Wizcrafts

I used to braze new bronze points onto the hooks for my first Union Lockstitch machine, then file them into custom shapes. I finished them with a couple grades of Emory cloth, then buffed on a buffing wheel with brown or green compound (I forget which).

Your photo is blurry, so I can't see the details on your needle. Make sure that the ribbed side faces due-left and the cut-out scarf faces due-right. Watch the needle as it goes down and ascends. After rising between 1/8 and 3/16 inch, the hook should meet the scarf, about 1/8" above the eye, with the direction/feed lever in the zero position (Trox has posted the exact dimensions in metric. Search this forum). Then check in the full reverse position to see if the hook is still above the eye. Marginally timed machines may sew fine in forward, but allow the hook to clip the thread at the top of the eye in reverse. It happens to me sometimes and I reset the timing on the needle bar. Even solidly secured needle bars can move up due to the extreme shock they endure when sewing hard leather. This throws the timing off. Another thing to check for is the lateral clearance between the hook and the needle. Some big Adler machines use a little numbered spacer with two screw holes to place the needle the best distance from the needle, for a given size needle (default is #200). If your needle is a #200, but the spacer is the wrong number, say a #180 or #160, contact will be made between the hook and needle. GottaKnow Eric has given good advice in his replies to remove the throat plate and watch the loop form and see what actually happens when the hook meets it. If the loop disappears, reduce the travel of the check spring. If it twists forward or backward, consider using a different spool of thread. If the loop is way too small to be picked up, try going down one needle size. Another thing is the type of thread you are using. Poly-cotton is really made to be used in heavy duty domestic or quilting machines, as a top stitch thread. It is very soft, compared to bonded nylon or bonded polyester that leather workers normally use. These machines are capable of treating cotton thread with kid gloves. Your big Adler is not built to pussy foot around with soft thread. Also, your thread may have been wound with a right hand twist, which is the opposite of what your machine requires. Harness shops often use needle and awl stitchers that sew with glazed, left twist, linen thread, run through a liquid wax of some kind. The wax adds body and lubrication to the thread as you are sewing, then hardens to secure the stitches in place. Linen and cotton thread are related!

It depends on what size thread you want to use to secure your 1/4 inch thick belts. If you don't need to exceed #138 thread, a normal industrial walking foot machine, like a Consew 206RB-5 will do. Slow it down with a 2.25" motor pulley, or get a servo motor. You'll want to get some #23 leather point needles for the job.

Is the needle bent? Is it inserted correctly in the needle bar mounting hole? Bunched up thread under the cloth usually results from either too much bobbin tension, or too little top tension, maybe caused by incorrectly threading the machine on top. Are you feeding the thread through the check spring, then up and down from the take-up lever? If I recall, these machines may be belt driven. If the belt has stretched, your timing will be out. Are you trying to sew cloth, or leather? This is not a leather sewing machine.

Does Ceroxylon gum up the tensioners, guides, or needle's eye? Is it water soluble if it thickens in the pot?

Maybe this Adler burned at Fahrenheit 451, the temperature at which insurance claim paper ignites. Montag!

Which machines do you use Ceroxylon with?

Try using liquid silicon lube, which is sold in quart bottles by most industrial sewing machine dealers.

Nope

No. Only the zipper and edge tape feet normally have teeth on the bottom. The rest are usually smooth. Walking foot machines we use in leather work usually have triple feed, where the needle, inside foot and feed dog move in synchronization, as the outside foot raises and lowers to allow feeding motion or stop it. There is no need for rollers on w.f. machines.

Look at some of the type 227 cylinder arm machines. They are usually medium duty walking foot machines with about a 3" diameter arm. They take the same presser feet as most standard walking foot machines made by Singer, Juki, Consew, Chandler, etc. Capacity is typically 3/8 inch, using #138 thread.

Precisely! I have two of them with different useful spacings. Roller feet are for straight stitch, single foot machines only, not walking foot machines. They allow the top layer to feed smoothly, without dragging on the bottom of the presser foot.

There are outside feet that have a steel edge guide that is spring loaded. They come in various spacings from the center of the inside foot (and needle).

The feet you have a a good fit for cotton and linen and even denim. The teeth on the bottom help to hold the material firmly. As for other types, get you some piping sets and piping cord to match. Piping feet have radius cut into both feet, or just the inside foot, depending on the style. You choose the size by the diameter of the cord, plus the thickness of the wrapping material. Next, get a left and right toe zipper foot set, an adjustable swing-away edge guide and maybe some spring loaded edge guide feet. There are literally dozens of different presser feet for walking foot machines, like the 206, which is the same feet as originally used on the ancient Singer 111w155.

Nice work Ferg. I'm glad that it sews. How long is the maximum stitch length at 1/8 inch thickness?

I find that by adjusting the inside foot to meet the feed dog slightly after the needle passes below the top of the dog, the reverse stitches more closely match the forward ones. I do this with no material under the feet. Try altering the point at which the inner foot makes contact with the leather, in relation to the tip of the needle making contact.

The Consew 206RB is a triple feed walking foot machine. The -1 is the first generation and won't have the great features now present on the -5 model. Still, it will sew into 3/8 inch of leather, using #138 bonded nylon thread and a #23 leather point needle. Be sure you test the machine to see if it sews properly. Bring some leather with you and see how well it handles it.

