Wizcrafts

Now you are beginning to Grok what our dealers go through on our behalf, to deliver an affordable leather sewing machine.

I watched my current CB4500 being set up and adjusted. It involved doing things I never would have suspected needed to be done. I am grateful to the dealer, Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, for taking care of the legwork for me. Another thing. My first servo motor quit after one week of use. This was the old push button kind. I placed one phone call to Bob Kovar and a new motor arrived the next business day. Try that on a direct from China machine. Dealer support should not be taken for granted or ignored. If you need parts, accessories or advice and didn't buy from an authorized dealer, you better learn to speak Chinese and wait for the next slow boat from China to arrive and clear Customs. And pray your guitar doesn't get hacked ;-)

Having discussed this with some of our dealers, the answer is yes. 441 clones require several hours of dealer setup time before they sew and can be sold. They are not ready to use out of the box. They are not marketed to end buyers, but to competent dealers who understand the ins and outs of adjusting the hook, needle bar, presser feet, feed mechanism and lifter system. Buyers take it for granted that all the dealer has to do is unbox the parts and bolt them together. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I kinda miss my Union Lockstitch machine. It had a specially made raised throat plate and narrow presser foot. I could sew very close to raised surfaces, as well as sewing huge, thick straps of all kinds. It had a 12" harp inside the body. I had modified it to sew 7/8 inch.

If Kevin is really unlucky, the Feds will confiscate his counterfeit Asian Scale playing guitar and send it to Langley for reverse engineering. It probably contains the Conficker Worm.

Is the guitar playing Asian scales instead of Western? That would 'splain it Kevin. Your 'puter acquired the Asian Scale Trojan, via an interstitial proximity coinferrence between the cracked guitar (counterfeit, from hack-haven China) and the dial-up modem lingering deep within the motherboard chipsets.

Another way to determine if a sewing machine is built for home/domestic use only is the needle. Home sewing needles almost always have a flat side to help align them properly in the needle bar. Some home machines thread left to right. Some thread right to left. And, some even thread front to back. The flat in the needle bar makes sure you align the needle correctly. Industrial sewing machines normally use completely round shank needles. Another give-away is the motor. Home machines have a tiny motor, no stronger than 1 or 1.5 amps (150 watts), with a small belt to the flywheel, or possibly built into the body. While there are a few industrial sewing machines with internal motors, or possibly user-added bolt on the back motors, most have a huge motor under an industrial table, mounted on a steel frame. Older industrial machines usually have clutch motors, rated at between 1/4 and 3/4 horsepower. The average 1/2 horse power clutch motor draws about 500 watts of power under load. Newer machine tend to come with easier to control servo motors, which also are very powerful.

Expect to spend a day going over the machine, tightening screws, adjusting the hook position and timing, setting the needle bar, adjusting the ratio and position of the presser feet, adjusting the feed dog, oiling it, setting it up on a table, connecting parts, belts and chains. This assumes it ships with the motor, reducer, belts and table and work light. Also, if you are getting a motor, make sure it is a 120 volt motor. One other thing to look into is whether you would be getting a standard 441 blanket presser foot set, which has teeth on the bottom and is huge, or if it ships with what we use here and call Harness feet. If you have to purchase them, add another $100 or so, and more if you want left toe and right toe feet. The harness feet are not compatible with the blanket feet that normally ship on 441 machines from China.

Aw shucks, thanks. :-)

No. It is a domestic, cloth sewing machine. Don't try to sew anything thicker than garment leather on it.

Joe; Take some time to read my sticky topic about the kind of sewing machine you need to sew leather.

Deloid; I believe that I have Grokked your problem. The Spice must flow and so must your thread. Your lower disks, as you surmised, do nothing serious to the tension on the thread, at 2 wraps of #138. But, I'll wager that the check spring was setup for #277 thread and is waaaay too tight for #138. In effect, that lower spring, if too tightly wound, will override the top tension disks. This is more evident when switching from a #277 or #346 setup to #138 or smaller thread. Happens to me too. When I have the machine balanced for heavy thread it is too tight on top even with the top tension almost unscrewed. What to do Find the 10mm wrench in your machine tool kit, or tool box. Locate the large (6mm?) metric Allen wrench that came with the machine, or one you buy at AutoZone. Proceed thusly: Remove the thread from the needle only Lower the presser feet if they were lifted. Rotate the hand wheel until both presser feet are all the way down and neither is lifted up (there is a happy place where this happens). Use the Allen wrench to loosen the bolt on the large arm behind the upper part of the rear of the head. This crank feeds the motion to lift the presser foot. The hex head bolt is visible from the top rear. Remove the C clip from the crank connection that feeds from the upper crank to a lower crank that goes into the head. The clip should be on the outside left on the crank arm. Pull the two piece double arm crank off the top and bottom pins Use your box or open end 10mm wrench to fish behind the head, inline with the shaft for the lower tension setup. Turn the locknut on the back of the head counterclockwise a bit to loosen it. Use a small screwdriver to rotate the split shaft whichever direction reduces the spring tension on the check spring. Leave enough tension for the spring to move all the way down after lifting it up, but not much more. Tighten the locknut to secure the check spring's lower action. Re-install the double crank onto the pins and install the c clip Tighten the hex bolt on the upper arm Thread the eye of the needle Make sure you have a straight path for the top thread. Don't wrap it around the upper post; just feed it through an eye in the post. Try the machine for knot placement. Report back here.

