Wizcrafts

What size, or sizes of needle and thread are you using to sew these awesome backpacks?

What size (number) are the thread, needle and spacer shim in use, when the machine skips stitches? What type of point is on the needle (round, or diamond, or triangle, or LR)? What thickness are you trying to sew, when it is skipping? What thickness of leather will it sew without skipping? Is the leather soft, medium or hard temper?

You will be wasting your money and shredding your nerves if you buy that home sewing machine and try to sew 12 ounces of leather with it. The so-called walking foot attachment is nothing of the sort. It is better described as an even feed attachment, used by quilters. I bought one for my old Singer 15-91, before I got a real walking foot machine. The attachment has an outer foot that basically follows the material as it is pulled by the bottom feed dogs. When the feed dogs drop down, at the end of the stitch, the outer foot snaps forward. These attachments cause you to lose at least 1/16" of usable space under the feet. So, a machine that could in theory sew 12 ounces thickness will now only be able to fit 8 to 10 ounces under the foot. If you try to compensate by pre-raising the pressor bar, the needle bar will hit the top of the feet on the way down. The consequences could be catastrophic for the attachment, the needlebar, or pressor bar. Without the "walking foot" attachment, the machine will not feed leather or Naugahyde properly. Your only recourse would be a roller equipped pressor foot. I have one of these and it also loses 1/16" clearance underneath and on top. A home sewing machine with a roller foot will only clear about 1/8" to 3/16" of material, before the needle bar strikes it and busts it open. Finally, these home style machines are only made to sew with light weight thread. The most you can use would be #69 bonded nylon. This thread has but 11 pounds of tensile strength.

This Boss went for sale today on the Flint Michigan Craigslist. I placed the ad for the owner, who doesn't have the Internet at this time and wishes to sell it for cash and carry only. http://flint.craigsl...2592144098.html If the ad expires, or you want to discuss the machine with him, his phone number is: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I can't answer any questions about the machine, other than the fact that it actually exists and is as pictured in his ad. Edited to remove phone # on sold item.

By using the same thread on top and bottom, the tensions will increase in both places, usually in an equal amount. The only interference you face is the needle size. You may have to increase your needle size to a #19 or 20, which will re-balance the tensions for you.

Check with the official Adler website for user and repair manuals

Your patcher can indeed handle #92 thread, as can your bobbin case. If you use #46 or #69 in the bobbin, it will last longer, but the strength of the stitches will be that of the smallest thread. If you're only wanting to use #92 on top for appearance only, a mixed thread size is fine. But, if you want #92 for the increased strength of the stitching, use it on top and in the bobbin.

There are at least two sewing machines needed to repair this gun case. It was assembled on a Puritan high post chainstitch machine, using waxed heavy linen thread. At the very least, you will need a long arm (18"), "large" bobbin, Adler or Singer patcher, capable of sewing with #138 bonded nylon, or 4 cord linen thread. A Puritan high post machine would be nice, but you probably don't have one, or you wouldn't be asking about what to use. Otherwise, you might be able to sew replacement stitches using a 25" Cowboy CB5500, with triple feed. Several dealers on the forum and private probably have the long arm patchers for sale.

This motor modification is fascinating stuff. Keep it going please!

I don't play in a Blues Band. I play in Country/Western bands.

Different spool winding directions and different stiffness's of bondings can play havoc with sewing machines. Make sure you are allowing the Weaver thread to go up without any loop-d-loops on the thread stand. You may need to give it a couple of reverse twists with your fingers, as you feed it through the thread eye in the stand. Sometimes, with "twisty" thread, you may need go through one eye in the top post, then wrap it around the post and feed it through a second hole, rather then just straight through. Or, vice versa. If none of this stops the thread from twisting out of the tension disks, try feeding the thread directly sideways, off the spool, to the machine's top post. If you machine lacks a top thread post, substitute a front or side mounted thread post. If your top post in missing, replace it. If none exists, you can buy one, then drill and tap a hole for it, or drill undersize, taper the (threaded) bottom of the post on a sander/grinder, and drive it into the head. If none of this helps, get some other brand of thread, like Linhanyl, if you can find it.

