Wizcrafts

Yep, walking foot, probably compound feed (triple feed).

Right. My bad. The roller occupies a single bottom width of between 1/8 and about 3/16 inches, depending on the size and who cast it. The feed dog can only feed material when there is pressure from the top, via a presser foot. Since the narrow footprint roller is all the pressure on top, it makes sense to use a feeder that lies directly under it, as the other teeth have nothing to work against. However, you can leave in your original feeders if the roller makes good contact with the left-most row. You may or may not get the best feed, depending on the width and aggressiveness of the teeth, and distance to the needle hole from the right edge of the left-most row of teeth. The feeder in a roller foot conversion lies directly next to the hole, allowing you to place the edge of the roller very close to the needle.

Domestic (home) sewing machines are not designed to sew leather that is thick, dense, or large, or requires thread larger than B69 (T70). It doesn't matter what brand name is on the body. If it has drop feed only, and neither a roller or walking foot drive, it is not going to feed leather properly. The result of trying to sew leather that is beyond the handling/feeding capacity of a machine is one or more of the following. Skipped stitches Shorter than usual stitches, or stitches going into same hole and not moving along Top thread knots on bottom, or bunched up on bottom, or wrapped around bobbin Bent and broken needles Bent take-up lever or cranks inside head Shuttle hook knocked out of time Needle bar knocked up, out of time with hook. Ruined leather goods

The cast iron treadle base for Singer patchers are specific to those models, in long and short arm setups. No other treadle base will work at well as the proper one for that model.

You can buy replacement parts from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines (an advertiser here - see banners), or from Gregg at Keystone, or any other sewing machine dealers who place banner ads on this website.

If you are contemplating buying the motorized machine and converting it to a treadle base model, locate the base first. They are hard to find in the size used by the long arm patcher machines. Also, the base is very heavy and will be expensive to ship.

That motorized patcher on a pedestal stand is worth more than one on a cast iron treadle stand. The stand and motor would cost about 250 to 300 alone.

Not on my walking foot or straight stitch machines. I only have a speed reducer/torque multiplier on my big Cowboy CB4500 harness stitcher.

Make sure that the motor has slow speeds below 200 rpm. I saw one of those brand in a video and it dropped out at about 200.

I have the same model 29K172 and wouldn't sell it for under $1200, on the cast iron base.

Have you set the speed limiter knob below maximum? If so, how far down is it now set? Is this a brand new machine? If so, it is not yet broken in. Keep oiling it in every oil hole, including inside the faceplate, where the crank shafts live (they have tiny oil holes).

It looks the same, but, I'm not at my shop. Also, the pulley on that motor is waaaaay too big for a leather machine! My FS motors have a 2 inch pulley.

I have two Family Sew motors I bought from Bob Kovar and neither has the brake engaged. Perhaps they have an adjustment screw inside the case. One could locate and turn that screw until the brake was off by default. I already see the question coming, so here is my answer in advance. I use my right hand on the flywheel to stop the machine from running on when I take my foot off the pedal. This works fine for me at the speeds I typically sew at. If I have cranked up the speed to git-er done, I slow down as I approach the end of the stitch line, then halt the machine by hand brake. I suspect that some brake-fitted servo motors have more range of adjustment available than others. Those could be set up to allow more foot movement before the motor begins to turn over. This would allow more motion to disengage the brake. That is how I setup my clutch motors.

I have this motor powering a huge, 20 inch bed walking foot machine and find no need for a speed reducer. The motor is equipped with a 2 inch pulley and is already able to punch through whatever I have placed under the feet. Of course, a reducer wouldn't hurt anything aside from one's top speed. The motor runs at about 3600 RPM, tops. A 2" motor pulley feeding a 4" flywheel pulley makes the machine's top speed about 1800 RPM, or stitches per minute. This maxes out a 30 stitches per second. With a 6:1 reducer system, the new top speed would become 600 stitches per minute, or 10 per second. This is okay for the kind of leather sewing crafters do, where slower is better, but not for upholsterers, where time is money.

Yes! Just turn the speed dial to the lowest, or second lowest range and you can sew one stitch every season.

