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hey guys and girls as im stuck between houses and workplaces for about 3 months already life has gotten boring. and even frustrating. got my whole upholstery shop in containers and stored away out of reach. so as i was browsing the internet i found a great deal on this pfaff 545 sewing machine. tickling my already urge to do some small work again. the price was great but the seller didnt specify what model it was. so also added a but of risk but i love the treasure hunt and not knowing 😆 i had to buy it and went to collect it. not knowing it was in the middel of a city. rushing to get it in the car before i got into trouble for having a car there. im renting a farm shed/hallway for storage. so luxury isnt there much but it has a concrete floor. lights and walls and a roof so im not complaining 😁 i made an offer on a house/workshop in germany but the realtors overthere are freaking slow and dont seem to care much about selling something. ive been waiting 2 weeks to get an answer. anyway if its not accepted im gonna set up a makeshift upholstery shop in the shed/halway on a budget. first ill clean up the machine and oil it and get it up and running this is how she was listed with a picture of the motor and a picture of a few bobbins so not much info but enough for me to see it was in the 145/545 family put the head in a padded plastic crate. and the table with motor beside it. straped it down and went on my way. i got back to my storage unit and set it up. i didnt have time and no power yet so could not test it. but rather clean it first anyway. as you can see its a pfaff 545-H3-6/01 CSMN not the best or high optioned for my kind of work but pretty decent 545 model with the bigger bobbin H3 is fabric clearence of 11mm wich should do the tric ofcourse but the H4 is more desirable 6/01 should mean standard version like body and flatbed C medium/heavy materials S is for Fabric but i dont know the differences between a fabric and leather designation. would love to know ? if anybody knows. is it just the setup maybe ? M safety overload clutch N Maximum stitch length of 6mm so its a great machine and should do everything i ask of it in my upholstery work. i do mainly faux leather and vinyls. in a rare case upholstery leather not the heavy stuff. im still a bit lost on the needles and sizes. ive been ordering parts and bobbins and also a set of needles but they seem to look so tiny. i bought groz-beckert 134s nm100/16 and i dont think my standard thread with fit the eye. i sew with metric tread 40 and topstitch with metric size 20. wich should be sewing with 69 and topstitch 138 size tread so in wich measurment should i be looking for the bigger needle sizes ? as you can see the serial number was put on rather crazily 😂 but have not found a reliable dating system to date it. im happy with my new machine. gonna have fun cleaning it up and getting it working again. thank you for reading. hopefully everybody has great holidays and ready for a brand new year.

You don't say if you have a needle positioner installed but re the amount of revolutions, I think this is where my problem lies. The braking system on mine stops immediately I stop sewing. I know the braking system can be adjusted but haven't looked at it yet. Maybe it needs that little bit of freedom to get to the set position. My Chinese seller is asking me for a video so they can see the problem. I should add that my machine came fully built but without the N/P installed.

Only the 16-188 has the foot that pulls,the 16-141 has a spring loaded foot.Also convert the machine to use the 135x16 for leather,it measure approx 1 & 3/4" long & probably has already been converted.

wow news instead of manipulation, I didn't know the bbc still did that lol. Cool stories indeed.

Well the seller did respond. This is what he said: Needle positioner setting is adjustable without connecting the needle positioner, but an E8 or E9 error code will be displayed once adjusted. The code will disappear once the needle positioner is connected. They sent me a video but it's in Chinese, so I've messaged them back to ask for English instructions LOL. Here's the video in case anyone can make use of it. NEEDLE POSITIONER PROGRAMMING.mp4

I've been seeing a LOT of these "minimalist" wallets. Screenshot added for reference. Not my style, I'd probably never build one, but how in the hell do they make them so thin? I'm obviously doing something wrong because my wallets are fat. Well, comfortably plump. This is 4 layers in the pic, and it looks like barely 1/8" thick. I understand it's pretty thin leather, but is there a certain way to cut the pockets? On the edge of the stack, it only appears to be 1 or 2 layers thick. I'm listening.... Learn me something. Lol

Thank you

@dragharley1 There are 11 topics discussing the Singer 16-141 and 16-41. Read them here: https://leatherworker.net/forum/search/?q=singer 16-141&quick=1 The 16 series were light to medium duty upholstery machines. The models with walking feet were top and bottom dual feed where the outside presser foot pulls the work in sync with the feed dog The feet have teeth to get a solid grip on the material. The feet will leave permanent marks in veg-tan leather. I suspect that your 16-141 will max out at between 1/4 and 5/16 inch thickness. The maximum thread size is probably #92 on top and in the bobbin. The needles were originally system 16x63 and 16x64 which may be hard to find. The modern equivalents are: DBx1, 287, and 1738. These are common needles in tailoring machines, like the Singer 31-15.

Ok, I thought you were using ”cordovan" as a color, just wanted to be sure. Those are some pretty hides. EDIT: I'm just going to take that first hide. The one with the winkles. I'll send you a PM.

Veg tan. Those two leathers are cordovan colored cow cow hide. I have some cordovan horse hide. Will need to think about selling it at this time.

Is it all veg tan? When you say Cordovan do you mean horse hide?

I have many more to show.

Full Grain Sole Bend Measures 48" x 25" x approximately 1/4 in thickness. Intended for soles of shoes and heavy work aprons. $90 plus shipping

Mission Grain Pigskin. Contains 10.1 sq.ft. and is .6mm in thickness. Great for wallet interiors and small items. $30.00 plus shipping

Another cordovan piece. This one is great condition and has more of a red/brown color. Measures 33" x 36" x 3.7mm thick $50.00 plus shipping

Deep cordovan color leather. I have made belts and dog harness from this leather. This skin has wrinkles on about half of it. Working dogs don't need A+ leather for their harness. I used the wrinkled portions for that purpose. Best portion measures 30" x33" while wrinkled portion measures 30" x 25" (4-5oz thickness) 2.25mm thick. $75.00 plus shipping

Kangaroo leather will last forever I think. I have made many small items from it as well as wallet insides.

Ah geez. I made a pair of boots from that pattern pack once, when I was in high school back in the '70s. Amazing that the pattern is still kicking around. I'll have to go dig through my old stuff and see if I still have the patterns and maybe make another set. My memory was that they were pretty comfortable.

Looks great. I wish I could get my carving to look that good. I use glazed pigskin for my wallet lining and pockets. Seems to be about the thinnest material that will still hold up.

Hi I acquired a 16-141 and was curious if I can convert it to hand crank to do small leatger projects like spur straps, and halters , also what needles do I need to get? Max size thread ?I would say the stuff I want to sew is 8-10 oz

Great job! Isn't it satisfying when a plan comes together.

Nice work!

Wow, that looks really nice. Good luck to you!

I had a little time this morning and here's a post that apparently has a manual attached. https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/78444-download-singer-132k6-seiko-sk-8-manual/ Let us know how else we can help.

Thank you for the info. Now i need to get busy on those 373 posts and see what I can learn .