I was going to suggest buying a spare foot. If your grinding idea doesn't pan out, you're only out the spare foot. I customized a spare foot on my buddy's Adler 30-70 patcher, to make the left toe very narrow (just enough to hold down the leather as the needle ascends). I also tapered it inward on the front and bottom, to reduce accidentally gouging stuff on the left of the foot. We use this foot to sew very close to formed cases, or jacket snaps, or tough zipper replacement jobs.

Absolutely not! It needs the teeth to pull the material through. The only time ground down teeth would be useful to me would be if I was using the patcher to sew soft or thin veg-tan wallets together, or to attach a Ranger belt strap. With the teeth gone, one would have to greatly reduce the foot pressure, or risk losing feed-ability. I have a triple feed, high lift, walking foot machine and a Union Lockstitch jumping foot needle feed machine. I use those for belts, holsters and heavy straps. Neither of those machines will mark the leather. I use my patcher for circular items and for patch sewing and repairing rips, handles and zippers in garments and hand bags. I also use it to sew seed bead projects to leather belts. I depend on the teeth being present and accounted for. Your use may be different and may work fine sans teeth on the foot.

There is a world of difference between the chainstitches made on a Puritan and those made on industrial garment sewing machines. The garment machines run cotton or polycore thread direct from the spools to the tensioners, to the needles. Pull the wrong way and the entire chain can unravel. Professionals who use Puritan machines run 3 to 6 cord, left twist, Barbour's Irish linen thread through a liquid wax in the closed-top wax pot. After a while, the wax hardens in the sewn material inside the chain stitches. Once the wax hardens, the stitches cannot be pulled apart in a chain, unless one exerts tremendous pressure, or cuts them with a sharp Hyde knife. I know, because I have had to work on items sewn on Puritan machines, and only a sharp knife got those stitches apart. Some were over 50 years old! If anybody has a Puritan that they just plain don't want, send it to me! I'll be your Huckleberry!

No. I mean that it is best to spin the hand wheel a half turn, or so, to help the motor overcome the weight of the machine's mechanism. Once it is in motion, it's easier to control the speed. I can slow way down and keep the machine in motion, thanks to the heavy flywheel (hand wheel). Operating with the wheel disengaged causes jack rabbit starts and stops and lots of clanging and banging of the moving parts. Once the motor takes control, I can use both hands to guide, or guide and pull the leather. Also, there is no feed dog area on a patcher. The rotating pressor foot does all of the feeding of the material, via aggressive teeth on the bottom of the foot.

I have a Japanese made National 300N walking foot machine. It is based on the Consew 206 and Chandler 406 machines. It originally had a 1/2 horsepower clutch motor, which worked fine. But, I got very busy sewing large quantities of guitar straps and rifle slings, both of which had sharp turns to deal with. Additionally, the slings had 2 additional layers where the lined tail joins the body and back liner. I had no real problem feathering the clutch, a few times here and there. But sewing dozens of slings and straps and having to slow right down to 1 stitch per second with a clutch motor was straining my leg. I learned about the SewPro 500 GR motor here. I spoke to Bob Kovar (866-362-7397) about it and described how I sew. He told me that it was the right motor for my work; and, he was right. The 500GR has built in 3:1 gear reduction and a 2" (50mm) pulley. Its full speed at the shaft is 1500 RPM. My machine has a 4" pulley, so, it is running at 50% of the motor speed. This gives me a maximum speed of 750 RPM, on the machine, which is a little more than 12 stitches per second. Because of the built in gear reduction, this motor doesn't bog down at slow speed. I routinely sew at 1 stitch every other second, around tips of belts and straps. On straight a-ways, it's flat out, 750 per minute, with smoke arisin!. Note, as I have said often, if you buy this motor to replace a standard clutch or servo motor, buy a shorter belt with it. It sits closer to the underside of the table, by 1 belt inch. Add that to any reduced size you need for any difference in the pulley sizes from the original motor.

