Wizcrafts

When I sew garment leather on my walking foot machine, I back off the bobbin spring tension first. I set it to have a modicum of pull and make sure it is smooth, not jerky. Next, using the best size needle for the thread, I balance the position of the knots using a combination of the top tensioner and the check spring. I have a rule of thumb for thread sizes. If the total thickness is 3 to 4 ounces, I use #69 bonded thread and a #18 leather point needle. For 5 to 8 ounces, I use #92 thread with a #19 needle. If you want to have a larger top thread, try #138 on top, with #92 in the bobbin, using a #22 leather needle. Back way off the top tension. The minimum thickness for this combination would be about 7 to 8 ounces. The lowered bobbin and upper tension lets the stitches lay flatter, without puckering the soft leather. You may need to lengthen the travel of the check spring to work with thin thread and light tensions. The tension on that spring may also need to be backed off to the least needed to have a full amount of spring travel.

If you're gonna wait for the clutch motor to burn up before buying a servo, you better be prepared to live a long, long time. I have a clutch motor from the 1930s or 40s that still works.

I sold mine for $200.00, no questions asked.

I sold my reconditioned Singer 15-91 last year. It struggled to sew through an 8 ounce belt. The built in pod motor groaned and started to smell bad. Avoid at all costs if your plan is to sew leather.

My 31-15 is from 1921 and threw fits when I tried sewing with #92 thread. It was all I could do to keep the bobbin cases from popping out of their housing. There are still some newer bobbin cases that want to rotate out of the fingers that hold them in position at the top tab on the case. I prefer the one inch roller on my straight stitch machines.

Look for a straight stitch Singer tailoring machine, like a 31-15, or 96k40. These go back to Noah's Ark. His wyfe was a seamstress and a singer, if legend serves me well. You can convert them into a roller foot machine for under $40.00. With this conversion you can sew garment leather, chap leather and suede. They max out with #69 bonded thread, which is all you need for thin leather projects. I used to have a Singer 96k40, from 1984 through 2004. It was my first industrial sewing machine. I used it to make leather vests for one year, until I eventually got a real walking foot machine. I currently keep a 31-15 at home for tailoring jobs.

I forgot to mention that these machines are meant for shoe and boot uppers sewing. Nowadays, most of us use them to repair ladies' purses and sew patches onto bikers' vests, mainly over pockets. There are no edge guides to ensure a straight stitch line. The feed is via teeth on the single presser foot. The 29-4 is the polar opposite of a production machine. It is a patcher and repairs machine only.

The 29-4 is century old now. If it was used normally in a shoe repair shop, it will probably have an awful lot of worn out parts. You won't know until you try it or buy it. The worse case is that it will only give 8 to 10 stitches per inch. That's horrible in leather sewing. Even worse than that would be so much slop in the driving pinion that it won't even pick off the thread loop and sew. Parts for the driving system are dear and not necessarily compatible with modern aftermarket parts. As for the 1/4 inch capacity, most patchers can manage that. There is a sliding block on the leaf spring on the back that controls the foot lift during operation. You will be limited to #92 bonded nylon thread. Even if the machine is pristine and sews its rated 5 to the inch, the dime size bobbins don't hold very much thread. You can probably sew up to 10 mens' belts per load, if you stick to #69 bonded thread in the bobbin.

