Wizcrafts

You have to pound out the tapered stud holding the needle bar to the take-up barrel. Then loosen the screws on the right side of the head portion (I think there are 4) and remove the entire barrel shaped head. Remove the needle bar from the bottom. Remove the presser foot and stitch regulator "puck" (my description) and screw. With the bottom facing you remove the two screws that secure the feed ring to the head. The feed cam comes out of the ring in which it revolves. You can bronze braze material onto the "puck" that fits inside the ring, then shape and polish it for best fit at 360 degrees without binding. This yields the maximum available stitch length, which is usually 5/inch (unless you live outside the USA, in which case you cannot have anything to the inch!). When you're done repairing it, grease the ring and reassemble in reverse order.

I own a Singer 15-91, which I have been trying to sell for over a year. It can only sew about 3/16" to 1/4" of anything, depending on how thick the presser foot is. Mine maxes out with a #18 needle and #69 bonded nylon thread. They do not feed leather properly with the standard foot, as they are only bottom driven by fine density feed dogs. Switching to a Teflon foot improves the feed slightly. A so-called "even-feed" attachment also helps feed leather, but at the expense of 1/16" lost clearance. The motor is built into the 15-91 and lacks enough starting torque needed to penetrate 8 oz. belt leather from a cold start. You'd be hand wheeling it to get it in motion, before the foot control could take over. The top pressure spring is barely strong enough to hold down 8 ounces of belt leather, so it will need to be cranked almost all the way down. This adds more drag on the top layer, making it harder to get any appreciable stitch length. Loosening the pressure spring results in skipped stitches when the leather lifts with the needle. My advice to anybody who is just getting into machine sewing of leather goods is buy a real triple (compound) feed walking foot machine, on an industrial table, with a servo motor, with a 2" pulley. These are great starter machines. They are also the best chap and vest sewing machines in the business. A standard industrial 20" x 48" table will typically have 2 feet from the needle to the left edge of the table. add another 10"+ inside the body and you can sew large flat items with easy. If you progress further in the leather trade, a cylinder arm machine will be a necessity for jobs that a flat bed machine cannot handle well. Some folks start with a cylinder arm machine that has a flat table attachment, getting the best you can get of two systems in one machine. The work space on the table attachment is nowhere near the space on a real table, but it is better than nothing. Cylinder arm machines are available in compound feed walking foot systems, in light, medium and very heavy duty builds. Most crafters and pros here buy the heaviest duty "441" clone machines, which can sew over 3/4 inches of the strongest leather, with very heavy thread, up to #415 bonded nylon (requiring a #27 needle). There is no domestic machine in this universe than can come anywhere near those specs!.

I try to line up the thread stand guides directly over the cones, rather than off to one side. Industrial machine thread cones are wound differently than domestic spools. Spools are wound with direct from the side feeding in mind. Commercial cones and large spools are wound differently, with a top pull in mind. That said, pulling as Dwight does will work, but with a variable amount of added tension, which changes as the spool becomes smaller. If you are only doing short stitch runs, this is probably acceptable. Some folks even pull some thread loose off the spool when using a side pull. This changes the tension again. The hand cranked Boss machines can get away with configurations like this, where a motorized machine sewing belts and straps cannot. I can't even consider such a side-feed setup on my Cowboy stitcher, unless I got some kind of ball bearing, "Lazy Susan" platter for the thread cones to sit on and revolve freely.

As Dwight mentioned, sometimes tightening both tensions will help stabilize the placement of knots in problematic leathers. However, not mentioned in his suggestions, is carefully inspecting the top thread path, from the top of the cone, to the needle. A sudden change in the upper thread tension always results in the knots being pulled upwards. When you begin getting knots visible on the top, look to see if the top thread has twisted around a post, guide, or disk assembly. Make sure that the thread feeds off the top of the cone, straight up to the thread stand, through the eye in the top arm, on to the machine and its post and guides. If there are no top path problems, it could be bobbin related. Stop sewing when you see knots appear. Inspect the bobbin case and make sure that the bobbin thread is feeding under the tension spring. Poorly wound bobbins can cause the thread to twist out from under the tension spring. Load the bobbins inside the bobbin case so they feed backwards, with a sharp turn into the slot and tension spring. Then snap the thread into the center of the spring and pull it out for a foot or two, checking for smoothness of pull. If there is unevenness in the pull it could be caused by a thread stub from where you started winding the bobbin. Cut the starting thread stub flush with the bobbins. If there is any appreciable stub sticking out of the bobbin thread hole, it can catch on the spring inside the case, if facing inward, or against the shuttle if on the inside. This stub will cause uneven knot placement as it catches and releases. Last, match the needle size to the thread. Use the smallest best results needle size when sewing leather. Go too small and it will be hard to get the knots off the bottom. Too big and it's difficult to balance the knots at all. Plus, you'll have huge holes.

