Wizcrafts

Ronnie at Techsew sells a brand new type of servo motor with a push button speed system and a readout panel on the front face. You just tap the up or down buttons until your desired speed is shown.

If that is a patcher machine, with a large bobbin, it can sew with #138 thread, in a #22 or #23 needle. If you want to sew with the recommended #69 thread, get some #16 and #18 needles. Series 29x4 (leather point) needles are available in sizes from #12 or #14 up to #23 (I have each of the sizes in that range). I even have some #24 needles in 29x3 ball point.

I bought a SewPro 500GR servo motor for my walking foot machine, from forum member and sewing machine dealer Bob Kovar. It has built in 3:1 gear reduction, a 2" output pulley and a speed limiter knob on the back. While it bolted into the original clutch motor holes, it's shaft sits closer to the table than a clutch motor. Therefore, I needed a shorter v-belt to keep the motor adjuster above the bottom of its range. Since the original pulley was a bit larger than the one on this motor, I had to take off another inch from the belt. I finally settled on a two inch shorter belt, which centers the motor height adjuster. Bob Kovar's number is: 866-362-7397

This is deja vu! I had a 45K25 with a roller foot also. But, I didn't try to change it into a flat foot; just smoothed out the tracks it left with a spoon. However, I DID mount it onto a Singer patcher iron base and used it as a treadle machine! It needed hand help on the wheel, poking a #25 needle through heavy leather, but it sewed okay for small projects. The hand wheel is massive and adds torque. I wish I'd kept that machine!

The website is still under construction and not online at this time. But, I got this flyer for that machine when I got interested in it. I guess they use a different needle system (214xTW?) than I mentioned earlier. Here is a picture of a CB2500 all set up on a table and ready to go, from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. Bob Kovar can be reached at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, at: 866-362-7397

No. That model was built without a bobbin mechanism. It uses a looper instead, to form the chainstitch. That is all it will ever be.

If you want to sew with #69 thread, buy some #18 needles. #92 thread uses #20 needles and #138 thread uses #22 or 23 needles. All of those sizes are available from any well stocked dealer. That GA1 looks exactly like the Cowboy CB2500, which uses series 328 needles. Bob Kovar, whom I mentioned in my previous reply, sells Cowboy machines and has all types of industrial needle systems and sizes, including those you want.

If it uses series 328 needles, Bob Kovar has them for sale. Contact Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, at: 866-362-7397 He also has tons of thread, in all sizes.

I'm sorry. I gave information about the Singer 111w155 when you were asking about the 211w155. That series is newer and sleeker shaped and has more model numbers following it. The 211w156 has a reverse lever, which is not present on the 211w155.

The needle system refers to the designation, in this case, 135x16 and 135x17. The former is a leather point and the latter is round point. The needles in this system are almost 1 3/4" long and slightly over 1/16" in diameter, at the upper shank (that goes into the needlebar). They are sold in width sizes ranging from US #12 (metric 80) up to #25 (metric 200). This corresponds to a appropriate thread size range from #46 bonded nylon or "invisible" monofilament, up to #277 bonded nylon. The most common thread size used in sewing upholstery and leather garments is #69, also known as T70. It requires a #16 or #18 needle, depending on the thickness and density being sewn. Links to thread and needle charts have recently been posted in replies to similar questions. Search posts for "thread and needle chart" or "needle size chart." There is a Sticky topic at the top of this forum that explains how to choose the best size needle for any given thread size. Finally, to answer your last question, the 155 is sub-model designation, which happens to have a walking foot, triple feed system. The 155 is the last of the line for the 111 series and is the most sought after model. It stitches forward only. One must use the Poor Man's Reverse (turn the work around 180 degrees) to back tack. The 111 Singers must be manually oiled frequently. They have a safety clutch that disengages the bobbin drive if it gets jammed with thread. When that happens a button pops up on the bed. The bobbin mechanism is disengaged until you clear the tangled thread out. Then, you push down on the button and turn the hand wheel until the mechanism catches again and it locks back into time. Before this invention, a jammed bobbin case would throw the machine hopelessly out of time. The Singer 111w155 can sew leather up to 5/16".

