Wizcrafts

I just reread the description of this machine. If you intend to use it for its intended purpose - sewing only cloth and vinyl fabrics - then #554 will be doable. These materials don't offer the friction and resistance to penetration that leather does. Also, the teeth on the feet and feed dog won't mark cloth like they would on leather. In fact, they help feed long pieces of material that would slip too easily on a leather sewing machine. Since there is very little resistance from cloth, a #28 round point needle will probably do okay sewing #554 thread into a stack of thick buffing wheels, parachutes, climbing or tow ropes, etc. None of the aforementioned applies to sewing any leather tougher than chrome tanned. But, you'll still need to exceed the minimum thickness to hide the knots. 8 to 10 mm would do it.

Machine ratings on paper and in reality are often two completely different things. This will become obvious if you try to sew with #554 bonded nylon thread on a 441 clone. This thread is so large that you will probably need to use a #30 needle to bring the knots up (good luck with that). The pressure spring will probably not hold down the leather under such lifting force. It will need to be replaced with a stronger coil spring. Even if it does hold the material down, the shuttle clearances will need to be readjusted to clear that large diameter thread. The holes in the inside foot and the feed dog may need to be enlarged, unless the needle hits dead center. Enlarging the hole in the inside foot may weaken it to the point of breaking. You might need to use a "blanket foot" set which has more metal around the hole on the inside alternating foot and on the outside presser foot. More metal on the leather equals better hold down. So, if you intend to use #554 thread, ask the prospective seller to sew that size thread into a stack of leather 1/2 inch thick and email you a photo or video of the results. FYI: the minimum thickness needed to fully bury the knots of #554 thread is approximately 3/8 inch. If this will be your intended primary thread size, consider buying a Campbell Lockstitch needle and awl machine instead. You would need to order it setup to sew with #554 in advance to ensure the best results (heavier springs). FWIIW: I have owned two Union Lockstitch machines and both had trouble holding down 1/2 inch plus stacks of hard leather when I tried using #554 thread. The needle needed was a #5 and the awl a #6, which is the diameter of a large porch nail. Just withdrawing the awl sometimes lifted the leather unless the foot pressure coil spring was screwed almost all the way down. Then there was the fight holding it down during the viscous take-up cycle.

I have a long body Singer 139w109, which is basically a stretched out 111w153. I have a Family Sew FS-550s motor with a 50mm pulley feeding the machine. Sometimes I have to sew as slow as she can go. Other times I have a long straight run and I'll crank up the speed and floor it. There's a certain excitement sitting behind a 60 or 70 year old walking foot machine that is roaring down the tracks making 90 miles an hour (actually, about 30 stitches per second), with smoke coming off the titanium coated needle! I oil the machine every day, plus the bobbin case every bobbin change.

Eric; I'd like to put my name in for that machine if they decide to retire it!

This is a wonderful tutorial Uwe. Thanks for creating it and posting it here. Also, thanks for also posting the text in German for our members in Germany.

This topic to which you just responded is 7 years old. I don't know if the person you mentioned is still a member or not. But, I did find a link to the vintage Adler manuals and parts lists. The Adler 105 is among those covered. Good hunting sir!

This has a standard compound feed walking foot mechanism. It sews firm materials ranging from about 2 ounces up to about 24 ounces, with thread sizes 69 through 138. The seller may be able to tweak the shuttle clearances to let it clear #207 thread. This would probably make it sloppy and iffy with smaller thread.

I must say that the bottom material handling limit on a walking foot machine would be about 2 ounces. It is not good for sewing very thin cloth or linings. These items require a single flat foot, drop feed, tailoring machine.