The 555 is a high speed garment sewing machine. You'd have to slow it waaaaay down, or replace the motor with a servo motor. Then, you would need a roller foot conversion kit to feed leather. After all that, it would still be limited to no more than #69 thread, sewing through about 1/4 inch of soft garment or upholstery leather. It would never sew a serious holster, or a dog collar, except for those made of webbing. It could however be used to sew leather vests and skirts, or to replace zippers in fairly thin jackets. Machines like the 555 are used in garment factories, where they sew day in and day out, at 5,000 rpm, until they wear out or seize. The machine sits on top of an oil pan and uses an oil pump to distribute oil to the critical parts, top and bottom. To get the oil to the ends of the wicks, you usually have to spin them a at least 2000 to 2200 rpm. This works out to about 35 stitches per second! Most of us sew at an astounding top speed of only 5 or 6 stitches per second. When I spin a machine up to 10 per second (600 rpm), smoke comes off the leather and the needle. So, what leather items do you intend to sew?

Try retarding the hook slightly, so it picks off the loop closer to the eye of the needle, as it ascends.

The #25 needle is best used with 4 cord, not 3 cord linen. Go down a size. Shorten the stroke of the check spring and reduce its spring tension a bit. Remove the throat plate and watch the loop as it forms and the hook approaches it. This can reveal a lot about timing problems and needle height.

This may be a combination of one size too small of a needle coupled too little top pressure. You can use smaller than standard needles if you increase the foot pressure, by screwing down the round threaded cap on top of the head. Do this until the leather stops lifting with the needle. Increasing the needle size by one may also stop the lifting, possibly without as much extra pressure screw adjustment. Are you using Schmetz type 794 needles?

Eric; When do you find time to do leatherwork?

Here are some things to check and if necessary, change... Remove the thread from the needle for now. First, make sure that the jamming hasn't retarded the hook. Remove the throat plate. Rotate the wheel towards you until the needle reaches bottom dead center The hook should be slightly behind the needle at this point Rotate the wheel slowly until the needle raises about 1/8 to 3/16 inch above BDC, then stop The hook should be in the center of the cut-out scarf in the needle, about 1/8 inch above the eye. If the hook is still behind the needle after it has ascended 3/16" and if by the time the hook meets the needle, the eye is above the pickup point, the hook has been retarded by the jammed thread. There is an adjustment accessible from a steel disk covered hole in the base of the machine, on the lower front of the right side of the body. I have done this adjustment, but don't have my similar machine at home to guide you any further tonight. It is also slightly possible that the needle bar has moved up from the shocks, placing the eye too high for the hook. Rotate the wheel until the needle and its securing screw are fully visible above the base of the machine Loosen the needle screw and lower the needle about 1/8 inch Tighten the needle screw to secure the lowered needle (don't lower the needle farther down than the screw!) Rotate the wheel and watch the position of the needle's eye in relation to the hook, as it ascends from BDC. If the lowered needle places the ascending needle's eye about 1/8 inch below the hook, that may be your problem. Thread the needle, hold the top thread up and rotate the wheel slowly, watching the formation of the loop as the hook approaches it. If the hook picks up the loop in forward and in reverse, at the stitch length setting you are accustomed to using, lock in this new position of the needle bar. To reposition your needle bar. Remove top thread Unscrew two large screws holding face plate to end of body. One is on top-right, other is on bottom left corner. Carefully pull off the face plate and set it down. Locate the needle bar and identify the two screws that lock it into position on the crank that moves it up and down. Rotate the wheel to lower the needle until the tip just reaches the top of the feed dog. Loosen the needle set screw and move the needle back to the top of the mounting hole in the needle bar and lock it in. The tip should now be about 1/8 inch above the feed dog. Using the proper screw driver or Allen key, carefully loosen the two set screws that secure the needle bar to the crank arm in the head Lower the needle bar slowly until the tip of the needle is just level with the feed dog. Ensure that you haven't rotated the needle bar while lowering it and reposition it if necessary so the needle's eye faces sideways, with the needle set screw facing front. Tighten the two set screws as much as possible to lock the bar into this position. While the face plate is off, get a precision oiler and place a drop of oil into each oil hole on the crank arms inside the head. Reinstall the face plate, making sure you hook the tension release lever over the tension release stud that sits 2 inches under the top tension disks. Thread the top as per instructions that came with the machine. Make sure that the needle is installed with the scarf over the eye is facing due right. Rotate the wheel counterclockwise and see if the hook forms a decent loop and it gets picked up by the hook. Replace the throat plate and resume sewing. To avoid jamming thread under the work, hold back both threads for a few stitches when you start sewing. If you can't hold both threads, at least hold the top thread steady, to keep it from getting drawn under the throat plate.

I do a double loop around the bottom disks, then back off the adjustment nut. I lowered the thread guide in front of the top tensioner to get more thread inside the middle of the butterflies. Oh those butterflies! Where is my spaghetti strainer?

Now you know why most experienced sewers do not recommend buying old iron sight unseen, or untested on one's own material, or sewn off by the seller. An inexpensive but damaged machine, especially one missing important parts, is going to cost much more than the buyer expected. If this machine had been sent to a dealer for these repairs, the cost would rival that of a brand new walking foot machine.