Tex 110 is a little thicker than B92 (Tex 90). You might need a #20 (125) needle for that thread.

No, you won't have to retime the machine after converting it to a roller foot. That is, unless you inadvertently knock the needle bar out of time by sewing leather and heavy upholstery material on it, using large needles and thread.

Your 100+ year old patcher has a worn down feed motion cam. The parts can only be replaced by taking them from other. less worn Singer patch machines. Bob Kovar (Toledo Industrial) has as many parts for patchers as anybody I know on this continent. The old part must be removed from the bottom of the barrel shaped front of the machine. This probably means disassembling the needle bar from the take-up barrel on the top. Use caution when pounding the tapered steel plug out. Bob can advise you about disassembling the head in order to get the front off, then the feed motion ring and cam. You would be farther ahead just taking or shipping the machine head to him, in Toledo.

If the sliding stitch regulator "puck," which fastens behind the foot, is as far down as it can go, with the foot lifted by the hand lift lever, and the foot lifter block on the rear mounted torsion spring is as far to the center as possible, and the feed motion cam is not worn out, the machine should easily sew 5 to the inch, into 8 ounces of leather.

I would use a #19 (120) or 20 (125) needle with #92 (T90) bonded thread. Little doubt that is your problem. The hole is too tight on the bottom. A larger needle pokes a wider hole, reducing the force needed to pull the knots up.

You should read this topic which is all about how some members have modified their push button servo motors for extra fine speed control over the full range of travel.

Nick-O-Sew is an industrial sewing machine company located in Tennessee and has ad banners that rotate on top of our pages. Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines is located in Toledo, Ohio and has all manner of machines, new and used. They are also advertisers in our rotating banner ads. Give them a call during the week, in normal business hours.

That indicates that either the presser foot is not lifting the proper height to move forward all the way, or that the sliding stitch length regulator on the presser foot shaft is too high up, or that the feed motion cam is completely worn out.

I guess you will find out if you get busy sewing. Just a recommendation from somebody who used the same machine in a major business setting. These bobbins run out fast. Having two or three preloaded bobbins inside properly tensioned bobbin cases will let you get more sewing done before you have to unload and wind another bobbin.

You should also buy an extra bobbin case, complete with two springs and a center post with the thread hole on top.

You can buy bobbins from any industrial sewing machine dealer who sells parts and accessories. Ask for "large" patcher bobbins. Most dealers also stock the threading rods. I buy my bobbins, thread and threading rods from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines.

With used machines in private sales, it's like a box of chocolates: ya never know whatcher gonna get. If possible, find a friend who understands industrial sewing machines and take him or her with when you go to look at these machines. Often, the lower the asking price, the more work, and/or parts the machine needs. This is not always the case, which is why you need to bring somebody with who has a better understanding of sewing machines. I'm sure that the last thing you want is to get the deal of a lifetime, only to find that you have to pay somebody else to bring it up to specs. As for motors, clutch motors are usually long-lived. The clutches are replaceable if worn out. Pulleys can be replaced with smaller ones (and shorter v-belts to match) to reduce the top speed. Down the line you can swap it out for a modern servo motor. Prices Consider the overall price, including the cost of upgrading the motor and replacing worn or missing parts. Will your $750 Pfaff end up costing $1000 after improvements and repairs? It might be a little less for the 7 year old Consew. How does this compare with the price of a brand new complete unit, set-up, tested and warrantied?

$800 is a reasonable price if the machine has tight clearances on all the moving parts and is in excellent physical condition. I would want to test it before buying it. Take some leather with when you test it. It's also a good idea to ask the seller what size thread and needles they have for it. I makes no sense to sew 5/16" or 3/8" of leather with #69 thread to test the machine. You would be using #138, which is that machine's limit, at that thickness.

