Wizcrafts

Okay. My Singer 168 bed size is 7" x 20 3/8". My shorty table is 33 1/2" x 20". It has a floor pedal to lift the feet, connecting to the lift lever via a chain.

It was assembled by Bob Kovar, at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. He put a metal oil pan under the machine. My table is a shorty, only about 36 inches long.

I had a Juki LU-563 many years ago. The bobbin tension spring has two tiny screws on it. The rightmost screw fastens the spring to the bobbin basket. The screw near the middle of the spring adjusts the tension it exerts on the bobbin thread. Back off that spring a turn with a tiny flat blade screwdriver. Load the bobbin so it feeds counterclockwise. Pull the thread from the bobbin into the angled slot and then pull it around to towards the needle while pressing down on top of the bobbin. This should cause the thread to pop under the end of the tension spring. Adjust the tension as needed with that little center screw. I suggest removing the bobbin and cleaning out any thread fragments and dust. Also, make sure there is a star shaped anti-backlash spring inside the bobbin basket. It keeps the bobbin from free-spinning when you sew fast (time is money). If the backlash spring is missing, buy a new one. They're cheap.

Keep in mind that 29 series machines are meant for shoe and boot repairs, not production. That's why some shipped with a T-bar darning attachment on top.

That is cost ineffective. See if you can exchange that patcher (and pay the difference) for a newer one that has a bigger bobbin. We've discussed the 29k58 before.

Do you already have a shoe patcher? Do you realize how tiny their small bobbins are? If not, if you want to sew sidewalls on, get a large bobbin patcher. They are capable of running #138 thread and won't run out sewing one pair of sneakers like the small bobbin model would. Singer patchers are actually series 29 machines. They originally were made with only a very small bobbin and a fixed gearbox. These itsy bitsy bobbins are best threaded with no more than T70 bonded, or 3 ply cotton thread. Later on in the 20th Century, Singer extended the arm out to 17.5 inches and made a detachable gearbox that came in small and large shuttle models. The larger bobbin holds enough #138 bonded thread to sew around 5 or 6 belts, guitar straps or rifle slings (I know from doing this for years). The last and best big bobbin Singer patchers were the 29K72 (1960s) and 29K172 or 29U172 (1970s, made in JP).

If you are going to sew sidewalls, #92/15 pound test thread is marginal, but acceptable if sewn in a double row, with 1/8 inch spacing at no closer than 5 stitches per inch.. You really should use 22 pound test #138 bonded nylon/polyester thread for higher stress areas in the toe box.

The Cobra servo motor is brushless and has up/down pushbuttons to set the startup speed, top speed and direction or rotation. Being brushless means there are no graphite brushes to wear out. Pushbutton motors can be super confusing to configure, especially n the fly (almost can't be done). The ones I used started at about 100 rpm. The new motors may start slower. The Family Sew motor sold by Toledo Industrial sewing Machines has graphite brushes and a single knob on the front to set the top speed. Direction can be changed on the back. They retrofit them with 50mm (2") pulleys for slower low speeds at more torque than the standard 70mm pulley. Most of these motors start at zero rpm and smoothly increase.

That is beautiful work and excellent stitching! I love that bike seat!

I guess you'll need to ask the dealer how high the table can be raised and still have the floor pedals function. Do you need higher than standard office or computer desks? The pedestal table isn't really the best for sitting at on a regular chair. I use a bar stool with my CB4500. To the best of my knowledge, the only authorized US Cowboy sewing machine dealers are in Ohio and Texas. If there are others in the west coast I don't know about them right now. Cobra is based in California and Springfield Leather is an affiliate dealer in Missouri.

I'll ask a couple of dealer friends to see if they know if your Singer 236 post bed has the same bed size as my Singer 168 post bed. Then I can measure mine.

The way this knee lifter works is the bent rod pushes on the pivoting crank. If the rod is set too high it can actually push against the body, lifting the head. If it is set too low, it can slide past the "beak" and flop around uselessly. The trick is to position the rod high enough so that it gives the full required amount of lift to the feet, yet does not also push the body itself up. You should have a discoverable range of height that accomplishes these two things.

