Wizcrafts

You can buy the threading rod and all the replacement parts you need from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines.

If you hand crank the wheel, you'll only have your left hand to guide the work and turn the presser foot. A third hand would be helpful to spin the wheel.

Our harness feet are too narrow and the force of the spring pushes them into the surface. Someone with a metal working shop might be able to cut a new outer presser foot that is wider on the left, to spread the pressure over a wider swath. I think that 1/4 inch width for the left toe, with a smoothed radius, might do the trick. Also, it would help to have steel behind the inside foot, as is the case with all normal walking foot sets. Another 3/16 to 1/4 inch of steel behind the inner foot would assist with holding down the leather.

Yeppers

I had to radius and polish the bottom edges of one presser foot set to reduce the visibility of the tracks on top. Another solution is to buy a very wide presser foot set and have the outer feet distribute the hold-down pressure across a wider foot print.

I get close to the appearance of a Union Lockstitch on my Cowboy CB4500, by removing the feed dog and using the narrow slotted plate. The narrower the slot, the smaller the exit wound on the bottom. Also, use only the minimum amount of foot spring pressure required to hold the leather down as the needle ascends. This helps reduce the bottom puckering. Finally, use the smallest needle that passes the thread you are using and still pulls the knots up, to minimize the bottom puncture size.

Spring return walking foot model. Maybe an early 31-20. I had a later model with that type of feed. It was very unreliable on slick belts and no good with thick thread. The stitch length varied depending on the grip the foot had on the top grain. When the feed dog drops below the surface the foot springs forward for the next stitch. It sometimes pushes the material forward with it. But, if the price is nice.....

One of the many presser foot sets I bought along the way has a split inside foot, where there is a saw cut from the front to the round needle hole. This allows you to see the stitch line. You can just buy another standard foot set and grind off the section in front of the hole. Leave just enough material in front to hold down the leather, then cut a slot in the front center as Ferg described. Then grind off the right toe and shorten the left toe. Round the fronts of the inside and outside feet. I also bought a set that is meant for use with edge folders. The inside foot is stubby and very wide. The outer foot is left toe only and shorter than standard.

When I got back into doing leather crafting in January of 2009, all I had was a handful of stamps and hand tools. I had sold off thousands of dollars worth of tools, supplies, cutting dies, patterns, dyes and waxes, a sewing machine and all of the thread I had on hand, back in 2004. My first job was a hand tooled guitar strap that needed a liner sewn onto the back. I had to rent the use of a friend's shop and sewing machines, plus purchase the leather and suede from him. After the strap was completed and delivered, I got hooked all over again. Being a broke musician, it took me another year to save enough money to buy a collection of hand tools and patterns from a private seller. A few months later I located a used walking foot machine, not far from home and bought it for all the cash I could wrangle up. That machine then went to work for me, sewing rifle slings at home for by buddy who let me use his stuff 6 months earlier that year. The machine was paid for in one month. Since then I have acquired a long arm Singer 29k172 patcher, a straight stitch Singer 31-15, a Union Lockstitch machine which I recently sold, a Cowboy CB4500 heavy stitcher, a 4 thread - 2 needle Pfaff serger and a handful of iron body Singer, Kenmore and White domestic sewing machines. I am looking to add a long body walking foot machine and a bell knife skiver to this collection. I have the patcher, my 2009 walking foot machine and the CB4500 at my shared leather shop and I need each one of them to do the jobs that come in the door. When I get a long body machine it is going in the shop, as will be the skiver. I could not possibly sew all of the things people want sewn with just one machine. I wish I could, but it just ain't so.

I do that when I absolutely must sew into the same holes to lock the stitches. I call it a "180, Poor Man's Reverse."

I haven't had that machine since 1995. I don't remember any of the details about how it was set up.

As for part two of the question, a standard walking foot machine setup will clear more than it can sew. The cranks inside the head need room to move as the feet alternate. The higher the lift of the feet, the more likely you are to hit something solid when you try to sew anything beyond 3/8 inch. This can be counteracted somewhat by moving the lift lever all the way down in the curved slot on the back of the machine. It may gain you 1/16" more sewing capacity. That would place the new limit at 7/16 inches. However, when you sew 7/16" of material, there is a danger that the needle bar thread guide will hit the inside left edge of the presser foot. To counteract this I changed to system 190 Pfaff needles, and reset the position of the needle bar up by about 3/16 of an inch. This is about the difference in length and position of the eyes between system 135x16 (& 17) and system 190 Pfaff needles. With the longer needles, which have the same shank diameter and hit the center of the hole in the feeder, I can sew almost 1/2 inch of material. But, the cranks on the back were hitting the body near the top cutout, when sewing 7/16".. A little time with a rat tail file opened up the clearance at the place that the crank was touching the back of the head and she now sews thick stuff without self-destructing. I find that even though I modded my machine in this fashion, it still is less than reliable at 7/16 inches. This really shows up when I install 1/2 inch piping feet and try to use it to sew that size of a welt. Unless I lower the lift ratio to minimum, it will hit the body or presser bar inside the head. That is why I got a Cowboy CB4500, which sews over 3/4 inches. Note: Even though my walking foot machine walks higher, it still doesn't do so well with #207 or thicker thread. Again, I have a 441 clone that does a great job with #138 and thicker, so why ruin my little bitty walker?

