Wizcrafts

My Union Lockstitch machine might be able to penetrate that plastic. But, it isn't worth it to find out otherwise. Use a drill.

You are most welcome!

That is a super-high-speed, bottom fed garment sewing machine. It could be useful in a dress shop, for making gowns and formal wear, or for hemming pants in 5 seconds. It sews a maximum of 6 stitches per inch and uses the standard garment machine needle system DBx1. The largest needle it takes is a #18, which is best used with #69 bonded nylon thread. It may possibly take and tension #92 thread, but that is pushing it. I has an automatic oiler system, which works best at higher speeds only. Are you planning on making cloth garments with this machine?

I prefer to sew with #277 and down on my Cowboy, and #277 and up on the Union Lockstitch. If I didn't have these two machines I would do it all on whichever machine I owned. The fact is that I had the Union Lockstitch first. It is my second ULS machine and I love them. I used to sew fishtails onto gunbelts on the ULS, which requires spinning the flywheel by hand, one stitch at a time, feathering the clutch to get 355 degrees of rotation, then hand-wheeling over the the last 5 degree hump. Now, I slow down my servo motor to 600 and sew fishtails using the Cowboy, at about 1 stitch per second, with my foot down; pedal to the metal. The Juki Pro 2000 is a jump-foot, needle feed machine, right? I like that feed system.

Those are the same thumbscrews that are used to secure edge guides. Every sewing machine dealer in the World sells them. I'm not sure, but think they are 5x40 pitch, or close to it.

Hi Trox! Right now, I use #277 in my Cowboy CB4500, using either a #24/180 or 25/200 type 794 Schmetz needle. Sometimes I have to crank the pressure spring all the way down to sew hard leather 3/8 inch (10mm) or thicker. When I need to sew really thick or tough material, with #346 or larger thread, I use my Union Lockstitch machine. The pressure spring on top of it resembles the old front fork spring used on Schwinn bicycles in the 1950s. I built a chopper out of a Triumph Terrier, using a Schwinn springer fork, when I was in my early teens. The spring on the ULS is very similar and can hold down the thickest leather and even plywood. I have some #346 bonded polyester thread, I bought from Campbell-Bosworth. It has a softer hand than any bonded nylon in similar sizes. I don't know if it has less tensile strength also. I just sewed a double 14-15 ounce weight lifter's belt on the ULS, using this Campbell thread and had no problems whatsoever. I used a #3 needle and #3.5 awl (tight fit; no slack). The knots were easily pulled well up into the layers. I used black on top and natural on the bottom. There was no springiness in the black polyester thread. I am thinking about trying some black in size 277.

I am/was, but nobody wants to pay what it's worth. I just used it last week to sew together two layers of 14 ounce saddle skirting, into a 4" wide power lifter's belt. The stitch lengths are even, across two parallel rows and the knots are well up into the bottom piece. The leather was stiff, but the ULS didn't care! She just chugged away, happily sewing stitch after stitch, at the astounding rate of about 4 or 5 per second.

Mark; Do you have any pre-lubricated thread on hand? It helps me sew into dry leather. I now get mine from Bob Kovar. He has most sizes and colors in stock and the price is nice. The only color that gives me trouble, in any brand, is black, #138 up. It appears that some thread companies redye other colored spools into black (double-dying), making them springy and harder to the pull knots into the leather. Are you using springy black thread?

I sometimes use staples on the edges before sewing them. Other times I use double-sided leather tape made by Venture Tape, sold by Wawak.

See the thread page on the Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines website. They sell pre-lubricated bonded nylon thread in about 6 colors. Natural (beige) is one of them. There is a contact form on the Contact Us page, where you can get Bob's attention by sending him an email from the website.

I'll vouch for that! My Union Lockstitch machine can filigree 5/16 inch of double leather belt. I have done this more than once. These machines are really harness stitchers, not sewing machines. They can handle the thickest thread available and sew through the densest leather, or even plywood and pennies. My Union Lockstitch sews with #554 thread, into a maximum of 7/8 inch of hard leather. When it pulls up the knots, they ain't goin' anywhere, anytime soon!

