Wizcrafts

Take the tension disks off and clean and polish them. Remove any thread fragments you find near the threaded shaft. Make sure that the thread has some back pressure before it gets to the tension disks. This helps keep the thread deep inside the disks.

Actually, from what I've seen and read on the Sailrite website, the feet for leather are checkered, not smooth. They still need to grab a hold of the top layer to pull it back. Smooth feet would tend to slip on the top unless it was very grabby. If they now offer truly smooth bottom feet, I stand corrected.

I fully agree with the bold text statement in the quote. Before CowboySew or Cobra, or the Juki TSC-441 ever existed, I owned a Union Lockstitch machine. That machine used a separate needle and awl and had a jump foot. They are typically used to sew long runs of tug straps and other horse tack, with heavy 6 cord linen thread run through a wax pot. The standard needle and awl set for this kind of work resembles a roofing nail. As such, there is no perceptible give when the needle comes up through 3/4 inch of leather and pushes it back to complete a stitch. While most of my sewing with that machine was thick thread into thick stacks of veg-tan or bridle leather, there were jobs that required more finesse, thinner thread and a correspondingly smaller needle and awl. During the years I owned that machine, I had purchased every available needle and awl made for it. Every setting would require tweaking when changing from a #4 down to a #1/2 needle (about the diameter of a #19 walking foot needle). The tapered screws that positioned the moving needle and stitch length assemblies had to be tightened almost to the point of binding to get a perfect placement of the tiny needle in the hole stabbed by the tiny #1 awl (about the diameter of a #20 needle). The slightest looseness in these parts usually resulted in the needle missing the hole, hitting the bottom of the leather, pushing it up and bending the $3.50 needle. But, once the machine was tightened to the Tees, it sewed like a champ. The only machine that could best it was a Campbell-Randall Lockstitch machine owned by a professional harness maker in the same city - whose work often went to the Rockefellers for their race horses.

Not only do you have to worry about damage during shipping from eBay sellers, but also the level of assistance the seller will give to you after the sale. Some will and some won't and others don't speak English as a first or even second language.

My past experience with an LU-563 was that the reverse stitches were nowhere near the length of the forward stitches.

As I have learned, sometimes, the only way to get hinges for ancient Singer sewing machines is from another one of the same model, or year/period in time. It may be easier to convert the hinges to modern ones, even if that involves drilling out the holes in the base of the machine and routing out the indents in the table.

The machine isn't exactly a 111 model. It is a 20" body Singer 139w109. However, the moving parts and stitch length adjuster are the same as my 111w153, except the case and top and bottom shafts which are extra long. It was custom built for me by Bob Kovar, owner of Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. You'll have to ask him what was involved in converting it to the LU Juki hook. I can tell you that the LU hook makes the timing very touchy compared to our standard 111w153. There is almost always a snap as the top thread goes around the shuttle and I have a lot more skipped stitches on this machine than most others, especially when sewing through leather tape between the layers. I only use titanium needles to minimize the glue buildup on needles. There is also more tweaking of the check spring needed than on the standard 111 machine. Would I buy another machine with an oversize hook conversion? Probably not.

Anybody responding should know that Carmen is located in Canada. There will be customs documents required and possibly duty charged if the work crosses the US/Canada border.

It is my experience that the timing of the arrival of the tip of the hook above the eye of the needle varies between forward and reverse sewing. That is why we time our machines in the zero motion position on machines having a single lever for both direction and stitch length. Most of my numerous sewing machines are forward only. I spin the work 180 degrees to lock the stitches at the beginning and end, or else I pull the top thread through the bottom and tie both starting and ending threads together (then trim the ends). This eliminates any issues like you are having.

His profile plainly states: Raleigh, NC.

I know they are as rare as hen's teeth, but see if you can locate a Singer 168G101 7" post machine. These are compound feed walking foot machines that use the same feet, bobbins and needles (and tension unit) as a Singer 111w155. The stitch length adjustment is totally different than on any other Singer machine in the shop. It is done by turning a spring loaded screw that's accessible under the top rear cover plate. I am able to get better than 4 to the inch at the longest and too short to talk about at the other end. Expect to pay about $1400 to $1500, complete with a table with a servo motor (plus shipping or gas to pick it up). If you find one, buy some spring edge guide feet. Or pay the dealer to install a drop down edge guide. There is no room on the post to add a standard guide.

