Wizcrafts

Ferg; Before you buy that machine, call Cobra Steve (California), or Cowboy Bob (Toledo, Ohio) and ask what they have that will do the same job. Their prices may surprise you.

What type of Union Special is it? I've never seen that thread size, specifically, but I think is a probably similar to #69 or #92 bonded nylon. I have 10-4 linen that is the same as #207 bonded thread. In your case, 24 is the individual thread size and there are three strands woven together. It sounds like a medium beading thread. Post a picture of the machine before you buy it. Most Union Specials I've had or seen are pants and shirts sewing and blind hemming machines.

Maybe you should call and remind him about the DVD.

The Tippman Boss fits into your shop for short stitching runs (a hundred stitches, or so), or intricate stitching patterns that you can't control with a motor-driven machine, or on location at flea markets or craft shows. It is a great prototyping machine. It is not a production machine, nor is it meant to be. Production machines for leather shops are stronger than upholstery machines and run slower. Slower speeds lead to less wear on the moving parts, less distortion of shafts inside bearings - due to lower heat generation, and less skipped stitches in your leather projects. Leather sewing machines have heavier pressor foot springs, beefed up pressor feet, larger feed dogs, longer needles, bigger bobbins and shuttles and usually, much bigger flywheels. The guides that keep the needle bar moving forward and backward are larger than the guides on upholstery machines. There is at least one brand of leather stitcher that uses a square drive system, where the needle bar is orchestrated to pull straight back and forward again, rather than the typical pivoting at the top. This causes the holes to be absolutely in line, even through 1 inch of leather. The Campbell-Randall and Union Lockstitch machines also feature square drive, but don't mention it in their ads.

Unless you can find someone here who has or had one, you won't know until you buy it and hopefully, receive it in one working piece. Make sure the seller offers a full refund if you are dissatisfied. Do not tell the seller you want to sew belts or straps with it, as this may void the implied warranty. That is, unless they ad claims it can sew x-ounces of belt leather. In my bad experience, the machine was so badly damaged in shipping that it did not turn over long enough to even sew the sample cloth that was under the feet. When I tried to return it the seller claimed I ruined the machine trying to sew leather. After certifying that I hadn't sewn anything, much less leather, I was able to get a partial refund. These machines are not built to sew leather, other than soft or thin stuff. They are marketed to the boat cover repair people and hobby upholsters. They are set up for sewing low resistance Marine Vinyl and Sunbrella/Duck cloth.

You mentioned sewing leather furniture and asked about the Tippman Boss in the consecutive sentences. I hope you have a powerful arm if you intend to sew leather upholstery on a Boss. They are manually operated by a pull lever on the back. It would also have to be fairly thick upholstery leather. What you are really looking for is a walking foot industrial sewing machine, that mounts on top of an industrial steel-leg table, which has a large, clutch or servo motor under the table top. A Consew 206RB-5 is such a machine, which can be adjusted/corrected to sew leather. Cobra also makes a similar machine, but specifically set-up for leather work. There are ad banners for Cobra brand machines, that usually appear on top of this forum. When contacting dealers about machines, be sure you tell them what kind of leather you want to sew. There is a huge difference in the requirements and set-ups for machines that sew leather upholstery/garments and those sewing thick belts and straps.

LOL! The servo motor has a brake. You have to apply a tiny amount of pedal, with your toe, to release the brake. If the motor can be turned without releasing the brake, it will slip when you try to sew thick, or dense leather. There aren't any larger flywheels made specifically for the Consew walking foot machines. I went through this with my National, which is a Consew clone. You might could kit bash a larger flywheel onto it, but no guarantees. Imagine the torque you'd get if you could fit the wheel or upper pulleys off a Singer patcher, or 132k6, onto a Consew or clone! Go with the 500GR motor, rather than the speed reducer. Once reduced, always reduced. With the gear-reduction motor, you can still get a relatively quick stitch rate, when you need it.

