Wizcrafts

Four things affect the length of the drive belt, when changing motors, or motor types. Pulley diameter Pulley width inside Belt width Motor shaft horizontal position under table, in relation to original. A standard sewing machine setup uses a system 3L belt and pulleys. The top is 3/8 inches across, and the inside tapers inward. If the new motor has the same pulley diameter and 3L width, and if the shaft occupies the same horizontal position under the table, the original belt will fit. But, if the new motor has a smaller profile and its shaft is closer to the body, you may lose 1 inch of adjustment. If the motor pulley is also an inch smaller than the original, you lost another inch of belt.

In my case I brazed metal onto the puck end of the bell crank lever, then sanded and polished it for the best fit short of binding in the ring bar. The stitch length jumped from 7 or 8 per inch to 5 per inch, just from that one correction. However, I have encountered some patchers that were improperly setup for foot lift during the pulling cycle. The foot needs to lift off the leather in order to move forward. Then, it must drop all the way down, onto the material and exert enough pressure to pull the work back the stitch length, as set by the sliding stitch regulator on the back of the foot bar.

I once saw a walking foot head on eBay, where the seller had mounted a home sewing machine motor and small ribbed belt to the back and used it to drive the machine, via a foot speed control. The machine itself sat in a custom made box. This was an example of a 60 pound portable walking foot machine. Maybe you can build a box to hold it and mount a 1.5 amp motor to the back to drive it?

Maybe a Singer 132K6? I had one of those, decades ago. It sewed a half inch, with up to #277 thread, using a #25 needle

My advice to you is to buy a complete walking foot machine, already equipped with a good servo motor, setup and tested on leather.

That machine, like all others of this type are made for sewing shoe and boot uppers. They basically have a limited amount of lift that cannot be exceeded and tiny bobbins that empty quickly. Patchers like this one are best limited to #69 bonded nylon thread, or maybe #92 bonded polyester. There is a class of Adler patchers that has higher sewing capacities, but they are hard to find for sale and very expensive.

The LU-563 goes back to the mid-1980s. It has a double capacity hook and bobbins and compound feed, with a reverse lever. I had one in my previous life and found it adequate for wallets, vests and belt edges. Are you just buying the head, or is it complete, on a table? If it's just the head, you are in for some sticker shock as you gear up to use it. Here is what you need to use this machine: Machine head, with proper hinges for table mounts Steel legs table, with proper cutout and rubber mounts for machine base, plus, holes for a flex light, motor, fold back peg, a belt slot, and a parts drawer Motor and switch box, with power cables and cable clamps.. V-belt of proper length to go from motor pulley to machine flywheel and be within adjuster range on motor. Bobbin winder assembly Thread stand assembly Oil pan to fit machine and table cutout Knee lever assembly for this type of machine Flex lamp If all of the above come with your Juki and you are buying it for no more than about $500 to $600, you are doing okay. Otherwise, expect to pay $250 to $400 more to get the table, motor and other aforementioned parts needed to finish it off.

I too use my Cowboy CB4500 for stitching belts and holsters. It can use a variety of thread sizes, up to #415. I usually sew holsters and bridle leather belts with #277 thread, using a system 794, #25 needle. You cannot do this on a Singer 31 class machine, nor on an upholstery grade machine. You need a leather stitcher that has beefed up moving and tensioning parts to sew beyond 3/8 inches with thread sizes larger than 138 or maybe 207. Tailoring machines are not built to tension heavy thread, nor to penetrate and hold down dense or thick leather.

Top feed assists the feeding of sticky materials, like some chrome tanned leathers. Normally, with bottom feed only the leather could drag under the presser "foot" that is on top. That foot determines the thickness to be skived. With a driven top foot, sticky or extra dense leather gets moved through no matter what. Expect a medium learning curve with a first time skiver. It takes a lot of practice to set them up for different leathers and thicknesses/angles of cut. Properly adjusted, they can do lap skives.

He asked about .9mm, not .09 or 9. This is just shy of 1mm and is about the size of #415 bonded thread. Only the heaviest stitchers can handle such thread. It requires a #27 or #28 needle.

You'll appreciate the difference you paid for the Cobra skiver when you need help with some problems that develop, or parts that wear out or get damaged from misuse. Unless you are prepared to fix parts yourself, including the band blade, buy the new machine from Steve.

10 ounces is considered lightweight when it comes to skivers. I used to have two skivers. One was a Fortuna, with a stone drive, which was best suited to shoe upper or garment leather. The other had a serrated steel wheel and worked best on veg-tan and sole leather. That machine tended to eat chrome tanned leather, as it skived it. I got rid of both machines a long time ago. The modern top and bottom drive units can handle both ends of the skiving spectrum.

I would like to get one if yours holds up. Contact me via the PM feature. I have other things in mind that you might be able to "print" for me in plastic.