In addition to Ferg's chart for the model 211, whatever clearance the pressor feet have, with the lifter on the back raised, subtract about 1/16" and that is the maximum sewing thickness. The biggest thread it handles is #138 bonded nylon. Without knowing what clearance your machine has under the raised feet, I'll have to guess it will sew about 5/16" maximum. It uses the standard walking foot needle system: 135x16 or 135x17. Clean it up, keep it oiled, replace any worn out parts, put a servo motor on it and she'll be cherry for another half century. Just don't wear it out trying to run #207 thread through it. The 591 is a garment sewing machine that is capable of also sewing light weight drapes. It uses a smaller needle system than the 111 and 211, and clones. Those needles top off at about size 21. The machine is not set-up to sew with anything heavier than #69 thread. It is for garment making, tailoring and drapery hemming, not for leather. Never was, never will be. Been there, done that. Don't be fooled by the strong appearance of industrial sewing machines. The skin does not reveal what is inside or how much pressure they can stand while working. Garment machines are not designed for sewing with heavy thread, big needles or dense payloads. You can easily knock them out of sync by trying to sew leather belts with them. In reality, the sturdy iron casings and bronze bearings on industrial machines are made that way to absorb the high heat from continuous high speed sewing. Most modern high speed garment machines have an oil pan, oil pump and wicks that distribute oil to moving parts and bearings. How does 3000, to 5000 stitches per minute sound for sewing a belt? NOT! Only walking foot, or harness machines are actually built leather tough. These are slower speed machines, with very thick take-up parts, heavy tension springs and sturdy drive systems. Most walking foot upholstery machines have a maximum sewing speed of 800 to 1000 stitches per minute. Most leather sewing machines are geared way down to about 160 to 320 stitches per minute (exception: Union Lockstitch; 800). Plunging a #25 or 27 needle, threaded with #277 nylon thread, into 1/2" to 3/4" of hard belt leather generates an incredible amount of friction and heat. I've seen smoke coming from leather and thread literally melting in the needle's eye, at 600 spi.

This is something that should go into its own new topic. Post it anew and I will answer your questions.

Ask the seller if the motor is 110 or 220 volt, in case you only have 110. Get all of his curved needles, bobbins and any linen thread and stitching wax he can spare. Beg for a manual, if he has it. Ask to be shown how to thread the top thread and wind the bobbins. Actually, a working demonstration will be your best bet. Bring some thick leather. This machine should be bolted onto a concrete floor, or at least set upon a level concrete floor. Oil it in every oil hole before using it. Make sure it turns by hand freely and is not jammed.

$200 is an awesome price for a sole stitcher! If you are going into the shoe repair business, this is a must have machine. This is a machine that sews around the perimeter of thick, dense leather items. If you are not into shoe repair, it is really of little practical use to you, unless you sew a lot of thick leather projects just along their outer edge. This would include hand cuff and ammo pouches, knife sheathes and some Western gun holsters with a single row of stitching. The machine uses 6 or 7 cord, right twist, waxed linen thread, (hot melted beeswax or Sellari's liquid wax). The thread is sold in one pound spools by Campbell-Bosworth and costs around $42 a spool. Needles are curved and expensive. Oh yeah; it weighs about 700 pounds

Did you order a shorter V-belt with it? You're going to need one. In my case, I replaced a clutch motor with a 2.5" pulley with a SewPro 500GR servo motor, touting a 2" pulley. I ended up requiring a V-belt 2 inches shorter that the original. The servo motor sits closer to the body than a clutch motor. If you neglected to get the belt with the motor, order one 1 inch shorter for just the motor, then another inch for each 1/2" difference in the diameter of the motor pulley.

Here is a picture of the sewing machine that the seller of this patcher is actually using for his excellent leather work. It is similar to the long arm Cowboy and Cobra and other Juki 441 clones sold over here. The only reasonable use for an ancient, 99 year old Singer patcher, is sewing patches onto vests and jackets, installing short zippers and fixing rips in bags, clothes, shoes and boots.

I would offer $100 to $150 tops for that old machine, especially since it is sold as head only. You are going to have to invest a lot of time and possibly some cash to fix it up. A machine in that condition was not well cared for. Plus, although the butterfly works, how badly worn is the crank mechanism inside it, that moves the pressor foot? A brand new 29k from that time period could only deliver 5 stitches per inch (5 mm long), into thin leather (4 oz). By the time you place 8 oz of leather under the foot, you'd be lucky to get 4 mm stitches. It goes downhill from there, until you max out at 16 oz thickness, at which time you'd get 3 mm stitches, maximum. If you are going to use the patcher to repair boots and shoes, tiny stitches are normal. Also, the old patchers are pretty much limited to thin thread, like #V69 / T70. You might however be able to run #92 through it. The stitch lengths I mentioned are for a tight, like new or completely rebuilt machine. If the patcher is as unserviced internally as it appears to be externally, you can probably cut the maximum stitch length by 25%, or worse. I have tested old patchers that struggled to yield even 8 stitches per inch (per 2.5 cm), on 4 oz leather. Take some pieces of 4 ounce leather and try it out. If it yields close to 5 mm stitches in one layer, the drive mechanism is tight. Thread it up, including the bobbin and make sure it stitches properly, top and bottom, from 4 ounces, up to 16 ounces (4 pieces). If the foot has difficulty moving the leather enough to form a reasonable stitch length, it is worn out and will require dis-assembly and shimming or brazing of worn out parts.