I'm now using Family Sew 3/4 hp servo motors. They have speed limiter rotary switches on the front, which are very easy to access. Curiously, the rotary switches on my motors are wired backwards to US and Canadian sop. They go faster counterclockwise, rather than the opposite! These motors have much more torque at very slow speeds than my 2 SewPro 500GRs. Plus, they have a much higher top speed than the SewPro. I put one on my Singer 31-15 and, depending on the rotary switch setting and my foot position, I can sew from about 1 stitch every few seconds up to 25 per second. I happen to buy these motors from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. I am guessing that many other sewing machine shops sell them as well, possibly under different brand names. I paid about $110, plus about $15 UPS shipping. The other one was installed on a machine I had custom built. That is a 20" long bed, Singer type 139 walking foot machine. I usually run it at the slowest setting, or the first step up from there. Since I use it mostly for patches, this is all the speed I need. But, a twist of the knob can send the poor machine into overdrive, like used be on my 1956 Olds Rocket.

I own a 15-91, which I'm trying to sell from my shop. It simply cannot properly sew with anything thicker than #69 bonded nylon. Also, it lacks the penetrating power to punch holes through more than 3/16 inches of veg-tan belt leather, without me hand-wheeling it to get it started (and keep it sewing slowly). It then becomes a challenge to keep the leather from lifting with the needle.

Melco makes hat hoops for their commercial embroidery machines. If you search classified ads for your state, you may turn one up for sale, used, in the $5,000 range (well under half price). Older models with 6 needles can be found at that price.

I own a Singer 15-91. The first thing I had to do after lubing it was to rebuild the potted motor and replace the wires. This became a messy and expensive operation. Then, the foot speed control lost its slow speed range and had to be replaced with a new one. This doubled the cost of the machine before it ever sewed a stitch for me. Your $100 investment could easily double if these items need replacing. Besides, decent running models that have already been rebuilt sell for $200 and up.

Go to your nearest Joann Fabrics and take a look in the Viking sewing machines section. You will find exactly the machine you described, under either the Singer or Viking brand name. The least expensive ones (around $800) require a computer to be connected to the machine to do embroidery. The installed manufacturer's software and downloads from compatible pattern makers loads in to computer, then drives the machine. Without the computer, they only do the usual multitude of fancy or straight stitches. Note, I don't recommend using any of the newer plastic body machines for sewing leather, unless it is very thin (no more than 1/16 inch), and using normal domestic sewing thread, not bonded nylon. These machines are fragile!

I use liquid silicon lube, which is sold in quarts or gallons, from industrial sewing machine dealerships.

Try using a Schmetz #23 leather point needle. Also, run the thread through a lube pot, or buy some pre-lubed thread. This makes it easier to fight the friction and heat. Crank down the pressure spring or springs on the feet. If the leather lifts with the needle it causes skipped stitches and frayed thread. Try using a double toed foot. Reduce the bobbin tension, then balance the top tension.

These are fickle machines. The angle you sharpen on must be correct and go from the tip of the blade, upward about 3/8 inch. This usually means you start with the blade some distance from the foot, so the tip barely gets sharpened. Then, begin moving the blade towards the foot and backing off the sharpening wheel, to create a long taper. Finally, use your deburring sticks on the inside of the spinning blade to get rid of inside burrs. That's how I sharpen the blade on my Fortuna. The rest is a balancing act between the height of the drive wheel, the presser foot and distance the edge of the blade is to the right of the foot. Moving it farther away makes it easier to feed.

That lower roller disk setup is to add a little more controlled top tension, or not. I usually run mine fairly loose, unless I'm sewing something very thick. Then, I'll twist on some spring tension on the bottom disk. You have to double wrap the thread around it for the tension to matter. Get the bobbin tension right, then the top disks, then fine tune with the lower disks, if needed. Also, if the check spring is way too strong, it affects the top tension.

Here is a close up shot of my shuttle, showing the bobbin thread coming out from under the bobbin case tension spring. The thread must feed through the diagonal slot in the case, until it passes under the center of the spring. The spring tension screw is visible on the upper right edge of the spring. If it is too tight to turn, locate the small set lock screw to one side, in a hole and loosen it. Adjust the tension downward for more pressure, until you have to exert a smooth, but definite pressure to pull the thread out of the case.