Wizcrafts

There should be a long torsion spring running along the back of the body, from a slot in the pressor foot lift lever block to about 2/3 the way back. There should be a thumb screw in a housing over the spring that allows you to tighten or loosen the pressure on that spring, hence the pressor foot.

I think you will be better off to just buy a 110 volt, single phase motor. Your outlets for the 220 volt motor would need to be wired for three phases plus ground. I bought a SewPro 500GR servo motor for my walking foot machine and it gives a full range of speed control, without needing to feather a clutch. They are sold at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines: 866-362-7397. They can install whatever size pulley works best for your work. Leathercrafters prefer a 2" pulley for punching power, less friction and better control with slow speeds. Upholsters prefer a 3.5 or 4" pulley, for higher top speed (time is money in upholstery). You may need to also change the belt length is you install this motor and the pulley size is much different.

An old Singer patcher, especially a 100 year old 29-4, will only sew up to 1/4" of leather and is not much good with anything thicker than #92 thread. Furthermore, the stitch length declines as you increase the thickness beyond 6 to 8 ounces. A brand new condition patcher may be able to sew 5 stitches per inch, at 6 - 8 ounces. This drops to about 7 or 8 to the inch at 16 ounces. If the feed mechanism is not in mint condition, your maximum stitch length will be considerably less, on both ends. I have seen worn out Singer 29-4 patchers that barely sewed 8 to the inch at 6 ounces. Thin thread and close stitches is not what most holster makers use. It will not do a good job on knife sheathes either. The feed is performed by a rotating pressor foot, with teeth on its bottom, which pulls the material to its rear position, then jumps forward for the next stitch. These teeth leave noticeable marks once you set enough pressure to grab and pull the leather. The pressor foot and needle only clear a maximum of 5/16 inch. The foot must have at least 1/16" clearance above the material to jump forward after pulling the material back, limiting the sewing to 1/4" maximum. I recommend bring some leather strips with you and testing the machine to ensure the feed and stitch length mechanism isn't shot.

You absolutely must feed the thread off the top of the spool! Industrial spools are not designed to be fed sideways, such as home machine spools are. The way they are wound requires top feed. When you open a new spool of thread and begin to loosen the threads, make sure you completely free the end from being under any other thread. If the thread gets caught underneath previous rows binding will occur. Sometimes, I see top thread coming loose on the spool and getting caught under the spool mount. This always causes the top thread to jam up. This leads to knots on top of the leather and often, tiny stitches. This can even cause perforation of the leather. A properly tensioned 441 or 205 stitcher will allow you to pull the threads will little effort, with the pressor feet lifted and top tension disks released. If you have to yank the top thread by hand, something is not right, or is less right than it could be. It is a good idea to check on the action of the thread release crank and make sure it spreads the top disks, without capturing the thread in the process. Note: if you remove the front cover plate to oil the machine, pay attention to the position of the pressure release crank as you reinstall the plate. It tends to drop down and out of position and may not work at all (to release tension). Make sure the release lever is up, into the upper disks, as you reinstall the face plate.

