Wizcrafts

Also, just in case, make sure that the stitch length adjuster screw is all the way down! If it is loose, or up too high, leather doesn't stand a chance of feeding.

That is NOT a walking foot machine. It has a spring loaded follow-foot on top. The work is only moved by the feed dog underneath. If the presser foot slips on the top (slick leather or fur), there is no feed, or inconsistent stitch length. I had this very machine for one week, then returned it in frustration.

It is a very, very, high speed garment sewing machine. It can sew very thin leather with very thin thread and slim needles. I'm guessing about 3 or 4 layers of garment leather, using a titanium coated #16 or #18 needle. Of course, you would have to change the presser foot to a Teflon or roller foot to sew sticky leather.

The Reliable is a standard upholstery grade walking foot machine. As such, expect it to max out with #138 thread, possibly even as thick as #207 on top and 138 in the bobbin. It will sew up to 3/8 inches of material. If this meets your needs, you're good to go. I see that you highlighted thread sizes 92 through 277 in the chart you posted. Do not try using #277 in that machine. It is not built to handle it.

Use a belt sander with fine grit sand paper inline with the left edge of the presser foot, or else rub the foot back and forth over Emory cloth, until the sharp left and back edges are slightly rounded. Then take it to your Harbor Freight dual wheel cloth buffer, apply green polishing compound, and buff the steel to a high gloss, especially along the bottom to side edges.

SLudlow; I personally modified my National 300N to sew leather. It started life in an upholstery shop sewing nothing heavier than two layers of medium weight Naugahyde, with only #69 bonded nylon and #18 round point needles. It was equipped with a 1/3 HP clutch motor that was way out of adjustment. Below are the things I did to convert the machine into a leather stitcher. Replaced the old clutch with a servo motor and 50mm motor pulley. Replaced the drive belt with a shorter new v-belt to match the smaller motor and pulley. Replaced the beehive tension spring on the top disks with a heavy duty spring from a dealer. Increased the spring tension and travel on the check spring. Replaced the coil pressure spring over the presser foot with a heavier duty spring (dealer) Bought a swing-away edge guide that clamps over the front of the body and screws down over the feed dog shaft that resides under the front of the machine. Bought a roller edge guide and had a welder secure the screw in the swing-away bracket so I could tighten down the knurled nut with pliers. Dealers will now do this conversion for you. Replaced the upholstery double welting foot set with several standard, left toe and right toe sets. Sanded, rounded and polished the sharp edges of left and double toe outside feet. Applied Emory cloth to the sharp teeth on the feed dog. Played with the position of the crank that controls the balance between forward and reverse stitching to match holes (most of the time). Replaced the old bobbin case with a 6 pack of new Consew 206 M style cases and 2 dozen black steel bobbins. Purchased packages of system 135x16 leather point needles, in sizes 16 through 24. Purchase thread in sizes 92 through 207. Paid for the machine in one month sewing rifle slings with #138 thread, top and bottom, under contract from a local leathercraft store. This is where radiusing and buffing the left edges of the outer feet paid off. I still have that machine, although it is rarely used since I bought a 20 inch body Singer 139. I found that the best needle/thread combination was a #23 diamond, triangle, or LL leather point needle with #138 pre-lubricated bonded nylon thread. I sewed at about 10 stitches per second on the straight-aways, slowing down to single stitching, at 1 per second, around the turnaround where the tail is sewn into the back of the body. The slings and tails were made of 5 - 6 ounce chrome tanned leather on top, with a 4 ounce suede lining rubber glued to the bottom. There were 1/2 inch thick green foam pads sandwiched near the front half. These caused the soft tops to bulge up as I sewed. The feet were gouging a line along the raised edges, until I learned to radius and polish them. I tried another modification that allowed the machine to sew thicker leather (7/16"), but the needles were 3/16" longer and tended to bend or break every day I used them. I had to sew so slowly that it was very frustrating trying to not break the thread or needles. Also, the foot pressure was so strong to hold down the leather, it gouged channels in the top layer and the feeder teeth destroyed the bottom. I fixed this problem by purchasing a Cowboy CB4500.

