Wizcrafts

There happens to be a machine for holsters that is priced at your stated budget. It is the Cowboy CB3200 that can sew up to 1/2 inch of leather with #346 bonded thread.

Photos can be deceiving. In the case of the eBay domestic sewing machines shown sewing leather, what you don't know is that the maximum thread size is #69 bonded. That thread has about 11 pounds breaking strength. The largest needle for these machines is a #18, which is perfect for #69 thread. Like all domestic sewing machines, this one has bottom feed and a fixed presser foot. All the motion comes from the bottom. The foot's job is to hold down the leather as the stitches are formed. But, leather can be sticky on top, or very dense. If this is the case, the foot pressure needs to be cranked all the way down. This impedes the transporting of the bottom feed dogs, which were designed to feed cloth. As a side note to the tiny built in motors on the 15-91. They emit an awesome plume of smoke when the blow up from straining to sew hard or thick leather! The smell fills the house or shop with wondrous odors of burnt wiring.

Where did you end up getting the narrow feed dog and throat plate from? I want to buy a set too.

I buy thread from many sources. Sometimes even a formerly perfect spool from a supplier will cause problems with the next spool I open. I try to find Made In USA or Canada (Cansew) thread. Otherwise, I buy Cowboy brand bonded nylon and polyester thread from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, or, once in a while, Weaver's heavily lubricated bonded nylon thread..

Nope. That is not how it should be. The inside foot is usually adjusted so it hits the material just as or after the tip of the needle. It should stay on the material until the needle has lifted out of the material, or at least almost until then. You can raise and lower the inside foot, as per your user manual, to get this to happen. It is the inside foot that raises and lowers the presser foot. When the inside foot begins to lift off the material, the outside foot should be smack down on the top layer, holding it in place.

This sounds like a thread problem. Buy different thread and try again, top and bottom.

Kat; The link you posted goes to the viewer's Google Drive account, not yours. You will have to share a photo or photos and place a link to your shared files. Or, better, just reduce a few photos and upload them to here.

Here are the System 135x16 needles I have been buying from an eBay seller. They are Organ brand and most certainly titanium coated and leather point. They fit the 29k patchers perfectly.

You will need what we call back pressure on the top thread to counteract the twisty black thread. If your machine has a post on top with a few holes in it, run the thread around two holes to get some drag in the twisty thread. Your machine should have the little steel thread guide in front of and below the top tensuion disks. See if you can lower it by loosening its screw and pushing it down. This will give a steeper angle to the thread going into the top tensioners. The top disks do almost all of the thread tensioning. The bottom disk are just rollers. They only add a tiny amount of tension.

To do that you'd need to build a time machine and go back decades, to the early 1970s. Singer stopped building the 29k series by the mid-1970s. They sold off everything to do with their industrial sewing machine business in the mid-1990s.

Watch our Marketplace > Sewing and Cutting > Sewing Machines For Sale > Used section. You can sometimes find a cast iron patcher base on Craigslist, or in antiques malls. Another source would be shoe repair shops. If you do find one in working condition, make sure the holes in the base line up with the threaded holes in the bottom of the machine. The 29-4 is a short arm model, mating to a short version of the two level iron base. Later models included long arm machines that have a bigger base and different mounting holes. All bases should have a dual pulley flywheel on the right end of the base. The wheel is driven by a treadle pedal and uses a 68 to 70 inch x 3/16 inch diameter leather belt.

I usually buy Organ brand titanium coated, in walking foot System 135x16 and 17, on eBay. But, if you have an industrial sewing machine dealer nearby, call them and ask if they have or can get titanium coated needles in 135x16, or 29x4. Those are leather point systems. Round points would be systems 29x3 and 135x17. They really do make a big difference!

