Wizcrafts

Cleanview; Make sure you stock multiple sizes of needle for your machine. Use #23 leather point with #138 thread. Use a #24 with #207 and a #25 with #277 thread. Using the smallest needle that allows the thread to feed smoothly also produces a tighter stitch. Conversely, if you have trouble bring the knots up into the leather, one size larger needle pokes a wider hole and the knots have less competition from the leather itself. FYI: Generally speaking, there are no leather point needles for the 441 clones under size 23. That's not to say nobody produces them. They are just not commonly stocked by dealers. That means that you will have to use regular "round/sharp" point needles for sizes 22 and under, to sew with thread sizes under 138. They produce more friction inside leather and lay a slightly different stitch line.

Try Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. I bought some parts there for my patchers (more modern models though). Also, try Techsew, in Montreal, or Keystone Sewing.

Sometimes, when one is burdened with an ancient sewing machine like Gunz has, the best way to obtain replacement parts for worn or missing ones is to buy another identical machine in working condition. This is especially true of the ancient 29-4 or earlier model patchers.

JLS is right. The lifter chain on my machine is inside, between the axle and the body. Make sure that with the arrangement you now have that the chain allows the foot to go all the way up and all the way down. The crank that the chain attaches to on top must not be interfered with by the axle. The floor lift pedal should go all the way down, starting with the heel down. There should only be a small amount of free motion before the lifter engages and begins lifting the foot. The maximum lift is supposed to clear the bottom of the needle. Sometimes that doesn't quite happen. It only becomes an issue if you need to sew 7/8 inch of leather. If the foot lifter chain twists, or makes a sharp angle from the hole in the base, it could bind. Keep the links in line with each other and try to maintain the straightest line feeding up.

I thought that the rod in the back looked engaged. Let the foot down all the way. If it binds, twist the top adjuster to free it up. The lowered presser lifter should allow the outside to to go all the way down to the throat plate.

If the threads in the flywheel are stripped, rather than the steel screw, you'll either have to re-tap them oversize and find a new matching set screw, or force some liquid thread repair into the threads, let it harden, and tap them to the original metric size. If that doesn't work, a replacement flywheel can be purchased from Techsew.

I will photograph the top tension area of my CB4500 Monday afternoon, when I go back into my shop. It is obvious that the disks are being held open when they shouldn't be. A couple of side shots of a normal setup should help the OP figure out if something is just assembled wrong, or bent. First, that crank with the split on the bottom normally sits completely under the tension disks and only separates then when you raise the feet via the hand lifter knob or foot lifter pedal. However, if the presser bar is binding in the top pressure spring adjuster (the one on the very top, with the hollow threaded screw), it can hang up higher than normal. Twist the pressure adjuster a little and see if the presser foot drops down some more. If the hole in the adjuster was drilled off of dead center, binding could happen. Emory cloth, or a close fit drill bit may clear up that alignment problem. I had to do that to my machine's pressure adjuster. Until then, second first problem I see in Cleanview's photo is that the thread guide seems to be up too high. It is even possible that the guide is stopping the separator block from letting go. That happened to me once. When users remove the faceplate to oil the innards, or to reposition the presser bar or needle bar, we sometimes forget to align the split in the bottom of the tension release crank. I did that two days ago. For a couple of jobs I didn't clue in on why the tension wasn't releasing when I floored the foot lifter pedal. Doh!

Have you contacted Techsew for a replacement screw? They sell them.

I don't have a 205, but did have a 204-374 for a while. I seem to recall that the check spring was mounted onto a split threaded shaft that can be loosened and turned one way or the other. One direction tightens the spring. You should be able to find that out. Give it enough spring action to keep the thread under tension. Then set the bottom stop to control the travel for well placed knots. Check springs can be too loose or too tight for a given size and stiffness of thread. An overly tight spring can actually override your top tension adjustment, or at least add to it. I try to balance mine to work well with #138 thread, without overriding the top tensioner too much. It then works fine with #207 and #277. #346 might need more spring action though. I have to loosen the spring to use #92 thread. I hope this helps.

When sewing thick stacks of leather, timing becomes much more critical. The hook arrives at a different place in reverse than in forward. My guess is the it arrives sooner and your loop has not fully formed yet. Try retarding the timing a few degrees. Another thing to verify is the height of the needle bar. If for any reason at all the needle bar has been pushed upward, your timing will be off. You can try rotating the needle slightly to aim the loop towards the oncoming hook. That means turn it to towards the back on the right-eye side. Thick leather and previous stitches will deflect the needle. A deflected needle is either closer or farther away from the scarf above the eye than when setup with no material. The check spring travel may need to be dinked with to keep the top thread under tension longer.