On my setup, the hand wheel is active in the drive circuit. It rotates with the pulley, but at a slower rate of rotation. I tried operating it with the handwheel disconnected, by pulling the bobbin winder pin. The motor made the machine take off like a bat out of hell! Stopping it wasn't on a dime either! It seems to need the weight of the hand wheel to provide smoothness and controllability to this system. This lets me apply just enough hand control to get going, after which the motor does just fine. The motor is able to begin sewing without help from the hand wheel.

The Puritan machines (and Protos I guess) are used in the golf bag, luggage and rifle bag industries. The sewing I have seen uses waxed linen thread. It will not normally unravel and breaks only with great effort, or a Hyde knife.

Thanks for reminding me about this. Here's your pictures of the 29K172, equipped with an AlphaSew 1.5 amp motor and transistor controller, running the big pulley with a 23" x 1/4" inch cogged belt. It penetrates 1/4 inch of black strap leather with a little effort, and 1/8" like butter. Unlike the leather drive belt, this belt does not slip at all. Amazingly, now that I am able to use both hands on the leather, this setup sews 5 stitches per inch into 1/4" of belt leather, at maximum foot lift and bottom-most stitch regulator settings (where you can still use the lift lever). The presser foot activator has almost no appreciable free play. The triple folded piece of 8 oz belt leather secures the motor against the back of the head, preventing it from being pulled up under strain. My preferred mounting place was completely along the back of the base. But, I can't find a cogged belt 27.5 inches long to mount it there.

I sew all of my heavy leather jobs on a Union Lockstitch machine. There is only one type of machine that is more awesome and that is a Campbell-Randall High Lift or Cyclone.

This sounds to me like the top thread is not going directly into the middle of the top tension disks. This causes the bobbin tension to become excessive, in a relative sense. Or, you might need to move up to a larger needle.

A "V" type thread is the same any bonded thread. Each manufacturer is allowed to call their thread by whatever type they want, unless they are selling to the US Government. Then, the nylon thread must meet government Mil Spec VT-295. This may be why some thread companies prefix bonded nylon thread with the letter V. Your decisions regarding thread should be based on its intended use, the pounds of pull that must be endured, the atmospheric conditions it will be submitted to, the nature of the bonding (dry or lubricated), the thread handling capabilities of the machines, and the put up (size of spool/weight/yardage/meters) you need. What follows are my own opinions. These may not be in agreement with other people's opinions. People sewing leather garments, or upholstery, commonly sew with #69 to #92 thread and leather point needles just large enough to pass the thread. They sew at high to very high speeds (1500 to 2000 SPM) Boot makers use #69 and #138 for construction, as well as #33 and #46 (with tiny needles) for the design stitching. They sew at medium to slow speeds for control. Soles are sewn on curved needle sole stitcher, using 7 cord or larger, right twist, linen thread, run through a heated or liquid, hardening stitching wax. If one stich wears out, the hardened wax holds the remain nearby stitches in place. The needles are huge. Belts are typically sewn with #69 (dress), to #138 (work belts), to #277 (police, gunfighter, or weight lifters' belts). Ditto for animal leads and collars. These are usually sewn at medium-high speed (to get 'er done). I like about 10 to 12 stitches per second when sewing straight runs on belts and straps (rifle, guitar), up to about 1/4" total thickness. Holsters meant for show, not for go, can be sewn with #138 or 207 thread. Slow speed is needed to control the short stitch runs and fast turns in shaped pancake holsters. Duty pancake holsters should have larger thread (at least high quality #207!), top and bottom (see next paragraphs). Serious holsters, used in competition, Western, or street Police work should have no lighter than #277 thread, top and bottom, but often use #346 bonded nylon, or 5 or 6 cord, left twist, Barbour's Irish Linen thread, run through liquid wax in a wax pot (sewn on a needle and awl harness stitcher). These are sewn slowly, because of the friction caused by a very large needle, loaded with very heavy thread, penetrating 1/2 to 3/4 inch of veg-tan leather or dense Kydex. The weakest link in any project is the smallest diameter/tensile strength thread. Sewing with #277 on top and #207 on the bottom makes the stitch as strong as the #207 bottom thread. In the event of a life or death struggle for a weapon, you don't want to have it on your conscience that you saved a few dollars on bobbin thread, that cost an officer his life, when the thinner bottom stitches gave out in a struggle and he was shot with his own gun. Heavy thread is cheaper than a Police funeral. Any thick leather, or Kydex holster should be sewn with the thickest thread your machine can handle. PPC Competition shooters run, roll around on the ground and draw and shoot. Western shooters draw as fast and hard as possible, in outdoor conditions (steel bullet deflectors at the muzzle end are a nice idea for fast draw holsters). Don't skimp on the size of the thread you use in serious holsters and matching gun belts. Collars, harnesses and leads for big dogs and horses should be sewn with very thick thread (#277 or #346), with turn-back stitches in another inside row, at the buckle and D-Ring areas. Ditto for horse bridles. Some collar makers like to use a skip-a-dee technique instead of turn backs, at Dee-Rings. I also prefer this and my Union Lockstitch machine has a skip-a-dee lever, which feeds more thread for this purpose. Try to always buy your thread from a known manufacturer, or a company who stands behind the quality, batch to batch, of the thread they sell. When buying thread, it is advisable to purchase two spools at a time, of each color you intend to use. One should feed the machine, the other the bobbin winder. End my opinions on thread.

