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I believe that you have salvaged an insole stitcher that forms a chain stitch on the inside. Normally, the stitches are concealed by a slide in insole pad. You will have a hard time sewing anything on it that doesn't fit over the horn. Have you ever thought about doing shoe repairs?

Does the grinding sound happen when you turn the hand wheel by hand? What if you separate the bevel gears slightly? Uwe said in a video once that if you don't match up the teeth when you move a hook saddle the gears will be loud. To me yours sounds more like a grind than I would expect from gear teeth bedding in on new neighbors.

Nicely done !!!!!

I'm glad I got there when I did. If would have been there earlier I'd have missed it or later it would have probably been a pile of broken rubble in the pit.

Made a few things for Christmas..

I can't answer your question but I'm jealous!! Fancy finding a hunk of machinery like that at the dump!

You may be able to gear down your Singer 66k. I did this by screwing a 245mm machine pulley to the existing handwheel of my Singer 31-15. Here is my post about it, with video showing slow-ish stitching. You would probably need to reposition your motor to make room for the oversize pulley.

It sounds like your machine has a clutch motor - big, heavy and fast! It takes a lot to learn to feather the clutch on these to go slow (I couldn't do it!). If so what you need is a servo motor, possibly in conjunction with a pulley speed reducer. This will enable you to sew slow without worrying about it accidentally taking off like a runaway freight train.

I went to the city dump to throw away some trash and I came home with this Beauty. It's all locked up but I think I can free it up. I am learning how to make shoes but I also make other things. So I was wondering. If I can get this machine going, what else can they be used for?

I think you might have a good shot at it with a post bed machine that has a roller foot and a roller feed dog.

Thanks for your reply, I really anppreciate it annd for the video link - they are interesting machines… I am aware of glove sewing machines but know of no one who has one or have not been able to locate one here in Australia unfortunately so I am unsure whether they would be suitable for such thin leather? I do know some also use a Bonis type sewing machine but again cannot locate one (eg Singer 172) . The fur sewing machines are plentiful here but they don’t do a lock stitch so that’s why I have been experimenting with an older flat bed. Historical pics I have found show both the post type and flatbed machines in old factories. I wish I also knew someone who made fine leather gloves….

I had a roll of 12V warm white LEDs from superbrightleds.com that were left over from under cabinet lights in the kitchen. I just cut off 6 inches & connected to a 12v power supply I had in the parts bin. Amazon has six inch sections of LED strip also. If I was purchasing new I would probably get daylight instead of the warm white.

Here is a YouTube video showing a glove sewing machine in operation:

Are you aware of glove sewing machines? These are specialty post bed machines that are mounted onto industrial sewing machine tables that can have a servo for precise control. They have a tiny top profile that gets inside the fingers of the gloves. Aside from dedicated glove machines, you could find a used post bed machine that already has a small roller foot and possibly a roller feed dog. These are used to sew hats and caps, or arm holes in shirts and vests.

I am liking the hat bands as well

Hi I sew 0.3mm kangaroo skin gloves. I use a home sewing machine which has plenty of punching power but would love a walking foot machine. The issue I have is the underside / inside of the leather hide sticking on both the presser foot and bed. I have tried Teflon and roller feet, magic tape on the bed, talc on the flat side of the leather or to try and resist drag. I have also purchased a vintage Singer 66k sewing machine and added an industrial roller wheel foot which works well for the drag issue. The issue now is the motor can’t sew very slowly - it humms and stalls at slow speed so I press the pedal harder then the machine takes off too fast - no good for sewing around tight small curves such as the top of the fingers. I have tried adjusting the belt tension, servicing motor etc. Can anyone recommend a good machine that is capable of slow speed, good feeding and doesn’t use thick heavy duty thread please? I sew with a Schmetz 90 leather needle. thanks

(This is for Al, not you friquant). In my early experiments I made a pulley out of wood - but it was a lot smaller! If you paint it black it might blend in better. Anyhow, as long as it works is the main thing. I wonder how it would go on a 441?

I've reported you to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sewing Motors.

Hey, I have the interior layout done for a sheridan style tooling pattern I'm working on, but am having trouble doing the exterior fill- mostly on the bottom left corner, where I have a lot of empty space I'm not sure how to fill up. I've lightly sketched in some thoughts for the other areas- mostly scrolls and some other vines. This is my first real large sheridan style pattern, so I'm stil trying to figure it out. Any advice?

Nice hatbands. I particularly like the one on the grey (Stetson Buffalo Fur?) hat.

If the stitch holes are part of the die then I'd say the holes don't follow well. You might alleviate some of it by tying the ends off and burying the knot between the layers instead of double stitching. Just leave long tails and do a square knot that you pull tight.

Worked on some more hatbands

@Darren Brosowski once told me you could put a domestic sewing machine motor on an industrial sewing machine, as long as it was not a walking foot. Here is my riff on that. Singer 31-15 245mm plywood machine pulley 1-amp, 7000rpm universal motor PU belt Several wood screws were used to hold the plywood to the hand wheel. My inner diameter was cut a little too big, so the position and concentricity of the plywood is determined by which wood screws are screwed in more---the ones on this side vs the other. A round-tipped grinding tool was used to put a groove in the pulley for the belt to rest in. The groove is 0.5mm at its shallowest, 1.3mm at its deepest. (Crude tools, crude tolerances 🤷‍♀️) But it's enough to keep the belt in place. You'll notice a graphite circle etched onto the left side...that was made after the first assembly by spinning the machine with the motor and holding a pencil steady against the wood. From that I was able to determine which direction to shift the plywood to get it better centered. It's easier to drive at low speeds once it's well-centered. I'm using this 7000 rpm, 1-amp universal motor: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYSNR32D The motor came with a pedal but I didn't like the pedal so I bought this one instead: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D8WPWTY The stock handwheel measures 66mm diameter, and top speed was measured at 980 stitches per minute in that configuration. After adding the 245mm plywood pulley, the top speed now clocks at 620 stitches per minute. I expected more speed reduction. My running hypothesis is that with the stock gearing it was too much load for the 1-amp motor to spin at its full speed. And here's a video.

Just found 4x6 inch plate 1" thick on ebay that was sandblasted already and pulled trigger on it. I will try the metal polish to keep it from getting surface rust and wipe it down before use.

I use a piece of rail as an anvil i sanded it down and painted everything but the top i sanded and polished the top with metal polish and wipe it down every time I use it and it hasn't rusted in the 4 years ive had it.