean.

Great job! Color matching can be pretty difficult especially when you don't do it often. I went to art school in the early 90's and I still mess it up lol.