Check the thread path to ensure that you have threaded through the take-up lever and the check spring. Also, make sure that the top thread is firmly inside the tension disks. Remove the needle and roll it on a flat surface to see if it is bent. Insert the needle all the way into the needle bar, with the scarf on the right side Thread the needle from left to right.

I agree. I have owned two ULS machines and both produced bottom stitches almost the same as the top. Presser foot pressure, awl angle, thread size and the width of the slot in the throat plate all play a part in the bottom appearance.

You'll want to tighten the bobbin thread tension to get the thread to stay inside the midst of the leather. 346 thread pulls the lockstitches very tightly and may overpower #207 unless the bottom has plenty of resistance. About the thinnest workable leather for #346 thread with 207 on the bottom would be 10 to 12 ounces. Otherwise, you'll have knots visible on one side or the other.

There's another foot you can buy from Toledo Industrial Sewing machines and maybe even from Cobra Steve.. It is called a paddle foot and they come in either left or right toe. I have both. Paddle feet allow you to sew with the inside foot up against the raised case, on the left, while maintaining firm contact with the narrow sewing flange on the right. With a few exceptions (e.g. sharp corners), they won't push off the edge as happens with the standard right toe presser foot. Paddle toe feet: These feet may not be the same height as your current set and may require some readjustment of the large crank arm on the back of the faceplate. It takes the large hex driver that came with the Cowboy and Cobra 441 machines. It's possible that no amount of adjustment of the crank on the back will bring the paddle foot all the way down, especially when sewing thin leather. If this is the case, you'll need to remove the faceplate and reposition the presser bar downward. This rarely happens to me as most of the shaped cases I sew with the paddle foot are about 3/16 to 1/4 inch thick along the flange. The foot can be adjusted with the big crank arm to reach the bottom and raise the inside foot sufficiently at that thickness.

I occasionally use my Cowboy CB4500 to punch holes for tiny rivets along the edges. I set the stitch length to maximum (1/2"), change to a #27 needle, set the edge guide the correct distance from the edge and let the machine punch the holes. This works with the very small Tandy rivets. A round point needle makes a better hole, but produces more friction. So, I spray silicon on the needle if I hear it squeak.

Not related to your Consew 226, but amazingly, last week, with no warning, the tension spring broke off at the end of the screw, inside my Singer patcher's shuttle. I lost all bobbin tension and had no idea why, until I removed the bobbin case and tried rethreading it. To my amazement, the business end of the spring was gone! Bit clean off at the elbow, just like Amos Moses. Check to make sure that the entire tension spring is still there and covering the thread hole at the end of the slot, in the bobbin case.

I also found this number: Needle Bar Pfaff part # 91-168019-91

NEEDLE BAR PART #91-710650-92 fits PFAFF 335 WALKING FOOT

I'm sure you can buy a new needlebar for under $200.00.

From the view of the presser feet and (apparently double row) feed dog, they appear to be made specifcally for sewing on bias tape. Taping feet usually have knurled bottoms to grip the bias/edge tape better. If your $250 plus the Efka motor and air setup, plus old feet and feed dog/plate, can get you a standard, narrow, smooth presser foot set and a standard single row feed dog and throat plate, plus a Family Sew FS-550 servo or equivalent, you're flying high and wide. However, Pfaff parts are known to be among the most expensive on the planet.

Hi Steve! I have sewn denim jean cuffs, pockets and belt loops on my Cowboy CB4500 and on a Cobra Class 4. First, you need to switch to a much thinner needle and thread, such as a #19 or #20 round point needle with size Tex 80 jeans topstitching thread (sold by tailoring suppliers like wawak.com). You can also use bonded nylon, size #69, with a #18 round point needle. Why round point? Because a leather point needle tends to slice the fibers of denim and causes them to break apart. A round point needle simply pokes a hole between twines, without ripping them asunder. Your mileage may vary. You will find that the bobbin tension drops to almost zero if you were previously using thicker thread, like #138 or larger. This is a good thing. You want just a modicum of bobbin tension, similar to what you use on your home sewing machines. Then balance the knots by adjusting the top tension up or down. When I sew denim on a leather stitcher, I end up with almost no top tension on the disks. The rest of the posts, guides and the heavier check spring provide more than enough top thread tension to pull the knots into the denim

