Wizcrafts

You are talking about old iron. What are you looking for in sewing capacity?

Grease (Vaseline will do) the gears. Oil goes in oil holes in the body, and on moving crankshafts.

Describe your projects and plans for leather goods and we can offer more suggestions. For instance, while not actually a leather machine as such, the Consew 206RB-5 does sew up to 3/8" of medium temper leather, with #138 bonded nylon thread. They usually sell for right around $1200.

The Singer 15-91 is NOT a leather sewing machine. In fact, it barely feed Naugahyde, in my own experience. The Consew 206RB-5 is a basic level leather sewing machine and an mid-upper level Naugahyde machine.

The Featherweight is not designed to sew leather. It has light weight components and is meant for broad cloth garments and quilts.

This machine is a good all round leather stitcher. It can sew from about 6 ounces, up to 1/2 inch, with thread as heavy as #415. Personally, I would limit the thread to #277 & #277 top and bottom, or maybe #346 on top and #277 on the bottom. It is a few hundred more that the price you suggested, but well worth the extra funds. This type of machine is a compound, triple feed walking foot machine.

Baby steps, Grasshopper. Looking better all the time.

To change to #138 thread, change to a #23 needle, increase the top thread tension a turn or two and crank down the presser foot pressure adjuster. Also, make sure that both feet go all the way down, alternately.

Keyair; It may be time to take or ship the head to a qualified industrial sewing machine shop. Have them correct the tensioner disks and plates, time the feed dog and needle to the hook - at all stitch lengths, tighten loose screws and adjust the walking feet for equal lift, then oil and lube it as needed. Ask them to set it up so that the machine can sew with any thread from #69 through #138, on top and bottom, or explain why it can't handle #138 thread. BTW: I recommend using a #23 needle with #138 thread, top and bottom. A good mechanic will be able to do all that in an hour or two. It will be money well spent.

My 1921 31-15 will not pass #138 thread around the shuttle and bobbin case, no matter what adjustments I make. I consider them garment machines, best limited to #69 thread. Newer models, so to speak, may handle #138, if you are lucky. The springs and take-up parts are not meant for heavy work.

Merry Christmas back atcha Steve.

From what I've read, a number 5 needle is about the right size for use with 5 cord waxed linen thread. You may also try some bonded nylon or polyester, say #207. Anything thicker and the knots will be hard to center.

Very nice redesign Steve. Kudos to the Webmaster.

I think that you may have better luck if you posted your question on the Crispin Colloquy Shoe Machines forum They are the foremost shoe and boot making forum I know of. Other than that, if you do use the Frobana, try to get a small enough needle to sew with 4 or 5 cord thread. The knots should be centerable with that thickness of thread into thin soles.

Order some series 136x16 leather point needles in the appropriate sizes for the thread you intend to use. Here is a thread and needle size chart to explain the combinations. You can order needles from the company (Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines).

In system 135, x16 is leather point (any geometric shape from chisel to diamond) and x17 is standard round point.

It appears that you have a mixture of system 134-35 and 135x17 needles. You must find the type that works the best for your current timing and stick with that type. Or, move the needle bar up or down to place the pick up point of the hook a little (~2 or 3 mm) above the eye of the needle, as it comes around and begins its upstroke. The easiest way to set the height of the needle bar is by removing the throat cover plate so that you can actually see the needle's position and its eye, as the hook approaches it. System 135x16 and 135x17 are the most commonly deployed needles for upholstery grade walking foot machines. They are 1.75" long and available wherever industrial sewing machines are sold and serviced. Why use system 135x16 rather than 190 LR? The Pfaff system 190 needles are longer and tend to bend or break more easily. They are deflected by lumps in layers, like skived folds on the edges of leather jackets and vests. After a couple of years of fighting with them, I converted my two flatbed walking foot machines back to system 135 and rarely bend or break a needle. This means I can't sew as much thickness on those machines as before, but they still make it to 3/8 inch. I sew anything over 3/8 on my big Cowboy CB4500.