I have never had a v-belt with much more than a 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch deflection. With 1.25" you will probably have a lot of slippage under heavy loads. Tighten up that belt Trainee!

You are most welcome Jose! I'm glad to have been helpful to you. Now that you have optimized your machine, use it to its fullest extent. However, when you run into projects that require more machine than you have, don't break your old Singer; get a new machine with greater thickness and thread handling capacities.

Apply a tiny bit of toe motion to the floor pedal to release the internal brake. This will allow the motor and machine to turn freely. I set the belt tension quite high on my setup. I have very little deflection of the belt. I know that this places an increased load on the motor's shaft bearings, but they are strong. A tight belt allows the motor to penetrate very dense leather. If you are not sewing through dense leather, move the motor mount upwards to give more slack. You don't want so much slack that the motor spins and the machine doesn't. Make sure you tighten down the set screws in the hand wheel! A tight motor belt applies a lot of torque to the machine and a tight machine penetrating dense leather could cause loose hand wheel screws to let go (I know this from experience - the screws flew out of the wheel and into the wall behind the machine!). If the set screws come loose, the flywheel will spin but won't drive the machine into dense leather anymore. This could damage the output shaft and the flywheel.

Yep. The lift block on the back , over the long pressure spring, that engages the pressor foot lift lever, must be set too far towards the front of the machine. Move it toward the back and you'll get lift. If your machine does not have the leaf spring, but a coil spring for top tension, the lift assembly is on the back of the head and has a butterfly thumb nut to tighten the movable piece with the marks: L-M-H, which set the amount of lift of the foot. If that lift block is missing the thumb nut, or other pieces, there will be little or no lift. If the metal cam block behind that assembly is loose, or misaligned, lift will suffer. Move the L-M-H block towards the front of the machine to increase lift, or away to reduce it. Reposition the cam block behind it to get back missing lift range. Just be sure to allow the foot to go all the way down between strokes.

A realy good one-time purchase would be a Juki 441 clone machine. All of our member-dealers sell such machines. They have brand names including: Cowboy, Cobra, Artisan and Techsew. Most of these brands are available with cylinder arm lengths from 9" to 16.5", with some as long as 25". I am guessing that a 9" space between the needle and right inside of the body might be enough spin room to sew your holsters. If so, a Cowboy CD3500, a Cobra Class 3, or an Artisan 3000 would cost you right around the $1500- mark. Shipping would be extra though. All of these machines will sew at least 3/4"; some will sew 7/8". All can handle #415 bonded polyester or nylon or 6 cord linen thread. All have triple feed mechanisms, where the needle, inside pressor foot and feed dogs move together at the same speed. All have a stitch length lever that can be left up to sew in reverse. The bobbins are huge and all the parts are very heavy duty. These machines come mounted on short body tables, on steel frames with roller wheels. They all have servo motors and speed reducers. The prices go up by a thousand dollars for the 16.5" arm models. Parts tend to be interchangeable between all of these Chinese 441 clones. So, if you buy a 9" arm machine from one company and they go out of business, the parts for another surviving company's 9" machine will probably fit it. Most of the dealers have have a banner ad, except for Bob Kovar; the owner of Cowboy stitchers. You can call him at 866-362-7397. Cowboy is shipped from Toledo Ohio, after the machines are set up and tested. Cobra machines ship from California. All are sent by truck, due to their weight. Figure out what turn around length you can work with and buy the most machine for your available money. Stick with our dealers if you can. They take care of their buyers with help on the phone and servicing or parts replacements, should things get fudged up. All sell needles, bobbins, thread and oil (get lots of oil!).

The swing away guide was added on. They don't come with any machine as standard equipment. Bob Kovar, of Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, sells the swing-away edge guides, along with bobbins, needles, thread, and parts for most industrial sewing machines. Call him at 866-362-7397 to get the current price for the guide.

It looks to me like the bend in the actuator rod is too high, behind the roller wheel. Try lowering it so that the bend is right behind the wheel and the angled rod will push the wheel away as you move the knee lever. There needs to be a little free play before the knee lever hits the roller. Normally, the knee lifter is adjusted so that it completely raises the pressor foot until the machine stops it. If the bend in the lift rod is too high, you lose motion on the short side. If the bend is too low, the angled rod may run off under the wheel, causing the pressor foot to snap down hard. Then you have to manually raise the foot to get the angled rod back behind the lifter wheel. A properly positioned bent rod stays in contact throughout the allowable motion of the knee lifter assembly. Once the lift rod has been set, you can adjust the actual knee pad position both vertically and laterally. Set it so you have no trouble hitting it when you intend to and without distressing your knee.

Grab it while you can. Worry about the price later. This is a rare bird.