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Everything posted by Wizcrafts
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A Singer patcher should operate smoothly as you rotate the balance wheel. Try to isolate the location of the bind and clanking. There should never be any binding or clanking of parts. I would recommend removing the revolving head assembly to see if the problem is somewhere inside there. Also, replace the needle with a new System 135x16, or 135x17, or a system 29x3 or x4 needle. I once bought a 29-4 patcher that had a household needle in it. Those needles are too short to reach the shuttle.
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In case anybody is curious why these old machines and current 441 clones have wheel disks on the bottom, it's a carry over from the days of waxed linen thread. The bottom roller didn't just roll with the thread. The big spring provides tension to resist rolling the wheel. While bonded/lubed thread moves semi freely around the wheel, waxed thread is grippy and that bottom roller actually has an impact on the top tension. That effect is much less with bonded and lubricated threads made today. But, if you wrap two full turns or more it does help fine tune the top tension. However, unlike the upper tension disks, that extra tension is never released when you need to pull the work away after the end of the stitch line.
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I use a #18 needle with v69 thread and a #25 with v277 thread. Your needle is the right size for 277. Something else is wrong. That something is either causing the top thread to lose tension on the upstroke, or the bottom thread is hanging up as the top thread goes around the shuttle and tries to pull it up. Watch the thread go around the shuttle and see if the bobbin thread is getting caught on the feed dog or its mechanism, or the hook itself on the way up.
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I can't do anything about you forgotten password, but I can offer a suggestion about the change in tension with longer stitches. In effect, with all things being well balanced at short stitch lengths, when you make much longer stitches you draw more top thread than bottom thread and the top tension decreases somewhat. When this happens to me, if I can't reduce the bobbin tension any more, I move up one needle size. I also increase the throw of the check spring so the top thread is held taut longer.
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Frodo, do this test. With the machine threaded with your usual size thread, gently pull up from the top and down under the foot on the top thread. Is there any tension on the thread, or is it totally loose? It should have some tension holding onto the thread. If the thread is very easy to pull through the snout, lower the needle bar all the way to expose the bottom of the paddle spring, which is immediately over the needle mounting bracket. Take a small screwdriver and gently push against the paddle and see if it grabs the thread tighter. If so, it may be that some thread fragments are caught between the spring and needle bar thread channel. Running the thread down should clear it. Compressed air may help if shot down through the top of the thread channel. If the spring appears to be bent, or cracked, it must be replaced. This is requires punching out the tapered stud on top at the needle bar/take-up lever junction. It pushes out from front to back. Then you remove the presser foot and screw, then pull the needle bar out from the top. The paddle spring is secured by two tiny screws. One or both of them may have been filed down on the leading edge so it clears the bushing as the foot is turned in any direction. Carefully remove them and keep them separated left and right so you can reinstall them in the same positions. Clean out any debris in the thread channel. Get a new paddle spring and fasten it down all the way, minding the position of the screws. NB: If you have to replace the screws they may need to be filed a bit on the edges that protrude of of round and might touch the revolving bushing. The paddle spring is responsible for holding the top thread taut as the hook comes around to pick off the loop. If that spring is twisted, cracked, gouged or too loose, the loop will dissolve before the hook can pick it off. Sometimes, users will deal with this situation by loosening the top spring that pulls the check lever up, so it drops down easily. Then they compensate for a lack of thread control by tightening the barrel adjuster to force the lever up. I've done this a few times on patchers until I obtained a new spring and found time to install it.
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Is that a Singer 29? What sub-model is it? Your video doesn't show enough of the top of the take-up rack to ID it. Early models only have a flat spring on top to pull the take-up check lever back to keep the thread taut. A tight spring keeps the thread taut for most projects. If the top spring, no matter its style, is loose, the check lever tends to drop down too soon and stay down, thus leaving the top thread looser than it should be. So, try tightening that top spring. Later models also have a barrel shaped adjuster to force more slack when sewing thick jobs. When it is fully backed out it has no affect. As you screw it in the check lever is forced to stay up. This adds slack thread on top. That may help maintain the stitch length in thick leather by reducing the back pressure that tight thread causes.
