Wizcrafts

Find an upholstery or drapery shop and ask what they use and what they might let go of. Look for a compound (triple) feed walking foot machine made for upholstery work. Bring material and test anything you find. Upholsterers tend to stick to major brands that can be serviced by any industrial sewing machine shop. They avoid cheap Chinese knockoffs, favoring American, German and Japanese built machines.

I have a 31-15 straight stitch machine. They use system DBx1 or 1738 needles, which are tailoring and garment making needles. My 31-15 cannot handle anything stronger than #69 bonded thread, using a #18 needle. Its sewing capacity is about 3/16 inch of soft wallet leather, or hems on jeans, or seams on vests or chaps.

You probably need a triple feed walking foot machine, using system 135x16 or 135x17 needles and standard "type 111" presser feet that allow it to sew 3/8 inches of material. The maximum foot lift with the knee lever is usually about 1/2 inch, even though it can only sew 3/8. Most will top out at #138 bonded thread (22 pounds breaking strength), top and bottom, using a #23 needle. You can find these (used) machines at upholstery and drapery shops or your local/nearby Craigslist. Most are sold for between $500 and $800, depending on how worn out they are. You may even find an old Singer 111w155 that still works, for about $400. You will not get a new one for anywhere near $500. A new Chandler 406RB sells for about $1000. A Consew 206RB is around $1250 and a Juki DNU-1541 will set you back about $1600.

15-91, with a gutless pod motor. I have one and eventually gave up trying to use it for anything tougher than a few layers of denim.

The timing looks good.

Can't see the hook in relation to the eye of the needle. Remove the feed dog and upload it.

The worse part of this is waiting on my partner's relative to do the metal work, for cheap. We still don't have the top and bottom plates made for the press. Being a shoestring operation slows you down a lot, compared to those who can afford to have things made professionally.

Don't know from experience, but I have been looking at the boot stretcher they sell. It appears to be a family run business. Why don't you send them a message and see how they answer you. OTOH, you could search out a hand operated sole stitcher.

Do you realize that the timing is different in reverse than in forward? If your machine is marginally timed in forward, it may be on the brink in reverse. The simplest way to find out is to remove the throat plate and feeder, then rotate the hand wheel until the needle ascends and the pickup hook intersects it. At that point, press or throw the reverse lever and watch the needle move backwards. Is the hook still arriving above the eye, or is it almost inline with it? You can adjust the timing by either advancing the hook, or lowering the needle bar. Try one or the other and see if that improves the situation.

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I just placed an order for two pieces of foam, 12" x 24", from knifekits.com.Thanks for the recommendation. I now have two different types of rubber to use. We are still waiting for the metal work to come back, so the rubber can be tested.

This is a very old machine. Oil it when you get it set up in every available oil hole, including tilting the head back and oiling the connecting rods on the bottom. Then, oil it routinely, weekly for light use, or daily after heavy use. Use industrial sewing machine Lily oil only. Hold the threads back before you start sewing. To lock the stitches, sew backwards about three stitches, then do the Poor Man's Reverse and sew forward to the end. Do another Poor Man's reverse to lock in the last three stitches. Clean all the tension disks and guides, plus the bobbin basket and bobbin spring. Oil the revolving shuttle in which the bobbin sits. Do not over stress the machine. It is for light sewing. Do not pull back too hard on the leather as you sew, or you will override the walking foot and needle feed. This will cause short and long stitches. Use bonded nylon thread if possible. Do not run it too fast or it may overheat and seize the bearings. 10 to 12 stitches per second should be the limit after all these years. Get leather point needles for leather. Use round points for cloth, webbing and vinyl.

All of the brands you listed, plus, Chandler, Consew, Cowboy and Technew, just to name a few good brands. All of these companies make excellent triple feed walking foot machines, with large bobbins and reverse, to modern standards.

