Wizcrafts

Once the lifting chain has been connected with the absolute minimum amount of slack that allows the outer foot to stop firmly on the standard throat plate (whew!), pushing all the way down with the ball of your foot should lift both feet so that about 1 inch clearance exists under them. Do this with the needle at its highest point! The machine's specs calls for 1 1/8 inches of clearance at full lift. If you can get one full inch, grab a beer and call it a day. The tighter the pressure spring, the harder it gets to raise the feet that high.

On 441 type machines the hand lift lever does not lift anywhere near as high as the foot lift pedal does. Mind you I have never tried to change that on my Cowboy or my buddy's Cobra. My shop is closed until Monday, so I will try to remember to ask a dealer if this is doable.

Matt; If you really want to dive into thread measuring systems, there's a good read on Superior Thread's website, under the education section topic: Understanding Thread Weight.

There is no Ticket 0 I know about. Maybe this is Juki/Japanese numbering. But, by looking at the maximum listed needle size we can extrapolate the matching thread. A #280 needle would be used to sew with #415 thread, top and bottom, or 6 or 7 cord linen thread (normally, a #27/250 needle is used for these thread sizes).

Ideally, the owner of the storage unit, or store that is selling the machines should place an ad for the equipment, along with photos, prices and location. In your case, you are one of their customers who wants to share the bargains with LWN members. The photos and estimated or asking prices and exact location should go into a new topic you start under the Marketplace forum I linked to previously. Just click on the bold underlined words to go to that section of LWN. Start a new topic. Show the phone number of the owner of the equipment unless you are hired to act as his/her agent. You will need to use a photo editor to reduce the dimensions, thus file sizes of your photos. I recommend trying to change your camera's resolution to the lowest file size possible. When I shot with a Canon digital camera the best size for web pages was 800 x 600 pixels. My smart phone doesn't go that small, so I use FastStone Photo Resizer to make my photos more web page friendly. It doesn't take too much work to get a 3 Mb camera .jpg down to 300 Kb or less.

I think that those # designations may correspond to "Tkt" numbers, as shown on this thread and needles chart.

Is the thread passing around and into the check spring and is the spring's range of motion holding it taut until the needle pierces the material?

Have you read the entire description of what is for sale? The table is NOT included and the machine breaks thread.That means you will need to buy a table with the proper size cutout, hinges and rubber mounts, a K or H legs frame with a floor pedal and linkage, a thread stand, flex lamp, bobbin winder, machine tilt back peg, v-belt and drawer. All this may cost as much as the head itself. And, you may have trouble controlling a clu6tch motor at slow leather sewing speeds. This will not be a good first industrial sewing machine purchase. You will probably need to at least double your budget unless a super deal falls out of the sky.

I think it is a great machine sewing awnings, tarps, sails and Bimini and seat covers. All of the above are either water repellent cloth or vinyl. The machine is not tough enough to sew anything stronger than seat or chap leather. The standard feet have teeth on the bottom to claw the work through. These teeth leave permanent marks in any type of leather that has a memory (veg-tan, bridle, retan, etc). They do sell smooth bottom feet as an aftermarket option. The design is such that 1/4 inch is the most thickness you can sew and advance under the alternating feet. Further, you would need to upgrade to the Monster II flywheel in order to penetrate leather and maintain a steady slow speed. By the time you have upgraded the machine, you'll have $1000 invested in it. For the same money, plus gas or shipping, you can order a brand spanking new Consew P1206RB compound feed, walking foot, large bobbin, leather sewing mo-sheen.

The Singer 31-15 is a garment sewing machine. It uses the typical system DBx1 garment needles. The fairly thin needle bar is held in time to the hook by a single set screw. It takes very little force to cause the bar to move up, throwing the timing out. This causes skipped stitches. A bent or burred needle also causes skipped stitches. In case you missed my comment about this being a tailoring machine, it is designed to sew cloth garments. It can sew soft chrome tanned leather using a roller foot. It is not built to withstand the pounding caused by veg-tan leather. Further, these machines are not equipped with strong enough springs and take-up cranks for #138 thread sewn into hard temper leather.

