Wizcrafts

Maybe the tension on the check spring is too strong. Loosen the set screw under the check spring housing, on the inside of the body. This lets you rotate the shaft to get more or less spring tension. Turning it ccw backs off the tension. Set it for less tension and lock down the set screw. The spring only needs enough tension to hold the thread taut during the end of the take-up cycle until the spring stops against the adjustable stop bracket. It should stop soon after the needle penetrates the work.

You might try installing Faststone Photo Resizer if you have a Windows computer. Otherwise, there are phone apps that do image resizing. Typically, cellphone cameras on let you change the resolution you shoot at. The smallest files are produced at the smallest length and width. If that's not enough, a resizer can take it a step farther. Faststone's resizer can reduce not only the dimensions, but also the quality. I usually reduce the quality of uploaded files by 15% with no noticeable degradation. This makes a huge difference in the file size. If you need a phone-only app, read the descriptions and user ratings first. Choose one that can reduce the quality, and other parameters. Use caution! Phone apps from individuals, or unknown companies are like the Wild West.

Move the check spring disk to the right to center the screw in the curved slot. This gives it more slack. You have it on the tightest setting now.

You are now in the correct forum to discuss and diagnose problems with industrial leather sewing machines. While you aren't sewing heavy leather, you have a machine that is capable of sewing almost 3/8 inch of soft to medium temper leather, or many layers of cloth or synthetics. I don't have a Consew, but all but one of my machines have walking foot mechanisms. Without having your machine in front of me, or seeing a video of it being turned over, my best guess is that the pressure foot may have too much pressure. This would reduce the rotational window where you can wheel to TDC before the pressure forces it to proceed downward. This is a shot in the dark, but try it anyway. Back off the foot pressure and see if the needle can be held up at TDC.

The top disks are your primary tension adjusters. The lower roller adds or subtracts a little tension. This roller was more effective in the distant past when the leather stitchers had liquid or melted wax in pots that the top thread ran through. Nowadays, with lubricated, bonded thread, the bottom roller does very little until you get into very large sizes of thread. It adds friction, rather than pinching the thread, as the top disks do. Those holes look way too big for the thread you are using. Try a size smaller needle. If the knots are still visible, add bobbin tension, or subtract top tension. If the knots are still a problem, move down one thread size in the bobbin. The needle holes are round. Are you using round point needles? You should use leather point needles in veg-tan leather. Schmetz sells them in System 794, as "S" point. They have an inline slicing point that actually partially submerges the ends of the stitches.

The free play I referred to is forward and backward. This affects the stitch length.Sideways motion affects the tracking, which you can adjust for as you sew. You want the least free play when you push or pull on the raised foot, forward and backward. Even 1/32 inch will cause a loss of maximum stitch length. Bear in mind that the stitches get shorted at greater thicknesses and, it is harder to move the stack. Slop in the presser foot will definitely lead to extra short stitches at 1/4 inch thickness.

Yep, that's acceptable. Now, test the play in the presser foot, with the stitch length regulator all the way down to the raised foot. A pristine machine will barely have any slop in the foot.

Wiggle the shuttle driver and see how much wiggle room there is. The less the free motion, the better the timing will be as you sew.

I still remember the exhilarating sound and feel of my ULS pounding through 1/2 inch thick leather straps at 15 stitches per second! The room shook and the racket bounced off the walls! Liquid wax splattered every which way and smoke came off the awl. It was awesome! I imagined that it felt like firing a Thompson sub-machine gun on full automatic! It was the same thing, but different.

The Adler 30-1 is NOT meant to sew with anything thicker than #138 bonded thread.

135x16 and 135x17 are needle "systems," not sizes. A system designates the geometry of the needle. These two are the same geometry until you get to the area under the eye The x16 will have some kind of slicing, or diamond, or triangle point. The x17 has a rounded sharp point. When you ask if a needle will be acceptable with a size of thread, you are really asking what needle "size" do I use with size X thread? In your case, to sew leather with #138 bonded thread, you need a #23 leather point needle. #23 is the US needle size numbering system. The Metric equivalent is number 160. You need to know that your 100+ year old small bobbin patcher was not built with that size or type of thread in mind. There was no bonded nylon thread back them. The patchers used linen thread made in Ireland, by companies like Barbour. It is still available to this day from select dealers in various numbers of cords twisted and glazed together. The big difference between linen thread and nylon thread is the flexibility. Linen thread is very flexible, while nylon isn't as flexible for the same diameter. Thus, in 1920, a shoe repairman might load a bobbin with 3 cord linen thread and it would probably sew properly. Today, if you load a patcher bobbin with #138 bonded nylon, you'll have to crank up the top tension, reduce the bobbin tension and crank down the foot pressure screw on the flat spring along the back. You will over-stress the century old machine and may throw it out of time if any of the driving gears are loose or worn down. There will also be more stress on the feed motion came and ring as it pulls the leather against this heavy thread. So, in answer to the question about if it's acceptable to use #138 thread in your machine, I'd say only in an emergency, or only for short projects that aren't more than 3/16 inch thick. I wouldn't sew 1/4 inch thick pancake holsters on that machine if you intend to keep using it for other jobs. It is made to patch rips and loose seams on shoes and boots. I use mine to sew embroidered patches onto vests and jackets. I use #69 bonded thread, with a #18 needle, in my Singer 29k71, which is a small bobbin machine like yours, but much newer. Once in a great while I will up it to #92 thread, top and bottom and use a #19 needle.

Your machine was poorly constructed. Your only hope would be to move the entire needle bar and both presser bars to the right. It is doable, but not painless. I would think about returning, or selling it, and buying a Cowboy CB4500, or actual Juki TSC-441, if they are available in Sweden. But, keep the narrow plate and feed dog.

