Wizcrafts

The 3-6-9 should do the trick. It gives you two output pulley/reduction options. Either will cause you to increase the top speed setting, yielding higher low speed torque.

That ad was posted in October 2012, 1 1/3 years ago. Have you used the inquiries email address provided at the end of the ad?

Due to its limited lift, the stirrup plate is impractical on the CB3200. The stirrup plate is 1/2 inch tall and the feet can only raise 5/8 inch above the low throat plate. The presser feet need at least 1/8 inch clearance to alternate up and down. Thus, if we subtract 1/2 (4/8) from 5/8 inch, we are left with 1/8 inch - 1/8 inch for foot alternation = zero thickness can be sewn. The amount of alternating foot lift can be varied by moving a crank that protrudes out of the back of the body, up or down in a curved slot on a housing on the back. In practice, one could move the presser foot control lever all the way up, reducing the amount of alternation to maybe 3/32 inches. This would allow you to use the stirrup plate to sew about 1/16 inch of leather, before the mechanism binds. One could buy a Cowboy, Cobra or Techsew stirrup plate and have it ground down to 3/8 inch rise, then reshaped and polished. This would allow the CB3200 to sew into about 8 ounces of leather.

You can dye Barbour's glazed linen thread. I used to do it using alcohol based leather dye. I think that 6 cord is the equivalent of #346. Campbell Randall sells Barbour's thread in one pound spools, in both left (straight needle machine) and right (curved or hand needle) twist. You can hand wax the thread as you prepare to sew.

No, it has two brushes. Two extras are included in the packaging, along with a spare brake pad. The motor has a multi-position speed limiter switch on the front panel, with a pointer knob. You can change the top speed in a second, even while you are sewing. I have one powering my CB4500. I ordered it from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines with a 50mm pulley, which is not the standard size from the factory. Bob Kovar used a special interfacing collar to fit inside the new pulley, which has a 3/4 inch bore. The motor has a 38 inch type 3L v-belt feeding the large pulley on the speed reducer. The small pulley on the reducer feeds up to the machine. It can sew through 3/4 inch of veg-tan leather, with a #25 needle and #277 thread, at one stitch every five seconds, or into 1/4 inch double leather belts at 5 stitches per second. This is all easily controlled by your foot. For occasions where I need to sew patterns, like fishtails, I set it to the slowest setting and sew with the pedal all the way down. She chugs along at about one stitch per second. I hope this helps 'splain the motor.

From your work description I believe that a decent upholstery grade walking foot machine will suffice. Let me use a Chandler 406 RB as an example (there are many other brands similar to it). This machine was designed for use in the upholstery trade. It has triple feed that ensures that multiple layers stay aligned. This machine has a large bobbin, style M, that holds about 50% more thread than most industrial machine bobbins. It has a heavy upper tension spring to properly tension thicker thread than any home machine can handle. Best of all, the presser feet can walk to a height of at least 1/2 inch, or slightly higher. This allows the machine to actually sew 3/8 inch of compressed material. The next difference between upholstery grade machines and home or garment machines is the strength of the ciol spring that holds down the presser foot (feet). The Chandler in my example has a strong enough spring to hold down 3/8 inches of leather as the threaded needle ascends. Should the leather overpower the presser foot and lift with the needle, it will skip stitches and may bend or break the needle. The Chandler sells for about $1200 shipped, so it is within your budget. I hope this helps. When you gain more experience and take on work that is circular, you will need to move up to a cylinder arm machine. That is a whole nuther story.

I now use and recommend the Family Sew FS-550 servo motor that is sold by Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. Ask for the 50mm (2 inch) pulley instead of the 75mm that is installed by default. It requires a special inside collar to allow 3/4 inch ID pulleys to be installed onto a roughly 5/8 inch shaft (actually some Metric diameter). You can re-use the interfacing collar with other 3/4 inch pulleys, should you wish to experiment. Tell the dealer what your existing motor pulley diameter is as well as the length of your v-belt. Sewing machine v-belts are type 3L (3/8") and are usually measured in inches, in the USA. The belt may be stamped with a 42, or M42, meaning 42 inches outside circumference, or some other number. Upholstery and garment making machines are normally setup with small hand wheel pulley and large motor pulleys. I often see 44 inch belts on these machines. After converting such a machine to use a FS-550, the belt will need to be shorter, one inch per inch less motor pulley diameter. So, if your existing pulley was 4 inches and the new motor is ordered with a 2" (50mm) pulley, the new belt needs to be 2 inches shorter.

The cutaway area is to allow thicker thread to push under and over the bobbin without binding.

First, make sure that the needle is ascending as the hook point approaches. It should intersect the needle, inside the cut-out scarf, about 1/8 inch above the eye. If that isn't happening, e.g, the hook intersects right at the level of the eye, the loop cannot form in time to be picked up. Ditto, if the hook arrives after the eye has passed it completely, or too low on the upstroke. How about your loop? Is is persisting as the hook reaches the scarf of the needle, above the eye? Or, is the loop dissolving before it can get picked off? A dissolving loop can be caused by too much swing of the check spring, or if you fail to feed the top thread around the spring at all. If the material is very sticky, the top thread might stick to the needle and the loop may not form at all. This sometimes happens when we use double-sided leather tape to hold layers together.

