Trox

Hi, I have never seen a 545 for over 500$ here. If so it would be at Amatec, the dealer. They want to sell new machines so they turn up the used prices. Flatbed triple feed Pfaff, Adler and Singer are sold very cheap here because there are no demand for them. No industry left, no craftsmen left here anymore. We produce oil,fish, aluminum and some other raw material. Nobody can afford to pay for producing anything here anymore. The only machines you can get any money for are heavy stitcher's, and triple feed cylinder beds. People who want to repair their horse tack are looking for them. The binder who is on the machine now is one I bought from Kwokhing. I am not finish setting it up, I still miss the Binder plate. I have the binder feed dog who is 10 mm wide. I have ordered a plate from Kwokhing with 10 mm slot, I am cutting out the rest from it to allow the movement of the syncro bar. I do not want to cut in a original Pfaff plate, I have never seen a needle plate that hard before. I do not think I have any thing that will cut in it, without ruin the steel tempering. A plate from Kwokhing costs only 54 $, I believe it will be much easier to cut in than the Pfaff plate. I will be using the binders for both leather, polyester and vinyl. I sometimes do some furnishing and car upholstery too. I can use them on both the Pfaff and the Adler flatbed machine. A second hand binder from Amatec was 100$ and new from Kwokhing is 10 $ each. Talking about the stone age, I am currently setting up my newly acquired 1953 mod Sandt clicking machine. It is a German Electromechanical swing arm clicker, I am installing a frequency converter because I have only single phase current in my work shop. I also need to a new polyethylene board on top of the old wooden cutting block, the wood is not hard enough. Used clicking machines are hard to find over here. This was for sale to 1000 $ two years ago, now I got it for free because the owner was forced to find a new job. He could not support him self on the leather work anymore, and the clicker was left behind in the workshop and needed to be moved out. I could have it for free if I removed it. It was a tough job to get it in to my little workshop, we was four guys but I nearly broke my back on it. I guess the weight is about 450 kg. It was a sad story the seller had to leave his dream, he has a small workshop in his home still. I decided to give him a discount on a heavy stitcher, he needs a machine for heavy threads and I have three for sale. You see on the picture, it no hydraulic on this machine and it is built like a German Tiger tank. Now I only have to find the right density polyethylene board for it and I am good to go. I maybe giving it a touch of hamerite paint too. You would not happen to know anything about clicking machine boards? It would be easy to just buy one in your country. However the shipping will be three times the board alone (300 $). There is a company making polyethylene here in Oslo (it is a Oil related product). They offered me a white high density 500 polyethylene plate, the size of the board and one inch thick ( about 100 $). I do not know anything about the hardness grading of polyethylene, I would not want to buy something to soft. It would make the dies stick in the board as they do in the wood after a bit. I have topic in Leather tool about it, but nobody seems to know anything or want to answer it anyway. About marketing, I have a friend who has a moving company. He used Google adwards ( pay for click on demands), you only pay for the customers who click on you ad. Not like putting your ad on TV or a news paper, then you must pay for all people. He told me this was the best he could get for the money. The more people who are clicking on your add, the more money you make too. They are seeking your service, and are potential your future clients. He made it up successful in a very competitive business. Tor

Its a copy of the Keystone and Osborne # 84. Both Tandy and Heritage makes copies of that. I heard it was some problem with the handle, it would not lock (I am not sure which one of them it was). Why not take a look at the original Campbell Randall splitter http://www.campbell-randall.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=1_143&product_id=13842 It cost 545 $, thats not much more and its a real deal. http://campbell-bosworth.com/articles/Splitting-Machines.pdf I have several splitters but not a 84, if I am buying a new pull true splitter this is the one I would buy. Tor

Thats a wise choice, good luck. Tor

Well, I do have many sewing machines, but i also hand sew. The customer has a choice, he get what he pays for. I use a French sewing clamp two needles and a very sharp diamond awl. I sew one stitch at the time (the American way), pre punch and the holes closes before you can sew in them. If you make you holes big enough to be able to prepunch, you make them to big and your stitches become to loose. Thats why prepuncing will not work well on heavy leather. I know people who will sew faster than that machine with a much better stitch, doing it the right way. It pays to do the job without cutting any corners, thats why I made that joke. And there are allot of non electrical tools out there from before. This will nor save you time or energy. On soft leather you can buy a 30 $ old Iron domestic Singer and attach a roller foot and you are good to go. Traveling; bring 30 $ and a roller-foot; you find those Singers everywhere.

