Wizcrafts

Nope and nope. It is a post machine with a roller feed. These are typical machines for the shoe and hat trades.

Servo motors can be bought for about $110.00 + shipping for a Family Sew FS-550s

It looks like a standard walking foot machine from a picture I found. It says that they take system 135x17 needles. This hints that it also takes standard walking foot, type 111 presser feet, including zipper feet.

10 months of side-shock from a badly melded belt may have warped the bearing on the speed reducer, or even caused some slop to develop in the flywheel pulley on the machine. De-belt the reducer and spin it by hand, checking for side wobble. If there is an appreciable wobble, remove the wheel and try tightening up the flange on the inside of the reducer wheel, if this is possible. The reducer should revolve smoothly, but not wobble sideways. Lineups I go to great lengths to line up my motors > reducers and machine pulleys. The straighter the pull, the less stress there is on the three sets of bearings. Motors can be shifted laterally by loosening the three nuts under the motor mounts, while clamping the cap bots with a vise grip or suitable pliers. Reducers are usually attached to a movable mounting block that can be moved sideways to line the large pulley up with the motor pulley. It may or may not not be as easy to move the machine pulley to line it up with the reducer. I would say to seek out "Gates" brand belts and see if they are properly welded inline. The first thing I do when a new belt arrives it to unfold it and lay it on a flat table. If it lays flat, or almost flat, after a few minutes, it goes into the "for use" hook. If it sits high in one area, I check it out to see if I can flatten it out. I also press it down at the weld joint and check to misalignment. One can shave off a small amount of material sticking out one side or the other, or just throw it away. I always throw away new belts that don't lay flat AND have misaligned weld joints.

Maybe there is a piece of broken thread, or foreign material stuck in the teeth of the worm gears driving the shuttle, or between the shuttle and bobbin basket?

Try running the machine with the top belt off the machine's pulley. See if the variation in speed and thumping exists with just the motor (and speed reducer, if any). In the unlikely event that the thumping continues with the machine out of the equation, make sure that the motor mounts and pulley are fully tightened. If you have a speed reducer between the motor and machine, unbelt it and run just the motor. A mis-adjusted reducer could cause this type of problem. You might have to dink with the bolt securing the reducer, or replace it if it wobbles. If you don't have a reducer between the motor and machine, try running the motor with the belt off. I have thrown away v-belts that were poorly melded out of alignment where they are joined. In fact, it happens more and more all the time. I now only buy top of the line v-belts. It is possible that your belt or belts are not up to snuff and could cause this problem. If everything on the motor is tight and it thumps on its own, with no belt at all, replace the motor. Hand wheel the machine and listen or feel for occasional binding. If you encounter binding, or any unusual resistance, mark/note the position and direction of the needlebar and presser feet and we can investigate further.

Boa; Your first YouTube video is marked Private and cannot be seen by anybody but you.

Greg is right, in that the standard build of the LU-1508 has the same foot lift and sewing capacity as most other walking foot machines. I mistakenly forgot to append the "NH" designation when I mentioned this particular Juki machine. The LU-1508NH has higher lift and sewing clearances and uses system 190 needles. I modified my National 300N to sew just under 1/2 inch, using system 190 needles. Because these needles are 3/16" longer than standard system 135x16 and 17 needles, the bottom of the needle bar, at BDC, is also that much higher. This allows the presser feet to be raised 3/16" higher using the knee lever. The hand lift lever only raises them the standard height.

Something might be wrong with the bobbin case or basket, or the bobbins themselves. Make sure that the shuttle mechanism is fully tightened and not able to slip as you sew. Also, after winding your bobbins, cut off the beginning thread stud flush with the bobbin. An exposed stub can catch and cause intermittent tension problems. Try to watch the bobbin as you sew. See if the thread is twisting as it feeds out of the slot and under the bobbin tension spring. This action would cause sudden changes in bottom tension and cause the knots to appear near the top. If this is happening, troubleshoot the bobbin area and your bobbin thread winding technique. I usually recommend inserting your wound bobbins so that they feed against the direction of the loading slot, making a sharp turn backwards to the spring. Going the other way sometimes results in changes in tension as you sew. You might try altering both the top and bottom tensions to see if there is a happier place for both of them to get along and give a consistent knot placement.