This is just a guess, but it looks to me like the thread is too thick for the wallets. That's why the knots are hard to control. Your machine is designed to sew with up to #138 bonded nylon or bonded polyester. Your designation 10/3 looks like #277 thickness to me. No matter what thread you choose to sew with, if knots vary in position as you sew, tighten the bobbin spring for a stronger pull, then add more top tension to bring the knots to the middle of the material. Move down one needle size for the current thread. Further, clean any thread link from the thread path, including the upper disks and around the bobbin case, shuttle, and shuttle race. Oil the machine liberally, then place a paper towel under the feet to absorb to run-off from the presser and needle bars.

The machine's needle bar must have been lowered to use system 135x16 (&x17), or possibly system 134-35 LR needles. Both are approximately 1 3/4" long. The 134-35 have a narrower top shaft diameter than the 135x16 needles, which are the same top diameter as system 190.

A previous owner had the needle bar raised to use series 16x257 needles. It's that simple.

The thread is glazed linen, left twist, 4 cord, which is about the same thickness as #138 or #207, but nowhere near the strength of bonded nylon thread. This thread is used for strongly visible top stitching on couches and chairs, where the thread's visibility is part of the overall design. Despite its diameter, it is softer than bonded nylon and easier to get a proper tension than say #207 bonded. The knots will be tighter and will hide inside thinner material than its bonded cousins.

The Juki TSC-441 is built for sewing heavy webbing tow ropes, car wash cloths, buffing wheels, tactical gear, parachutes and other very thick material goods. While they can sew leather, they are not optimized, or normally setup to do so. There has been an increasing demand for heavy duty sewing machines built to sew thick leather, with thick thread, out of the box, with an easy learning curve. This buyer demand led to the modification of the Juki TSC-441 design, sold as the Cowboy, Cobra and Techsew leather sewing machine brands advertised at the top of every page on this website. These brands are maintained by a very few dealers who have a huge vested interest in servicing and helping to improve their machines. Here are some model numbers for your research: Cowboy cb3500, cb4500 and cb5500 and very recently, the cb3200 Cobra Class 3, Class 4 and Class 4-25 Techsew 4100 and 5100 All of those machines have triple (compound) feed, with special harness feet, smooth feed dogs, custom shaped throat plates for holsters and stirrups, powerful servo motors, speed reducers, large, heavy balance wheels and in several cases, built in bobbin winders. All feature a single up/down stitch length lever that raises for reverse sewing and stays where you put it, in either direction. They have been modified from the Juki spec to sew a solid 7/8 inches of real leather, with thread as thick as #415 (with a #27 needle). The harness feet come in three forms: double toe, left toe and right toe. These machines are priced competitively, at about 1/2 the price of a Juki TSC-441 and are fully supported by our dealers who are members of this forum..

It is unfortunate that the state of leather sewing machines is such that there is no machine means of resetting tensions to a default setting. All adjustments are done manually, testing as we go. Quilters and embroiderers have it one up on us. There are hand held pressure scales available for quilting and embroidery machines to adjust the top and bobbin thread tensions to a known value, for any given thread. Using these scales they are able to dial in the thread tensions to the optimum setting before they start sewing a project. It would be interesting to find out if these scales can be modified to work on leather sewing machines, which typically require much higher tensions on top and in the bobbin cases. One might try using a good quality fish weight scale to measure the tensions once a good setting has been found. It might get one into the ballpark, if not on the money. But, the thicker the thread and denser the leather, the stronger the top tension needs to be to pull the knots up halfway. I guess each sewer would have to establish his or her own default setting for their average work, whether it be 4-6 ounce wallets, 8-10 ounce belts, 16 ounce pancake holsters, or more serious 1/2 to 3/4 inch holsters and sheathes with welts. Each doubling in thickness may require increases in the top tension. There is one sewing machine I have used in the past that can place the knots in a predictable vertical position (up from the bottom layer) almost every time. It is the Union Lockstitch Machine. The take-up arm is designed to pull the thread knots up a distance that can be varied by turning a four sided screw. This setting is separate from the top thread tension disks.

You may need to apply penetrating oil to loosen the grip of the screws. They are normally tight, but not so much that they can't be unscrewed when necessary.

In fact, the only time I actually have to thread one of my industrial sewing machines is after I have removed the faceplate to oil the Tin Man that lives inside the head.