Wizcrafts

Shine a light into the open bobbin case and see if the beehive shaped spring has been compressed by something. Or, perhaps it popped right out of the case. Look for it. The bottom of the coil would be just large enough to fit tightly inside the barrel of the bobbin case and extend in narrowing coils about 1/2 inch tall.

No. This is a garment class machine. It will not handle/tension #138 thread without great difficulty and inconsistency in the stitches.

I was able to sew fairly thin leather on my Union Lockstitch machines. What I did was to use a #1 needle, #1.5 or #2 awl and #138 bonded thread. It was easy to bury the knots in 7 - 8 ounces of leather. Wilson sews footballs with a Union Lockstitch machine, specifically setup for that thickness and thread. Tiny needles and awls are very hard to find now and expensive if you find them. I managed to acquire some while I owned two ULS machines, but they are long gone. If the bottom appearance is that important, you should probably just hand sew the work. It's cheaper than buying and learning to use and customize a needle and awl machine.

Don't let the Artisan 3200 machine confuse you regarding the Cowboy 3200. They are different animals. The CB3200 has a maximum unaltered thickness of 1/2 inch. If you reduce the lift of the presser feet to minimum, you may be able to eek out 5/8 inch under the feet. But, it may leave some ugly tracks, as you will be at the top most alternating position of the feet. If 3/4 inch is a requirement, the CB3500, 4500 and 5500 all exceed this, sewing up to 7/8 inch. I have sewn almost 1 inch on my CB4500 by minimizing the lift of the feet and sewing one stitch at a time, with the pressure spring all the way down.

I use the patcher every day. Maybe this Sunday I can sneak into the shop and disassemble the darning unit. I just bought a 29K71 that has a bar bent to 90 degrees on top. It is spring loaded and rotates in or out of line with the knuckle on the needle bar.

Yes, the T-rod is mounted inside a spring loaded barrel, which is secured to the foot lifting block both over and under. That is how it releases the thread tension when "T-lifted." Unbeknownst to some owners of these machines, one can re-route the top thread through the fixed front tension disks to do darning with no loss of tension on the upstroke. Normally, those disks hold the bobbin loader thread.

Okay. The photo in the OP is of my 29k172. I posted it on LWN the day I got it home, in 2010. Let me post a close-up of the head, showing the darning attachment in good detail. The way the darning works is when you rotate the T handle sideways - (there are full and half steps on the ends) - the take-up action of the needle bar forcibly raises the presser foot off the material. This allows you to move the leather freehand to place stitches where you want them. If you use the half cutout side, the foot is only lifted a small amount, whereas the full rounded side lifts it way up. You can pull the leather a longer distance with the full lift side, like for skipping a dee ring. When the foot bar lifts up, the top tension is released.

CowboySew makes a transverse feed machine capable of sewing heavy stuff up and down the arm. Perhaps you can convince Cowboy Bob to import a couple (so I can get one!).

The specs for the Consew 206RB-3 show that it does indeed feature a safety clutch to protect the hook. That clutch has a push button on the flat bed, which is used in conjunction with reverse wheeling the handwheel to reengage a popped clutch.

The button would be visible in the bed of the machine, somewhere to the right of the bobbin cover plate. Do you have any pushable buttons on the bed of the machine? If not, the hook has no automatic protection and it has been knocked out of time.

Yes, you popped the safety clutch. Clear out all of the jamming thread and cloth. Hold down the button in the body, closest to the bobbin case cover. Rotate the handwheel backwards until you hear a click, at which time the mechanism should have re-engaged. Test the timing and continue sewing, holding the starting threads back for a few stitches. If your machine doesn't have the safety clutch, disregard this tip. Either the needle bar has been knocked out of time, or the hook has been dragged into a retarded position. Either will require retiming the machine.

Darren; Cantman might be referring to the original Singer designation for its walking foot machines, which they referred to as "alternating pressers." In the specs I often see an alternating presser foot and vibrating foot listed in the parts.

I would buy the actual Juki in this case, if it was me.

I have a buddy with a Cobra Class 4 and it is every bit as smooth and easy to sew on as my own Cowboy CB4500. Additionally, "Cobra Steve" has other machinery for sale, including the variable speed MP Burnisher, which I own. I use it to sand the edges of holsters, then burnish them to a high sealed gloss. It is great for finishing the edges of double leather belts and knife sheathes. When it comes to the major brands of what we call 441 clones, the dealer makes a world of difference. These machines do not arrive ready to sew out of the box. They need a lot of time invested to get them into proper sewing condition for leather. It is the attention to small, but necessary details that make one brand stand out over its competitor. Small dealerships invest a lot of hours into making their machines work as good as they can, often when sewing over 3/4 inches of hard veg-tan, with #277 or #246 bonded thread.