I also own a Singer 29k71 and have done everything I am about to describe for you. You can view or download and save/printout the official Singer Service Manual and Parts List, here - for the 29k-71, 72 and 73. It will make everything below more understandable. Before adjusting anything, make sure the needle is the correct system (29x3, 29x4, 135x16, or 135x17) and that it is all the way up in the mounting clamp, and that the scarf is on the dead right and the rib is on the dead left. Also, make sure the needle size is correct for the thread you are using. For most users, that equates to a #18 needle for #69 thread, or a #19 needle for #92 thread. Finally, make sure the thread is bonded and stays that way throughout the sewing cycle. If all the above are positive, yet the machine skips stitches, there are only a few items left to check. First, make sure there is sufficient presser foot pressure to hold down the leather as the needle begins its ascent. If you see the leather lifting, screw down the pressure spring until it stops lifting with the needle. While you're at it, take a look at the thread on top and make sure it isn't binding, or coming out of the tensioners. Another cause of skipped stitches could be the tape or glue holding layers together for sewing. I use titanium coated needles to help fend off problems caused by leather tape and contact glue. If none of the above stops the skipped stitches, the machine is either marginally out of time, or the check spring is badly worn, or the gears in the bolt on gear box are very badly worn. The first step you take should be to slide open the throat plate and face it sideways, across the gear box, so you can see the hook and needle. Put a representative piece or pieces of leather (that are having skipped stitches) under the foot, lower the foot and slowly rotate the hand wheel in the forward direction (counterclockwise if on the end of the body; clockwise if on the right front). Observe the size and quality of the loop as the needle goes down, then raises up and stops. There should be a visible thread loop on the right side of the eye. The point of the hook should be about 1/8 inch away from the needle and loop. As you continue moving the hand wheel, that hook should move to the center of the needle and pick off the thread loop. Skipped stitches happen when something prevents a good loop from forming and staying intact until picked off. If a loop forms and holds, but the hook has passed the needle too soon, the timing needs to be retarded. If the hook is so far back that the needle and loop have moved up past it, the timing needs to be advanced. If the hook seems to be intersecting the needle at the proper time, but the loop has gone away, the check spring needs to be replaced. Timing is adjusted through a hole in the right front of the base of the machine. You'll need to loosen a nut on the back of the rack-to-down crank combination, then use a straight blade screwdriver to turn the eccentric screw one way or the other to get the hook in the best position to pick off the thread loop. Once you find that position, tighten up the locking nut to secure the timing. If timing the hook doesn't stop the skipped stitches, there is either a lot of play in the gears in the gear box, or the check spring needs replaced. You can see how much wear is in those parts by holding the wheel in place and using you fingers to turn the hook one way and the other. There is bound to be some slack, but too much will create crazy timing. These racks and gears can be replaced with aftermarket parts, which will probably need a bit of tweaking to get a good fit with the least binding or slack. I left the check spring replacement for the last item. This spring, which is inside the needle bar, above the needle mounting bracket, is tiny and has a paddle shape on the lower portion. The top is shaped like a T and has two tiny screws that secure it to the inside of the needle bar. You are going to have to remove the head again to see if this spring is the culprit. The spring eventually wears out and stops holding the thread in place, causing the loop to dissolve. Sometimes, you can bend the paddle end back in to get more life out of the check spring. Or not. If you've gone to the trouble of removing the barrel head, you might as well replace the spring. Just make sure you set the tiny screws aside in the same right/left alignment as they came off. You should reinstall them in the exact same positions. With the check spring off, examine the needle bar to see if a deep groove has been worn into the area where the paddle is supposed to squeeze the thread. If this has occurred, nothing you do about the spring will improve the situation. You would probably have to replace the entire needle bar to fix this. Good luck with your repairs!

It could be a problem with a self oiling machine, but not a manually oiled model. Some folks with self oilers will unthread and run them at full speed before sewing commences. This pushes the oil around the extremities so that there is oil where it needs to be as you sew slowly. You normally wind bobbins on an industrial sewing machine as you sew. But, intentionally winding a bobbin at full speed is another way to distribute the oil. Be sure you are able to try out these machines before you commit to buying one of them. Go with the one that you feel better about as you sit in front and press the floor pedal. Is the motor speed controllable? Can you sew slowly, or is it off to the races? If so, you'll likely need to buy a servo motor replacement.

