Wizcrafts

When did this start happening? Is the top thread going through all the upper guides, tensioner, check spring and the take up lever? Are you using the correct needle system and size? Did you try to sew hard leather before it stopped picking up the bobbin thread?

I forgot to mention that many of those 5/8" Sulky straps were double edge stitched, 1/8" apart, all without an edge guide (aside from the operators hands) We'd sew all the way around then start the second row 1/8" in from the first row. Fun....

If the machine has been sitting idle for a while, completely oil it, from the top and bottom, and apply light gear grease to the interacting toothed gears. Run it to distribute the oil then wipe off any that drips down on the feet and needle. Don't forget to oil the bobbin winder shaft. Check the v-belt for about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of slack in the middle and adjust if it's too loose or tight. Make sure the belt isn't fraying. Replace it if it is. Exploding v-belts can harm you. Set the bobbin tension screw for a modicum of tension against the bobbin thread. Make sure you load the bobbins into the bobbin case so they unwind counterclockwise. This means that the bobbin thread makes are sharp bend as it feeds through the slot, to the hole where the tension spring affects it. You only need a smooth steady pressure. Not loose, not tight. Definitely not binding from left over starting thread stubs! Feed the top thread through all of the guide holes, around the top of the upper tension disks, down and around and into the check spring, up to the take-up lever, then down through all guides to the left side of the needle. Thread from left to right, with the cutout or scarf above the needle's eye facing due-right. Hold back the top thread and rotate the wheel counterclockwise to catch and bring up the bobbin thread. Raise the feet, insert the work, lower the feet, hold back the starting threads and commence sewing. If the lockstitch knots are visible on top, reduce the top tension adjustment nut or knob. If the knots are showing on the bottom, increase the top tension. If you have trouble balancing the position of the knots, try using a smaller needle size for that thread combination. It is always easier to balance the knots when you use the same size, color and brand of thread in the bobbin and on top. That should get you back into the ballgame.

Brandy; You can tell the difference between a clutch and a servo motor simply be plugging it in and pressing/throwing the power button/switch. A clutch motor will begin spinning with a whine and blow warm air out of the cooling vents as it reaches its rated full speed (either 1725 or 3450 rpm). It will power the machine as you engage the clutch with the floor pedal. The only real control is a large hex head bolt that positions how far the pedal has to move before the brake lets go and the clutch engages. It will also have an adjustable spring that determines how much the control arm hanging down resists the floor pedal's weight. A servo motor won't make a sound or spin when you simply switch it on. It will only turn over and make a sound when you press the floor pedal to power the motor. It may have lights and buttons, or a rotary knob to limit its speeds. Both types of motor will also have a threaded bolt, with over and under locknuts, used to control the slack in the drive belt.

I once had a gig sewing on a Randall Lockstitch Machine that used 4 cord, left twist, glazed Barbour's Irish linen thread, run through Ceroxylon liquid stitching wax, sewn at 10 stitches per inch. It was used all day, 5 days a week, to sew up to 5/8" thick straps that run from sulkies to harness race horses. My fingers were the edge guides. It sewed at approximately 300 stitches per minute, pedal to the metal. Tapokita Tapokita.

I was in a similar situation in 2013 or 14; I can't remember which, I sewed at home part time and had a Union Lockstitch that I rebuilt over a 2 year period. I invested over $1000 in parts, thread, needles and awls, in addition to the cost of obtaining it in the first place. By the time I was finished modding the machine, it sewed up to 7/8 of an inch. During the summer of 2012, I moved into a shared, one room - 280 square foot leather business with a fellow crafter. By that time I had also acquired a brand new Cowboy CB4500. There was only room for one of the big machines and the Cowboy won. So, I put the Union Lock up for sale and it went fairly quickly. I used the money from that sale to fund a used Singer 139 long arm walking foot machine and a Fortuna skiver. I brought home the standard size walking foot machine that was in the shop and replaced it with the Singer 139. The skiver was on a short table that Bob Kovar custom built for me. It fit between a display cabinet and the wall behind it, which amounted to something like 32 inches. As much as I miss the awesomeness of the Union Lockstitch machine, with its needle and awl system that I had adjusted to space station accuracy, I make more use of the two machines that replaced it than I would have if I'd kept it. Sometimes you have to let go of machines that aren't truly needed and move on to others that are more useful for the work at hand. As things turned out, last summer we took over a second adjoining room that had even more footage than the original. It is loaded with machines and a cutting table, plus rows of storage cabinets and stacked drawers. I could have easily fitted the ULS into the new room; now dubbed the sewing room. But, that's not how it played out in my timeline.