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If the file is too large to upload here, you can send it to my by email, or private message via the forum and I will upload it to our archives.
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I recommend looking into a Cowboy CB3200 at a minimum. I personally have a CB4500 that I use for holsters, sheathes and all manner of heavy leather projects. These machines are built to sew thick, dense leather with large diameter bonded thread, using needles that resemble roofing nails. The 3200 sews up to 1/2 inch. The 4500 sews 7/8 inch. Both easily tension #346 bonded thread. Don't dink around with lesser machines if you want to get serious about sewing handgun holsters and knife/axe sheathes. They need thick thread to keep them from coming apart under stress. We even used our 4500 to sew a super sized sheath for a Pig axe carried by a volunteer firefighter. These axes are used to break down doors and walls. The sheath needs to be super strong to hold its weight. Don't dink around...
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I have a Singer 168g101 and there's no way it will meaningfully sew 27 ounces of veg-tan leather. It might handle 20 ounces with #138 thread using a #23 titanium coated leather point needle. The machine uses a Singer G size bobbin (aka: 1x) and has about the same walking foot mechanism and handling capability as a 111w103 or w153 (not 155). It is best limited to a sewing thickness of about 5/16 inch and maximum thread size of 138, top and bottom. I mostly use my Singer 168 post machine to sew patches onto vests and ball caps. Once in a while I sew bag bottoms on it. It can also sew hats together if you want to venture into hat making. Miy machine is normally threaded with #69 bonded thread and a #18 round point needle (for sewing the edges of embroidered patches).
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I've had a few sewing machines that lacked a (working or non-existent) thread tension release. I learned to just pull the thread through the take-up lever to free the work. I don't know if your Boss has a tension release or not. If it does it may need some adjustment, or a missing part.
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You have to join the forum to upload pictures, or use our private messages and email systems. There is no fee required to become a member.
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When you say "yarn" do you mean the fluffy soft stuff, or smooth thread? Your use of "yarn" suggests that you are not into industrial leather sewing machines (yet). We usually deal with "thread" that is bonded together and lubricated to withstand the friction and heat generated when sewing leather. I think of yarn as something one would use in a sweater. Further, most of our needles start at a #16 or 18 and go UP from there. I don't even possess a #8 needle for my one straight stitch machine. What make and model sewing machine are you using that uses a #8 needle? What is the brand of the "yarn" you want to use? A small photo of the bottom of a spool would help. Take the photo at as small a resolution as possible to be within our upload limits. As a guideline, no matter what type of thread you want to use, it must slide through the eye of the needle. If you also have a bobbin in the machine, the needle must poke a big enough hole to pull up two threads that overlap into a knot. So, if a needle is already tight when you test it with just one thread, it probably will be too small to pull up both threads and their knots.It also depends on the density and thickness of the sewn material. It is easier to pull up knots in soft linings and broad cloth than in nylon, denim, vinyl and leather. Just use a bigger needle if you see knots on the bottom despite making tension adjustments!
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Does your machine have a long pressure spring running along the back of the head? If so, the pressure screw is near the center-rear of the head, not the left front. The screw would press down on the long spring. Back it off.