Maybe your thread is twisty. This does happen from time to time. Twisty thread loops over posts and guides until it binds in something. Try this and see if it helps: Remove the top thread Go to the spool on the thread stand and let the thread hang loose If it coils hard, twist it in the opposite direction one or two turns. Feed the end through the nylon guide above the cone Feed the thread through the top hole in the top post in the top Make 1 turn toward the back Feed it through the bottom hole so it points to the left If you have a lube pot, feed through its holes, in and out Thread the rest of the way as per instructions with machine, or on YouTube Adding silicon thread lube to the lube pot also helps subdue twisty thread. All this may add to your top tension and bring the knots up too high. Compensate first by backing off the top tension adjuster, then the secondary adjuster. The last one to adjust is the bobbin tension, which should have a smooth pull at medium force, depending on the thickness and stiffness of the work.

Andrew. You should know that even if you were to come across a Randall, you'd just end up trading or selling it to me. Just skip the step and have them send it here.

Sir, you need to learn to use Google search to get info on sewing machines. It will save you time and probably a lot of money you are about to waste. The Lewis 200 is a button sewer for cloth coats and shirts. It cannot sew anything but button shanks to garments. It is not a leather sewing machine.

I rethread with either #92 (#21 needle), or 138 (#23 needle) for such thin leathers. The tensions need to be reduced, as per my recent tips in the sticky topic called Tips for your 441 Sewing Machines (by Cobra Steve). Backing off the top pressure spring lets the thinner material move more easily. You can adjust the inside foot to meet the top just with or after the needle to balance the F/R stitch lengths.

A few months ago I replied to someone about getting the reverse stitches to line up with the forward ones on his walking foot machine. The simplest solution is to readjust the position of the inside foot so it hits the top layer just as or after the point of the needle hits it. I sometimes forget to change this foot timing on my CB4500 and when it is balanced for thin leather, the stitches don't always reverse into the same holes in thicker stacks. There is another trick I learned to balance forward and reverse on 441 machines. If the reverse stitches are longer than forward, loosen the bottom screw on the stitch length/direction indicator plate. Unscrew the top screw and hold it so it remains in the hole in the plate. Pull back on the top of the plate to gain some clearance from the body. Slide a small washer over the end of the screw on the inside of the plate. Screw it back onto the body. This shortens just the reverse length setting and often corrects for inside shaft adjustments are aren't so easy to make.

I have two patchers. One has a long arr and large bobbin; the other a short arm small bobbin. The small machine is mostly used to sew patcher over pockets on vests or small mending jobs. I use the long arm machine for various projects. I usually restrict both machines to T70 (US #69) bonded nylon. However, I do occasionally run #92 in the bigger patcher only. Today, I used it as an up-the-arm sewer for a pair of Santa boots I enlarged for a customer. Occasionally, I use the patchers to sew new zippers into purses, or to reenforce loose tabs for purse straps. I almost never use a patcher for any manufacturing project. However, if they, or only one of them was all I had to sew with, I would find a way. For instance, I cannot maintain much of a straight line on a patcher. But, if I was to first cut a groove in the edges of the leather, I could probably follow it. I used to sew for a good friend in the area who's main machine was an Adler 30-70 motorized patcher. Compared to my Singer patchers, it was built like a HumVee. He threaded it with #138 bonded nylon thread from Weaver Leather, top and bobbin. Sometimes, we preloaded a dozen bobbins for big runs of rifle slings and guitar straps. All the edges were pre-grooved and having a real 1/2 horsepower motor driving it, with excellent foot pedal control, allowed for two hands on the work at all times. It yielded a solid 5 to the inch, at 16ozs, and 4.5 per inch into 8 ozs of leather. No Singer I've ever owned could deliver this performance. In our friend Down Under's case, I would have the machine brought fully up to original specs, thread it with no more than T90 thread and fit it with a titanium coated system 135x16 or 29x4 - size 120 (aka: #19) needle. Groove the edges in advance for long straight lines. Double stitch the same holes if you need more strength than one line of #92 thread. If the life span of the machine is less important than a particular job, try adjusting it to sew the T135 (US #138) bonded thread. You'll need a #23 leather point needle.