Speaking about my CB4500 setup, I have a decent amount of motion on the pedal. I can watch the needle move and carry on a conversation before it completes one revolution. I'd guess it sews as slowly as one stitch in 10 seconds. My total reduction is 9:1. On my Singer 139 walking foot machine, the same motor, with the same 50mm pulley, feeds directly to the machine's 4.5" pulley. It doesn't like to sew below 1 stitch per second, steady rate. The torque drops off at startup speed. A reducer really helps power these machines through leather at slow speed.

Ask that dealer if he sells a servo motor similar to the Family Sew 550s and has 3:1 ball bearing speed reducers. If not, you can buy them and bring them to the dealer for installation. New belts will be needed. They will definitely need the head and table. If you opt to have the work done at home, receive the parts, and change the motor and switchbox first, leaving the three bolts a bit loose. Mount the reducer so that the smallest pulley is as directly under the machine pulley as possible. You don't want side pull on the belts. After lining up the reducer and machine pulley move the motor to line it up with the big pulley on the reducer. Batten down the hatches. Use a tape measure across the top of the pulleys to get the length of the two belts: shorter one from motor to large reducer; longer one from small reducer to machine pulley. You must make sure that the smaller belt is long enough to allow you to adjust the vertical position of the motor. Try to stay in the middle of the adjuster bolt. The belts are type 3L. Set the belt tensions for about 1/2 inch deflection. Relocate the bobbin winder toward the new vertical belt. Fine tune the alignment of the belts so they are as inline as possible, then try it out. You should get about 1 stitch per second at full tilt, on the slowest switch setting of a Family Sew 550s. I cannot speak for other servo motors, other than the SewPro 500 GR, which are no longer available, except as old new stock. That motor sews even slower than a Family Sew, but has half the power at slow speeds.

I enjoyed watching people hold their hands over their ears when I ran my Union Lockstitch at 800 RPM! What a wonderful hurruction! It was like a thrashing machine in the house. It wasn't the awl that cut the previous stitches on my ULS. It was the barbed needle, on the way back down.

The SewPro motors I have are not powerful enough to turn over a machine like the Adler 205. The machine needs a 3:1 speed reducer installed, powered by a slow speed capable servo motor. I like the Family Sew 550S that I have on my big CB4500 and on my long body Singer 139. It would be best to commission a dealer to take care of this conversion. FYI: I have a big Cowboy CB4500, which is sort of like your Adler. It is powered by a Family Sew FS550, feeding a 3:1 ball bearing equipped reducer. All told, the speed reduction/torque multiplication from the motor to the machine is 9:1. If I set the motor speed limiter switch to the slowest setting (350RPM), holding down the pedal gives me a full speed of just under 1 stitch per second. This might be what you are looking for. I just remembered that you don't have the use of your legs. You will need somebody to rig up a lever you can throw to engage or disengage the motor by hand.

Yes, that is what I mean. It looks like glass or metal from the side and usually lies close to the flesh. The side of Latigo I bought from Tandy 2 weeks ago has rawhide across the middle, starting at the backbone. I believe it came from Argentina.

Did anything change tension-wise with the top or bottom thread? Hear any different sound when the bad stitches occurred? Knots or the actual bottom thread showing on the top grain are either caused by sudden increase in top thread tension, or decrease in the bobbin thread. A properly balanced system places the knots in the middle of air. What can cause these changes Top thread getting caught under other windings on the spool Top thread going under the spool on the stand Top thread coiling over itself or a post, or tensioner, due to excessive twist and springiness Top thread coiling back over the lower tension disk set and jamming Bottom thread flipping out from under the bobbin case tension spring Lint under the bobbin case tension spring A starting thread stub catching on the bobbin case ejector spring Too little pressure on the feet Very soft area inside the leather Too little combined thread tension Bad thread