4 x 5 oz = 20 ounces = 3/8 inch. This is the very top limit your machine "may" be able to sew. Even if your machine can sew 20 ounces of veg-tan leather, #138 thread is inadequate for any serious hand gun holster. It is too easy to break the knots during a struggle or panic draw. I would not sew a gun holster with less than #277 thread, top and bottom unless it was just for show, not go. Then #207, top and bottom would be minimally effective. If you choose to ignore this advice and sell holsters sewn with #138 thread, hire a lawyer, just in case something happens because the thread let go.

I have bought them off eBay in various sizes in leather point. Here is just one source of System 190 leather point needles.

This is my "Sticky" topic about the type of sewing machine you need to sew leather. It stays put on the entry page to this section the "Leather Sewing Machines" section of the Leatherworker.net forum. All sticky topics remain above all standard topics that float up and down with activity or inactivity.

Pictures and descriptions absolutely make the difference in online sales. But, in our case, all sewing machines for sale need to be in a new topic placed in our Marketplace forum. The appropriate sub-forum is: Marketplace > Items For Sale > Machinery > Sewing and Stitching > Used

Is it possible that your belt is slipping, not the clutch?

Adjust the timing belt for the best result. Ignore the marks they inscribed onto the bottom shaft. It could be inaccurate.

No matter what brand name machine you buy, if you get it sent directly to you from China, you become the "dealer" for servicing purposes. You will be responsible for all repairs, adjustments and parts costs. It is highly unlikely that you will receive any after sale assistance. If there is any assistance, unless you speak Chinese, it will have to be handled by email, using a translator. Worse of all, if the machine is totally defective from the start and needs to go back to the factory, you will be responsible for packing and shipping it at your own expense. Some Chinese sewing machine companies may offer phone, text, or online chat service agreements for an additional up front fee, making the machine more expensive. The problem with that is, do they speak/read/write your language, or do you speak/read/write theirs?

NO! The LU-563 and its successors are limited to #138 thread. This is okay for many jobs but not gun holsters. The thread is simply not strong enough to withstand the forces that can be exerted by holstering a handgun. I use #277 thread for all holsters. I owned a 563 and found it inadequate for holsters and had forward/reverse length mismatches. It also suffered from a floating stitch lever that changed stitch length with the speed I sewed at.

Rustic; I once was friends with a harness shop owner who made top end harnesses for race horses. Sometimes his customers, or other makers' customers would ship items to him for repairs or resewing. Some of his machines were equipped with stitch counters. He would note the count at the beginning and end of a repair job and charge by the stitch, not the length. Perhaps you can calculate the value of one stitch of each thickness of thread you have in stock and mark it up to what both you and your customers can live with. As for counting the stitches, you can either count out loud as you sew, or count the holes your needle made, minus one at the beginning and end (there are two holes per stitch). Plus, the thickness sewn would enter into it.

The IP address resolves to 191.97.122.108 Paraguay

Huh? Please 'splain that.

The Singer 111w155 is good for up to #138 bonded nylon thread. It can sew 3/8 inch of compressed material. It uses System 135x16 leather point and 135x17 round point needles. The maximum stitch length is longer than 4 to the inch. This is a great upholstery grade machine that is useful for sewing intermediate density leather projects, parachutes, banners, tarps, denim jeans, webbing and tow straps. The machine only sews forward. You need to spin the work around to lock in the stitches.

New swear words will also be invented and tools flung if one inadvertently unscrews the tiny bobbin tension screw all the way and it falls out!

Use a torch with a very small flame on the frozen screw. The heat will loosen up the threads so it can be unscrewed.

The Singer 111w100, 111w102, 111w114 and 111w151 are all bottom and needle feed only; not walking foot. You can see photos of the various 111 machines on Mark Rofini's website. Also, several members have ended up with non-walking foot 111w machines and started topics about them. Here is just one topic about a 111w102 needle feed machine.