That would be the CM Cerliani hooks. Those parts you bought was very cheap, nothing is made in Europe anymore. Apart from parts that is not in use on new machines anymore. A binder needle plate for the 345 costs 950 $, and all the syncro binding parts together costs 1887 $ (genuine Pfaff). These parts are hand made in Germany. I only paid 500 $ for the old machine, so I think that was a bit much to use on a old machine.(Upholstery type triple feed are very cheap here, because nobody need them anymore. Dealer only want to sell new machines) Luckily a friend gave all those binder parts for free, he had them laying around after a machine he had sold. That kind of answering your question, if those parts you bought was made in Germany they would have cost you much more. Most of the German machines are now made in China anyway, some DA and Pfaff classes might be made other places. It way to expensive to produce them in Europe or in the USA. And when the owners mostly are Chinese too, they will be made at the lowest cost. However, they are still made to German spec and the company name and support are behind it. I have A Chinese machine and I have not had any problem with it yet. With the kind of hours my machines get (one man shop), I could do well with only Chinese machines. And just buy a new one when the trouble started. When it comes to Kwokhing, I find their stuff surprisingly well made. Everybody uses their drop-down guides, they sell for 100 to 150$ on Ebay and by US dealers. I pay 25 $ for them and they are very good, in fact this company has the best solutions on guides available. Pfaff and Adler feet`s 10 - 15 $ and again very innovative solutions. One out of ten has a minor molding excess or other minor fault. To that price I can live with it. And the best thing, these guys give you top service when you buy small amounts too. Normally they serve big factories and dealer, but they find it interesting to have contact with the people who use their stuff too. I would have traded you my 345 for that Adler 169 any day, my Pfaff is in good working condition. I feel the same way, I know the Adler machine better. I have parts and knowledge about them. My 345 has (bla...bla....bla.......etc): a Cobra servo, speed reducer, drop-down guide (roller and straight) and binder feed. Comes with Original syncro binder gear and all kinds of different feet`s ( about 15 different). Binder plate and regular plate. Smooth, binder and regular feed dog, extra hook and bobbin cases.... you name it. Only thing I do not like is the stand, its only a cut out. Thats temporary, I will make an other stand with short table. I think I will use a one column, because I need the space. I have just adjusted it and it sews as a champ (all parameters). But the Shipping would be a killer, maybe head only. I still think it will be to much. Thanks Tor

Hi, thats the first time I have seen a picture of a 205-6. You will not be able to break that one, its built like a tank. Here you see a better pic (a bit better anyway) of the CB harness foot. Yes you got it right, thats the square bottom end of the presser bar. I do not think other than DA will sell you that spring, if any at all. I think you must buy a new roulette roller presser foot. Alternatively, just find a Little piece thin spring metal and drill a hole in one end. Then heat it and bend the other end slightly. You can use a thin metal saw blade HHS grade (grind of the teeth). You see on the pic how it works, it should be easy to make. You can also buy a foot like this (pic) at the same place and to about the same price as the other foot. I bought it from him, http://www.tolindsewmach.com/, he is a member here. Cowboy Bob, he normally reads all the sewing machine related topics. The foot you have will fit your machine better that this aftermarket one, so take my advice and fix it. If you are going to use old Adler machines you must be prepared to customize your own sewing feet`s. Not much are available for these anymore, you can do it. Good luck Tor

Hi, most of the German machines here comes with Rotan (Pfaff) and Efka (for DA) needle position motors. The latest Efka 1550 DC motor is so small you can place it inside the new DA M types machines (367, 867 machines). They place it in direct drive on the main shaft (behind the clutch) and have the control box under the table. The new system do not need the position head on the flywheel this way, all calculating on stop/start etc is done in the control box. The position head is only used to calculate belt slippage with use of a traditional V belt under table mounting. The motor is 8 Nm torque and up to 1800 W of power, all parameter are adjustable on the box or in your computer if you want too. You do not need any speed reducer, and I only use half the power of it on my 441 machine. You can of course built on everything you like. I have Efka`s from the 1980`s that still works perfect. Is a bit pricey, but no need of a speed reducer saves you some bucks. I paid 840 $ for mine in Germany, and Efka support you free on Skype video call if you need help setting it up. Some dealer had sent me the wrong control box ( not the Efka company, but a company who sold them) and he did not answer my call when I wanted a new box. I called the German Efka and they sat down with me and reprogramming the control box on Skype. The box was for a DA 205-370 and had no parameters for my 441 Juki clone. He told me; "no matter where you bought you motor, as long as it is typed EFKA on it; its my job to help you until the machine sews as you want it to do". Then I understand why I have to pay a bit more $, it has great low speed control too. You get spoiled on them and work goes much faster. You have to pay 500 $ for a Chinese pos motor too. No, get a Efka or a HO Sing you will not regret it. One of the advantages is the option you have to built further on a system later. When you have new needs you can add on a solenoid, air pneumatic or step-motor (possibility to drive several step motors on your motor control), then you can meet all future demands. You can transform an old 545 to a hyper modern machine this way. I do not work for Efka, I just love a good tool. I like Pfaff machines too, but they have a very high spare part price. More than twice the prices of DA over here. You maybe buy aftermarket parts like hooks and feet's? I buy most of my feet`s and binders from Hong Kong ; Kwokhing.com, do you know them. Very good prices, they make every attachment related to sewing and take paypal. Check them out. Ok Later Tor

