Wizcrafts

Forget the warm milk; I'll have an MGD and some Hank Jr. ;-) I misunderstood what you had purchased. If all you need is the motor and belt, a servo motor, like the FS-550s will do just fine. Your motor dealer will help you determine what length v-belt to buy. As for a clutch motor, if that was your preference, get one rated at either 1/3 or 1/2 horsepower at 1725 rpm. The smaller the motor pulley, the slower she sews and the higher the torque. In either case, you should get (included in the box) a wiring harness with power switch and mounting hardware. Ask for a small motor pulley, like 2" (50mm) diameter, for sewing leather projects. The Family Sew servo motors contain a cork brake. A slight press of your toe on the pedal releases the brake and allow you to hand wheel the machine. Go any further and the power is applied (no more free wheeling). Increasing the movement of the pedal increases the speed, to the maximum set by a top speed limiter knob. These motors are pretty easy to control from very slow to very fast and are plenty powerful. A clutch motor is normally freewheeling when not engaged and draws a lot of power at all times. The clutch can be feathered by your foot, like a car clutch, for slower speeds. But, they are touchier nowadays. Once you pass a critical point, it runs at 1725 rpm. The sewing machine will run at the ratio between the pulley on the motor and the pulley on the machine.

You can buy compensator feet where the left or right toe is spring loaded vertically. This allows the foot to ride over two different height layers as it secures the work. They come in a variety of widths to the center slot (not always just a hole). Some even come with a steel leaf spring edge guide. Look into buying a couple different compensator feet of different spacings and edge guide springs. For watch bands, I recommend starting with 1/16", 3/32" and 1/8" from the guide on the right to the center of the needle slot/hole. Piping feet probably won't work because the are meant to sew inside a round on the left of a strap and you want to sew along the outer edge of a raised but not round shape.

OldNSlow; Are you telling us that you bought just the machine head and nothing else? Why? To use the machine will require the additional purchase (and shipping) of a 20"x48" industrial sewing machine table, with the proper cutouts for your machine, a pair of machine pivot clamps to tilt the machine back, a back stop plug, "k-legs" steel frame, floor speed pedal assembly and linkage to the motor, a motor, with blind bolts, rubber pads, wiring and a switch box, a v-belt long enough to go to the flywheel and have plenty of adjustment range, a knee lever assembly, a flex lamp, a thread stand assembly, bobbin winder assembly, and a drawer assembly. Oh yeah, extra needles, bobbins, oiler and thread. When you are done buying these parts, please splain how you ended up saving money buying just the head.

You just handed your email address to every spammer and forum harvester bot in the World. Matters like this should be handled via the forum's private messages system. Only logged in members can access data posted in them. Anybody can see text posted in topic pages.

Depends on what type of feed your machine has. Is yours a straight stitch or walking foot machine?

To your knowledge, will this set fit on a 441 clone?

Don't forget to back off the clutch stop screw on the outside center of the flywheel. Set it to give the amount of free motion that gives your toe the best control over the clutch. All feet and ankles are not the same. Some pivot more than others before tension sets in.

I can pass on another tip for ULS owners. Did you know that you can motor-sew single stitches on your machine? Here's how... First, get married to the machine so you know her moods. Learn to feather the clutch for 1 or 2 stitches per second. This is a prerequisite to single stitching. You may have to back off the clutch screw almost all the way to get lots of free play before the asbestos clutch engages the flywheel. With the free play set to an amount you can feel with your foot, hold onto the hand wheel, then slowly press down on the Go pedal. There is a point where the clutch will begin to contact the inside of the flywheel. As you reach that point you should feel the clutch with your right hand on the wheel. Line up the awl, then take your hand off the wheel until it sews one stitch, then grab the wheel again. Doing this allows you to power through anything, at one stitch as needed speed. I used this technique a lot in repairs and when sewing fishtails onto gunbelts.

Can't you feather the clutch? I was able to feather mine down to about 1 or 2 stitches per second.

I agree with Geneva. I owned an LU-536 in 1989 and could not exceed #138 thread.

Concentrate your search on manually oiled compound feed walking foot machines (feed dog, needle and inside foot move together as outside foot goes up and down). The others are high speed cloth sewing machines not at all meant for leather or slow sewing.

The prices are typical for reconditioned walking foot machines. Are these machines worn out, or have they been serviced? If they are as is, offer about 1/3rd less, knowing in advance that you may have to replace the motor and belt to control the machine for leather use. Why? Because upholstery machines are normally geared 1:1 or faster and the motors are usually 1725 rpm clutch motors. Commercial upholstery sewing is typically done on long straight edges, often many feet long. Time is money in upholstery. So, they sew their machines pedal to the metal. If you are going to sew intricate leather goods, slow does it better. A servo motor will be easier to control than a clutch motor. Whatever the machine costs, if it has a clutch motor, you'll be paying another $130 or more for a new servo motor and shorter vbelt. Try to get a motor equipped with a 2" pulley.

Check out the Consew 206RB-5 and the Juki LU-563. Those will be the best for medium duty leather sewing.

I had one on the 56 Olds my cousin and I shared. It had the Rocket engine and fur dice. The knob was cool and we never got hurt by it.

