Wizcrafts

I got mine from Bob Kovar, at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. You might want to get two of the little spring mounting screws and any other screws that are worn on your patcher, while you're at it. His number is: 866-362-7397. He also sells the threading rods, for $5.00.

Here is a closeup of the paddle on the thread regulator spring on the needlebar. Removing the parts, replacing the spring and replacing the parts took me a little over 1 hour; taking my time. It could be done in less time if someone was in a hurry and has experience with doing this. The hold up is usually getting the tapered pins out, without damaging the frames that hold them in place. It also took a few minutes to disassemble the lifting plunger assembly from the trapeze. Here is the needle lifting plunger and take-up assembly, which also needs to come off, by removing the tapered pins.

Oh yeah. Have you called Bob Kovar and asked how much he charges for patcher threading rods? 866-362-7397

Sue; First of all, you should examine the spring on the needlebar to see if it warped. Lower the needlebar all the way down. Aim a flashlight, or clamp light onto the left side of the lowered needlebar and look at the left side of the bar, just above the mounting bracket for the needle. The spring is visible at that point. The thin shaft rides inside a 1/6" wide channel and the bottom looks like a paddle and rests in a cutout. If it is warped the paddle part will not sit squarely across the cutout, but will be twisted. Ditto for its thin strut that connects to the top of the spring, where it is screwed onto the needlebar, with two little screws. A warped spring catches inside the hole as you turn the butterfly and will break off the paddle section. Here is what you will need to pull the needlebar, to replace a warped or broken thread control spring: A 9/16" open end wrench, only if your patcher has a tall hex shaped darning assembly sticking up, with a rotating T bar on top. It will need to be unscrewed before the needle lifter pin can be driven out. a set of drift pin punches, with small, medium and large faces a hammer a medium width flat blade screwdriver a small, narrow blade screwdriver, with a decent handle. Or, a medium jewelers screwdriver and possibly pliers to turn it. The needlebar assembly is in two pieces. The needle is mounted onto a little piece of metal that is screwed onto the needlebar. That screw is above the needle securing screw. Here is the sequence to remove the needlebar: Unscrew the needle holder from the needlebar If your machine has the T bar darning attachment, behind the needlebar, on top, remove it with a 9/16" wrench Use a drift punch to drive out the tapered pin that holds the needlebar to the take-up lever puck. Drive from the back towards you. Drive out the pin holding the take-up lever to its assembly (back towards front) and remove the lever Unscrew the lift height adjusters on the back of the lift assembly Remove the lift assembly from the trapeze, pulling it out of the front Lift the needlebar out of the top Locate the little T shaped thread control spring, just above where the needle holder screws onto the needlebar and carefully unscrew the two tiny screws that secure it. Use two magnets to keep them safe. Keep them in their original positions (left and right) and separated. Remove the spring clean the bar while it is out. Install the new spring and secure it tightly with the little screws. Make sure they are all the way down. Try to install the screws in the same positions, in case they have worn according to their original mounting position. Lightly oil the needlebar and replace it into the top of the hole in the head. Replace the needle lift assembly and its adjusters and the take-up lever pin (front towards back) Replace the pin that holds the needlebar to the needle lifter (front towards back) Re-attach the darning T-bar assembly, if exists. Attach the needle holder assembly and position it so that the needle is centered in the hole in the throat cover plate. You are done at this point Or, take it to a competent sewing machine mechanic and pay him to do all this.

There is a little leaf spring, shaped something like an inverted letter T - inside the lower section of the needlebar. It is needed to hold back the top thread a bit as the take-up lever does its thing. Sometimes, the spring gets bent and makes contact with the side walls. Eventually, the spring will get pulled out of its channel. It will bend out of shape and cause the butterfly action to have hard spots. The spring is replaceable, along with the two tiny screws that secure it. The entire needlebar must be removed to replace the thread spring. If this spring is bent, broken, or missing, the top thread will form loops on top, in random places on the material being sewn. I just went through this and replaced the spring on the bottom of the needlebar, on my Singer 29K172. It is still not exactly right and I still get the odd thread loop on top of the leather. The old spring prevented the loops, but it bent under a heavy sewing load and broke off a few weeks ago.