Here is a pic of the Cowboy 2500 narrow harness foot that also fit the Adler. It is 10 mm wide and have a inside key width of 8,4 mm. ( to 8,5). The presser bar of my Adler 204-64 i about 7,5 mm, so the foot is a bit to big but thats no problem. When you tighten up the screw its no play in it. Cowboy bob ( Bob Kowar on Toledo Industrial sewing machine) sold me this one for about 50 to 60 $. Cowboy Bob is his member name here. I attach a bad picture of it on the Cowboy machine.

Yes that is the one, take of the roller foot and measure the square part of the bar its mounted on. I do not think Adler made a unique presser bar for the - 6 subclass. I am pretty sure they have used the same as on the subclass -64, and on other machines with similar feed system. I have three different big Adler and they all use the same feet. The only ones that are different is the jump foot, sub cl.- 8. And the triple feed sub cl.`s - 74, - 374 and - 370. All the other class`s: 4, 5, 104, 105, 204 and 205 feet`s will fit on your presser bar. I am 99 % sure of this. Then if they will be any useful to you is an other matter. They can be of different length, but that does not matter either. Some are segregated, feeding feet`s. You cannot use them without grinding them smooth first (because of the passive presser bar). Do you only have the roller foot for your machine? One foot DA still stock is the regular -64 foot, however it is very expensive and to wide. What are you going to sew, use the foot (feet`s) for.

I could give you 55 $ for them. You must remember they are made for you, I buy it because I may need it sometimes later. Thanks Tor

I am sorry, its maybe a bad joke. I only pointed to the fact that the sewing machine already is invented. I could probably also sell you one if we was not so far apart, I am based in Norway.

Hello, I am in need of a poly clicker board for my old Sandt clicking machine. The machine have a thick steel framed wooden board cutting surface. Several used ones came with the machine, and they are no good. It would be easy to purchase new poly board in the USA. However, the shipping will be three times the price of the board. Plastic is one thing we still have production in Norway (its made by oil), so I can get one here if I knew what to look for. I checked around and a company offered me Hight density 500 polyethylene. Would this work well for leather (all kinds) or what grade do I need? I can raise the cutting board high enough to replace the wooden block with a poly board. However, then the board will be on its top threads and it looks a bit scary. Thats why I plan to level the wood and put the poly on the top of it. What thickness do I need on this polyboard when I use wood underneath. Would one inch do the trick? The cutting surface is fourteen by eighteen inches. Any opinion and experiences would be appreciated. Thank you Tor

High density polyethylene makes a good cutting surface. I was about to post a related question when I saw this. However, my question was about a cutting surface for a clicker machine. I have tried several types of cutting surface for my round knifes. I think it must be as hard as possible without dulling the knife. If the tip of the round knife sinks to deep in it can break of when you turn a corner. I find many of the normal white cutting boards to soft, I have a green cutting surface that is much better. The name on of it is "CKS cutting mat", it has printed squares on it and look like something you would have on a office desk. I only wish it was a bit bigger, the big ones are quite expensive. They sell them in leather tools and hobby stores. I also covered my big working/ cutting table with some nylon bathroom floor coverings. However, its too soft for the round knife, but works fine with a roller knife. Tor

Hi, your machine is a bottom feed only and use the same feet size as the Adler`s cl. 204/205-64, 104, 105, cl. 5 and Singer 45 K (and many more). I know that Cowboy bob (dealer on this forum) has both a roller foot and a harness foot that will fit your machine. I am 99% sure about that, but take the key with measurement (on the presser bar) to be sure. Those above feet's measure 8,4 to 8,8 mm key width. The height does not matter, just adjust the presser bar spring. Now when you know what to look for, you can also modify the ones you find self later. If you want some made for you, speak to Thomas Brinkhoff, head of spare parts Dürkopp Adler. http://sew24.blogspo.../downloads.html Good luck Tor

http://leatherworker...hp?showforum=50

Ask Bruce Johnson, he is a moderator here and sell used leather tools too. He espesially like Chase style splitters and know all about them. http://brucejohnsonleather.com/content/index.php/leather_tools_for_sale/leather-bench-machines-leather-splitters-and-skivers/ http://campbell-bosworth.com/articles/Splitting-Machines.pdf Tor