Hmmm. I had a similar problem with my National 300N walking foot machine. Not the thickness part, but the thread rising out of the disks part. Some thread, especially black nylon thread, is springy and tends to twist over itself, or the guides or disks. After suffering with this for a couple of years, on a happens today but not tomorrow basis, I too measures to stop it, once and for all. If you look closely at the tension disks on a Consew, Chandler, Juki, National, Seiko, or Singer walking foot machine, you'll notice that there is a thin steel post on the right side of the disks. It keeps them aligned in a notch on both disks. I simply pulled the top thread under the little post, then sharply up and around the center of the disks. This has eliminated the problem of the top thread twisting out of those disks. I had to compensate for the added tension of the sharp turn by backing off the spring a turn or two. Try it. Since threading top thread around that alignment pin is a bit of a hassle, when changing color or size, I now cut the thread near the thread stand, then tie a knot onto the new thread. I remove the thread from the needle, raise the feet with the knee lever to release the disks, then pull the new thread through, until about a foot is visible after the needle bar guide. Cut it off, thread the eye, and keep on keeping on!

If you are at your wit's end, ask Ronny at Techsew if you can ship the head to them for a rebuild and correct timing and feeding. Techsew and Raphael Sewing are one and the same company.

It was in the banner and his signature: Bob Kovar Toledo Industrial Sewing Machine Sales Ltd. 3631 Marine Rd Toledo,Ohio 43609 1-866-362-7397

That is a typical reason why Leo LaPorte and I refer to IE as Internet Exploder

Be sure you click inside the forum browser window before you hit the Enter key. It should work exactly as before. If you are using Internet Exploder, please try another browser, like Firefox or Google Chrome. They render things to standards and the Enter key still submits forms.

Leila; You need to ramp it up to at least 20 stitches per second to get the oil pump circulating the oil to all the extremities. This equates to about 1200 rpm at the wheel on the back of the machine. Actually, they pump oil better once you sew at 2200 rpm or faster, at the machine.

Every leather or shoe shop needs a patcher. I use mine for sewing patches into places that a flat bed machine can't reach, like over a pocket, with the nose of the machine inside the pocket. They allow you to sew patches onto jacket sleeves. I even use mine to sew decorations and hole patches onto jeans. They are the only machine that can sew a shoe back together after it is assembled and some thread gives up. Use a patcher to install zippers into boots! Sew new zippers into side pockets on jackets! But wait, there's more..... Sew pool stick pouches up the snout! They're also great at sewing new straps and top zippers into purses. What a patcher cannot do No holsters or tack! These are light duty machines, best limited to #69 or 92 thread and work not exceeding 1/4 inch thickness. They were built to sew boot and shoe uppers.

1 mm thread is about #554. 0.8 would be close to #415. Use a #26 or #27 leather point needle with your 0.8 mm waxed thread, Run it through silicon lube on top of the machine to help it feed through the tensioners and guides. You may have to move the hook to avoid it hitting the needle. Some Adlers use spacers between the shuttle and its housing to properly space the hook from the needle. You can buy them to match the size of the needle, for about 6 USD. Since they are marked in metric, you'd want a #230 spacer for a #27 needle. The machines usually ship with a #200 (#25 Singer) spacer. Buy lots of #27 needles. They come in handy for securing porch boards that lift after the Winter. ;-)

The Boss may have trouble sewing thin leather, or bag leather. If you plan on using thread smaller than #138 you will have problems on that machine. You would have to send your samples to Tippman and ask them to sew them on a Boss and mail them back to you.. If the Boss does sew this material, it will go a long way between bobbin changes. The Patchers are top driven, in any direction, and can sew up to 1/4 inch of anything that the foot can grab ahold of. The bobbins are very small and are best used with #69 thread. Patchers are available in two arm lengths and two bobbin sizes (tiny and small). The maximum stitch length is 5/inch, but only at about 1/8 inch thickness. It tends to drop as the thickness increases. Older patchers, like the 100 year old model 29-4, may be totally shot regarding stitch length.

Also, #69 thread in a 441 machine requires you to tighten down the bobbin case spring and loosen the top tension spring and secondary tension disk, along with downsizing the needle. Leather point needles are hard to find in sizes under 23. So, you will probably be using regular sharp point needles. Because the #18 or 19 needle is so small, compared to a standard #25, it is farther away from the hook. I find that I have to turn the needle CCW a bit to reposition the loop towards the oncoming hook, when using even #92 thread. Otherwise, the loop might fold forward and the hook misses it entirely. Not all the time, but usually in reverse. I have also had a situation happen where the bobbin tension screw head protruded high enough above the spring that the top #69 thread got hooked on it, rather than flowing past it. This leads to a bunch of top thread wrapped around the bobbin case and shuttle and a halt to the sewing. This is one of the hazards of using #69 thread in a 441 clone. That is why I use multiple machines. My walking foot machine can sew a bit over 7/16" but not so well. It is best kept to 3/8 or under. I use #69, 92 and 138 thread in that machine and it handles all of them perfectly. Thicker work, or things requiring heavier thread go onto the Cowboy (or my friend's Cobra), which is setup for them. The 441 machines work fine with #138 thread, after you adjust the tensions properly and install a #22 or #23 needle.

For me it was #92 bonded nylon, using a #19 Schmetz needle. I can use the same size thread on my Cowboy CB4500. Neither is much good with #69 thread, for various reasons. To be honest, I stick with a minimum of #138 on my 441 machine and leave the walking foot flat bed machine to handle smaller gauges.

It is a Luberto Cub.

You should be using either a #23 or #24 needle with #207 thread. You'll probably have to increase the top tension (or lower bobbin tension) and the presser foot pressure when using heavy thread such as this.