Wizcrafts

A lot of newbies to sewing machines, coming out of hand stitching land, are used to the same stitch appearance on the top and bottom. They have trouble Grokking why the bottom looks so different from the top. They are strangers in a strange land until they come to grips with the fact that especially walking foot machines push down hard directly around the needle holes - causing the bottom leather to take the shape of the hole or slot in the feed dog or throat plate. In order to obtain a top/bottom stitch appearance that almost matches hand stitching requires a needle and awl harness stitcher, like a Union Lockstitch, or Campbell Lockstitch, or Landis 3 machine. These machines have a jumping presser foot and needle or awl feed. There is no inside foot like on a compound feed walking foot machine. The wound from the stabbing top awl tends to heal as the awl comes back up, quickly followed by an ascending barb headed needle. I used to get very nice bottom stitches on the Union Lockstitch machines I owned and let go of. But, nothing I've sewn on beats a Campbell Randall for top/bottom stitch appearance.

It will sew belts, guitar straps, rifle slings, chaps, vests, zippers in jackets, wallets and upholstery, with up to #138 bonded thread (22 pounds test). The maximum seam it will climb over and sew without skipping stitches is perhaps 3/8 inch. But, with #138 thread and a #23 needle, you might need to crank the pressure spring down almost all the way to keep the leather from lifting with the needle. As for holsters, I wouldn't recommend using under #207 thread in a 16 ounce pancake holster, with #277 being much stronger per stitch (44 pounds test). I think that #138 thread is just too weak to hold the leather together under the strain a gun can place on the stitch lines. FYI: Many commercially produced holsters are sewn with #346 lubricated bonded nylon thread, or else with 6 or 7 cord Barbour's Irish linen thread run through a bees wax pot. The former requires a Cowboy, Cobra, Techsew, Weaver, or Artisan, etc 441 clone, or an actual Juki TSC-441, or an Adler 205-370, or the newer Adler 969 Eco harness stitcher. The later calls for a needle and awl harness stitcher or a shoe sole stitcher.

Basically, avoid home style (aka: domestic) sewing machines. They are not good at sewing leather, except for about 5-6 ounces (chaps). All of them are bottom feed only, via feed dogs. Leather is much denser than cloth and takes much more foot pressure to hold it down as the needle and thread ascends. If the pressure spring isn't strong enough to hold down the leather you'll get skipped stitches. The added pressure needed to hold down the leather often causes to top layer to drag out of sync with the bottom layer. Also, the largest commonly sold needle size for domestic sewing machines is #18 (aka: 110), limiting the machine to no more than #69 (T70) bonded thread. This is strong enough for thin leather goods, like leather skirts and wallet interiors, but is a little weak for 1/8 inch thick hand bags. While buying a vintage domestic sewing machine for leather is at best iffy, getting an industrial walking foot machine is just about a sure thing (up to its thickness and thread handling limits).

Cowboy makes a smaller version cylinder arm machine, with compound feed walking feet, named the CB227-R. It fills the gap between light and heavy duty machines. The specs are in the right sidebar on the page.

Have you contacted some long time industrial sewing machine dealers? Some who have been in business for 40 or more years could possibly have that type of machine on a steel shelf in a back room where old machines go to die or get resurrected.

I use these Family Sew motors, equipped with a non-factory, dealer installed 50mm pulley. I also have a speed reducer between the motor and some of my machines.

The post you replied to is from January 6, 2015. Chayne has not logged onto this forum since December 4, 2015. Still, I wish you luck in your hunt for unobtanium parts.

The OP lives in Bucharest, Romania, if that helps.

@robinindustry is a member here and recently posted a new topic about their newest sole stitcher. I'm sure they can get you a manual for your Robin sidewaller. Tell them the model number in a private message.

My interiors tend to be made of very thin, 1 - 2 ounce haircell pigskin, or some other thin leather. The thickest interior parts would be around 2 - 3 ounces per piece. These need to be sewn with no more than #69 bonded thread. By the time I add a back and liner, the thickness to be sewn can be between 6 and 8 ounces. I normally use #92 thread to attach the back to the interior. I sew patches onto leather vests on my long body walking foot machine that is always threaded with #92 thread. Technically speaking, if your assembled wallets are really 1/8 inch thick, you can use up to #138 thread. You'll have to run some test stitches to balance the knots in the center. I've sewn hundreds of suede lined rifle slings and guitar straps using nothing but Weaver's #138 lubricated thread, top and bottom. Most were about 7 to 8 ounces total thickness along the perimeter.

I read the specifications on this sole stitcher. It weighs over 900 pounds! Other than the size, it is a lockstitch machine with a rotating horn and straight needle. Looks impressive for shoe soles.

We have 3 patchers in our shop: 2 Singer and 1 Adler. The only one that is capable of hard work is an Adler 30-7. I have a good friend who used an Adler 30-70 as his primary sewing machine. Singer and Adler patchers come in two bobbin sizes: small and large. The small bobbin is about the size of 3 nickles or dimes. It is only useful with #69 or #92 thread in the bobbin. This bobbin is best used for sewing patches onto vests and repairing purse straps and tabs (small runs). The large bobbin is the size of 3 quarters. It can at least hold enough #138 thread to sew a half dozen belts or rifle slings around the outside. The teeth are aggressive on purpose. They are the only thing that feeds the leather. Singer large bobbin patchers can sew up to 5/16 inch, maximum, but do better at 1/4 inch. Adler 30 class patchers come in the same two bobbin sizes as the Singer (and use Singer shuttles and bobbins). But, unlike the Singer, they were made in standard and long stroke models, where the longer stroke can actually sew 3/8 inch. Those are the 30-7 and 30-70. These machines are definitely able to use #138 thread, top and bottom. Unless it is missing, these machines have a thumbscrew in the front of the head that is used to stop the revolving mechanism from turning. You can use it to lock the feed in any direction. As long as your hands and eyes are steady and spot on, you should be able to sew a sort of straight stitch line. If you groove/gouge a line/channel it is easier to stay in it. There are no edge guides available for patchers unless you fabricate on yourself. IHTH

