Wizcrafts

The UFA is a small bobbin patcher machine. It was designed to sew shoe and boot uppers with thin thread. The intended thickness is limited to about 1/4 inch. The foot has to have enough clearance left to lift off the leather and move forward for the next stitch. The thread handling capabilities are too small for the thickness needed to hold a holster together. Lastly, the maximum stitch length of a factory new patcher like that was 5 to the inch at about 1/8 inch. Even if a holster edge could fit under the foot and the foot had enough jump left to pull it along, the maximum stitch length would likely drop to 8 to the inch, or less.

Been there and done that. Installing a roller equipped or an even feed foot does improve the feeding of two layer seams. But, both types reduce the available clearance under the foot. If the original foot allowed for sewing 1/4 inch of material, a roller or even feed foot may only allow between 1/8 to 5/32 inch. Also, in order to sew a veg-tan leather belt on a model 66, the foot pressure spring screw may need to be cranked all the way down to keep the leather from lifting with the ascending needle.

Buy System 135x16 leather point needles in sizes 18, 19, 22 and 23. This covers a bonded nylon thread range of v69 through v138. If you are going to sew cloth or woven material, buy 135x17 round point needles in the appropriate sizes. Your machine can use up to #138 bonded thread. It can also sew with thinner thread than #69. Here is a thread and needle size chart to help you choose the best combinations.

Your Singer 66 is a straight stitch, bottom feed machine. It can never be a walking foot machine. Those have three bars coming down. Yours has two. It will always only be a bottom feeder. That said, the model 66 can sew with #69 bonded thread and a #18 needle, which is its maximum size. The maximum thickness sewable depends on the density and collapsability of the material. Cloth up to 1/4 inch is doable. With leather you will likely max out at about 8-9 ounces. It is possible that your mileage will vary.

#5 zipper teeth are exactly 5mm across. This is the standard measurement system. A #4 is 4mm. A #10 is 10mm across, et al. However, the vertical height varies a bit as the size increases. It would be best to buy one zipper of each size and composition to ensure accurate 3D printing of your alignment parts. I mostly use #5, #7 and #10 replacement zippers on jackets, boots and purses that come in for repair (the customer usually specifies the width, or else I replace the same size as original). Most are either brass or aluminum teeth. But, I also use the much taller and stronger Vislon hard plastic tooth zippers. The vertical profile is much taller than metal or plastic loop zippers. All are YKK brand. IHTH

I neglected to mention that APC Back-UPS' are also surge and noise protectors. One bank of sockets have battery backup. The other bank has just surge and noise protection. If one is planning on using such a device to protect a motor, the unit would have to be at least a 750 watt protector, or it would pop the breaker. Alternately, look into the Tripp-Lite Isobar surge protector multi-outlet power boxes. I connect my music amplifier and mini-power packs to one that goes to all of my gigs. They have great protection and fast breakers. There is noise suppression to (via an LC filter).

My computers, cable modem and router are plugged into APC battery Back-ups boxes. My TV is also plugged into an APC. I don't even consider it an option. It is a basic necessity in my World. I prefer the 650 to 750 Watt/Hour models. The batteries are good for about 3 years. Then you buy a new battery.

It appears to be a Singer 143w2 zig zag machine

Either a dealer or an enthusiast with a caliper will have to find time to measure their machine's output shaft to answer that. Knowing Singer, it will be some bizarre diameter, somewhere between right and wrong.

The time and materials cost will probably exceed that of having them milled and finished at a machine shop.

One of my buddies had a touchy motor on his Cobra and Steve sent him a new motor at no cost. I had a motor go bad on my Cowboy and Bob sent me a new motor. I have no doubt that Techsew does the same for their customers. All of our supporting dealers try to go the extra mile (km in Canada) for their customers. The supporting dealers all run ad banners on top of all of our pages, with a new batch of 6 shown each time you load or refresh a page.

RockyAussie; Would you mind posting the new details and .stl file links in our 3D Printers and Lasers forum? There are a few members lurking there that would appreciate seeing this. You can link to this topic in a post you make in that forum. I for one will try to find somebody with a 3D printer to make your zipper guides for me (our usual 3D printer guy just moved). I mostly use #5 YKK zippers in Biker wallets and money belts. But, I do use a #4 or 4.5 on occasion.