The top thread is sticking somewhere along its path. Examine the mobility of the top thread at each of these points: At the spool. The thread should feed freely off the spool, without catching itself under other threads, or under the spool itself, then up to the back and out the front of the thread guide hole in the horizontal bar above that spool. At the post on top of the machine. If you have wrapped the thread around the post, change it to just feed through one hole, preferably inline. The top and bottom holes are almost inline with the top tensioner. The middles ones are at an angle and give more resistance. The top tensioner thread guide. Feed the thread through it from the post, then up, then around and inside the disks, back through the hole in the guide Here is where you may find your problem. When the thread exits the thread guide in front of the top tensioner, it must feed down at an angle to get to the bottom disks. There is a pointed steel bracket that pivots on a center hole, which shoves the point inside the top tension disks when you lift the pressor feet. Lift the feet with the manual lever and look to see if the thread is getting jammed under the point of the tension release. Then, step on the right foot pedal lifter, lifting the feet all the way up and see if the point has now caught the top thread, or not. If the tension release lever is catching the thread, change the path so that the thread feeds through the guide only on entry, then up and around the top disks twice, then straight down to the bottom disks. Feed the thread through the guide over the bottom disk, then counterclockwise, 1 1/2 turns around the disks, then back through the hole in the guide. Lift the pressor feet (lever or foot lifter) and see if the thread pulls smoothly. If so, feed it through the eye of the check spring, then up to the take-up lever. If the thread is not easily pulled, revisit its path to find where it is jamming. After exiting the take-up lever, feed the thread through one of the holes in the pull tab thread guide half way down the front plate. Feed the thread through the twisted spring hole above the needlebar Feed the thread through the hole directly over the needle Lift the feet and pull the thread. It should give smoothly, with a reasonable tug. Thread it through the eye of the needle and see if the problem persists. Adjust the top thread tension spring for moderate pressure, and balance the bobbin spring to allow the knots to go into the middle of the layers being sewn. BTW: feed the bobbin thread backwards, into the slit in the bobbin case.

Darryl; Size 138 thread is twice as thick as the #69 thread you are familiar with. It has a 22 pound breaking strength, as opposed to just 11 pounds for #69. Number 138 is sold as bonded nylon, and occasionally, as bonded polyester (for outdoor and under water use). If you want to sew with #138 thread, make sure you buy size 22 needles. Since you are going to sew leather, buy the needles in leather point, not round point. Note, that you can also sew #138 thread with a #21 and maybe even a #20 needle. These make a smaller hole than the #22 needle, which is the ideal size for hard temper leather. You will probably have good success with a smaller needle in soft leather.

You moved the timing of the hook, or the needlebar. The pickup point needs to be high enough above the eye in the needle so it picks up the loop at all stitch lengths and directions. Also, there should be a tiny amount of clearance between the point and the eye of the needle. You don't want it hitting the needle, nor should it be 1/16" away. If the point it too low, at the needle's eye, either loosen and advance the hook or lower the needlebar. You can test first by loosening the needle screw, pulling down the needle about 1/16", then tightening the screw. If this improves the thread situation, remove the throat plate cover and watch the position of the pickup point as the needle raises. Test the screws on the shuttle to see if they have come loose. Do the same on the needlebar. Something gave, either on top or bottom. Or, one of the bottom gears at the back end may have moved. If you find the loose part, back off the set screws, time the point to pass about 1/16 to 3/32 above the needle's eye, then tighten all securing screws on the bottom and on the needlebar. Don't forget to raise the needle to the top of the needlebar hole, before altering any other settings! You only lowered it to test if the timing is off.

No matter what the brand name is on your big stitchers, or who sold them to you, keep the suckers oiled! Don't overlook the holes feeding oil to the hook area, or the walking foot parts. Also, unbeknown to some owners, there are tiny oil holes on the cranks inside the front faceplate. Remove the plate occasionally and use a precision oiler to place a drop or two inside each of these little holes. Your well oiled machines are going to drip for a while, so keep an absorbent rag on and under the pressor feet and open front-bottom of the arm. Use pure clear Lilly oil to avoid severely discoloring your leather or cloth projects. Oil once a week for light use, or more often after big runs. The faster you spin the machine, the more oil it will lose. If most of your work is done at very slow speeds, you can go longer between oiling sessions. But, do not neglect the hook area! It is a good idea to initially operate at slow speeds, until the machine has had time to break in a bit. After a week or so, and a good oiling, you should be able to attain high speed operation without overheating the moving parts. Lilly Oil is extremely thin and even though it coats the bearings and shafts, it is easily flung off by high RPMs and heat. If you are not sewing very thick, dense leather, back off the top pressure housing screw (turn ccw - raising it up). Less pressure on the feet makes for less pounding of the moving parts and less wear overall. Too little pressure will allow the leather to lift with the needle, causing skipped stitches. So, reduce it carefully, testing as you go. Use only the minimum size needle that passes the top thread and forms a well positioned knot in the leather. The larger the needle, the harder the machine works to punch the leather. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers reading this!