If your budget is only around $500, you're going to have to buy something used and abused, privately. Search Craigslist for your state and neighboring states. Also, take a look in our Marketplace section, under Sewing Equipment, under the Refurbished or Used categories. The least expensive industrial sewing machine you can purchase as a complete unit is about $1100, plus shipping. Even a hand cranked heavy duty machine sells new for $1400 (Tippman Boss and Cowboy Outlaw). You can find some real awesome machines there. The biggest obstacle you will encounter is the thread size limitations of various types of sewing machines. As a hand sewer you may be used to waxed linen thread that is between 1/2 to 1mm thick. None of the modern lockstitch walking foot machines are able to pass that thread without gumming up the works and needle. That leaves you with dry or lubed bonded nylon or bonded polyester thread as your 2 options. Machines designed for upholstery are usually limited to a maximum thread size of #138 (aka, T135), which is rated at 22 pounds breaking strength. Some walking foot machines have been upgraded by specialty dealers, like our dealers, so they can handle #207 thread on top. But, that still leaves a weaker thread on the bottom. Not good for horse tack. See this thread and needle size chart for a reference. The machines that are designed with the required heavy duty parts for tensioning heavier thread (#207, 277, 346, etc) cost much more money and are much bigger. Be prepared to quadruple your budget for a truly qualified new harness stitcher. Even a used one will often sell for over $1300. Check our Marketplace, which I linked to in the first paragraph. I use this machine to sew harness, holsters, saddlery, knife sheathes, saddle bags, etc. Look at the pictures and read the specs.

I acquired one of those old post machines in the late 1980s. It needed parts. I solved that buy buying another one for $50 from a dealer who had it on a bottom shelf.

It will, if it has a 50mm (2") or smaller pulley. When set to their slowest startup speeds (for controlled detailed leather sewing), these motors have much less torque than the rated amount. That happens at a certain speed. The smallest possible pulley will slow down the machine speed and let the motor rev higher at any sewing speed, thereby transmitting more torque to the mechanism. Find out first if the motor you are looking at has a minimum start speed measured in hundreds of rpm, rather than a gradual ramp up from zero. Push button servo motors are notorious for starting with a bump at a few hundred rpm. Disclosure: I have been using servo motors with brushes and speed limiter pots for several years. They start at zero and need 2" pulleys to punch through most leather until I get the speed up to several stitches per second. They seem to come into their own power range around 5 stitches per second. Adding a 3:1 speed reducer really changes the dynamic. The larger the balance wheel pulley, the more torque that is delivered for any motor or pulley configuration. This also applies to clutch motors.

Tailor shop sewing machine, geared for high speed. Optimized for the thin cotton thread typically sold at fabric stores.

Did you mean to type "back" tack rather than "bar" tack?

I have dealt with the spammer.

Not all of the Chinese street patchers are equal. I know of one brand that was fully cleaned up, toleranced and sewn off before it was sold. One of our members sold them.

Is the motor shaft keyed? If so, make sure you line up the key slot in the original pulley with the key. If the new pulley lacks a key slot it won't go on unless the key is removed.

It is a Chinese or Vietnamese shoe patcher. They are used by street people who repair shoes in SouthEast Asia.

This section of the forum is for discussing leather sewing machines. If you want to sell this machine, please place an ad for it in our Marketplace section. There is a sub-forum for used sewing machines. Also, add your location to your profile so interested parties know if you are nearby, or on a different continent. Include an asking price, description and photos of the machine.

Perhaps we haven't fully defined the type of machine you are going to need. It will not be in a little self contained wooden box, nor on a fancy fold away table. It won't have a little foot pedal speed control that you put on the floor. It won't weight 35 pounds or less. It will be a full blown industrial sewing machine that either sits on a 20" x 48" industrial table, or a pedestal table, with steel legs and a big motor hanging under the table. The speed control will be via a very large foot pedal that pulls down on an arm emitting from the motor. The machine head will likely weigh well over 75 pounds. There will be a flex lamp and a thread stand with 2 or more platforms that hold thread cones. There will be a bobbin winder attachment, or one will be built into the machine head. The bobbins will probably be very large compared to domestic machine bobbins, with some holding many times as much thread. The head and table, assembled, will likely weigh over 150 pounds. Here is just one machine that potentially fits your work description. Here is a lesser machine that can still do the work you mentioned. Read the specs on these machines, then compare them to this upholstery class machine that's good up to 3/8 inch. Think these are expensive? Look at this fully qualified Adler sewing machine that Weaver Leather has for sale. I hope this helps rather than hinders you.

Besides needing to be a walking foot machine, the take-up lever itself needs to be beefier (is that even a word?) than an average upholstery class machine. This puts you into the heavy duty end of the walking foot spectrum. The reason has to do with the abrasive nature of these particular threads. With repeated use they can act like fine grit round Emory tape (more so the Kevlar thread). You will need to focus on walking foot machines capable of sewing 1/2 inch out of the box. These include the Juki LU-1508NH and the Cowboy CB3200, as well as some Adler machines that can sew 1/2 inch with Nomex thread. Of the two, the Cowboy is less expensive.

What materials will you be sewing on top and on the bottom layers? How much stress will there be on the sewn seams? What temperatures might they need to withstand? The answers to these basic questions will help point you towards the type of sewing machine you will need to handle the thread and material. Hint: The machine will obviously have to be able to sew into 1/2 inch of material. There are several that we deal with in leather work that sew well beyond 1/2 inch. But, you may need to use Kevlar or high temperature, flameproof Nomex thread for firefighter use. That's a whole nuther ball of wax.

Click on the above link and look at the photos in the original listing. This was definitely a walking foot machine. It has a presser bar, alternating foot bar and needle bar, plus a walking foot mechanism on the back. The feed dog is a wide single row, sitting under the narrow inside foot. The name sticker says Consew, but is not an official decal.