The solvents will attack the bronze bearings. Mind you, this will be a slow and imperceptible process. Also, it is heavier than actual sewing machine oil and contains parafin, which can gum up bearings over time. The saving grace is that you have a slow speed sewing machine. If you have a sewing supplies store nearby, like Joann Fabrics, or Hobby Lobby, or a Singer store, Walmart, etc, go there and buy a few 4 ounce bottles of sewing machine oil. When you get a chance, order a quart or a gallon of Lily White Sewing Machine Oil, from an industrial sewing supplier. Lily White Sewing Machine Oil: Highly refined, low viscosity and virtually colorless. Perfect lubricant for Sewing and Embroidery machines. Also used in cutting machines and other machinery which comes into contact with fabric. Stains become much less noticeable and easily removed than stains from standard machine oils.

NO! Don't ever use WD-40, or 409 on a sewing machine, except to clean the body of the machine, or the table. Also, do NOT use 3 in 1 oil to lubricate any sewing machine. It contains solvents! Only use 3 in 1 oil to loosen junk that builds up in oil holes, or stuck screws, then chase it out with industrial sewing machine or Lily oil. Bob Kovar, Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines - 866-362-7397 - and every other industrial sewing machine dealer stocks the proper sewing machine oil, in quarts and gallons.

So, I was right when I mentioned that the top end was out of time with the bottom end. This is what I meant.

Take a look at the Cowboy CB-2500. It is a bottom driven (feed dogs), flat footed heavy duty, cylinder arm stitcher, capable of sewing no more than 1/2" of leather belting, with #346 or 415 thread (with a slightly raised pressor foot). The bobbins are cylindrical, like the ones used in the bigger stitchers. They hold a lot of thick thread. The needles are longer then normal industrial machine needles, but shorter than the ones used in the big boys. Also, the price is nice (1/2 of the big stitcher price)! Bob Kover, at Toledo Industrial Sewing machines, is the distributor. His number is 866-362-7397. Tell him Wiz recommended you and this particular machine. Tell him you need it to sew up to 1/2". If you need a machine to sew over additional layers, a walking foot, heavy stitcher is the next step up; sewing up to 3/4". That would be the CB-3500 (9" arm), or CB-4500 (16.5" arm). Add dollars accordingly. Cobra Steve also sells these types of machine, under the Cobra brand.

Call Bob Kover, at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines: 866-362-7397. He has parts and accessories for most Singer machines and other major brands. No doubt he has various pressor feet that will fit your machine.

If you cranked the pressure spring adjuster "down," you just increased the pressure! Turn it counterclockwise/up. Only apply enough pressure to secure the work between stitches and keep the material from lifting with the needle. A roller foot may be your secret friend in this application.

It appears that your problem is too much tension presented by the raised throat plate and pressor foot. Have you tried reducing the pressure on the foot? ?? ?????

Now that you have stretched the belt to loosen it, go to your nearby auto supplies store and get some v-belt no-slip spray. Mask off the surrounding areas and spray the inside of the pulleys and backside of the belt. Drop some sewing machine oil into the treadle assembly's moving parts. Drop some oil into the oil holes on the machine, especially the oil hole by the rear of the head. You may need to buy a bolt-on pulley, about 9" or 10" in diameter, to get better control of the treadle operation. Drill and tap three or four holes into the original pulley on the base and bolt the smaller pulley to it. Try to keep it centered for balance. Tractor supply stores carry these large spoked pulleys.