I have learned to thread the top this way, to avoid jump-offs: After coming down from the top tension disks, feed the thread through the twisted steel eye on the bottom disk array and to the left side of the disk. Go around the inner disk twice, counterclockwise, then back up through the same guide - to the eye of the check spring, then up the the take-up lever, etc.

The outer pressor foot is mounted to the pressor bar, by either one or two set screws, probably accessible when you remove the front cover (some are secured on the back of the head). Find and loosen the screws with the mechanism in the position where the foot is as far down as it can go. When you loosen the holding screw the pressor bar will probably snap down, from the pressure of the top pressure spring. With the foot solidly on the throat plate, tighten the set screw and rotate the wheel. If you still have enough lift on both inner and outer feet, nothing else needs to be done. If there is now insufficient lift on one or the other, there is a crank sticking out the back which is used for two purposes. One is to set the height of the lift of the feet. The other balances the lift height of one or the other. I often readjust the second setting to accommodate jumping over different thicknesses of work. You can set the ratio so that the inner foot lifts higher or lower, to match the point of entry of the needle, into the top layer. If you need a mechanic's manual, someone out there will point you to one.

The foot on the left, although totally out of focus, is a spring edge guide foot. The feet on the right are standard pressor feet, with a wire finger guard.

To further refine my previous statements about qualified sewing machines, consider these points: A less capable machine may be stretched beyond its normal operating parameters, allowing it to use heavier thread and sew thicker material than it was designed for. Eventually, this will lead to premature wearing out of the main moving parts. It will also call for more frequent bobbin reloads. A more capable machine can easily be dumbed down to sew lighter weight material, with thinner thread and smaller needles than are normally used. They are not ruined by sewing into thick, dense leather with very heavy thread. The big stitchers have very large capacity bobbins, requiring much fewer reloads. All of the Juki 411 and Adler 205 clones have flat table attachments that screw onto their work tables. While this small table top is not the same as the 20 inch deep standard industrial table top, it does offer about 8 inches of depth and over a foot in length (l-r), adding much stability to work that needs to be spun around while laying flat. In contrast, a flat bed machine can never become a cylinder arm machine! I work for a one man shop, as a part time helper and sewing machine operator. I myself am a one man shop, as a leather worker and computer troubleshooter. I trust one man operations for their devotion to their customers and willingness to speak with us. It is comforting to speak with the same person when you have problems with a machine, or need spare, or non-standard parts, quickly. If the owner of a one man shop gives me a special price, nobody upstream is going to over-ride him. Great customer service will always lead to referrals and return business. Putting down competitors tends to have the opposite effect, in my experience and in my plans for future purchases. As for the remark about "the snake" not being a good guy, read what the Chinese Zodiac says about those born as "snakes:"

While I can induce my walking foot machine to sew with #207 thread, it does so reluctantly and with great stress on the moving parts. When I load the same thickness of thread into a Cobra Class 4, or Cowboy CB4500, or Union Lockstitch machine, it sews it with ease, into much greater thicknesses than any normal machine can handle. Even an Adler 204/205 will sew to 3/4" with ease. The Cowboy and Cobra big stitchers are well within your stated budget. The big Adler is not.

Like Steve said, a post machine. I used to have a Singer post machine and used it to make biker caps, cowboy hats and moccasins. The old ones were only good for #69 thread. Some newer post machines can now sew with #138 thread.