Offer $100. If the seller agrees take it home, clean it up and begin restoring it. Singer short arm K series patchers can only sew a bit over 5/16" of leather. The stitch length is going to be very short at that thickness. You may need to rebuild the moving parts inside the butterfly ring to restore normal stitch length capacity. This model uses the small bobbin and is best suited to #69 thread, or maybe #92. The Singer 29 patchers are designed to patch shoes and boots. They feed via teeth on the bottom of the pressor foot. There is no feed dog to assist moving the material.

The COBRA Class 4 will sew from 6 oz to 7/8" leather including skirting, all types of tack, bullet loops, chap leather, and everything in between with ease. "Sews pads, blankets,webbing, canvas, bio-plastics, upholstery, etc..." You will have to change the needle size to match the thread you are using. A Cobra Class 4 can sew with thread sizes 69 through 415. This corresponds with needle sizes 110 through 250. You should use leather point needles exclusively, if you are sewing leather. If you are going to sew leather garments, the optional table attachment is a good item to have.

Palletized shipment with weight shown on the bill of lading at 310 lbs. Pallet dimensions about 36" X 36" X 36", so you'll need either a large door into the shop or unpack it outside (ten minute job) and move the pieces inside for assembly. Take away 10 pounds for the pallet and that leaves you with a 300 pound machine and work table. This weight will occupy an area of about 1 square yard. Make sure you have a strong floor in the area you intend to place a machine in. It might be a good idea to have a 1/2" thick wooden support piece cut, big enough for the legs of the machine to sit on. This will spread out the weight evenly and may avoid damage to your rented floor. The head will weigh in at about 200 pounds and the motor and table at about 100. You will definitely need help getting these items up 3 floors of stairs (unless there is an elevator available). Treat this move as though you are having a new refrigerator delivered.

You are right on with that analysis! You #230 needle is meant for $346 bonded thread, or 6 cord linen. The hole it makes is so large that the thread is not able to stay down and form a loop as the needle ascends. A #200/25 needle is perfect for #277 or 4 cord thread. There is a workaround that you can try, until the #200 leather point needles arrive. I have no knowledge about the thread path on a Boss stitcher, so this is generic. See if the thread goes around a slack take-up spring after leaving the main tension disks. The thread would leave the bottom of this wire spring and feed up to the take-up lever. There will be at least one adjustment, if not two, for the start and stop positions of the spring. Find the screws that secure this spring and any stop collar under it and rotate the stops or positioners to reduce the travel of the slack spring. Make sure there is still sufficient tension of the spring to hold the thread as the take-up lever moves down. Hopefully, by reducing the travel of the slack spring, you'll allow the thread in the needle to have more free slack, and it just may form a loop in the bigger needle.

Play with it at different speed settings for another day, then decide if the motor needs to be replaced. Since you can control it past the 50% speed setting, see if it produces enough torque to penetrate 3/8" of belt leather, with the largest needle size you expect to use, with the heaviest usable thread in it. You may have to do this with the limiter on full, feathering the floor pedal. I found that it was very difficult for my 500GR equipped National to penetrate hard black belt leather, with a #25 needle, threaded with #207 thread. Once I reduced the needle size to a #22 and the thread to #138, the machine began sewing normally. Measure the diameter of the pulley on the motor. If it is over 2.5" buy a smaller pulley and belt. That adds torque. A speed reducer wheel system magnifies torque tremendously, but destroys all top end speed in the process. I had a speed reducer equipped Adler flatbed that only delivered a couple of stitches per second, at full speed. It was too slow for my liking. A SewPro 500GR has built-in 3:1 reduction and will out-perform a standard servo motor of similar rating. See what the wattage and horsepower ratings are on your servo motor. My machine only bogs down when I stuff very dense leather under the foot and try to sew with a big needle and thick thread. Hand wheeling it usually helps. A 1/2 horsepower clutch motor is still more powerful than a similarly rated servo motor. That will change as more SCR DC controlled systems are deployed. Those systems are very expensive at this point in time. Eventually, your Consew 206 RB will run into other limitations that will prevent it from sewing dense leather projects. One limitation is the two pressure springs over the inner and outer feet. You may have them both screwed all the way down and find that some leather will still lift with the ascending needle. This causes skipped stitches. That machine probably has the toughest springs made for it. Your only option would be to find an extra heavy duty set of feet, with a wide inside foot (1/4"+). The wider the feet, the more pressure they exert on the material. Machines that are built to sew harness, tack and saddles are usually equipped with extra heavy duty pressure springs and feet that are capable of holding down very thick leather (~3/4"). They also have very long needles that move much farther than the series 135x16 used in your Consew 206RB.