I will share a secret tip used by advanced needle and awl machine sewers, like me. It is a method we use to sew in reverse without ratting the previous stitches. Remove the thread from the looper. Sew empty to poke two or three holes forward. Spin the leather around 180 degrees Place the thread back inside the looper Hold the threads back and sew to the starting hole Spin the work facing forward again Carefully handwheel until the needle grabs the thread from the looper Turn the leather slightly sideways so the barbed hook in the needle is facing outward a bit to the left. Slowly lower the needle, ensuring it goes down facing away from the direct stitch line Do this until you clear the last previous stitch. Sew to the end Repeat steps 1 - 9 End after two or three backwards stitches, making sure the hook faces away as you lower it. Twist the starting and ending thread strands to the left in your fingers and cut them off close to the stitches. This process involves wiggling the leather sideways to angle the needle's hook away. Sometimes I set the needle so its hook is already on a slight angle to the left when facing the front of the machine. If the looper is perfectly set, it will still feed the thread into the barb. That reduces the wiggling needed to backtack without ratting. You can sew webbing on a needle and awl machine, if it between pieces of leather. OR, ..... use the smallest possible needle that just barely holds the thread. If the barb is full of thread there is little or no room for webbing to get caught as the needle descends. This technique also makes backtacking easier. Note: using too small of a needle will cause the thread to get pulled off by previous stitches, or by dense leather or other material. I didn't use undersize needles all the time, just when absolutely needed.

When replacing the needles, make sure that the cutout "scarf" faces due right, or very slightly to the right-rear direction. Don't angle the eye so it faces forward on the right. That places the loop farther away from the hook, which arrives from the rear moving forward. Ensure that the needle is pushed all the way up into its mounting bracket and tighten it securely. Check the top thread path to make sure the thread hasn't twisted over something unintentionally. This causes excessive top tension and will pull the needle way off course. It also leads to skipped stitches, or filigreeing of thin leather if the top thread flips over and locks up around the lower disks. This happens more often with black thread which can sometimes come off the spool like a coil spring. Rawhide inside the leather can break or deflect needles. I recently cut some belts from a side of belt latigo from Tandy. There is rawhide running across the leather, from the backbone downward. It broke two strap cutter blades. If I had tried to sew through it, the needle would have bent or broken.

The Campbell Randall Lockstitch machines lay down a stitch that cannot be matched by most normal walking foot class 441 or 205 machines. I have sew on an old Randall Lockstitch, at Freedman Harness (a long time ago) and owned two related Union Lockstitch machines, also needle and awl. The stitches are tighter, the underside cleaner and with a single right toe foot, you can place the awl and needle right up against the beginning of a raised surface. The Campbell and Randall machines are very nice to multi-cord, left twist linen thread, run through liquid wax. Campbell sells their own white milky Lax Wax, while Puritan sells a clear waxy lube, called Ceroxylon, that closely resembles gum tragacanth. One thing the needle and awl machines do better is sew with super heavy thread. I have sewn with #554 bonded nylon thread on a Union Lockstitch, with the proper needle and awl. The same machine was able to sew with #138 thread by changing the needle and awl. Where these machines are at a disadvantage is in backtacking. Hooked eye needles tend to rip out existing stitches. They also rip apart nylon webbing. A Cobra or Cowboy 441 type machine is much cleaner when it comes to backtacking, or sewing webbing or Biothane. They also have reverse, which the needle and awl machines lack. Finally, a Cobra class 4 and Cowboy CB4500 and Techsew 5100 all have a 16.5 inch cylinder arm, compared to 12 inches inside the body on the Union Lockstitch and only 9 inches inside a Campbell Randall Lockstitch machine. A brand new Cowboy or Cobra sells for about 1/2 the cost of a factory rebuilt Campbell Randall. Most new users learn to operate them successfully in one or two days. A needle and awl machine has a much longer learning curve. I know this for a fact, having used both types.

Adjust the height of the needle bar until the hook passes about 1/8" over the eye, on its way up. Make sure you are using the correct system DBx1 (1738) needle.

About the motor being hard to turn: Barely touching the big pedal should release the cork brake inside the motor. The brake is there in case you sew fast, to prevent run-ons. If you can't adjust to the brake, unplug the motor, open the read cover and use the correct Allen wrench to remove the two screws holding the brake to the control lever. Not sure why or what the needle is hitting. Conduct an experiment. Turn the wheel without any thread or leather and see if it enters the middle of the hole in the feed dog. If so, either the leather is deflecting the needle, or the top thread tension is so tight the needle is being pulled so far to the left it hits the throat plate. This will be obvious if the plate now has needle point wounds.

Holding both threads, or at least the top thread, I start sewing in reverse about 3 stitches (or about 1/2 inch) past the desired beginning position. I sew backwards, with the stitch lever up, until the needle is almost at the edge, then throw the lever down and stitch forward through the same holes. This locks the thread in place. Let go of the starting threads after you successfully cross back over them. Do the same at the end to lock the thread in place.

For Tex 90 (v92), use a #19, or #20 needle maximum.