To sew to 7/16 inch, the minimum machine you will require is a Consew 1508H, or Cowboy 1508NH - flat bed, or a CB2500 (GA1) cylinder arm machine. That is the sewing capacity for those machines. The 1508 machines can use up to #207 thread, while the CB2500/GA1 types can use #346 thread. Most leather workers who want to sew to almost a half inch go to the next level and buy a high lift, super heavy machine, which is a clone of the Juki 441 or Adler 204, or 205. These machines use a very long needle, system 7x3 and 794 and can sew beyond 3/4" with #415 thread. Useless for leather. This is a home sewing machine, for cloth, that is limited to using $69 thread and smaller. You are going to run into feeding problems when you try to sew garment leather on a home sewing machine. The top grain tends to stick to the pressor foot. To get around this you'll need to change to a roller foot. The so-called walking foot attachments for home style machines are not true walking feet at all. They have a spring loaded outer foot that follows the top layer, then snaps forward. They reduce the sewing thickness to about 3/16" under the feet. Leather garments are fabricated in factories by little old ladies wearing babushkas, sewing on walking foot Juki and Seiko machines, that go tapokita, tapokita, all day long. Buy yourself a new triple feed walking foot machine, with high lift (Juki 1508H or equivalent) and be done with it. Get one with a new high-torque, small pulley servo motor, rather than a clutch motor.

By model 19 something, my guess is they meant a 31-19. This is a fine machine for tailoring and alterations. It will do a good job on leather garments and chaps. These machines are not true walking foot machines; but are called trailing foot. The outer foot is spring loaded and follows the top layer as it moves backward (no reverse). When the feed dogs drop the spring loaded foot snaps forward and waits for the needle and inner foot to rise, then it drops for the next cycle. This pressor foot is best suited to sticky materials, like garment leather. The maximum thickness under the foot is 5/16" and the largest needle size is #22. It can be used with thread sizes not exceeding #138. These old machines can be had for a couple hundred bucks. They are out-dated by today's standard of real walking feet, with triple feed and high lift.

I just found the place in my control panel to ignore all posts and PMs from another member. Please disregard my previous request for help finding this feature. My time on the forum is better spent not having to deal with bullshit from tat2. Name: Wiz UserName: Wizcrafts IP Address: 68.41.133.25 Email Address: leatherworks@wizcrafts.net

I want to block viewing all posts and replies from a particular troublesome member of this forum from showing when I am logged in. I have looked around, but can't find a link to "block this person." Could you advise me on how to accomplish this task, if it is even possible on this board? Name: Wiz UserName: Wizcrafts IP Address: 68.41.133.25 Email Address: leatherworks@wizcrafts.net

Hauss; Any one of the three machines you listed will sew the projects you described here. Look them over and under, lift the pressor feet with the knee lever, to check if the maximum clearance is suitable, then buy the cleanest machine, with the highest lift and smoothest action when you rotate the wheel 360 degrees. Toe down slightly on speed pedal to disengage the clutch, if the belt is on. Consider the 220 volt 3 phase motors to be paperweights, which will need to be replaced, and see if you can negotiate a better price. When you get you chosen machine home, order a new servo motor from one of our dealers. I bought mine (SewPro 500GR) from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. Their phone number is 866-362-7397.

If you have v220 volt outlets in your house or shop, a 220 volt, 3 phase motor will draw half the current as the 110 version would, for the same horse power output. If you do not have 220 volt, 3 phase outlets, those motors will be useless to you and will have to be replaced completely with 110 volt, single phase motors. Clutch motors typically sell for around $110 shipped. These machines were probably set-up for use by upholsters, or denim garment, or drapery sewers. Therefore, they probably have rather large pulleys on the motors, for high speed, get-er-done sewing. If you plan to use one of those machines to sew leather, you'll want to change the pulley on the motor to a 2" pulley. You will also need to buy a shorter v-belt, at -1 inch for ever inch the new pulley is smaller than the original. Not a big investment, but money out none-the-less. If you get a machine with a 110 volt clutch motor, but cannot master feathering the clutch, you will end up replacing it with a DC servo motor. This will cost you between $180 to $200.00 shipped, with a 2" pulley and a shorter belt (if needed). You never said what you want to use the machines to sew. Are you sewing vinyl seat covers, or buffing wheels, or cloth garments, or upholstery, or chaps, or pancake holsters? What? What number/size thread will you be using? How big will each project be? How thick? The job will dictate the type of machine best suited to perform it.

It looks like a 441 clone to me. The machine I sew on at work has exactly the same bottom thread check system and the same thread guide loop. If you can get a front view photo we can get a better ID.

Yer welcome Mary! I hope it helps you pick the right machine from the get-go.