I think that you using a Ferdco 1010 would be like using a tank to take out a sniper. You are looking for a machine to sew ladies' purses, up to maybe 3/8" thickness, with #138 thread, tops. That machine is a very slow speed, heavy stitcher, designed to sew 5/8" with huge needles and heavy thread. Further, it is dual feed, with a feed dog underneath and a driven outer walking foot with teeth on it. This could leave marks in your leather, or metal hardware. It's also about $2000, plus shipping. If you really want a production machine to sew purses, up to only 3/8" thickness, I have a better recommendation for you. I've done some homework and found that a Cowboy 227-R might be the perfect machine for your job description. It has a 10+ inch cylinder arm, the preferred compound feed walking feet (triple feed, smooth bottoms of feet), a semi-self-oiling system (with manual oiling once a week), can stand up to production use (you mentioned 4 - 6 hours a day), easily sews with #138 thread and has optional accessories available (attachments, folders, edge guides, pressor feet). The design of the arm allows you to sew right up to the left edge of the outer pressor foot and a 10+ inch arm is plenty for purses and vests. Bobbins are installed inside the cylinder, right at the end and can be changed with work still in the machine. This particular machine comes with a heavy duty table and servo motor. The motor has a lot of power and is easily controllable from under one stitch per second to maybe 10 per second. You may need to sew fast on straightaways, to get the work done in a timely fashion. Most of the big stitchers, like the one you asked about, have a gear reducer pulley that slows the top speed way down. Those machines are not meant to be sewn fast, as it would burn the leather, melt the thread and turn the needles red hot, to do so. This CB-227-R machine is available already tested and ready to go, from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. Their number is 866-362-7397. Bob Kovar is the owner and is great to deal with.

Aw hell; toss in that #20 needle, with #69 thread and see what happens. A bigger hole may help pull the knot up. For slippery material you may want to consider using a roller foot. That could be just the foot, with little rollers inside, or an entire roller attachment conversion kit. Start with just the pressor foot and see if that helps feed the slippery material better. If the top thread is pulling the material back towards you, there is too much top tension. Back off some. Loosen the bobbin some more to compensate.

This is just a thought, but, test a stitch without any material under the pressor foot, using the hand wheel. As the loop is picked off the eye of the needle (just as the needle begins its ascent), rotate a quarter, or half turn more and see if the top thread pulls easily around the bobbin case. If the top thread is being pinched by inadequate clearance inside the bobbin case/shuttle, the knots will form under the work, rather than in it.

John; If at all possible, could you take some close up photos showing your thread path, from the spool to the needle and a snap or two with the take-up lever and slack spring in various positions and the needle itself? Are you using the same size thread top and bottom? Is this a #18 needle/#69 thread setup? If you can't make any more headway on your own, consider sending in to Bob Kovar, owner of Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. It might be out of time on the top end and he will know that and get everything back into the proper sequence.

When the thread take-up lever is at the highest point, the knot is formed in the material.

Don't mess with the timing unless you are getting skipped stitches. As long as the top thread forms a loop and the pick-up grabs the loop, your timing is fine. Here are some things to check that could cause the locks to fall under the work. The top thread is lacking pressure. Check the thread path. The top thread is not going through the center area of the top tension disks. The top thread is not going through the slack (check) spring, after the tension disks, before the take-up lever. The position of the check spring and its assembly has shifted the wrong way. The check spring is too tight. The lift lever is engaged behind the machine, removing all tension from the disks. Something is causing exceptional drag on the bobbin thread. Make sure it really flows easily, but with some resistance. The needle is too small for the thread knots and density of the material. Move up a needle size and see what happens. The leather is too dense. Use thread lube, or lubricated thread, or a bigger needle.

This machine is threaded incorrectly. The top tensioner is supposed to be wrapped around clockwise, after the thread goes around the post on top, behind the tension disks. From there it feeds to a curly spring in front of the needlebar, then up to the take-up lever. The lower tension disks are called "darning tensioners" and are only used when the feed is lifted off the material and the work is moved by hand (darning). The thread would go directly to the darning disks, not through the upper tensioners. The upper tension disks have their pressure relieved when you lift the pressor foot lift lever. The front darning disks are never loosened by the machine. Unless you are darning, only use the top tensioner and reverse the direction of the thread. Go around the little post behind the disk, turn a sharp turn and feed it into the top tensioners clockwise. Do not go down to the darning disks. The needle is backwards. The scarf above the eye must face to the right. That is causing the skipped stitches.