A 3450 RPM motor produces most of its power at very high speeds only. You would be better off with a 1725 RPM 1/2 HP, 550 watt motor. That's what was in my USM Puma skiver, which I sold years ago.

400 watts is not even 1/2 horsepower. You should be using at least 1/2 hp, if not 3/4 hp, at 1750 RPM. For the time being, try changing to a smaller motor pulley and matching v-belt (1 inch smaller belt per inch smaller pulley). Also, oil every oil cap and hole and clean out any skived pieces from the knife area.

Since they are still in production in Italy, buy it and contact the factory if you need a new blade, belt, or deburring stones. You are getting the machine for a quarter of its true value. You can probably order a manual from the company. They can tell you what the skiving capacity is once you know the model number.

You should be able to pull the top thread when you lift the tension release mechanism all the way (by pedal). Here is how I adjust my machine. First, loosen the bobbin tension until it has a smooth pull that is neither too loose nor too tight. This varies each time you change thread sizes in the bobbin! The tighter the bobbin thread, the tighter the tiop must be to pull up the knots. Back off the secondary spring until it is just barely engaging the disks. Now adjust the tension on the top disks until the knots look consistent. If you need a lot more tension to pull them higher up, use the bottom tensioner for that purpose. Finally, use the best needle size for the thread combo. If you have #138 in the bobbin and #207 on top, a #23 needle is good. If you change to #207 in the bobbin, or #277 on top, move up to a #24 needle. For #277 thread top and bottom, use a #25 needle. If the stitches suddenly change with an obvious sound, stop and look to see if the top thread has jumped out of the upper tension disks. When this happens you get a birdsnest on the bottom. Conversely, if the top thread gets wrapped around itself and doubles over the primary or secondary disks, it pulls the knots to the top and may stop the machine in its tracks after a few stitches, or may filigree the leather.

Was the leather or Biothane lifting with the needle? If so, that causes skipped stitches. Crank down the pressure screw over the outside presser foot, until the leather stays down while the needle and thread pulls out of it.

I do this on every one of my sewing machines. It is a real headache saver.

that demonstrates how to thread a similar sewing machine with a different brand name. The threading path is identical for your machine.

Pull the stitch length lever all the way down to put it into forward motion. Turn the limiter nut away from the lever to allow it to go down all the way. Pull the thread out of the needle and up through the take-up lever. Pull the hand-wheel towards you from the top (Counterclockwise) and watch the feed dog. It should move to the front with the needle and inside foot, then rise slightly above the throat plate, then move backwards, then drop down and begin this cycle again. If the motion is correct with the lever way down, move it all the way up and repeat the process. Now, the feed dog should start at the back, lift, move forward, drop and move back for the next stitch. If this happens, the machine is operating normally. Rethread the top thread through the take-up lever, then down through the formed loop, through the hole above the needle, then through the needle's eye, from left to right. Insert a piece of leather. Lower the feet if they were lifted up, until they make contact with the leather. Rotate the wheel towards you again and see if she sews at all. Report back. Time to eat dinner. BRB...

That Pfaff is a bottom only, drop feed home sewing machine.

The Juki DSC-245 series is a light duty, cylinder arm, walking foot machine. The specifications state that it is best used with no larger than #69 (T70) bonded thread, or 40/3 cotton or polyester thread. I don't know about Invincible brand thread, but I do suspect that your machine will not sew with 0.9 mm thick thread. You'll be lucky if it handles 1/3 that diameter (see thread/needle chart).

I have mentioned this before and will repeat it once again. Golf bags are best sewn on two types of long (~36") cylinder arm machines. One has standard feed, for sewing across the ends, or across the center area. The other machine has transverse feed that sews up the arm, towards the body. It is used to join the long seam that runs from top to bottom of the bag. You can either use a lockstitch or chainstitch machine for golf bags, since you don't see the inside threads. Transverse feed machines for leather bags are usually special order machines, built on demand.

Welts, or piping have a rope-like cord inside them, to give a solid pipe result. If you use 3/16 inch diameter cord, wrapped with 1/16 inch thick leather, a 1/4 inch piping foot is a perfect match. If you try to sew with a piping foot and there is no cord inside the package, the material tends to simply compress flat, or semi-rounded. You may or may not know how a piping foot works, so I'll explain it. A piping foot has a rounded radius ground into one side of the foot, with the needle hole immediately next to the end of the radius. The rounded portion rides on top of the covered piping cord. If the foot has been properly matched to the diameter of the covered cording, the needle will hit very close to one side of the covered pipe. If the foot size is to wide, the needle is too far away from the piping. If the size is too small, the needle may go into the piping, rather than next to it. If you have a walking foot machine, your piping foot is made in two parts: the narrow inside radius foot and wide outside radius foot. The needle hole is inside the inside foot, to one side of its cutout area.