Upholstery materials, like outdoor canvas (e.g. Sunbrella), Naugahyde, heavy twills, denim, suede, and leather should be sewn on walking foot machines. Most upholsterers and leather sewers use triple (compound) feed machines. Some are built for thinner lighter duty work, others for thicker, heavy duty use. Any other feed system, with the exceptions of roller foot and dual feed walking foot, are less effective with feeding these materials. With triple feed, the needle, inside alternating foot and bottom feed dog all move the material in sync, keeping multiple layers aligned. This feed system is a must for slippery cloth (Sunbrella, sail cloth), vinyl and leather. A heavy duty coil or leaf spring over the outside presser foot keeps the material all the way down, until the needle has lifted out on its upstroke and the next stitch begins.

Juki makes double size hook cylinder arm machines with moving binders and automatic thread cutting and backtacking. Be prepared to offer your firstborn and mortgage your house to buy one. BTW: The double capacity Juki bobbins hold about 40 to 50% more thread than M style. I use them in a custom modified long body Singer walking foot machine.

Yes, that motor will work fine. Be sure to measure the diameter of the pulley on the clutch motor. The servo motor has a 50mm, 2 inch pulley. You will need to order a shorter v-belt to have the same range of vertical adjustment/belt tension, as the original. Subtract one inch of belt length per inch of difference between the pulleys.

Doesn't the Singer 201 have a built in pod motor? How are you powering the machine with a clutch motor? Unless you remove the pod you may damage it and the worm gear inside the flywheel.

Using #138 thread on top will eventually warp the paddle shaped check spring that is inside the needle bar, just above the needle mounting bracket. If this happens, when you try to sew with #69 thread, there won't be any tension on the thread as the needle bar ascends and the loops will tend to dissolve, causing skipped stitches. I always keep a couple of spare check springs in an envelope, in case the one in use loosens, bends, or breaks. I rarely use any thread bigger than #92 in my patcher. My day to day patcher thread is #69 bonded nylon. The thickness that can be sewn on a patcher is the height of the presser foot when raised with the lift lever on the back of the head - minus about 1/8 inch. The well preserved patcher may be able to sew 1/4 inch of leather. A highly tuned and tight model might even make it to almost 5/16 inches. The maximum lift is tied to the top tension disks point of release. When you lift the presser lift lever, you also disengage the top tension, 100%. To continue sewing at this height you will need to pass the thread around the front mounted darning tension disks, if your machine has them. Singer patchers normally use System 29x3 round point (cloth) and 29x4 leather point needles. Most can also sew in time with System 135x16 needles, if their shafts fit inside the hole in the needle clamp. Everything really depends on how much slack is present in the shuttle drive mechanism. The stitch length on a patcher is adjusted by the screw on the sliding puck on the back of the foot bar. The longest stitch is with that puck all the way down, in contact with the top of the foot. A perfectly tight feed mechanism can sew at 5 stitches per inch, into about 1/8 inch of leather. The length tends to decrease as the thickness increases, especially on the 29-4 models. I have had old patchers that could only sew at 8 stitches per inch, until rebuilt.

I should have mentioned that Pfaff, Juki and Adler make large bobbin cylinder arm, walking foot machines. I'm not referring to the 441 clones. These are medium-heavy duty machines such as you are looking for. They aren't cheap either.

I suggest that you contact some of our member-dealers, like Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, Leather Machine Company, Techsew or Keystone Sewing. One of them will be able to hook you up with the machine you described. I sympathize with you on the standard G bobbins running out of thread. I now only have large bobbin machines.

True, for the CB3500, 4500 and 5500. But, not true for the new CB3200. It "clears" up to 5/8 inch but only sews up to 1/2 inch. The walking feet need vertical space to alternate up and down.