If I had to start over again, and I did in 2009, I would buy a modern walking foot machine, like a new Consew or Juki, or a Chinese or Japanese equivalent, or a cylinder arm walking foot machine, with a flat table attachment. I would avoid old machines like the plague they usually are. My first time around, I spent several thousand dollars buying old worn out or inadequate sewing machines, until I found the ones that could sew thick leather with heavy thread. If you are really lucky you may find somebody who is selling an Adler 205 at a price you can afford. With a budget of $1000, your choices are limited for new machinery. You may have to buy a machine with a clutch motor, then, if you can't master the clutch, buy a servo motor later on. A good used Adler will cost you double what you say you want to spend, as will the new Chinese clone machines (which are now excellent). Here is how I went about purchasing and modifying an industrial sewing machine, in mid-2009. This was before I discovered this forum, with all of its leather machine dealers. Now, one can buy a machine already optimized to sew leather, at very good prices, with awesome followup service. I watched my local and nearby listings on Craigslist until I found a local company that listed leather and upholstery sewing machines and vinyl for sale. I scheduled an appointment and was first shown a room full of cloth and vinyl material, with a bench full of fur sewing machines and sergers. I told the lady that they were not leather sewing machines, as advertised in the CL listing. I was then taken upstairs, where they had the ugliest Singer 111w155 I have ever seen! It was missing the pressor feet, and was mounted onto an old, cracked, brown wooden table top, with an outside the motor clutch mechanism, as old as Noah's Ark. I declined and was told that there was one more machine, but she didn't know if it was for sale. I insisted on seeing it. The machine was a Japanese built National 300N walking foot machine, with virtually no wear, or dirt, or grease on or under it. It had a 1/2 HP clutch motor and sewed perfectly, on vinyl. I was able to buy that National for the same price they were asking for the p.o.s. Singer that was missing the feet. Later on, I learned that I could use a longer needle system, type 190, which are used in Pfaff walking foot machines. After raising the needle bar 3/16", to maintain the timing, I was (and still am) able to sew just about 1/2 inch of leather, albeit with #138 thread. Number 207 thread does work, but not as well into ~1/2" of leather. Still, by limiting that machine to 7/16" of leather, I am able to use #207 thread, with a #24 or 25 leather point needle. I finished off the upgrade by purchasing a SewPro 500GR servo motor with a 2" pulley and shorter v-belt, from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. When it comes to sewing beyond 1/2 inch, you need a big dog, "441" clone machine (clone of Juki 441), or Adler 205 or clone. These will cost you between $1800 and $5900, depending on the brand and length of arm/workspace. For instance, a 9 inch cylinder arm walking foot 4412 clone machine, sold by most of our member dealers, can be bought for about $2100 shipped (or less). The same brand with a 16.5" arm will cost about $2500 to $2700 shipped, depending on if it has all available accessories added to it. For sewers who only need to sew up to 1/2 inch, and don't mind tooth marks on the bottom, there are the GA1 and Cowboy CB2500 10.5" cylinder arm machines. These machines typically go for under a grand, plus shipping. Adding reverse bumps up the price by about 300 bucks. Roughly $1500 to $1600 investment gets you the machine and most available add-ons, shipped. Both the CB2500 (GA1 types) and 441 clones (and a real 441) can sew with very heavy nylon thread, #415 or heavier. They use needle sizes 26 or larger, which none of the lesser machines are capable of using. These machines have long, spool shaped bobbins, with disks on the ends, which hold a huge amount of thread. You won't have to stop in the middle of most jobs to change bobbins, if you start with a fully loaded bobbin, tightly wound. Most standard upholstery type walking foot machines are limited to a #25 needle, maximum. Most of them have small or medium capacity bobbins. If you are able to get the machine to sew with #207 thread, the bobbin will run out after a handful of belts. With the standard system 135x needles, they can only sew to 3/8 inch.

If you do decide to market these contraptions on the forum, I will be one of your first buyers. I have the newer style patcher; a 29k172.

Now I don't feel so foolish!