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Leather Machine for Bag/Purse Making
Wizcrafts replied to Jewelia's topic in Leather Sewing Machines
Your wife has a wide range of sewing interests, which will probably require more than one sewing machine. The machines you have looked at are domestic/household type machines that are really no good for leather. This is because leather and suede is tough and kind of grabby on top which fights the feed if it is only on the bottom, via a feed dog. Because of its toughness and density, leather can cause a domestic sewing machine to break down, especially if it has plastic gears. If I was in your shoes I would buy a solid straight stitch or zig-zag sewing machine for light cloth and a medium duty compound feed, walking foot machine for leather and other dense materials, like vinyl.. I can't advise you about any particular brand of domestic sewing machine. I did write an article that is a sticky topic at the entrance page to this leather sewing machines forum. It goes into great detail about the type of sewing machine you need to sew leather.If you read through that topic you will understand more about why there are special machines for sewing leather that are different than those used to sew cloth. -
Your machine uses Systen 135x16 leather point and 135x17 round point needles. Round points are for cloth and woven materials. These needles gracefully separate the fibers as the penetrate the material. The actual holes tend to heal as the stitches are locked. Leather point needles have different configurations. All of them will cut through the leather fibers destructively, leaving room to pull up large knots from bonded thread. If you use a leather point on cloth, it may sever the fibers, weakening the material. A dead giveaway that you are using a round point in leather is the squeak the needle makes as it fights to penetrate the leather. It heats up and leather fibers will stick to the hot needle. Buy 135x16 needles for leather! Some designs lay the stitches on angles, like hand stitching. Others sew inline, like the Schmetz S and most diamond, or tri points.
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A lot of 441 clone users are going to want this set.
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I think I saw one at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines a couple years ago. I was interested in sewing up the arm, but use a long arm patcher instead.
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Bobbin case seized up on Cobra class 26.
Wizcrafts replied to RunawayBay's topic in Leather Sewing Machines
You didn't hear this from me. When the hook is bound up you may be able to clear the thread by removing the throat plate which will let the hook rotate back and forth. You might be able to grab some thread stub and yank on it while wiggling the freed hook. Once the jammed thread is cleared out, oil the bobbin race, then reinstall the throat plate, minding the cutout for the tab on the shuttle case. -
You can create a YouTube channel for free and upload videos to it. The channel can be public or private. If private, only people you send a link to can find your videos. They have very generous file size allowances.
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This feed is known as feed up the arm. Some call it transverse feed. Singer made a Class 11 that included some feed up the arm configurations. You can read the differences between all the classes of Singer machines, from 1 through 99, including the Class 11, on this ismacs page.
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The brass tube, or cup, is being held up too far by a bad setting of the lift lever bracket. When you lower the lift lever, the bracket should drop down enough to let the spring loaded brass cup push down on the tension disks.There are nuts under and over a threaded shaft on the back side of the lift bracket. Loosen the bottom nut and adjust the top nut to lower the position when the lift lever is down. Make sure you don't go below what's necessary to let the tube drop or it won't lift the cup off the disks when you raise the lever. There is a happy setting that you need to find, then lock the nuts down tight.
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Roller presser foot on a drop feed question
Wizcrafts replied to Straycat62's topic in Leather Sewing Machines
I've had roller foot machines and I always set the roller to make contact with the feed dog before I put the leather under it. You can adjust the foot pressure via the top pressure screw. If you set the roller above the plane of the feed dog, it may slip instead of rolling on top. If it slips the leather may lift up with the ascending needle and you may get skipped stitches. Because a roller foot only pushes down on one side, it must make hard contact with the material and be as close to the needle as possible without hitting it. A well built roller foot will roll in sync with the feed dog as it pulls on the bottom. -
I read the product page and noticed that the customer rating is 2.2 out of 5. You aren't the only dissatisfied customer. Low end patchers like this are notorious for having rough areas in critical places. Inspect every part that the thread passes through for sharp edges. This includes the paddle spring and needle mounting clamp on the needle bar. Also remove the hook and feel all around it for burrs. You didn't describe the thread you are using. Is it a brand name thread? Or, did it ship with the machine (from China)? Is it bonded nylon or polyester? What size thread and what size needle are you using? Not all thread is created equal. Is your thread loose when you cut the end with thread snips?
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The usual recommendation for sewing leather with T135 or v138 thread, top and bottom, is a #23 needle. The smallest recommended needle is a #22.
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111w153 Needle Thread Hanging Up On Bobbin Case Tab
Wizcrafts replied to AlZilla's topic in Leather Sewing Machines
It sounds like he kit-bashed a farm supplies store screw into the bobbin case. If true, the threads may be ruined for the proper tension screw and he might need a complete bobbin case.