Chapman asked if the Cobra Class 4 is good for thin material. Technically: yes; practically: not without certain readjustments. I have used a Class 4 owned by a fellow leather goods producer and own an identical machine branded as a Cowboy. These machines are built tougher than most sewing machines. They have massive castings and very strong pressure and tension springs. Their feed dogs are very large and have a gigantic needle hole that is more or less a slot. The cutout in the throat plate is very long and wide, to accommodate the full range of motion of the feed dog and its maximum stitch length setting. All this is meant to allow you to sew very dense and thick stacks of leather, or webbing, with most of the heaviest bonded threads in common distribution. So, what needs to be done to sew thin, soft material? You need to dumb down your machine. Here's how. For normal stiffness heavy broadcloth and denim (pants and shirts), etc: change to a #20 or 21 regular round point needle. Switch to #92 bonded nylon or polyester thread, or #80 or 100 cotton/polyester jeans thread. Load the bobbin with the same thread. When you install the bobbin, reset the spring tension on the bobbin case for a slight, but smooth resistance. Basically, it needs a little more pull that a domestic sewing machine, but nowhere near what you use to sew a half inch stack of veg-tan. Use the supplied open end wrench to loosen the nut on the back of the housing on the head for the shaft on the lower tension disks. There is a spring on the bottom shaft, known as the "check spring." It's job is to keep tension on the top thread as the needlebar moves down. It lets go just before the needle reaches BDC and reengages as the needle and take-up lever start moving up. The amount of travel can be set via the movable sliding steel stopper under the bottom of the spring. Normally, your 441 machine is adjusted with a lot of check spring tension, needed to maintain control of up to #415 bonded thread. It is waaaaaay too much action for #92 thread! After loosening the locking nut, use a screw driver blade in the split end of the bottom shaft and turn it counter clockwise to loosen the spring action. You'll want to back off the spring action so the spring has just enough tension to fully travel up and down to its stopper, and nothing more. Tighten down the nut behind the housing to lock in that spring setting. You may or may not also need to back off the nut on the front of the lower disk shaft, to allow the upper tensioner to control the position of the knots. Back off the upper tension disks nut and sew into a test piece of the same material and thickness. Keep backing off the top tension nut until the knots are buried inside the material. You may have to take it to zero tension. If you cannot back off enough on the top, loosen the lower tension disk tension with its round knurled nut. If the knots are just slightly on top, tighten the bobbin spring a little. Make sure the top thread feeds straight from the thread stand through just one hole in the top post. Doubling the top thread around that post can sometimes override the top tension spring in soft and thin materiel. As a last resort, move down one more needle size. You can go as low as a #19 needle for #80 or 92 thread. Smaller needles make tighter holes and help the knots to move down. Last, back off the presser foot pressure adjuster until it almost pops out of the housing. Hold back the starting thread in your left hand. Backtack over the first three stitches to lock them in. Sew at about 8 stitches per inch. Backtack 3 stitches or so at the end To sew soft and thin cloth materials (iffy) Switch to no more than #69 bonded thread. Polyester may work better. Install a #18 standard round point needle. Make sure the top thread has a direct feed path to the upper tensioner without doubling over any posts. Remove the throat plate and bobbin case, then unscrew the feed dog. Use a wide flat blade screwdriver and lots of torque (ccw). Install the optional flat throat plate with a narrow slot. Reinstall the bobbin case. Follow above procedures for reducing all tensions and foot pressure. Use the double toe harness foot, or even the wide blanket foot, if you received one. Balance the tensions as best as you can, with a minimum of bobbin tension. Install the flat table attachment for better material stability. Hold back the starting threads and sew forward three stitches Reverse and sew back over those stitches. Hold the material fairly tightly front and back and sew at about 8 or 9 stitches to the inch. Backtack at the end. These readjustments will technically allow you to sew cloth on your big 441 machine. The drawbacks are the time needed to do all these changes and parts removals and the walking feet with an open gap behind the inside foot. The huge feed dog and its throat plate can allow soft and thin materials to get pushed down into those openings. All these worries can be alleviated by using a standard industrial sewing machine for lighter work. You can even use a common household machine for light cloth and linings. They use much lighter thread and much smaller needles.

Once you get the timing problem corrected, it may be worth up to $500. You may have to replace the driving gear. Adler parts can be expensive! Otherwise, try dropping the racks and reposition the gear manually, to time it to the needle. Reinstall the racks so they move it in sync.

Chapman; You posted your general question in what is known as a sticky topic. Steve's tips for 441 owners was supposed to be his own limited discussion topic, not an open discussion. You should re-post your question as a new topic, in this section of the forum (but not this particular topic). Personally, I keep several machines, each with a different capacity. Smaller machines are for thinner work. Your Cobra Class 4 is not meant to replace them.

Look for a hole in the base on the front right side of the machine. If there is such a hole, you can insert a straight blade screw driver into an eccentric screw that moves the shaft that connects under the arm to the long rack gear. Unless the screw has rusted, or been Locktighted, it should turn freely. Doing so moves the shuttle. You'll want to either retard or advance the hook to arrive after the needle bottoms out then rises and stops. That is when the best loop is formed. If you are unable to correct the timing using the eccentric screw adjustment, the racks may be misaligned with the driving gear. Compare yours to the photo Constabulary posted.