I do hope you are planning on placing the belt back in the top and bottom pulleys. Also, the motor pulley is too large for anything other than couch upholstery or banner sewing. If it is the same diameter as the machine's pulley, it will drive your machine at 1:1, which is 1725 rpm. That is about 29 stitches per second. I would replace the pulley with a 2" pulley and a new, shorter v-belt. Better yet, get a servo motor with a small pulley and new belt. We have the same model in our shop, but is is all black. It sews 5/16 inch comfortably and can just make it over a 3/8 inch seam. But, that's pushing it's luck. These are really old machines. I keep #69 thread in our 111w103, although it can handle up to #138. A #23 needle is as big as I would use if I was going to sew with #138 thread (no plans to do that on this machine). We've already put too much money into fixing it up from the previous owners' neglect, so stressing it out isn't in our plans. The 111w103 is a good machine for sewing upholstery materials, small banners, wallets, chaps, vests, belts, denim jeans, hemming garments and installing zippers. The primary use of ours is sewing patches onto bikers' vests with #69 thread.

I sincerely doubt it. You will need a lighter duty machine fir such thin leather and thread. Standard walking foot and tailoring machines can sew wallet interiors with #69 thread using a #18 needle. I don't know if you can even get #18 needles for the 441 clones. The smallest I found was a #19, which punches a hole that's just suitable for #92 thread. All of the spring tensions on the CB3200, 3500, 4500 and 5500 are extra heavy. These machines are built with heavy thread and big needles in mind. The machine would have to be dumbed down to sew thin leather with thin thread and tiny diameter, easily deflected long needles.

Paintshop Pro can import, export and save files in SVG format.

Oops, I forgot to include a good starter machine type. Go for a compound feed walking foot machine to start. It can be an upholstery class machine, like a Consew 206RB-5, or a Juki 1541, or even an old Singer 111w155 without reverse. All of these walking foot machines will sew with #69 through #138 bonded thread. The stock needles are 1.75 inches long and don't flex too much unless they are deflected by misaligned layers.

Try contacting Keystone Sewing in PA. They have been in business since Noah's Ark made landfall. The owner, Gregg, is a frequent contributor here. If you are interested in learning more about Cowboy sewing machines, check out this website. They are located in Toledo Ohio and are one of our premier advertisers. Cobra is a long time member here as is Techsew. Both have ad banners on top of our pages.

I use Wiss thread clippers, which I buy from Wawak.

Convince the boss to have it serviced by a qualified Juki dealer. Offer to watch and record what he or she does to fix the machine. The floating stitch lever may require new springs to hold it down. The rest is adjustments to the bottom feed setup. If you end up personally servicing it, at least download the Juki LU-563 adjuster's manual. It is hosted by a Juki dealer who is a friend of this forum. If you need parts, please order them through his company.

I would like to chime in here about these motors. I have owned and sold quite a few old iron body Singer sewing machines, all of which had either a motor on a bracket or an attached pod motor. I also tune up old machines that customers buy in yard sales, or get as hand me downs. The average Singer motor drew about .4 to .5 amps. Aftermarket motors draw up to 1.5 amps. The most powerful of these mini motors develop about 1/12th to 1/15th horsepower. Most draw so little current that a rheostat or moving core foot pedal can control them without burning up. The most powerful mini motor I've had weighs about 1 pound. Older ones tend to be much less. Any of these little motors can spin a domestic sewing machine. The challenge is getting the needle to penetrate leather at start up speed. Most motors bog down trying to start sewing leather until you give them a hand (literally). Once under way they can usually maintain motion if you don't fully stop sewing. Industrial sewing machine motors live under the tables the machines are mounted on top of. The smallest clutch motor I have ever had was 1/3rd horsepower. Singer used to make them in 1/4 hp rating for light duty tailoring machines. Most modern era industrial sewing machine motors are rated at 1/2 horsepower, with some hitting 3/4. This means that the power difference between the most powerful domestic sewing motor and an average industrial motor is about 6:1. A tenth or twelfth hp motor wont even turn over a walking foot machine without hand spinning it first. It would burn up in no time from the load of driving, or attempting to drive such a machine. An average, modern era clutch motor weighs around 30 pounds, with some weighing in at 40 pounds. Compare that to the mini sewing machine motors that weigh about 1 pound and I think the difference will be self explanatory. A sewing machine is either domestic or industrial. The domestic machines have thin steel take-up shafts and linkages. They are not built to sustain the load of pulling nylon thread up inside dense leather. Even industrial tailoring machines are not built with this in mind. Look into upholstery grade walking foot machines as a starting point for your leather sewing endeavors.

Cowboy has a manually operated harness stitcher that is just being seen in North America, called The Outlaw. It is supposed to be similar to the Boss in capacity. Ask your Cowboy dealer if he has one in stock yet. There are banner ads on top of each page for our supporting suppliers, brands and dealers.

You are welcome!

I moved that thread to this new section of the forum. Did you not see it listed under the new category?

I finally found a spool of Coats Koban 30 weight polycore thread that has three soft plies. It is about the diameter of #135/138 bonded thread. But, it has nowhere near the strength of nylon thread.

I will be in my shop soon. I think I still have at least one spool marked as 30/3. I will compare it to some #92 bonded thread and report back here.