You should call Bob Kovar (Toledo Industrial), at 866-362-7397, and ask him these questions. He has these machines setup in his shop and can test them for you. He probably already knows their range of material thickness and thread handling capabilities. I do know that the CB227R is a traditional walking foot machine, similar is basic design to the Singer 111w153 and w155. I have a long body version of this machine and use it almost daily to sew everything from a couple ounces of pigskin, to zippers in jackets, to patches on vests, to wallets and phone cases. It uses thread sizes 69, 80 (cotton/polyester jeans thread), 92 and 138 with ease. The maximum thickness it will sew through is 3/8 inch. IHTH

The problem was not visibly obvious. It manifested itself when I got the machine home, powered up the motor and floored it for a couple of seconds. The bobbin case rotated out of its mooring bracket and spun with the shuttle. This caused a lot of damage. As I began the repairs I discovered that some bobbin cases held their locked in position better than others, which popped out easily..

No matter what the brand and transport mechanism, narrow presser feet will always leave a more visible track than a wider set. This is the physics of downward pressure applied to differing surface areas. Further, if the presser and alternating feet on a walking foot machine have sharp squared bottom edges, the tracks are more obvious than a set that is chamfered and buffed to a shine. Hard leather is more resistant than soft top grain leather is to marking from the feet. Dry is more resistant than moist leather. What can be done to reduce the marking on top? Use the smallest needle and thread that gets the job sewn properly. Bonded nylon and polyester thread is rated in pounds of pull before it breaks. If you are sewing a wallet, you can do it with 11 pound test #69 bonded nylon thread, using a #18 leather point needle. You could also choose to use #138 thread and a #23 needle, requiring much higher overall tension and foot pressure. Sure, it looks more impressive. But, it takes more ergs of energy to get it done. So, by using the least good size of thread and needle you can also reduce the thread tensions and the foot pressure. Less marking, but still well stitched. QED.

I use my right toe presser foot to sew shaped holsters and cases. I sometimes switch to the left toe once I clear the inside stitch line and move to the perimeter. I just raise the presser foot with the foot lifter, unscrew the right foot, screw on the left foot and proceed.

The only way you can even have a chance of getting bridle leather to flow through a binder is if you have one custom built for a sample of the leather. I would find a custom attachment builder (maybe Weaver Leather?), then mail them a long strip of leather cut to the exact width you want, but run through a powered splitter to bring it down to 1.5 or 2 ounces maximum. The flesh side may need to be treated to make it more slippery, to reduce binding in the folder. You should not expect a double fold binder. Singe fold is the best you can hope for. I had this done around 1989 for a custom double fold right angle binder for cloth tape that had to be sewn onto tricky material. Back then it cost $400.

Several years ago I bought a very, very old Singer 31-15 from a Craigslist seller whose Mother was supposedly the original owner. It was a two hour drive and I arrived late and only turned it on briefly to verify that it wasn't seized and that it sewed manually. Big mistake. The shuttle, race and bobbin case mounting bracket were badly worn. The bobbin case rotated in the housing when I powered it on at home and jammed the shuttle. I had to waste a lot of time and money on all the required replacement parts and adjustments to get it to sew reliably. Now, it is just fine. Purchase price: $250 Replacement parts: about $100 Time to replace and adjust to get it sewing: 8 hours Loss: about $300 vs a properly maintained and working machine.

This machine came up recently in another discussion. The seller falsely advertised it as being a saddle maker's machine. While it may or may not have once been in a saddlery shop, it would have only been used for sewing garments and linings. FYI: Tailoring machines have shorter needles than walking foot machines, thus, cannot sew as thick into anything. Tailoring machines, aka: Straight Stitch,feed material by feed dogs on the bottom, only. They can be retrofitted with a roller foot conversion to sew leather vests and light chaps. Cannot be converted into walking foot machines. Can't handle thread heavier than bonded 92. Many can't even deal with that size of thread and max out at #69. Have light duty springs for the tension and foot pressure. They will have trouble holding down leather due to its density. Tend to have not so long maximum stitch length. 6 to the inch is about normal for these machines, whereas walking foot machines often sew longer than 4 to the inch. Many straight stitch machines are equipped with oil pumps and must be run at very high speed to distribute the oil. Sewing slowly all the time will allow them to run dry on top and bind or even seize. They excel at sewing linings used inside vests, chaps, jackets and hats. They are best suited to sewing cloth.

