Wizcrafts

The Sailrite portable walking foot machines "can" use #138 bonded thread if you are careful with your adjustments. However, doing so will place a lot of extra stress on the take-up lever and its associated connections, for which it was not designed. IOW, you may get away with it, or you may not. The machine specs say it can use up to a #22 needle. In my experience sewing leather, that size will work fine in soft leather, but not in hard leather. You may need a #23 needle to pull the knots up without maxing out the top tensioner. The bobbin tension will definitely need to be at a minimum to get a #22 needle to pull up #138 thread, top and bobbin.

Post a closeup photo of the motor showing the readout panel and all buttons.

@palvim When the position of the knots changes as much as your are it means something is interfering with the top or bobbin thread flow. I would take a close look at the top thread to see if it is getting twisted around the spool, or a thread guide. There may be debris inside the tension disks. Or, the thread might be lifting and then dropping into the tension disks. Next, change needles and use a smaller needle for #92 thread. I find that a #19 works best with T90 thread and a #23 works best with T135 thread (both top and bottom). If the bobbin thread is smaller, I move down one needle size. Smaller needles make tighter holes that tend to stabilize the knot position. Next comes the bobbin, the bobbin case and its tension spring. Pull out some bobbin thread and feel if it varies as you pull. You can rewind the thread after pulling out enough to learn if there is a problem with it. It could be cross wound on the bobbin. Or, there could be a small piece of shredded thread under the bobbin tension spring. Try reversing the direction the bobbin feeds through the slot in the case. Next, check the hook for burrs. Then adjust the bobbin case opener lever so it pulls just enough to let the top thread clear the tab on the throat plate and doesn't hold too long as the thread comes around the case. Listen for any snapping sound as the thread goes around the bobbin case and shuttle. It could be getting hung up due to the timing being off. Last, try a different spool of thread, including winding a fresh bobbin with it.

It uses System 29x3 (cloth) and 29x4 (leather) needles; aka: System 332. You can also use common walking foot System 135x16 and 135x17 needles. The rib faces to the left (outside) and the scarf over the eye faces inwards towards the arm and body. Make sure it is fully seated all the way up in the mounting bracket. The bobbins are very tiny and are best limited to #69 bonded thread. The proper needle size for #69 thread, top and bobbin, is #18 (110).

If the dealer says you can't change the speed on the motor because of how it is set up, it could be because your machine has a needle positioning device attached. If this isn't the case, ask for the adjustments brochure anyway. If they refuse, send it back and buy a Plain Jane analog servo motor with a speed limiter knob and a 45 or 50mm pulley. These are available in the UK.

Here are some Google search results for your machine. Here is a YouTube video of one in action. The Union Special #52900 BN is a coverstitch and chainstitch machine for cloth garments. We don't have a dedicated section for cloth sewing machines yet, but who knows what might be down the pike.

Are you aware that these upholstery class walking foot machines have an upper sewing limit of 3/8 inch? You may be able to "lift" the feet higher to get the work under the feet, but they need 1/8 inch minimum to alternate up and down. There is no way that machine will "sew" 1/2 inch without major alterations. If the feet won't lift to 1/2 inch to remove material, the presser bar's lifting bits may be out of adjustment, or worn out. If the needle bar hits the alternating foot when lifted with the foot or hand lifter, either the bar is too low, or the feet are set too high. A low needle bar could be the result of a previous owner lowering it for a shorter needle system.

I also use walking foot edge guide feet that have a spring loaded guide on the right side of the back foot. They come in spacings from 1/8 through 5/16 inch from the needle.

I have both of these edge guides I bought on ebay. Large magnetic edge guide Over the side, swing away edge guide.

I run a Family Sew servo motor on several sewing machines. Some are direct drive and some go through reducers. It is definitely easier to feather in a direct connection than a reducer setup. I can also adjust the free motion a little, but not as much as with a clutch motor. I actually sanded down one of my brake pads to get more range of motion. Since the size of the machine pulley varies, you don't always get a great speed reduction ratio from the motor. The worst ratios are on my Singer 211g156 and a Techsew 2700. They have smallish pulleys on the balance wheel and really need a reducer to get controllable slow speeds. These machines were expected to run at higher speeds.

Please let us know how this works out regarding a custom binder for a 441 clone.

I use FastStone Photo Resizer. It is easy to use. By lowering the "quality" 15 or 20 percent you get a smaller image file size with very little reduction in clarity. It also has a sharpen function that makes reduced, or even slightly out of focus images sharper. If you also crop out unnecessary portions you can save more bits and bytes. Finally, resizing an image down makes it smaller. I often cut the original file size in half, or close to it, using combinations of functions.

Here is a very readable copy of the Singer 211G155/156 service manual Singer_211G155,_211G156_Service_Manual.pdf

That is the round, or barrel shaped adjuster I was referring to. I forgot that it has a scale with a pointer on the end for thin, medium or thick work. I was last sewing on my Singer 29K71 patcher that only has a round screw on the end of the slack adjuster. It resembles a long, round barrel. Hence, I think of it as a barrel adjuster. :-) In any case, the more this adjuster is brought into play, the more loose or slack top thread is fed to the needle after the take-up reaches the top and moves down. With no slack, the top thread may fight against the action of the presser foot, causing slightly shortened stitches. However, the stitches will lie very tight against the leather. A moderate amount of slack in the top thread will let the foot move a little more freely. You will get longer stitches that the minimum setting because the thread won't fight so hard against the motion of the foot. In the maximum position there is so much loose thread that it will flop around as you sew. You will get your longest stitches in thick work. But, the thread could get caught by the tip of the needle or it could wrap around a leg of the presser foot and jam things up. However, if you are careful, this setting will give a reasonable stitch appearance while allowing the foot to pull the work a little more than might otherwise be the case. As anybody who uses a patcher machine has learned, the maximum stitch length is greatly reduced as you exceed 1/4 inch, or 6mm thickness. Another thing one can do to get the longest possible stitch length in any thickness is to reduce the top and bottom thread tensions so they aren't fighting against the foot motion. This is especially helpful if the feed motion cam is badly worn.

I have a 30-7 and it gets 5 to the inch as well. If you ever find that it struggles to get a particular stitch length, increase the amount of slack thread using the barrel adjuster on top. More slack thread on top makes it easier to pull the work back with the foot. Of course, the bobbin tension should be minimized so it isn't fighting the feed.