@Constabulary

No, they are not standard. You'll need to measure the length and width of the bed of the machine and order a table with that size cutout and rubber shock mounts installed. You may have to drill a hole for the foot lifter chain, unless the machine has an internal push rod foot lift system. You'll also need to determine the length of the type 3L v-belt. Personally, I would hire an industrial sewing machine dealer to build your table, complete a small pulley servo motor, foot or knee lever to lift the foot, oil pan, thread stand, bobbin winder and flexible work light, all wired and ready to rumble. If you want to tilt the head to adjust or oil the bottom parts, you'll need 2 machine pivot blocks and mounting clamps installed that will mate to the holes in the back of the bed of the head, plus a tilt back stop peg that fits into a hole drilled into the table top. The exact position of the holes for the pivots is critical and machine specific.

If your sheathes and holsters are to be sewn flat, just get the standard throat plate that ships with the machine. The holster plate is cutoff on the left edge of the needle slot, allowing you to sew next to shapes that extend below the base height. Actually, if you make pancake holsters that are only raised above the base level, they can be sewn using the standard throat plate. The standard setup included an inside foot that moves with the needle and a double toe outside foot that moves up and down. You should definitely order the separate left toe and right toe feet! There will be jobs that call for just one toe or the other to sew the work properly. The double toe foot is fairly wide and will prevent you from sewing directly next to a raised area. A good accessory is either a swing away or a dropdown edge guide. The latter should be factory installed for your sanity. The swing away edge guide blocks the leather all the way down to the throat plate, while the drop down can be lifted over a lining/bottom layer and still follow the edges of the top layer. This is great for lined straps that have the lining trimmed after sewing.

That looks good. Set the height of the bent post so it moves the lifter crank far enough to fully lift the feet and open the top tension disks. Lock in the position of the bent rod, then set the motion stop block on the knee lever so you can't push too far.

You could pay a local sewing machine dealer to come out and assemble it and adjust it for you. This will save a lot of headaches if you have no previous experience with these machines. If the seller had it drop shipped to you, the machine may never have been timed, or adjusted, or oiled since it left China.

This machine is fascinating!

Here is the machine Ron was referring to that produces the close double row stitches on shoe uppers.

It is a known fact that the darker the color, the more twisty bonded thread usually is. Black bonded nylon is the worst because it is often double dyed (first dark blue, then black), then bonded. The thicker the thread, the more like a coil spring it can be. The same size thread in white and straw color may be soft and feed perfectly straight off the spool.

That NS8100, with automatic motor and positioning controls is upwards of $12,000, or more. There are no prices on the website because all their machines are built to order.

The original topic being referenced pertained to sewing shoe outsoles with two rows of stitching. While the Puritan machines can be built to sew close to the shoe upper, it is still a chainstitch machine, which is not suitable for sewing shoe soles. If the chain is on the bottom it is bound to get broken after walking on sidewalks and paved lots. Chainstitches that are broken can unravel. Even if the broken stitch is waxed to stay in place, the appearance is not commercially acceptable to the general public. That's why you see lockstitches on shoe soles. There is a use for chainstitch machines on shoe insoles and uppers. Redwing uses them to sew those components. The insole chainstitches are covered with the insole lining or pad to keep them from rubbing against the bottom of your foot. The side and upper stitches are done with thin thread that produces a very tight chainstitch on the inside that doesn't rub the side of your foot. BTW: $1200 is a very good price for that new style (NS) Puritan. New machines of that ilk cost thousands of dollars, with some exceeding $12,000.

What you want is the Robin SP168 Sidewall Stitcher.

I found this to be true on both of my Union Lockstitch machines. I adjusted the needle feed block as tight as possible without binding, in two axis. Even with this tight needle positioning, there were times and circumstances when the needle missed the hole and started pushing the leather up. Also, some leather and non-leather tends to close up on the bottom as the awl withdraws, making it harder for the needle to penetrate the hole. So, a full size larger awl helps the needle do its thing with difficult leather, or Biothane.

This is a wrong combination. Nylon thread is already lubricated. The tensioners on needle and awl machines need to get a good grip on the thread to pull up the knots. They were designed with linen thread in mind. The silicon makes the thread slippery, which throws off the tensioners' affect. The wax pot is for liquid wax, not silicon. Further, nylon is not recommended as a dry thread in these machines. If you must use bonded thread, use bonded polyester. It is already lubricated. Believe it or not, you can still buy linen thread for needle and awl machines. It is distributed by Campbell-Randall, in Texas, under two varieties: Hungarian Linen and Barbour's Irish Linen Thread. I strongly recommend Barbour's because it is cleaner. The Hungarian thread had all manner of loose fragments protruding from the twisted thread. While liquid beeswax would smooth them down, Campbell's Lax Wax did not. Barbour's Irish linen is the best I have ever used, albeit you will need to back way off on the tensions.