The oil pump situation that Floyd referred to is that some machines have an oil pump on the bottom of the machine that sits in an oil pan and forcibly sucks up oil and pushes it to wicks along the top and bottom of the machine. These machines usually need to be run very fast to get oil to the extremities.This generates a lot of heat and makes for a hard to control machine that may have a 1:1 motor pulley to machine pulley ratio. Failure to maintain a proper oil pan level, or only sewing at slow speeds can lead to damage to the machine, as can be noted in the sticky topic about Venator's Adler 467 that seized due to a bad oil wick system. The rest of the machines have oil holes that the operator has to fill with fresh oil every now and then. These machines are not usually run at very high speeds and don't generate as much heat as a high speed garment machine. You can sew at very slow speeds with these machines as long as you place a few drops of oil into all the oil holes before or after using the machine or letting it sit a while. The machine will leak a little oil that you'll have to wipe off the lower surfaces to avoid soiling your materials. If you are planning to sew at slow speeds, buy the manually oiled machine, if it is still in good sewing condition.

I buy most of my industrial sewing machines in Toledo, Ohio.

You will probably need to order a custom binder attachment from Atlanta Attachment Company

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Why? Removing the 4 screws is almost effortless and takes about three minutes. You just need a long flat blade screwdriver to turn the screws out. Two are near the top and two near the bottom of the machine body and revolving head assembly. Remove the presser foot, regulator and needle clamp assembly, unscrew the 4 screws and the head can be pulled down and away. The needle bar will simply come out the top as you lower the head. There is no need to disconnect the needle bar from the top mechanism.

I will address your thread requirement. You say you are used to hand sewing with .6mm thread. Here is the closest equivalent in bonded sewing machine thread: Thread size: 277 (T270) Breaking strength: 45 lbs Diameter: .0231" (.586mm) #25 needle The next size up is 346, having these specs: 346 (T350) 5 Cord 53 lbs breaking .0258" (.655mm) #26 needle These are some of the heavier thread sizes used by the biggest heavy leather harness stitchers, like the Cowboy CB3200, 3500 and 4500, and equivalent Cobra and Techsew harness stitchers. There are no normal upholstery grade industrial sewing machines that can tension and pull up #277 or #346 thread. There is one class of bottom feed only heavy leather stitchers that can handle these threads, but they leave deep tooth marks on the bottom. The reason these machines can handle and tension the heavier thread is due to their having huge beefed up moving parts and substantial bearings and steel shafts. They have no trouble sewing together 18 and more ounces of hard temper leather with #277 or 346 thread (about .6mm). The bottom appearance is different than on top. That is just how it is. If you want the bottom to virtually match the top, buy a Campbell Randall or Union Lockstitch machine. They use a needle and awl in combination with a jump foot and either needle or awl feed.

I normally remove the 4 screws securing the revolving head assemble, plus the needle clamp, then pull the head away from the arm and down. I suspect that you'll have to do this too. This gives you complete access to the parts inside the head. You'll just have to remove the presser foot and stitch length regulator, then unscrew two screws inside the bottom, and lift out the bell crank. Use bronze brazing rod to build up the little puck on the end of the crank, shape and polish it for a good fit without binding and put her back together.

Because there are only two roving forum moderators on call and we both have day jobs and things to do in the evening. One of us will see a notification icon when we log in. I didn't even know that this section of the forum requires moderation.

I agree about the table and stand. After you remove the rust and repaint the stand, it will be valuable.

Don't expect this old machine to be usable until you have rebuilt or replaced the worn out parts. Some gears will have to be custom milled. Other parts can be brazed or welded then reshaped to get a best fit. Shuttle drive gears for these ancient patchers are not available in the aftermarket and would have the be custom cut from steel rod. So, if the drive gear is badly worn, the timing will never be right and you'll need to have one made.

From the home page of Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines: Bob Kovar Sr. - Owner Call us toll free, at: 866-362-7397 If you can't reach him on the phone, there is a contact form here.