I meant Barney Knob. Sorry for the mistake. It is a free-spinning add-on steering wheel knob that originated in the mid-1950s. They clamped around the wheel to let the driver spin the steering wheel one-handed, while his right arm was around his girlfriend. Barney Rubble may have had one on his steering wheel.

The over-the-edge stitches are done in one of two ways. 1: Using a machine with reverse, sew backwards from the middle, over the edge and stop with the needle down. Move the direction lever to forward and sew across the strap and over the other side, then reverse a couple of stitches to lock the thread. Twist the thread to the left to tighten it and cut it close to the leather with thread snips (curved Wiss snips work best). 2: Using a non reversing machine, sew across from the middle and over the edge. Stop with the needle down and the take-up lever on the upstroke. Raise the presser foot so it clears the leather. Carefully rotate the work 180º and sew back over the edge stitch, across, then over the other edge. Flip the work 180º again and sew in a stitch or two. I use method #2 on my non-reversing Singer walking foot machine, which is just the right machine for watch bands and the like.

Ed; If you live in Australia (the machine is in AU) this machine is a good option for a starter in the business. It has single feed, from an aggressive feed dog on the bottom. This is well suited to sewing horse blankets and saddle components, where the bottom being marked is not too important. Hand cranked machines take away one hand that would normally guide the material. You may tire your arm out quickly if you have to sew long straps, or doubled rows of stitching, or decorative stitching. Note, that the same type of machine is sold in the US and Canada by several of our member-dealers. A Barney wheel can be added to the hand wheel for unpowered sewing. In fact, Bob Kovar, of Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, recently posted a photo of a similar machine (CB3200) with a Barney wheel he added to hand spin it.

I suppose you can try backing off the top pressure to reduce the footprint depth. This might also require a reduction in both the top and bottom thread tensions.

Troy; If you are sewing bridle leather it is trivial to rub out the foot marks.

I have one inside presser foot for my Cowboy CB4500 that has the ridge on the bottom. It works great on straight stitch lines, but creates nasty impressions on certain turns. Sometimes the off-track impressions can be spooned out, other times, not so well.

As I pointed in before, make sure you are rotating the wheel towards you from the top, which is in a counterclockwise direction on the shaft, from the read of the machine. Modern sewing machines almost always rotate CCW. They will not pick up the bobbin thread or form stitches if you turn the wheel the wrong way. It is an easy mistake for a first time sewer to make.

There is a movable stopped under the check spring, secured by a flathead screw. Loosen the screw and adjust the metal stopped so the check spring stops a little higher up. Try again. The standard position is the arm of the spring faces more or less horizontal. Approximately how much upward travel is your needle making before the hook arrives over the eye?

Set the hook so it intersects inside the scarf of the needle, a bit over the top of the eye, after it has raised about 3/16" from BDC, with the stitch lever at zero. Next, pull out the thread and rethread the machine. Do not skip any part along the path. As experienced as I am, I have forgotten to go through the take-up lever once or twice! No take-up, no sew. Make sure the thread path is unobstructed from the spool onward. It must flow freely until it gets to the top tension disks. It must sit all the way down between those disks to maintain top tension. The little steel loop on the lower right of the disks can be repositioned slightly to get the thread well into the disks. From there, go down and once fully around the lower disks, the through the guide over then, then through the loop in the "check" spring* attached to that assembly. From there, up through the take-up lever, down through the clip guide, the wire guide, and the hole above the needle mount, then through the eye of the needle, from left to right. Before testing, lift the presser feet with the foot lever, they should go up high, at least 7/8" or higher (mine lift a bit over 1"). Pull on the top thread at the take-up lever and ensure that it flows freely. Lower the foot lifter and try pulling again. It should be hard to pull the thread, meaning you have (adjustable) top tension. Load bobbin thread counterclockwise, through the slit in the bobbin case. Adjust the spring tensioner for a modest pull on the bobbin thread. It should neither be jammed or totally loose. A smooth steady pull is best, generally speaking. Rotate the hand wheel toward you from the top, in a counterclockwise direction, manually (depress the speed pedal slightly to free the internal brake, if your motor has one). If you rotate the wheel the wrong way the machine will not sew! Watch as the needle goes down and starts back up. The hook should intersect the needle above the eye and you should see a loop form to the right. The hook should then pick off the loop as you continue rotating. the wheel. * The check spring's job is to maintain tension on the top thread as the take-up lever moves down. It should hold that tension until the needle contacts the top of the material. This is to keep the needle from piercing the top thread due to too much slack. OTOH, it must give up and stop before the needle starts back up, after BDC. Otherwise, no loop will be formed. The check spring is set by the dealer before the machine is shipped and is usually spot on. Report back. Over.

Yeah, shuttles are expensive to replace. I know. The bolt is where it is! That's why I loosen, then finger tighten it, so I can turn it with my fingers (in theory!). The eraser protects the shuttle when you need to hit it to move it.

Thanks for the correction Bob. It's my day off and the machine is 4 miles away from home. The whole deal is to have enough rotation between BDC and the arrival of the pointed hook to have it pick off the loop that forms on the right side of the needle. There is a best position for this to happen.