I started out in leather work wanting to sew a leather vest. My requirements were modest at that time and I bought a straight stitch old Singer 96k40 that did a good job for me. It wasn't too long after I finished the vest that I decided to try sewing belts. This is when I began learning about the limitations of many industrial sewing machines. A man's gotta know his limitations! Every time I bought an industrial sewing machine, I tried to exceed its thread size or thickness capabilities. This led me to always look for a bigger and better stitcher. I have owned several walking foot machines, made by Singer, Juki and National. Each had its strong points and weak ones. It is an established fact that once a person decides to become a leather worker, and lets others know, the work requests will come in and will get into larger requirements than most are equipped to handle, at first. Almost every leathercrafter on this forum has stated their intention to sew wallets, or vests, plus some belts, holsters, sheathes, etc. Most newbies expect to be able to machine sew with the same thread used in hand sewing. They are usually unpleasantly surprised to learn that this is not likely on most industrial sewing machines, or even most heavy stitchers in common use. Back to the Sailrite topic... The Sailrite portables are very good machines for making and repairing vinyl sails, biminis, seat covers, awnings and other items made from heavy cloth and vinyl. They have positive double feed, over and under, with aggressive teeth on the feet and feeders. These machines are designed for sewing marine items not exceeding 1/4 inch, or so, in compressed thickness, using thread sizes 138 or less. Some of our members have bought portable walking foot machines, then tried to modify them to sew into 3/8 inch of veg-tan belting. The results can be disastrous to both the machine and material. The metal used in the drive and take-up system is not strong enough to withstand the pounding imposed by hard temper leather when you sew into it with a #23 or larger needle. Sure, if you restrict your sewing to #69 bonded nylon, using a #18 needle, you should be able to sew 1/4+ inch of leather together. The pressure required to hold down the leather as a #18 needle, carrying #69 thread ascends is not that much. As long as the pressure spring has moderate tensile strength it can hold down 1/4 inch of leather, using small needles and thread. But, ramp it up a notch! BAM! Load the machine with #207 thread and a #24 or 25 needle and see what happens on the upstrokes. The needle will come up and so will the leather. This causes skipped stitches and broken needles and thread, plus jamming of the bobbin mechanism. Before the machine breaks, it may sew for a while. But, the knots will be on the bottom of the leather. So, you will crank up the tension on the upper tension disk thumbnut. Before you realize what's happening the take-up and walking foot drive parts will bend and start to bind. The needle bar will move due to the impact, throwing the machine out of time. You will try to overcome the binding and skipping, which may finish the machine off for good. You don't have to believe anything I said here. Life is yours to live, for better or worse. If you listen to the advice of those who proceeded you in this craft, you will save a lot of time and frustration. Most of us have worked our ways up through all manner of sewing machines, breaking many along the way. My advice is to save your money until you can afford a real, industrial walking foot, triple feed machine. That is for sewing up to 3/8 inch and not all day long. Sewing machines that are run at full thickness and hardness capacity wear out quickly, or go out of time. Figure out what you intend to sew, both now and a year down the road. Buy more machine than you need now, so it will still handle the work you get down the line. If you are going to be sewing veg-tan leather, in thicknesses exceeding 3/8 inch, a regular walking foot machine may not hold up. The thicker the thread, the larger the needle required to poke a big enough hole to pull the bobbin thread up into the leather, to form the lockstitch knots. The bigger the needle and thread, the harder it is to hold the leather down as the needle rises out of it. The more spring pressure you apply to the feet, the harder the machine pounds on each stroke. When it comes to buying a real heavy leather sewing machine, cheaper is usually NOT better. Walking foot flatbed machines are built to sew soft upholstery material, not 5/16" or thicker belts or holsters, with heavy bonded thread and #24+ needles. Even the ones that have high lift still don't have an easy time with hard temper leather and big thread. There are things that can be done to improve these machines to a certain point, like sewing with #207 thread, but you have to know their limitations. Eventually, you'll need to sew a leather project that is 1/2 inch thick and the upholstery or sail-maker's machine will not be able to handle it.

Yes, if you are using S point needles.

Use the Poor Man's Reverse: spin the work around 180 degrees to lock the beginning and ending stitches. That's what I did when I owned a 153.

If is not the CP206R, it must be a 206RB-something.