Nah, it's okay Gregg. I should have splained myself up front. Just trying to save the OP some money in the long run. I had one of those 111's and fought with it too much (stitch/spin/stitch/spin/tie off/adjust length/readjust length/oops, bobbin is empty). After I got an LU-563 and fixed the floating stitch length problem (by replacing the machine with a Union Lockstitch), I never looked back!

I was thinking about offering them $249. Do you think they'll take the offer?

I don't like speed reducers on walking foot machines. Here's why: With a speed reducer, the top speed of whatever motor and pulley you have is reduced by a factor of 3:1. A motor with a 2" pulley, feeding a machine with a 4" pulley already has 2:1 reduction. Thus, a 1725 RPM motor will sping the machine no faster than ~862 RPM /SPM A person with a steady foot can easily feather the clutch down to less than 2 stitches per second, or 120 RPM. Then, they can speed up, to over 800 on straight-aways. Insert a 3:1 speed reducer into that equation and the top speed drops from 862, to 267 SPM, or 4.45 per second. This is okay for hard leather and short. detailed stitching, but not very good when the work is against an edge guide and is being sewn around the perimeter of a 4 or 5 foot long. or longer strap. I like to get stuff done the same day, so, 10 stitches per second, or 600 per minute, is my preferred speed on straight-aways. My solution was to purchase a servo motor that has built-in 3:1 reduction, for triple the power, which has a top speed of 1500 RPM at the pulley. I use a 50 MM/2" pulley at the motor and the machine pulley is 4 inches. This motor gives me awesome slow speed control, under 1 stitch every 3 or 4 seconds, up to 750 SPM, or 12 stitches per second. This rtange allows for highly detailed stitching and controlled turns at belt tips, with fast, get er done speed on the straight-aways. Needless to say, my needles smoke at these speeds. This helps melt the bonding on the thread, which then solidifies in moments, permanently locking each stitch. The motor I am referring to is made on Mars, by a terrestrial company calling themselves SewPro. The motor is a SewPro 500GR. It is available from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines (866-362-7397). With one of these motors, you can sew like a Pro! Gotta love those Martian engineers! Now, where did I put my can of MGD?