I don't recall speaking highly of the 96k40, just mentioning that it was my first mistake when I got into sewing leather. They are tailors' machines and nothing more. The only way I got it to sew a leather vest was by converting it into a roller foot machine, which involved replacing the foot, throat plate and feed dog. After all that, it would only properly tension #69 bonded thread, into not much more than about 3/16 inch of garment leather seams. It definitely sewed better on cloth than leather. The Singer 78-1 is a double feed machine, without feed dogs. You may or may not have trouble maintaining a consistent stitch length, depending on the nature of the material and thickness changes. You should be setting your sights on a true, compound feed, walking foot machine for leather work. Modern w.f. machines can sew with #138 thread, top and bottom, up to 3/8 inches of compressed material. They usually have reverse levers and long maximum stitch lengths. Some can even handle #207 thread, especially those with large bobbins. Read my sticky post at the top of the Leather Sewing Machines forum for details about the type of machines you really need to sew various types and thicknesses of leather.

Hopefully, we'll know soon. My partner is having the metal plates made and welded to the frame strut and jack push rod. The bottle jack is a simple Harbor Freight model without any gauge. It has a two piece round steel handle. I am not so concerned about damaging our blue guns. But, I am worried about a customer's real pistol under such tough material. I'm searching for 30 D rubber to place on the holster side, but have only found neoprene thus-far. The whole shebang will be doubling as a clicker die press.

O. What letter or class of bobbin does it use?

I wonder if two 1" rubber sheets will accomplish a similar result to a solid 2" sheet (which doesn't appear to be available)? Maybe combinations of 30 D and 40 D, with 30 facing the project.

Try backing off the pressure spring, bobbin and top disk tensions. Thin material has a harder time feeding evenly if the thread is pulling it back, or the feet hold it too tightly.

No, that's not right. You shouldn't notice any change in stitch length for such thin leather. Are you using the feed dog, or just the slotted plate?

Tell me more about the vacuum bag, Dwight.

The tag in photo #1 says Natural Gum Rubber. That is not what I got. I ordered Buna-N, Nitrol based rubber. Maybe it is the wrong composition? Why do you need 2 inches on top and bottom?

If you have a tiny piece that is expendable, could you mail it to me? I need a comparison.

Most industrial sewing machine dealers stock them for garment and upholstery grade machines. Expect to pay up to double what standard needles sell for, unless you buy them by the hundred. Also, Joann Fabrics, with Viking Sewing shops embedded, stock them for long arm quilting machines and high speed embroidery machines. Here is a Google search result for Titanium sewing machine needles.

1: Yes 2: No. It is just a very high speed straight stitch garment machine, with a static (but interchangeable) presser foot and bottom feed only. Any machine can be slowed down by simply adding a Family Sew FS-550 servo, equipped with a 50mm pulley (sold by Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines). No need for a speed reducer on such a light duty machine. The 591 contains an oil pan and has an oil pump. It must be run at high speeds (2500 to 3500 RPM) to distribute the oil to the extremities. It is meant to be run at several thousand stitches per minute (5,000). It will only sew about 1/4 inch (.26") of cloth material, with a maximum stitch length of just under 5 per inch. The bobbin is a standard Class 15 that snaps into a bobbin case on the left end, under a sliding cover. Thread handling stops at #92 (T90 bonded, or T80 heavy jeans thread). The pressure spring is purposed for holding down cloth, not leather. FWIIW: I considered buying one of these from a drapery shop that used it for small jobs made with light material. I tested it on-sight and found that it couldn't sew 8 - 9 oz belt leather without skipping stitches, caused by the presser foot lifting with the needle on the upstroke. There is no future in spending any money on a machine like this unless it is going to make or repair cloth garments or pillow covers.

I concur with T.R; increase the bobbin and top tensions for tighter thread on both sides. Move up to a larger diamond point needle (to keep a straight line, with top holes filled). Further, try changing the position and tension of the thread check spring by loosening the screw in the slot and moving the disk one way or the other. You may even try increasing or decreasing the travel of the check spring a bit and see if that helps.