Thats far away from Oslo where I live. No point in suggesting any machine trades then. Like I said before, the 169-373 would be a nice machine for me. It uses the same feet's as my 267 flatbed. Do your 169 have a binding feed dog (back and forth only), my 345 has binding feed and I use it for that. I am a one man show, nevertheless I have ten sewing machines. Mostly cylinderbeds heavy Adler's, but also a Chinese 441 clone. I only use four of them, the rest are backups and for sale. I like Adler, but are very impressed with the material quality in my old green/grey Pfaff 345. U talked about the 1245, I think that is a very fine machine. I found one for sale here one week ago, very cheap (325$). It looked very clean, complete on stand with a clutch. I was thinking about buying it just because of the low price. However, I have a brand new DA 267-373 with Efka DC and all extras, so I do not need anything in that class. Anyway, the 1245 is a very popular machine here and few want to part with them unless they have too. I need to sell a couple of machine before buying anything and now it was sold anyway. I have a 204-64, same as your 205-64 but flat bed. And I agree with you, its only good for flat stuff. Before the 204 and 205 came with triple feed (sub cl. -74, -374 and todays -370), the -64 was the latest in the heavy leather industry. It should handle all kinds of feeding problems. However, I have older class 5 and cl. 105 (the forerunners) that have much better feed systems for leather than this machine has. (The other feeds are: bottom feed with jump foot, then top and bottom feed). They both work much better on heavy leather that the - 64 does. However, they all have bottom feed, I now use my 441 with smooth feet's and feed dog for this kind of work. I have set it up with an new Efka and currently building on a air foot lift on it (very bad foot lift system on this machine, both for hand and on pedal. The hand lift is placed in under the arm and makes problems for a dropdown guide etc.). This machine is currently the best performer in this class. Nevertheless, the 205 has some unique features the 441 misses, I miss them too. I also miss the sound of a German machine, the Chinese will never be able to reproduce that, thats the sound of quality.

Hi Peter, U have allot of nice machines. The 169-373 is the same machine as my Pfaff 345. However, I would prefer the Adler before the Pfaff. If I find a 269 or newer I change out my 345. Because it has no clutch or drive belt, U have to adjust it pretty often because of that. Do U use all your machines or are U like me; have allot of backups. I do have a old Singer 236 W-100 post bed that I never have used. I maybe will use it for making some watch straps and hats, it has a roller foot. Where are you located, I have a Pfaff postbed for sale. It belongs to a friend and has top/bottom roller feed and needle feed. Efka variostop motor, looks good. It has only a normal post, not a high post. Tor

Hi, I am afraid thats all who can be find out there. I too have a manual who covers several subclasses of the 204 (flatbed) and the 205. Only the modern 204/205 -370 subclasses has their own service manual. And thats the latest triple feed subclass. The manual has allot of errors. In your case you must only follow the bottom drive bar and shafts to find loose parts. However, it might be as simple as a loose feed dog screw. You might find some stuff here http://sew24.blogspot.no/p/downloads.html You can also ask Thomas Brinkhoff, head of DA spare parts, he run this blog and are very helpful. Tor

Thats real nice Peter, I liked your version the best. It warms my hart to see this kind of craftsman's ship. Tor

Thats a possible solution Les, thats why I told him to look there first. Do not worry it is not rocket science, take of the shuttle race , two screws and inspect the bottom feed.

Hi, Yes thats right, Locktite on the threads of the screw. The screws tends to open because of the big foot pressure. However, if the foot presses it down other parts can be broken or loose too. You have to check all shafts, joints and bars. Check for play in all parts connected to the feed dog, loose collars and screws. Take of the shuttle race and check. Check in all inspections holes too. I do not use any locktite on any of my Adler's and I never had this problem. I think something is loose inside your machine, and it is very hard for me to give you remote help on a issue like than. Take of the face plate too and check for play in the needle feed. The bottom and the needle feed is connected to each other, if the play is in the needle feed the result will be the same. Therefor check all of the machine for play and loose parts. (Check the eccentric in the stitch regulator system too) Good luck and keep me posted. Tor

Shims its a easy solution to above problem. It also is important to use all of the splitter blade, and not get a habit of using the same place every time. Tor

I am an European and use many European leather tools. However, when it comes to edge beveller the only good ones are made in the USA. I have different CS and HF Osborne edgers , my favorites are the fine edge bevellers. Tor

I have two # 86 (8 and 10 " versions) and 6 " Heritage splitter. I do have exactly the same problems too. I am looking toward a Campbell Randall (osb. 84) or a crank driven splitter. I believe the # 84 is a much better splitter than any of these. However, I never own any myself.