Yep, the driving pinion needs to be replaced. In theory, if you replace everything under the arm with well fitting but not binding parts, as well as the foot driving cam that lives under the revolving head bushing, the machine should sew like a brand new old one. You can probably buy all these parts, plus a new take-up lever and a new bobbin case, for around $300.00.

Another cause of skipped stitches can be glue or double sided leather tape clogging the eye of the needle.

Open the throat plate and see how far you can rotate or wiggle the shuttle with your fingers. If it has 1/8" or more of slack, the gears are worn out. If that's the case and the machine was using anything thicker than #92 thread, you can guess that the oversize thread wore it out.

If your patcher has a ~7/16" hole in the lower section of the front right of the head, you probably have an adjustable timing model. You can stick a large flat bade screw driver through the hole and angle it into the large slotted eccentric bolt that couples the mechanism from the top to the racks inside the arm. You may need to loosen the locknut on the inside of the adjuster couplings first. The offset bolt allows for advancing or retarding the hook timing by about 1/8 inch. If you don't have this adjustment in your patcher, you'll need to replace some or all of the gears and racks under the left end of the arm.

You asked if I use #69 thread in my patchers. Absolutely! I only use #69 thread in my 29k71, which is a small bobbin, short arm machine. Even with light weight thread, the driving pinion gear and bearing have worn to the point of needing to be replaced. The machine is out of service until the parts arrive. Fortunately, I also have a long arm, large bobbin, Singer 29k172 patcher. I normally use #92 thread in it. Now, it has to do double duty with #69 and #92. I have compromised and use a #19 needle that handles both thread sizes. I just load some bobbins #69 thread and others with #92. It pays to have 4 or more bobbin cases and dozens of bobbins for different colors and sizes of thread.

You should try loosening the thread tensions to the minimum needed to bury the knots. Start with the bobbin by backing off the little tension spring screw until there is just a modicum of resistance when you pull the thread out of the bobbin case. Sew a test run and reduce the top tension to position the knots in the center of the leather, or at least out of sight inside the bottom layer. Use a #18 needle with #69 thread, and a #20 needle with #92 thread. The one size larger than needed holes will allow you to reduce the thread tensions and still get the knots well up inside the leather. The only remaining adjustment that your 29-4 has available it to loosen the little leaf spring on top of the take-up lever. Back it off a bit to get a little extra slack thread on top. There will be a spot where you will see benefits. Going beyond that point will make matters worse and may let the needle pierce the thread and separate it. Note; I am not referring to the long leaf spring on the back. This spring is on the very top and rides on the take-up lever to assist it with pulling up the top thread between stitches.

Possibly, as long as your thread comes off the spool without binding, isn't like a coil spring as it unravels, and you have well balanced top and bobbin tensions. The knots (actually interlocked stitches) may be visible from both sides, even if they are placed at dead center. That is because of the combined diameter of two interlocked #346 threads being over 1/16th of an inch. The #26 needle hole is fairly large and makes it harder to hide these big knots. I think you'll have much better success if you limit #346 thread to projects over 5/16 of an inch. I personally don't use #346 in anything under 3/8".

Nope. The original owner had it on the table and I have no problem with it being there. The only reason I can think of for having a hold down tab is to keep the bed from lifting if the knee lever rod raises too high. This used to happen to me when I shared one table with three machine heads. I would try to reposition the knee lever for to each machine. But, if the bent rod was too high it would sometimes lift the front of the body up out of the housing cutout in the table. The lock down tab is also useful for transporting a fully assembled machine and table.

The heavier the top thread, the sooner you will wear out the teeth on the driving pinion gear. As this worsens, you'll notice that there is more slop in the shuttle carrier and the timing will become erratic under load. After a while the hook will become too retarded to effectively pick up the thread loop on the needle and you'll start seeing more and more skipped stitches as you sew. Another negative impact from using too heavy of a top thread is the extra pressure it puts on the feed cam for the foot, as it drags the leather against the force of the stitches. It will cause it to wear faster than otherwise if you had thinner thread and less overall thread tension. This will cause the stitch length to suffer. FWIIW: When I had a 29-4 and completely rebuilt it due to the aforementioned experiment gone bad, I limited it to #69 bonded thread, top and bottom. Less thread tension = less foot pressure required = less wear on the driving cam and shuttle drive components. It is also less stressful on the take-up lever.

