Wizcrafts

You'll have to ask a dealer about that one as I have no experience with that model. The only info I see relates to double needle machines, with a 3/8" gauge between the needles. I can tell you from my experience in the distant past that Singer post machines used light weight thread and small needles.

If that is indeed the case, the 31-15 will accept a #22 needle that can lay down evenly spaced holes that can be enlarged with a hand awl. But, the throat plate a large hole plate. The fine plate won't pass a #22 needle. The standard plate "may" clear it, if the needle doesn't get deflected at all by the strap. The large hole plate has enough clearance to deal with needle position inconsistencies. FWIIW: The large hole throat plate is usually sold with a matching larger feed dog as the "heavy duty set.". This may be too aggressive on the bottom layer, so I would try to keep the existing (fine/standard) feed dog in place, unless it won't physically fit into the throat plate's slots. An even better solution would be to obtain a straight stitch machine that is already setup with a roller foot and large hole throat plate.

See CowboyBob's reply about the Consew 206RB.

The 31-15 is a drop feed machine, via feed dogs on the bottom. The presser foot is static. The feed dogs will mark the bottom layer, with the depth of marking dependent on how much force is needed to hold the leather down during the upstrokes. But... I doubt that a 31-15 will be able to hold a needle large enough to punch holes for hand sewing thread. It is a tailoring machine that normally uses small needles, up to #22. It would take a #25 or #26 needle to make a large enough hole to pass typical hand sewing thread (no wider than #277 machine thread). This would require a throat plate with a greatly enlarged needle hole and the removal of the bobbin case (and possibly shuttle driver), which would be impacted by the oversize needle. I sometimes use my Cowboy CB4500 with a #26 or #27 needle to punch hand sewing or tiny rivet holes. You are going to have to set your sights a lot higher than a Singer 31 class to punch such large holes

Alan; A walking foot machine is more capable of climbing up and down different layers of material. This is because the inside and outside feet alternate up and down. A compound feed walking foot machine also has a needle that moves forward and backward with the inside foot and the feed dog, providing superb feeding of slippery and difficult materials. This combination of coordinated motion keeps the layers from slipping out of alignment from drag of the presser foot. Both of the machines you listed have a fixed presser foot (with a very heavy duty spring) and needle. The only feed is from the feed dog teeth. The machines in the topic are clones of the ancient Singer 45k series. It was meant to sew horse blankets and tack, where the tooth marks on the bottom were unimportant. Most of these machines can sew up to 7/16 inch of harness leather, with #346 thread. They use system 216 or 328 needles, which are typically not available in leather point under size 23 (160). IHTH

You should be able to edit your post. Are you or aren't you able to edit it? If not, just post new photos in your reply. Some websites frown on hotlinking to their copyrighted images.

How wide should the round straps be? I can try making one at my shop tomorrow.

The technique of creating a rolled or round strap is known in the saddlery trade as "round reins," which gets its name from its usage in horse reins. Some old school leathercrafters (like me) have a special bench mounted tool that is used to force folded bridle leather into a round shape. In doing so, the stitches are buried inside the leather. It is not trivial, nor cheap to make these round rein straps. But, to look at a perfectly round strap afterwards ..... ah.

Can you apply the top finish after you sew? It is a clear coat, right? Oh, I forgot to mention that you can order titanium needle on eBay, or from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. or other dealers, and have them mailed to you.

I think that titanium needles will make a difference. I have to use them on both patchers and my walking foot machine because I use leather tape all the time.

Are you saying that this doesn't happen if you sew raw veg-tan of the same thickness? If so, does it include glued or taped raw veg? Have you checked the thread spool to ensure that the windings are not criss-crossed, or falling under the spool, or twisting over the thread guide on top of the thread stand? Have you looked at the thread that goes around the upper tension disks to ensure that it is staying down around the center? Make sure that you cut the thread off flush with the holes in the bobbin. A stub sticking out can mess with the tension. loosen the bobbin tension spring and blow out any thread residue. After all of these steps, change to titanium coated needles whenever you sew through basting tape or glue.

Contact Sailrite for a set of already smooth bottom feet for your mini walker

You will need to set your sights much higher than a shoe patcher to use #277 thread in a machine. The bottom entry right now that doesn't have teeth on the feet or feed dog is the Cowboy CB3200

I second the emotion. A top notch guitar can make you money in a bar when all else is failing. I know.