The 1508 is a beefed model, with higher presser foot lift. It was designed to sew leather goods and even some shoes. It can take more pounding than the 1541 before wearing out. Also, it has extra clearance inside the head to allow for longer needles and higher sewing thickness: about 12 mm. Without this extra clearance one cannot sew a compressed thickness beyond 10 mm. Even with these improvements and higher lift (plus longer needles), the 1508 is not a substitute for a harness stitcher, like the Juki 441 or Adler 205 and their clones, that many leather crafters here are using. Highlead is a well respected brand name, Worldwide. If you will have dealer support in your own locality for a Highlead machine, you probably won't be sorry. Also, if you decide you need something stronger, your dealer may allow some value on a trade in.

Juki makes top of the line sewing machinery. The 1541 is a very good machine for light to medium weight material. It will easily make clothing. If you should decide to venture into also producing leather clothing and accessories, a Juki LU-1508 is one of the best in the business, for walking foot, flat bed machines. These are just recommendations. You should bring your tailor along when you go to look at machines. The actual sewer will know which machine is best for the tasks at hand.

VanDutch; Try placing the stitch lever in the zero position; not moving the feed dog forward or backward. Then rotate the flywheel as before and see if the binding stops happening. If so, a clamping screw or bolt may be loose on the stitch length/direction crank arm. This can be checked from the large round cover plate on the right front and back of the head. I have heard of cases where the one accessed from the back shook loose and made it difficult to balance forward and reverse stitches. It could also halt the machine if one of these bolts backs out too far.

You should look for a walking foot machine, with triple feed, and thread handling capacity of at least #138 bonded thread (double what the two machines you asked about can handle). The machine I refer to is used by upholstery shops, not tailors.

I have had a 96k40, which is about the same machine as the 96-10. I do have a 31-15. I would say they are equal in characteristics and capabilities. That means either can sew with #69 bonded thread, using a #18 needle, into about 3/16 inch of material, or slightly more. Feed is bottom only and not much good for vinyl and leather, unless you convert into a roller foot machine.

I used Emory cloth on my throat plates that had grooves on top and then buffed them to a high polish. I can't imagine why those grooves are there, other than the Chinese copied a standard Juki TSC 441 and simply know nothing about sewing veg-tan leather. Someone needs to tell them to produce smooth throat plates for leather sewing machines.

Not specifically. Not specifically, Bob. It depends on whether or not the stitches are decorative or required for securing pieces together, and on how large the thread is and how thick the leather is. Also, if the object is bendable, shorter stitches are better. While there is no rule of thumb, I prefer between 5 and 6 stitches per inch on most leather belts, straps and holsters, using thread sizes 207 or 277. I enlarge the spacing to 4/inch on thick weight belts, using #346 thread. Going the other direction, I'll use 6 or 7 per inch on thin wallets and 8 or 9 on shoes and watch bands, using #69 thread.

FYI: The difference in strength between #69 (T70) and #415 bonded threads is #69 has a breaking strength of just 11 pounds, whereas #415 breaks at 72 pounds. Most of us use #277 bonded thread on holsters and double leather straps and belts. #277 has a breaking strength of 45 pounds. I routinely sew the edges of single leather belts with #207 thread, which has 32 pounds strength per stitch. These heavy threads reinforce belts and straps and prevent holsters and sheathes from coming apart under stress or duress. Domestic sewing machines, whether made of iron, aluminum or plastic, are not built with heavy thread and hard leather in mind. Most honest dealers will tell you that their machines on eBay that they call industrial strength are not able to sew with anything much thicker than #69 thread. This is upholstery thread, for light weight seat covers. It is not even strong enough for motorcycle seats unless you go around twice.

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.