I used to make my pancake holsters equally molded on the front and back. Now, they are mostly flat backed and molded on the front, if at all. We thought that a 20 ton press would speed up the molding process a lot more than it seems to be able to do. Nothing beats a strong set of thumbs and some bone folders!

We finally got the top and bottom steel plates back and installed. Our first attempts to mold blue guns, both revolvers and semi-automatics, were feeble at best. It may be due to our design technique where the back stays flat and only the front gets molded to the guns. We typically use well-soaked 8-9 ounce veg-tan tooling leather for our holsters. I will post some photos later this week (Thursday or Friday). Basically, after stacking one or two 12" x 12" x 1" pieces on top of the leather, the top-most surfaces mold well, but the trigger area is barely depressed inside the trigger guard and we cannot get the under-the-barrel/slide sides to go down anywhere near the actual sides of the guns. We have tried stacking two pieces of 1" thick 40 Durometer Buna-N and also tried 2 layers of the soft rubber from KnifeKits.com (virtually useless). I may order a couple 12 x 12 x 1" sheets of harder Buna-N (50 Du) and maybe one more 40 Du and see if that improves the molding results. We did one trial holster using some scrap 5-6 ounce veg and it molded much better than the 8-9 oz. But, that weight is useless for our designs. So far, my partner has invested about $300 in the press and top/bottom steel plates and I have purchased $100 worth of rubber sheets, with probably another $50 to $100 to be ordered in the harder/more rubber.

Practically, I found 5/16" to be about the thickest leather or other compressed material it can feed and still deliver a decent stitch length. They can tension #138 thread with ease, but nothing larger. Because it uses the same "large" bobbin as the Singer 29k series, it can only hold enough #138 thread to sew 4 or 5 average belts along the edges. The needle system is an extra long 332LG, which is specific to this machine. Schmetz needles work best in the 30-70 and they are not cheap. Assuming it works normally and no parts are missing, anything under $1200 is a good price for the machine mounted on a pedestal table with a clutch motor. Missing Adler parts are often very expensive.

They are a great low cost option for holsters and gun belts, as long as you never need to exceed 1/2 inch thickness. Also, due to their lesser maximum clearance, they don't accept the accessory raised throat plates for holsters and stirrups.

LOL. The lube pot is not for the machine's oil. It is for the top thread, in case it is too dry. In that case, one can pour liquid silicon in the pot and route the thread through it.

The 29-4 only came in short arm and small bobbin configuration. It wasn't until the second generation 29k models that they introduced the larger bobbin and longer arm options, along with a removable gear box and a top adjuster for the amount of thread take-up on the upstroke.

The long out-of-production Singer 29k models are capable of sewing 1/4 inch (16 ounces), with up to #92 thread. I know this because I own one of the last ones made, with what they refer to as the large bobbin (yeah, right!) and an 18 inch arm. It sews well with #69 thread and so-so with #92. As for anything thicker, forget it. The stitch length decreases as you sew beyond 1/8 inch. So, instead of 5 to the inch, you'll only get 6, if the machine is in like new condition. If the foot driving cams are worn out, you might not even get those stitch lengths. All 29 type machines are top feed only, using teeth on the presser foot to pull the work in the desired direction (which can be 360 degrees). IHTH

No. The hook should pass inside the scarf area above the eye without actually making contact. Some adjusters use a standard business card to set the clearance between the hook and needle.Most 441 machines are setup by the dealers who sell them. Most set them up with a #25 needle and #277 thread. It is possible that the dealer who setup your machine had it adjusted for a #22 needle. This would allow the hook to miss the needle with the spacer that you found. Then they forgot about it and gave you a pack of #25 needles and they are making contact with the misadjusted hook. Usually, the hook on a 441 or 205 can be set to just miss touching the largest anticipated needle and still pick up the loop 3 needle numbers smaller. Thus, a well timed machine setup with a #25 needle should also sew well with a #22 needle. After that all bets are off. But, it doesn't work the other way. You should get the hook set for the largest needle you will be using, with the stitch lever in the zero position. This balances the hook between forward and reverse motion. Make sure the hook just misses making contact with an empty needle, as it passes inside the scarf area.