In addition to threading the needle from left to right, make sure that the top thread is going around the little post behind the top tension disks, then around and inside them, clockwise, then out of the disks and through the little loop in front of the take-up and needlebar, then up and through the take-up lever, down the snout, past the little spring in the needlebar, and through the eye of the needle. The bobbin should feed the thread backwards to the slit in the bobbin case, making a sharp bend back through the slot, then be pulled totally under the little bobbin case spring, up through the hole, through the hole in the center post if yours is the large bobbin case, and up through the hole in the throat plate. There should be some modest tension on the bobbin, but not too much, especially for sewing light weight material. If there is an adjuster mechanism on the back of the take-up lever assembly, inside the trapeze, make sure you back it off all the way for thin materials. If it is engaged most or all the way in, the take-up lever will pull too much top thread up and may cause skipped stitches in thin material. It is only turned inwards to sew thick or very dense material. Make sure that your pressor foot has just enough spring pressure to keep from lifting as the needle lifts, but not so much that it squishes thin leather. Also, make sure that the foot goes all the way down, when the lift lever is lowered. The foot does all the work on a Patcher. Finally, check the spool of thread and make sure that the thread feed off the top of the spool. If you don't have an industrial thread stand, place the thread on the base of the machine and feed the thread up and around the thread peg near the rear of the machine, then on to the lube pot, through its hole and out to the upper tension disk. The little thread post post is for what are known as Patcher spools; about 1 ounce thread weight or #69 bonded nylon thread. Patcher spools are usually sold by shoe supply warehouses. Make sure that you use the best fit needle for your thread. For #69 thread, that would be a #16 or #18 needle. If your needle is too big the top thread won't for a loop for the bobbin case's pickup point to grab.

For ladies' designer handbags you may need a cylinder arm machine to sew the tight corners. However, if they are sewn inside out a flatbed machine will do fine. The zippers will be a bit tricky though, unless you have a cylinder arm machine. You will want a walking foot machine and several accessory pressor foot sets. These will include: left toe and right toe zipper feet; a piping/welting foot set for each size of welt you intend to sew between the seams; possible an edge binder set, a swing-away edge guide and aim-able lights. Get plenty of bobbins and extra bobbin cases. Buy thread in either 8 oz or 16 oz spools. Buy needles by the hundred, for the main sizes you will be using. Get several quarts of industrial sewing machine oil and load some into small bottles. Most leather sewing machines require frequent manual oiling. If you decide to buy a used machine, stick with only the top brand names and only buy one that is clean and can be tested before you take it. You will probably want a machine capable of sewing with #138 bonded nylon or bonded polyester thread, using a #21 or #22 leather point needle. You will want a machine with reverse that matches the forward holes perfectly. Many lesser builds do not match on reverse, without a lot of dinking with the positions of the pressor feet. If you buy a new machine, get one with a servo motor, not a clutch motor. Servos are much more controllable at slow speed than a clutch motor. Also, you won't need all the torque a clutch motor delivers, for purse leather. You should get a small pulley on the motor (2" to 21/4"), to give slower top speed with a bit more punching power.

The answer to your question about the best sewing machine for bags depends on your definition of "bags." If you could be more specific, possibly posting some photos of samples, we can better serve you. Also, do you intend to use the machine for regular daily production, or just occasionally? For regular production, a brand new machine is best. The Consew 206RB-5 meets that requirement to some degree, but a Juki 1508 is going to hold up better, for steady production work. Adler, Pfaff and Juki machines are used in production factories World-wide. Not so for Tacsew or other clone knockoff machines. Seiko makes Consew machines. They are usually considered a secondary-consumer line to the Seiko manufacturing quality machines. It really depends on how much use, at what average RPM, the machine will receive. Once we see the kind of bags you want to sew, a recommendation regarding flatbed vs cylinder arm can be offered. You may need to revise your price range if you intend to go into steady production.

Holly; call Bob Kovar about the Pfaff parts and accessories. His website is not up and running yet. He has everything you will need. Bob Kovar Toledo Ind.Sewing Mach.Sales Ltd 3631 Marine Rd Toledo,Oh. 43609 1-866-362-7397

It so happens that Bob Kovar, of Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, sells a roller conversion set. Call him, at 866-362-7397 and ask for the 3 piece roller foot conversion for your particular Juki clone machine. Bob also sells needles, bobbins, cases, thread, parts, attachments and edge guides for most industrial sewing machines.