That machine is absolutely not a leather sewing machine for the purposes normally discussed in this forum. It is a vinyl and webbing sewing machine that somebody has used to butcher a leather knife sheath. The motor on these mini-walking foot machines is rated at 150 watts under full load and develops most of its power at higher running speeds. They have a tiny 2 speed reducer pulley between the motor and machine. If the machine has that much trouble starting in a fairly thin leather knife pouch, like in the above video, it won't stand a chance trying to penetrate a quarter inch of veg-tan. It usually takes a 1/2 horse power, 550 watt motor, or stronger, to penetrate 16 ounces of veg-tan leather from a dead stop. You basically need a motor that is 5 times more powerful than the one in that Sailrite machine.

I have a part that resembles that to hold down the front of my Singer 42-5 flatbed sewing machine. The tab goes on top, while the rod goes through a hole in the table. The butterfly nut tightens it under the table. You loosen the nut and rotate the tab away from the edge of the machine bed to tilt the machine backwards to oil and lube it.

I did the same thing to a Cobra inside foot I bought. After grinding off the groover tab and buffing it to a high polish, I re-positioned the now shorter inside foot so it meets the leather with the point of the decending needle. All if well when that happens.

I am worried that this experiment isn't going to end well for our gentle new member...

Try to find out the exact length of the belt for your machine. If it has the same total circumference as a 41 tooth belt, it should fit on the cogs.

The seller is fibbing. That is a garment sewing machine with a flat foot. It may lift high enough to sew 1/4" or so of cloth, but not leather tack. It will not allow the use of heavy nylon thread either. It will probably sew vinyl and canvas with #69 thread, maximum. But, due to its only having bottom feed, via feed dogs, it will slip if the length or weight of the material is greater than its ability to secure it. The solution to this would be to first replace the feed dog and throat plate with a heavy duty tooth set, then crank down the foot pressure spring to prevent unwanted slippage. Most marine and awning sewing is performed on walking foot machines. You may want to look into a Consew 206RB-5 instead. It has compound (triple) feed and can sew up to 3/8 inch of material, with up to #138 bonded thread.

Those old link and cloth drive belts are sometimes salvaged from machines bought at factory auctions. Check with Gregg at Keystone Sewing or Bob Kovar at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. One of them may have a 153w101 carcass with a decent belt they can pull and sell to you.

All I can see from the photo is that it's a straight stitch machine with a reverse lever and stitch length dial. The AC cord sticking out from the bottom is curious. Did the previous owner mount a home sewing machine motor onto the back of the machine?.Or is it just laying there by accident? My guess is that this is a tailoring machine. A model number will help get more details about it and its cloth handling capabilities and speed. FYI: Tailoring class machines are not meant to sew anything thicker than garment leather without sometimes major modifications.

The Rex 188 types are upholstery sewing machines. The only leather normally sewn on them is unmarkable, chrome tanned upholstery hides, about 4 to 6 ounces thick. I wouldn't even think about using this type of feed system to sew a leather holster. But, if you are into Kydex or ballistic nylon, it is the perfect machine for the job. Since you aren't familiar with this machine, it is a dual feed machine with teeth on the presser foot and feed dog. The outside, or presser foot is driven in sync with the feed dog to pull the material through, on top and bottom. This helps when sewing long sections of couch materials, drapery, sails, animal leads, vinyl banners, tents and boat or truck covers. If you intend to machine sew holsters, start your search with compound feed walking foot machines, with totally smooth bottom feet. A Cowboy CB3200 is an excellent machine for this type of work. It sews up to a solid 1/2 inch of veg-tan or bridle, or latigo leather, with up to #415 bonded nylon thread and up to #27 needles. This is way beyond the capabilities of any upholstery class sewing machine. It is distributed by Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, owned by Bob Kovar and his Son, Bob Jr. They always perform an expert setup and sew off before they ship a machine. My Cowboy CB4500 holster sewing machine came from Toledo Industrial with a sample stack of leather over 3/4 inch thick, sewn off with #277 thread. I have managed to sew one holster on it that was a solid 7/8 inch thick along the outer edge, using #346 Superior brand bonded nylon thread and a #26 needle.

Belt play is usually measured half way between two end points. This means about half the distance from the motor pulley to the machine pulley. In practice, I usually set the play at table level, at the belt slot, behind the bobbin winder wheel. If you don't have a bobbin winder on the table, just figure where the 50% point is and push inwards on the belt. If it deflects between 1/2 and 1 inch, it has enough slack. If the belt slips, tighten it until it stops slipping.