I own two Singer 29k series patchers (small and large bobbins; short and long arms) and neither is a very good holster sewing machine for double leather portions. If it sews your thickness the tooth marks will be a major pain to smooth out. But, if you have to sew on a belt loop/clip tab, or a circle holding a Chicago screw or snap onto the back side after the holster has been sewn closed, only a patcher will have a remote chance of sewing it on over the narrow arm. Note, that if you get a patcher that has a tight feed cam mechanism, it will sew up to 5 stitches per inch, into about 8 to 10 ounces of leather. The maximum thickness they can sew is somewhere between 1/4 and 5/16", depending on the particular model, how tight the feed mechanism is and how well it is adjusted. I have never been able to exceed 5/16" on my long arm, big bobbin patcher. Another consideration with patchers is that most of them balk at sewing with anything thicker than #92 bonded thread. I have been able to load #138 into the top and bobbin on my big bobbin machine, but not the small model. But, the machine has to be adjusted to the T's.

I hear you Mike. As a part time web developer I have learned to resize and reduce images and compress codes to reduce bloat for people on metered Internet connections. It's not just mobile phone users either. In the USA there are people on satellite ISPs and still some on dial-up modems. When I got into web design I was on dial-up. So, I resized and reduced until my own web pages loaded in a reasonable time. I also write my own scripts and host them on my server. The only external scripting comes from Google ads.

Mike; You can deactivate all or some notifications through your control panel on LWN. There are separate categories for browser notifications and email notifications. As for the default settings, they are standards set by the software developer. They leave it to sys admins to alter the universal templates affecting all selectable board options. In our case, this is an ongoing slow process.

When I made the video of me zipping around the rifle slings at 15 stitches per second, I was using an edge guide, had lots of practice and was doing it on a piece work basis in my "free time" after working in my friend's leather shop all day. When I sew anything requiring precise stitch lines, I go fairly slow, mainly around curves, slots, gun shapes, etc. Belts get pressed against the edge guide, the dial gets spun to full speed and I floor the pedal. The heat helps melt the knots inside the leather.

It definitely will sew wallets. I may sew 9-10 oz belts. I probably won't sew holsters. You are limited to 1/4 inch under the feet and #92 thread. It is primarily sold to boat people for onboard repairs to vinyl and duck cloth sails, Bimini covers, seats, windscreens, tarps, etc. Whatever veg-tan leather it sews will have tooth marks on the top and bottom. You will need to upgrade to the Monster II Wheel to punch into leather over 10 ounces thickness.

I've been using Cowboy brand bonded thread since Linhanyl stopped exporting to the USA. I think that was around 2011 or 2012. It has matching color codes across several sizes. That means I can order #69, 92, 138, 207 and 277 in a particular color code and they all match. Of course, white is white and black is black. But everything in between can be color matched. You can order Cowboy thread from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. It is their brand.

It's a crap shoot whether it can handle #207 thread at all. There is no strength advantage to mixing sizes. The smaller thread is always the breaking strength.

When I started making vests I bought an old Singer 31-15 straight stitch machine, then converted it into a roller foot machine. I have another one now that I only use to sew garments. But, with a roller foot it sews about 8 to 10 ounces of garment leather. You will be limited to using #69 or maybe even #92 bonded nylon thread, which is plenty strong. I recommend sewing at 5 stitches per inch (6 minimum), to avoid weakening the seams. Sew in 1/2 inch on the flesh side, with the grain sides stapled or taped together. Where there are stress lines, fold the sewn seam over itself one 1/4 inch and flat fell sew it down.

I have converted two of my straight stitch machines into roller foot machines and have learned that the bottom of the roller must almost touch the left edge of the needle to form correctly placed knots into thin/soft/floppy leather. Chrome Excel is part of that group. You need to get the bottom edge of the roller as close as physically possible to keep the leather from lifting and messing up the knot placement.

Place a parts wanted ad in our Classifieds section, called The Marketplace, under Sewing Machines > Used. If anybody has these partw and doesn't need them, they may sell them to you. FWIIW: I had a hard time even finding bobbins for my 42-5. Replacement parts haven't been available for many decades. As for the tension disks, you're better off drilling it out and tapping the head for a modern butterfly tension assembly. Just be aware that there is no tension release system at all on this model.

You can remove the belt from the flywheel by loosening the upper bolt on the outside right side of the square mounting bracket that the reducer wheel mounts to. This is under the table. After loosening the upper bolt, lift the entire reducer assembly all the way up, then tighten the bolt to hold it in the raised position. The v-belt should be loose enough to flip off the pulley on the flywheel. When you are ready to reassemble it, pull the belt onto the wheel, turning it towards you if necessary. With the belt inside the pulley, loosen the bolt and push down hard on the reducer wheels to tension the belt, then tighten down the securing bolt. You may need to loosen the adjuster nuts on the long threaded bolt on the front of the motor, allowing it to move up with the reducer assembly. Start by loosening the top nut. I think it needs an 18mm wrench.