I posted an article in the Wanted section of our forum, warning about forum scammers targeting our members. The same information applies to people posting items for sale. I urge you all to read the warnings and familiarize yourselves with some of their tricks and names they commonly use to scam our members.

I posted a lengthy article in our Wanted section, detailing some of the techniques and usernames/email accounts frequently used by forum scammers on Leatherworker.net. While that article was written with the items wanted forum in mind, the exact same warnings and tips apply to the items for sale forums. If you have posted something for sale in any of our Marketplace forums, please take a few minutes to read my post. It might save you hundreds of dollars if you get taken in by one of these seasoned professional con men.

It has come to our attention that some overseas scammers have been responding to posts in the Wanted forum on Leatherworker.net. This is a matter of concern because it involves financial loss by some of our members. Here's how the scam works. A member of the forum creates a post stating the are looking to buy a particular item that other members may be willing to part with. Sometime later, a new member responds stating that they or their friend has that very item for sale. They post an email address to contact them, or the friend who has the item. They may also use our private message system and invite you to send them a message if you are interested. This is how buying and selling usually works. So, what makes this a scam? It may or may not be a scam, but, there are telltale signs that it is. They include, but are not limited to the following things to look out for before you respond. The person replying is a new member with only one, or a few posts, and all are in response to posts for items wanted. They list an email address that contains the words "mask" and/or "luca." at gmail, or another freemail service. Example: maskluca9@gmail.com. They have the email address: lupodsblumqt2267@gmail.com They mention a friend you should contact that contains the name "cherry," or "padcherry," , or the email address: padcherry98@gmail.com They may post a photo of the item they claim to have. If you look closely it turns out to be a stock photo from a dealer's website, or even from a previous ad from another member who was selling it previously. If you ask for close-ups and different views, they can't provide them in a timely manner. This is because they don't actually possess the item. They ask for payment via Western Union, Bitcoin, or prepaid money cards (aka: gift cards). These types of payment cannot be traced to the person cashing them out. Your money is irreversibly gone if you pay with any service like these. The scammers sign up under various aliases, but will usually list a location in the same country you live in when they reply to your post. For instance, the last one I terminated listed his address in Texas, in the USA. But, his normally hidden IP address showed otherwise. This is not normal. Since only moderators can see the IP addresses of posters, I encourage you to notify a moderator is you receive a suspicious reply to a post for an item for sale or an item wanted. The sooner we learn about forum scammers, the sooner we can block them from posting here.

No, that alignment is not right. Was the needle centered with the original feed dog and throat plate? What brand is the sewing machine? FYI: I have this narrow feed dog on my Cowboy CB4500 and my needle goes dead center through the slot in the feed dog.

I was hired to adjust a ULS machine down in Roseville, Michigan, a couple years ago. It was a like new, rebuilt machine from Campbell-Randall. It was factory equipped with a servo motor. The motor was very powerful and geared way down. But, if had no free play between off and on. It was always in the drive chain when the pedal was heel down and it was very hard to turn the balance wheel manually (because the motor was fighting the wheel). If you do fit a servo motor to your ULS, choose one that has an adjustable or removable brake pad. You usually need to hand wheel around turns, or spin-arounds, or to place the awl into a previous hole.

I believe that Weaver Leather sells belt edge painting machines. I know they sell a double sided edge beveler machine that can bevel either the top, or bottom, or both, on the left and right.

About 1.75 inches. Originally, Singer produced System 29x3 and x4 needles for the patchers. Those are obsolete now. Use System 135x16 leather point, or 135x17 round point. The only difference is that modern needles have a cutout scarf over the eye on one side.

When you load a new bobbin into the shuttle, push the thread up through the hole before you start sewing. Leaving the long bobbin thread tail under the plate invites getting it jammed under the shuttle.

There are always two holes on each end of the patcher needle plate. The centered hole closest to the edge is for the needle and bobbin thread. The offset holes are for the spring loaded stud that locks the plate in position. So, yes, bring the bobbin thread up through the needle hole. If you don't, the needle will bring it up when you begin sewing.

All my edge guide feet have a two direction torsion spring mounted over a screw. The spring pushes down on the edge guide.

Read this post to learn how to resize your photos so they are under our limits. You can also try emailing the photos to yourself. Many mail servers are are set to reduce image sizes during delivery, including Gmail. Failing that, you can try compressing the photos by zipping them inside a zip file, using 7Zip, or Winzip. But, if you can access a graphics program that allows you to save at a lesser quality, and/or overall dimensions, use it. Check your camera, or phone camera to see what the smallest resolution is and retake the photos at that resolution. My Samsung A53 allows me to shoot as low as 1:1, or 3x4. These produce very small file sizes in comparison to 9x16 or full screen.

Weaver probably has some swing-away edge guides for the bigger Adler machines they sell in their industrial division. That includes the Adler 205-374 and probably its successor, the 969 ECO. I would check with @CowboyBob to see if he has one that will fit your machine, or the machine you're thinking about buying. If you buy a Cobra or Cowboy, the swing-away edge guide will be an option that will ship with the machine. My CB4500 also has a drop-down edge guide that is easier to use, because it flips up out of the way when not needed. The swing edge guide is normally attached to a T-bar mounting bracket, and is always in the way on the right side of the bracket, unless you loosen the bolt and pull it off.

I use edge guide presser feet on my walking foot machines that take Singer 111 type feet. I have them from 1/8 to 3/8 inch from the edge guide to the needle. I leave the inside foot on and just change the outside presser foot to whatever configuration I need. The edge guides are really good as long as you have a straight edge to follow. It gets a little dicey if there is a slope, or a thin edge. They have a problem on inside curves unless the radius is large, like on a vest armhole..