Turek; You mentioned an interest in a CB3200 and also said you sometimes need to sew as little as 4 ounces (1/16"). The 3200 is a heavy duty harness machine and is not recommended for sewing that thinness of leather or thread size 69 that matches 4 oz leather. Unless you want to sew gun holsters, knife sheathes, saddlery, harness and heavy cases, this machine is just not gentle enough the sew thin material with thin thread. Once you move into the sewing aspect of leather work, more machines may be needed. Your first one should be a cylinder arm type. You can either buy a table top attachment, or have one made, or build one yourself. The CB227R is a very good choice and has reverse. It maxes out with #138 thread, which has 22 pounds tensile strength. I have sewn a lot of leather goods up to 1/4 inch thick with #138 thread (top and bottom). FYI: The CB3200, 3500, 4500 and 5500, like the Adler 205 and 969 series are all heavy duty harness and holster machines. They come into their own starting with #138 thread and going up. You would normally use #138 thread when sewing about 7 to 8 ounces, as in lined rifle slings and guitar straps. They have very large feed dogs that have huge slots for giant needles that can move off center in all directions. I have watched my CB4500 literally make a meal out of 2-3 ounce garment leather, as it got pushed down into the hole in the feed dog..OTOH, my standard upholstery grade walking foot machine handled it without any difficulty. As for your Tiger thread, at 1mm, the closest bonded nylon size is #554, which none of the 441 types can handle. To machine sew with #554 requires a Campbell Randall Lockstitch machine, or equivalent. The needle size would be the equivalent of a #30. The 441 type machines max out with a #27 needle. The Class 18 is a Cobra flat bed walking foot machine. It is an excellent choice if you don't need a cylinder arm.

There's not much future in buying obscure sewing machines, unless you know how to restore and adjust them and have missing or worn parts produced in a machine shop.

If you will be sewing thicknesses between 6 and 32 ounces, using thread sizes #138 - #346, a Cowboy CB3200 may be the perfect machine for you. It sells for a little more than what you wanted to pay, but it's worth it. It can sew with thread as thin as #92 and as heavy as #415. But, 10 - 12 ounce jobs are usually sewn with #207 thread, which is very strong. That's what I use on bridle leather belts.

I was going to mention the McKay machines, but, after watching a few videos, realized that they are not really meant for sewing sidewalls. McKays are chainstitch machines and rely upon overlaid insoles to hide the thread chains. If a member owns a McKay, perhaps they will chime in and tell us if the machine can sew sidewalls on sneakers.

Ed; Analyze how your check spring is installed. There will be some method of controlling the position of the spring at rest, as well as where the thread leave the disk around it. Additionally, there will be a screw in the body that when loosened, allows you to rotate the split shaft the spring rides on. Moving it clockwise usually tightens and ccw usually loosens the spring action. Your spring may have been set to minimum tension to control soft cotton garment thread. It is not a leather sewing machine by design.

That machine is a rebranded Chikon CK-563, a clone, made in Taiwan

Back off the bobbin case tension until it has an easy, smooth pull. Make sure there isn't a thread stub sticking out either end, which would interfere with smooth rotation of the bobbin. Reduce the top tension to balance the knots. Less bobbin tension makes for an easier pull on the top thread and will be less likely to rip the lining leather. I would not sew #277 any tighter than 5 to the inch if you are using an S point needle. These wedge or chisel shaped points slice the leather at the front and back of the center of the hole. A triangle or diamond point needle creates a rounder hole on the bottom, with a triangle shape on top. You can sew closer stitches with these needles. Finally, try using #207 in the bobbin. It lies flatter on the bottom and is easier to knot and pull up that #277.

Well equipped shoe shops would often have a pedestal mounted heavy duty Adler 30-something, or a Claes patcher, either costing about 5 or 6 thousand dollars new. They might have a small bobbin Singer patcher or two for lighter and tighter quarters work, like repairing purse straps and strap tabs, sewing close to toes in shoes, or sewing patches onto motorcycle vests.

First of all, I have never heard of this brand of machine. It appears to be a standard straight stitch machine with a horizontal axis hook. S.O.P. would be to insert the needle with the ribbed side on the left and the scarf on the right. The needle system should probably be 16x257. It should be threaded from left to right. You will need to hold back the starting threads or else the top thread may get pulled into the bobbin and get garbled up on the bottom of the material. I can't tell if you fed the top thread through the check spring, across/down around a bent guide, up to the take-up lever and down through any guides to the needle (left to right). Those things are imperative if the machine is going to sew. If it is threaded correctly, including the bobbin case having a smooth amount of tension on the bobbin thread, and the bobbin case is snapped into its cutout in the housing, and the top thread is ratted, then the timing, smoothness, or horizontal position of the hook is off. The hook should arrive above the eye on the upstroke, after the loop forms on the right side of the eye of the needle. If the hook arrives too soon or too late, there will be skipped stitches. If the hook splits the top thread loop, it rats. This could happen if the hook is misaligned sideways and splits the thread instead of picking it off. Another cause of ratted top thread is burrs on the hook, feed dog, or throat plate needle hole. Last, but not least, try varying the travel of the check spring. If it lets go too soon, the needle may split the thread as it meets the material. Increase the travel to correct this. There is a rounded stop bracket under the check spring. Loosen the screw in the bracket and tap the bracket away from the bottom of the spring, in its rest position. This lets the spring move farther down, increasing its travel. It should hold the top thread taut until the needle is past the material. It must let go and give slack before the loop is formed, or there won't be a loop to pick off!