Hey Bob, how's it going? I actually bought a Fortuna skiver from Bruce last year. What I'm looking for isn't a skiver, but a splitter.

You may have to change the position of the bobbin latch opener lever for more clearance. I just set mine to maximum and leave it there. Adjust the bobbin for a little less tension than usual. Make sure you load the bobbin so it unwinds counter-clockwise. Adjust the top tension to balance the knots. Use #24 (180) leather point needles. I prefer titanium coated needles in thick, or dense, or taped together leather.

I just finished one this week that is 5/16" thick in some areas and is size 54, middle hole. My pull skiver just isn't accurate enough to get a perfectly even skive over the entire length of a 5 foot long strap. Our bridle leather comes in at 10-12 ounces and even hits 13 ounces along the rear of the backbone. The soft neck and shoulder end always skives less reliably than the butt in a pull skiver. It also tends to stretch out a bit, making aligning double leather belts a pain in the ass.

I am looking for a used, but fully functional, hand cranked leather splitter, with a minimum 8" wide blade. It should be capable of splitting leather ranging from 6 ounces to 16 ounces. I would be bolting it onto a table top. A typical use I would have is splitting 10-12 ounce bridle leather down to exactly 8 ounces, for double leather belts. Let me know the details and asking price, via a PM. Photos will help me choose. I am aware that new splitters are available. They are way beyond my current economic situation. Thus, I'm shopping second hand.

I don't recommend mixing thread sizes on gun holsters. The smaller thread becomes the weakest link, in the event of a struggle, or if the holster gets caught in brushes. #92 thread only has about 14 or 15 pounds breaking strength. #138 has 22 pounds, which is the bare minimum need to hold a 1/4 to 5/6 inch holster firmly together. At 3/8 inches you are already past #138 thread and into #207 and 277 territory. If I was in your shoes, I would try to use #207 top and bottom, if the machine can handle it. If it can't, sew double rows of 138/138, about 1/8 to 3/16 inches apart. Or, spin the holster around and sew back through the same holes, doubling the density of each stitch. If your holster sewing takes off, buy a more capable machine, such as this one.

Okay, thanks. That is more than I care to spend on a backup gearbox.

One item I didn't fully address, which I should have, was when David said he wanted to know if a Singer 29k or 201 could sew with 0.58mm thread. I did a diameter look-up on the thread and needle chart on the Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines website and found that .58mm equates to our commonly used #277 (T270). David had asked if one can simply install a bigger needle to sew with #277 thread on these machines. I failed to answer that the required needle size is: #25 (200). Of all the machines he mentioned, only the Singer 45k can use that size needle, which is about the diameter of a roofing nail. I can't even get my National 300N to sew with a #25 needle, much less a domestic Singer 201. My Singer 29k patchers struggle with a #22 needle and can't even use #138 thread without hiccups. Simply put, there are no #25 needles in system Hax1 (the system used by the Singer 201). Furthermore, there are no #21, 22, 23, or 24 needles in that system. It is difficult to find #19 or 20, if you can at all. The friggin machines weren't meant to use anything larger than a #18 (110 metric) needle, with thin, #69 (T70) bonded nylon thread. At best, this thread will hold a low-stress seat cover on a kitchen chair. It is the smallest size used by upholstery shops, for thin Naugahyde and cloth. It may hold a zipper in place on a Chinese leather jacket. I apologize for this oversight. It must have been caused by my fond, yet foggy memories of too much Canadian beer.

You will have to search far and wide to get #20 leather point needles that fit the Singer model 201. Most sewing dealers only stock up to #18 needles for home machines. The thickest thread you can run through a #20 needle, if you can even find one, is T90, or #92 as we call it here. There ain't no way to run #277 thread through that little old Singer home sewing machine. This forum is about leather sewing machines. The Singer 201 is NOT what we consider a "leather" sewing machine. It is a home sewing machine that is able to sew some types and "thinnesses" of leather, with very thin thread. Good luck dude.

$250, with no needle plate? Really? What happened to the plate? What about the stud that holds the plate down and locator pin?

Yes, I am still looking for a gear box for a Singer large bobbin, long arm patcher. Please send me a PM with the details.

My last recommendation, before I permanently exit this topic, is that you take some of your leather samples, finished and ready to be sewn, to an industrial sewing machine dealer. If you cannot find one close to you, since you are in Canada, mail them to Raphael Sewing in Montreal, P.Q. They are the distributors of the Techsew brand of sewing equipment and are permanent advertisers and contributors to this forum. I have no doubt that Ronnie at Techsew (Raphael) will take one look at your work and get back to you with the best, least expensive machine they have that can handle your work, with the stitch lengths and thread sizes you prefer. Exit, stage left...