If I lived within a hundred miles I would scoop it in a heartbeat!

Aside from the previous replies about installing a smaller motor pulley, adding more free movement with the motor's clutch/brake adjuster screw, and/or lengthening the motor's control arm, you could disassemble the right end of the motor and smear a little grease on the clutch pad. This should let it slip a little, allowing you better control before the clutch fully engages.

I have a CB4500, which is the big brother of the CB3200. I have sewn leather as light as ~6 ounces on it - with #92 bonded nylon thread. When it comes to sewing thin leather, it must be firm or it tends to get pushed down into the throat plate, or worse, into the hole in the feed dog. So, in those instances, I may remove the feed dog and change the throat plate to a flat one that has a narrowish slot. Further, when using thin thread, I back off the thread tension on the check spring and top tension disk, balancing via the bobbin tension spring.

I would like to add one more item to your checklist, Paqman. Check the functioning of the thread retaining paddle shaped spring (Singer #8656) inside the needle bar. Many owners of patch machines aren't even aware of this spring's existence. It can really only be seen when the needle bar has been removed from the revolving head. The job it is meant to do is to hold the top thread static as the bar moves down to BDC, then makes an upward jog to form a loop for the shuttle hook to pick off. If that spring is weak, broken, missing, or bent, the top thread will have nothing stopping it from dissolving the loop as it tries to form. If the spring on top of the trapeze shaped driving arm is still engaged, it will simply pull the thread loop up before the hook gets there. This used to drive me crazy until I figured it out and learned how to replace the spring. In some older machines, especially those that were using #138 thread, not only have I found worn paddle springs, but also slight thread depressions under them in the steel needle bar. This double wammy makes even a new spring fail to secure the top thread on the up/down stroke at pickoff time. Note: Anybody planning on removing the thread retaining spring 8656 should note the positions of the two tiny #590 screws as you remove them. Keep them apart and reinstall them into the same holes when you replace the spring. They are usually filed on one side to avoid binding and gouging the inside of the revolving bushing as the bushing it rotated. Left as is one or both will hit the bushing in certain rotational positions.

Contact Bob Kovar (Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines) or any authorized Cowboy sewing machines dealer near you and ask them about placing an order for the new wide mouth vibrating binder attachment for the Juki 441 and its clones. Allegedly, it has enough clearance through its mouth to feed and add binding to leather edges (I don't know the maximum thickness). It has to be custom ordered by a dealer as far as I know. Be forewarned that this attachment sells for about $450, landed, in the USA. New information The Cowboy/Hightex binder appears to be a complete set and is described as follows: "HT-BH01 Binder: synchronized with presser feet and needle plate that allows binding of acute radiuses, for binding heavy materials, such as shoes, carpet, bags, pouches, belts."

They used really thin 3 cord glazed linen thread. I have some of this thread in my shop on a mini spool. It is thinner than the 3 cord linen thread from Barbour. I'm guessing between #69 and #92 in diameter. Could be Tex 80.

Almost all of our belts are made of bridle leather. We just rub out foot marks and any other scratches or range marks with a modeling spoon, and sometimes even a teaspoon.

papaw; Supreme is just a brand name badge. Without close up photos there is no way for us to figure out if it is a clone of a standard type of machine, or is a special build. It is possible that there are additional model details on a metal tag or stamped into the bottom of the frame.

When you see a thread size like (digits)/3, it is describing a 3 cord cotton or polyester, or polycore garment thread. Then there are spun silk thread sizes. These measurements, especially the Japanese NM system do not correlate to bonded thread sizes in any direct manner. For a full explanation, read this page on SuperiorThreads.com

I like how Patrick fitted the hand wheel from an old domestic Singer machine onto his industrial 188k. Not only did it have a bigger diameter - slowing the machine down a bit - but also has a release mechanism to wind bobbins on its built in bobbin winder, without driving the machine itself. The coat hanger to secure the reverse lever was interesting too.

From your photos it is obvious that this machine is set-up for upholstery sewing at higher speeds. It has a 2850 rpm motor and about a 3:4 pulley ratio. It will definitely get long seams sewn in almost no time! As for sewing slowly, that depends on the new owner being able to feather the clutch, or replace the motor with a servo motor.

Thanks Floyd!

See this thread and needle size chart