Ferg; The 3200 is a 441 type machine. It does not sew under about 6 ounces and is best used with #138 and larger thread.

I also have a modified walking foot machine, which when equipped with the longer system 190 needles can sew almost 1/2 inch. Before I modded it, it barely cleared 3/8 inches of leather. With the standard system 135x16 needles it only barely sews 7/16, after grinding down the inner top surface of the presser foot. The modification involved routing out the back of the head to allow the walking foot crank arm to lift higher. Despite this alteration, the machine struggles with #207 thread.

The company has two names: Campbell-Bosworth and Campbell-Randall. Bostitch is a stapler company. You can use any thread you want to in a Campbell lockstitch machine. But, bonded polyester has a softer hand than bonded nylon and works better with its tension mechanism. Ideally, one should use glazed linen thread, run through liquid Lax-Wax, in these machines.

None of the machines in your list are capable of exceeding 3/8 inch, if they can even sew that thickness. Plus, none can use thread heavier than #138 at that thickness.

Agreed. But, make sure it works properly and is not missing any parts. Pfaff parts cost through the nose.

I have and use some diamond point needles on my Cowboy CB4500. They produce a very straight stitch line, with the thread sitting on top of the leather. The effect is the opposite of the more common S (wedge) point needles supplied with these machines. The S needles tend to lay the thread into the top layer, with a smaller visual gap between stitches. I find that some top tension increase is usually needed to bring the bottom knots up into the leather with diamond points, after using S points.

It's possible that somebody before you ordered or replaced the original beehive spring with a lighter duty spring. This is typical for machines that are used in tailor shops and garment factories, where the dominant thread is soft cotton, not hard bonded nylon. If your top tension beehive spring is too light, you can buy a heavier duty replacement from most industrial sewing machine dealers, like Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. Otherwise, loosen the bobbin tension spring, checking for thread particles inside the case, or under the spring. You can also move up one needle size to punch a bigger hole. This makes it much easier to pull up the knots.

I buy my servo and clutch motors from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. Their number is: 866-362-7397. Their website is at www.tolindsewmach.com

Nope, it needs those long needles.

Welcome to the Brotherhood of the Bobbin, Seth!

Keep in mind that this is not the machine you need to sew sheaths or holsters. It is purely for light duty leather, of medium denim, or garments, moccasins, caps, etc.

I have repair-ed your machine. There is a no charge (Insp. Clouseau).

Post machines are normally used in the manufacturing of moccasins, shoe and boot uppers, hats and caps, and other items whose shapes are best sewn over a post, rather than a cylinder arm. The pictured machine may be capable of sewing with up to #138 bonded thread, into about 5/16 inch (20 ounces) (the feet lift up to 14 mm, or 9/16 inch). Doing so will require a #23 leather point needle. The machine is valued at $4500, plus or minus, new.

The hitting or pinning of the needle means you either have to relocate the shuttle to the right, or have already reached its maximum needle handling capacity. Contact an industrial sewing machine dealer to see if they have any hooks capable of clearing that needle and thread combination without making contact. You run the risk of breaking needles and scoring the hook if you continue to operate the machine in this fashion. The hook should just pass through the scarf of the needle without pushing it to the right. The stitches are already doing that as you sew. Schmetz needles are an improvement over Organ, especially for sewing leather goods. Schmetz has a larger eye and scarf.

It is a five in one machine used by shoe repair shops. It cuts sole leather, bevels a 2" wide overlap for blending the sole onto the insole near the heel, trims the glued on sole to the proper stitching distance, compresses the insole and outsole together and can also cut straight strips in various widths, using a sliding gate as a limiter. They have very limited use outside of shoe shops.

Seth; You definitely will need a different machine for sewing garment leather. For very thin leather, like maybe 3 - 4 ounces, a straight stitch machine with a roller foot, or a even flat Teflon foot will be your daisy. I use an ancient Singer 31-15, equipped with a roller foot and a single row feed dog combination for garment leather projects. When I need to sew cloth, I change it back to a medium hole plate and matching multi-row feed dog. The machine now has a servo motor that allows for easy speed control. These machines work best with thin thread, not exceeding #69 bonded nylon/polyester, or #80 jeans thread. They are used in garment making, dry cleaning and tailor shops around the World. Almost every industrial sewing machine company makes several types of straight stitch machine, many of which can use standard replacement and accessory parts. They are usually limited to sewing about 3/16 inch of material under the foot, depending on the needle and presser foot in use. If your work involves slightly firmer leather, like might be used in cell phone cases, wallets, chaps, vests and jackets, a flat bed, upholstery grade walking foot machine is best. The Consew 206RB-5 is highly recommended for this type of work, especially if it is equipped with a Family Sew FS-550 motor, or newer. These machines typically use bonded thread in sizes 69, 92 and 138, and once in a while, maybe #207 on top and 138 in the bobbin. They usually are able to sew through 3/8 inches of medium temper leather, jeans, webbing, etc. Some walking foot machines can be modified, or custom ordered, to sew thin, soft garment leather without problems. Contact our member-dealers to see what they can offer you in this category.