The thread size designations will confuse ya. There are a bunch of different standards associated with different manufacturers or places in the World. If you follow my path you'll end up with a bunch of different sewing machines. I had narrow and wide cylinder arms, post machines, flatbeds, a Union Lockstitch machine, blind stitcher, sergers, patchers and even an industrial zig zag machine. At one time I had 13 industrial sewing machines. Now, I'm down to just 5: Cowboy CB4500 Union Lockstitch National walking foot Singer 31-15 Singer 29K172 I also have these non-industrial sewing machines, all in full working condition: Pfaff 2 needle-4 thread serger Janome New Home electronic machine Kenmore 158 type, with many attachments and cams Singer 15-91 portable Singer 66, motorized, in a cabinet Kenmore Imperial Rotary, motorized, in a cabinet, from 1942 All in all, these machines allow me to sew anything from very light cloth to 7/8 inch of hard leather, with thread sizes ranging from #33 nylon (or #50 or thinner cotton), up to #554 nylon (or 8 cord linen). No one machine can handle the entire range. But, my Cowboy comes awful close! If I tweak it, I can use #92 thread in it and sew jeans cuffs and vests, jackets, zippers, etc. Then, I can change needles, tensions and pressures and sew a 3/4 inch holster with #346 thread.

Cotton and soft polyester/polycore garment threads have no correspondence to the bonded nylon or bonded polyester thread used to sew leather. However, a number 8 cotton thread would be used for buttons, or decorative topstitching. It requires a #25 or 26 needle. This type of thread is sometimes used to sew Chinese leather coats. I have had to replace zippers on coats sewn with this thread. It looks about the same diameter as #277, but is way softer and has less tensile strength than even #138 bonded thread. Most walking foot machines using system 137x16 and 135x17 needles only take up to a #25 needle, which passes #277 thread. Very few of these machines are capable of tensioning this size of thread, or holding down the leather during sewing. In my experience, #207 is about the thickest bonded thread I can use in my walking foot machine (which has large M style bobbins and two pressure springs for the two feet). What do you intend to sew with this machine? It is probably capable of sewing a maximum of 3/8 inch of compressed "material." That could include soft to medium temper leather, but probably nothing very hard, at 3/8 inch. It would do not too badly at 1/4 inch, using #207 thread top and bottom and a #24 leather point needle. You would need to crank the pressure screws all the way down to keep the leather from lifting with the needle.

I have an actual roller foot conversion set on my 31-15. It consists of a 3/4 inch diameter, flip-up rolling wheel presser foot, a single row feed dog the fits under the roller and a throat plate made to fit that feed dog. This set works together as a unit and feeds excellently. If you have a flat presser foot that contains little rollers on the bottom, that feeder is no good for it. In that case you should keep the original feed dog, or move up to a heavy duty set. This provides the best drive for the presser foot you are using.

What's goin on here?

I also have the swing-away guide shown in a picture posted by Photoshutter. Unfortunately, the first time I tightened the thumb-nut down hard, the threaded screw twisted loose in the steel bracket. I had to have it brazed back onto the bracket and this caused other problems with it. I still use the brazed, sanded and filed swing-away bracket with both the original flat guide and a roller guide. I am now able to crank the nut down hard enough to keep the roller guide from moving with the material.

Let me know if any of my advice helps solve the problem.

I bought an edge guide on eBay a couple of years ago, from one of the regular industrial sewing dealers. It has three different edge guides that you can rotate into position. You secure it with thumb screws that I believe were provided with it. Look at you bobbin case on the right side and see if it has one or more tapped holes. If so, and if they are anywhere near being inline with the needle bar, and within about 2 inches of it, this type of guide may work for you. If the supplied thumbscrews are loose, you can buy larger ones. I also bought a sliding roller edge guide, bot it tends to get pushed backward, because my mounting holes are nowhere near the center of the bed. In reality, every industrial sewing machine shop sells edge guides and will modify one to fit your machine. I do shop at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines for a lot of my parts and accessories (and my big stitcher) and am very satisfied with Bob Kovar's prices and fast delivery. But, sometimes, when I have a few spare bucks in PayPal, I'll make an impulse buy on eBay, from one of the Russian dealers.

Insert the bobbin so it feeds backwards to the slot in the case, or replace the bobbin tension spring. Also, make certain that the bobbin thread is actually passing under the tension spring on the way out of the case. Use the smallest needle that allows the top thread to feed. That might be a #21 for your #138 thread. Tighter holes make for tighter knots and this may alleviate the problem.

I like that!

Bell knife skivers have a steep learning curve. You will ruin a lot of leather before you get it right. Once dialed in, they can do tricks. As for special attachments, that would be specific to a particular brand, or style of machine. Don't ASSume that a foot for one machine will fit the machine you buy, unless it is mentioned in the copy of the ad. Until you actually stand in front of a bell knife skiver and work with it, nothing anybody tells you will have any material bearing on your results. They are a beast unto themselves. Once a user becomes fine-tuned to their skiver, magic can be made to happen. Until then, a lot of leather gets chewed up.