When I mentioned "soft to medium temper" leather, I was talking about vests, chaps, motorcycle seats, dress belts, bridle leather and veg-tan leather projects that aren't made of hardened or dense leather. The tougher the leather, the higher the requirements for a suitable machine. An upholstery grade machine equipped with a #23 (aka 160) needle and T135 bonded nylon thread on the top and in the bobbin will have a hard time holding down thick or dense carving leather after it has dried thoroughly. It will also take a lot of tension on the top to pull the knots up from the bottom. The same job made of bridle leather may sew like butter, depending on who tanned it. If you intend to build gun holsters, knife sheathes, scabbards, armor, thick cases and such, a heavy duty leather stitcher will probably be required. These machines are typically referred to as class 441 machines. Examples are the big machines sold by Techsew, Cobra, Cowboy, Nick-O-Sew, Weaver and other dealers who cater to the leather trade. These machines must be modified by the dealers before they are ready to sew thick or dense leather with very heavy thread. My Cowboy CB4500 is usually threaded with #277 (T270) bonded nylon thread, top and bottom, and is capable of sewing over 3/4 inches (20 mm?). Your typical industrial sewing machine dealer will not sell such a customized machine for dedicated leather sewing.

Joe K; If you are looking for a machine to sew leather that is 3 mm in thickness or over (Canadian measurement), with any substantial size of thread, "cheap" may end up being well over $1200. The only manually operated machine in common use among our members is the Tipmann Boss. It sells for about $1400 USD. However, if you have arthritis affecting your right hand and arm, the Boss may be too stressful to operate (it uses a push pull lever on the right). We do have a section of the forum called Marketplace, which includes a section where people can sell used sewing machines. Boss machines show up very often. If you're looking to sew soft to medium temper leather, up to not exceeding 10mm, a decent upholstery grade walking foot machine may handle it. There are many machines in this class. The ones useful for leather sewing are triple (compound) feed walking foot machines. Examples are those sold by Juki, Consew, Chandler, Brother, etc. Singer used to make such machines, decades ago. The most widely used were the older model 111w155 and the newer 211w155. Either will take #138 (T135) bonded nylon thread. Check your local Craigslist, or equivalent, for businesses or individuals selling one of these in good working condition. Every upholstery shop, plus alterationists who sew denim jeans, use walking foot machines. Upholsterers usually sell off older machines as they buy new ones. You might pick one up for $500 to $700 in decent condition. Anything under that might possibly need parts or servicing.

The Singer 211 might do for you, as long as it has a triple feed walking foot system. Otherwise, the Mitsubishi 350 might work on your stuff. Note, it only has top and bottom feed, with a fixed needle and inside foot. The other machines look like bottom feeders only.

I suspect that your Boss uses the same 441 type bobbins my Cowboy CB4500 uses. I have obtained bobbins from 3 or 4 sources and can tell you with certainty that there is a dimensional variation in some of them. There are a few that are taller and actually protrude beyond the lip of the bobbin case. These bobbins have more tension on the thread than the shorter (normal) bobbins. If this ever becomes a real problem I can easily loosen the bobbin case tension spring a quarter or half turn while using the oversize bobbins. I don't think your situation should be any more complicated than mine. If a bobbin rides beyond the bobbin case, back off the tension spring a bit until the pull on the thread feels the same as on the shorter, normal bobbins. You would have actual trouble if the diameter of the top or bottom bobbin flanges was the same as the inside of the case. That would be Emory Cloth time for me, to reduce the diameter for a smooth revolving fit. Also, I believe that some of my bobbins are more curved on the outside of the flange than others. These would also have a tad more tension for a given thread and bobbin case spring setting. Unless the bobbin actually binds, it shouldn't be a deal buster.

Need I point out that part of the wear on patchers happens inside the drive ring and cam? It's not just the easy stuff that needs to be rebuilt. It depends on how the machine was used and abused. I recently replaced the driving cam in my k71 and the new part is different than the original. The action is not as fluid and binds in certain conditions. When I get time I will take the head apart and try modifying the new part. I bought a new shuttle driver and its gear, as well and the following gear and racks for my k172. The parts that actually fit bound up 100% in 1/2 revolution. The following gear wouldn't even go onto the shaft. I had to reinstall the old parts and use Locktight Blue to get the machine back into sewing condition. That was after dinking with it for two days. There is so much work needed to make some new parts fit like the originals did that it may not be worth the time and expense.