To sew rawhide, crank down the pressure spring over the presser foot to keep the rawhide tightly in place. Use one size larger Tri point needle to resist side fumbling and use the double toe presser foot to secure both sides of the stitch line. The roller edge guide can help to keep the rawhide from moving to the right. So, if you normally sew with #277 thread and a standard #25 "S" point needle, try using a #26 triangle or diamond point for rawhide. You can also secure the layers using thin upholstery or shoe tacks along the designated stitch line, pulling them as you approach them. The edge guide will determine where the stitch line is on the outer edges.

It's safer to use a #26 Schmetz needle with #346 thread. You may need to increase the tension and lengthen the travel of the check spring to control the slack in that heavy of a thread. I normally run pretty strong tension on my check springs.

Your simplest option is to replace the pulley on the clutch motor with a smaller diameter type 3L pulley and a shorter v-belt to match the difference. The change from a 3" to a 2" pulley is 33% reduction in top speed. The larger the existing pulley, the greater the decrease will be with a 2" pulley. Measure the diameter of the motor shaft first to ensure that you buy the correct bore in the new pulley. If the existing shaft has a positioning key, make sure the new pulley is keyed as well. Sewing machine pulleys and belts are sold by all industrial sewing machine dealers I have ever heard of.

I do not recommend filing or sanding the teeth on patch machines. Those teeth are the only means of feeding leather. I have previously sewn hundreds of items on an Adler 30-70 and learned to either back off the pressure spring as much as practical, or smooth the marks with a modeling tool, or just live with them. I do the same thing on my two Singer patchers, but try to avoid sewing veg-tan on them as much as possible. In fact, they are mostly used to sew patches onto bikers' vests, or repair purses. I have much better feeding walking foot machines for sewing veg-tan leather. There isn't a lot of wiggle room for needles when you sew with #138 thread. While you can use a #140/22 needle, it is often harder to pull the leather up into the tight hole. I always preferred a Schmetz #160/23 leather point needle when sewing #138 thread on the Adler patcher. I do not normally use anything larger than #92 in my current Singer patchers. But, on those few occasions, I use a #23 needle and reverse the throat plate to the larger hole side. PS: You might try lowering the lift of the foot. This may reduce the marking.

You probably saved yourself a hundred dollars or more in repairs or replacement parts. As for the Techsew 563, I can't find any mention of it on the interwebs, or the Techsew website. Are you sure about the make and model?

I use a #26 (Metric #220) leather point needle to sew with #346 thread, top and bottom. That needle opens a decent size hole for the large knots to fill. You can get by with a #25/200 needle if you use a smaller size in the bobbin (e.g.; #207, 277). The hole will be pretty tight with a #25 needle, which is why using smaller bobbin thread makes it easier to pull the knots up into the leather. While I mostly sew heavy stuff with #277 thread, when I use #346 on the top and bottom, it is usually in projects 1/4 inch thick and up.

I use my CB4500 to sew bullet loops using the right toe presser foot, reversing on an upward-right angle to the top of the next stitch line, which I mark with points or dots on the top and bottom of parallel soft lines made with wing dividers. The sewing is in an inverted "N" pattern, As you work you way up the belt, you will appreciate the length of the arm on the CB4500.

This suggests that there is a problem with the size and or duration of the loop that's formed by the ascending needle. Perhaps your check spring needs to be adjusted to get a better loop.