Your photo of the presser feet also shows a portion of your ancient sewing machine. What model is it? Knowing this may help identify the differences between those feet. One thing I can tell you is that the feet you have for that machine are not normally seen on modern industrial sewing machines. They mount with a sideways tab (90 degrees offset with the center line of the foot), rather than an inline tab like modern walking foot machines.

That motor has an external clutch and I can't see how it gets adjusted. There must be some bolt that moves the clutch closer or farter away from the motor. As for the drop rods, they are already installed at the end of the control arm. But, the output pulley is humongous! I would recommend getting a pulley with a diameter of 50mm, for slow speed, high torque operation. Gotta go.

I see you live in Tennessee. Nick-O-Sew is located in your State. They sell all manner of garment making machines and have lots already setup on tables. I'm fairly certain that they can help you get the right machine, with reverse and the needle gauge you need. Go for something new and under warranty if you can. Otherwise, choose a brand whose replacement parts don't require a bank loan, such as the Adler and Pfaff do.

Of the above listed items, #1 is important when you change height from the collar and other major seams to lesser thicknesses. The outer foot stays up on the higher layer and if the inside foot doesn't have enough alternating distance, the bottom layer will lift with the ascending needle and skip stitches.

I am not going to address any of the mechanical problems your machine may or may not have. Rather, I am going to pass on my own solutions to similar problems I encounter when I sew jackets and install zippers that have double sided leather tape. Increase the alternating height of the feet to the maximum before the bottom of the needlebar hits the top of the inside foot, at the height of the thick collar seams. Increase the pressure spring action of the outside presser foot. You need to force the spongy layers of garment leather down all the way. Switch to titanium coated system 135x16 needles. Titanium resists the glue on the tape clogging the eye. Use a size larger needle than you think is necessary. The larger eye lets the thread move a little easier through the goop. Increase the travel on the check spring to keep tension of the top thread until the needle completely pierces the material.

The bobbin thread should have a smooth steady pull, and not be binding inside the bobbin case. Once you get the bobbin tension loosened, reduce the top tension to balance the knots inside the leather. Clutch motors have an adjustment bolt on the front, on the left forward face. Backing off this (nut and) bolt gives more free play before the clutch pad engages. This may allow your foot to get accustomed to the action of the clutch. Once you get the clutch adjusted for your toe, you should be able to feather it down to 1 stitch per second. The smaller motor pulley definitely slows down a machine, always. Once you drop the speed that way, it stays slow. A 50 mm pulley will slow it down a little less and still add more punching power.

Yes, but that is the maximum size. Use #19 or 20 needles with #92 thread.

Try playing with the travel of the check spring. Its job is to allow a minimum of slack in the top thread until the needle contacts the material. Then, it's supposed to let the top thread go slack as the take-up lever moves down. When skipped stitches start happening for no apparent reason, assume that the needle is at fault and replace it. Finally, increase the pressure on the presser foot. If perchance the inside or outside foot allows the material to pucker upwards as the needle ascends, you'll get a skipped stitch. Sometimes, the pressure is adequate, but the inside foot doesn't have enough alternating travel to keep pressing down after you leave a seam. This allows the material after the seam to lift, causing a skipped stitch. If in doubt, remove the throat plate and watch the thread as the needle ascends from BDC. It should form a loop on the scarf side, above the eye. The hook should pick off the loop. If the timing is too far advanced or retarded, the hook can miss the loop. The check spring can affect the loop. Good luck! It's an old machine. There's bound to be slop in the moving parts that may cause the stitching problems.

It looks like somebody has attached a coat hanger to the presser foot screw! The only reason I can imagine for doing that would be if the knee lever or foot lift pedal is missing or not working properly. Weird.

Without researching the TackySew machine, all I can advise is that if you intend to use it to sew slowly, go for a manually oiled machine, like the 31-15. If one of the newer machines is also manually oiled and complete and working, buy it. The high speed straight stitch machines have actual oil pans and oil sump pumps. They must be run at very high speed to distribute the oil. Manually oiled machines are safer to run at slow speeds all the time.