Congratulations! You have scored one of the best JP built machines for both leather and upholstery use. Just don't try to do saddlery or heavy strapping over 3/8" with it. The pressor feet will lift higher than the needle's capacity to sew effectively. You can use up to #207 bonded thread on top and bottom and a #24 or #25 needle (135x16 leather point). Many people prefer to use a size smaller in the bobbin, but that's up to you. The 206RB uses a large M bobbin. If the pulley is too large for you to control at slow speed, buy a 2 or 2 1/4 inch pulley and shorter belt. Switch to the original pulley and belt for upholstery sewing at higher speeds.

The SewPro 500GR will fit that machine. You will need a shorter v-belt. Figure 1 inch for the closer mounting position, then another inch for each half inch smaller pulley size than the original. I bought a new v-belt, 2 inches shorter, when I got my SewPro, but that was insufficient for full adjustment. So, I bought one 3" shorter and it allows the best range of adjustment and tightness. Your setup may vary. Just remember that the angle of the control arm under the motor may dictate where within the adjuster bolt you need to be. All the way up or down may put too much strain on the arm, causing erratic speed control.

The Singer 301 is an aluminum body slant needle quilter's machine, with a permanent, built-in direct drive old motor. It was designed and constructed to sew garments and quilts, not leather. That motor lacks the power to penetrate dense material of any kind. If you are thinking of replacing the built-in gear drive motor on the Singer 301 with an industrial servo motor, forget it! That machine is not designed to take any external motor, including home sewing machine motors, much less an industrial motor. The SewPro 500GR is a big, industrial motor that mounts to the underside of a 20"x48" industrial k-legs table and uses a long v-belt in a pulley to pulley drive system, with a 3/8" wide x 1/4" thick, automotive style belt. The SewPro 500GR, rated at 300 watts, has a built-in 3:1 gear reduction system and a 2 inch output pulley. I have never turned the speed limiter knob on the back below 50%. I usually leave it on full speed and let my foot control the speed. I have found that if the motor can turn itself over it can also turn the machine over. I have no doubt that this motor could start a Harley. It would be neat to put one into a G scale model train locomotive. It develops 1500 rpm at full speed, at the spindle. The SewPro is a great addition to an actual industrial sewing machine, but is useless on your Singer home style machine.

When you do make the trek to Campbell-Bosworth, stay onsite a while and learn all you can about not only threading and operating, but also adjusting the Randall stitcher. Bring some harness traces and practice sewing them at the factory. Try different threads you are interested in using to find the ones you want to stick with, then buy a sufficient quantity with the machine. Ask for assistance if you have trouble. Dan will show you what you are doing wrong, just like Sam Friedman showed me. Let me know when you make the trek. I may want to tag along. The Adler 204-374 is a fine machine, but is inflexible. Just changing the needle size often requires you to change a spacer in the shuttle. It is what it is and nothing more. The Union Lockstitch and Randall can become what you want them be be, as can the Juki 441 and its clones. Randall and Union Lockstitch machines are basically one-man machines. They get to know you and you get to know them. You both reach an understanding with each other and outsiders cannot use them as well as the owner can. That is how God intended it to be.

You can buy a replacement throat plate for your 29-4 patcher. Bob Kovar sells them from Toledo Industrial Sewing machines: 866-362-7397. He also sells needles, bobbins, bobbin cases, feet, threading wires and bobbin winder tires for patchers, as well as various replacement parts and screws.

qarawol; I promise you that you cannot use a large bobbin in a 29-4 patcher. The entire arm is cast from iron and is not changeable. The bobbin end is set to a small width that only accomodates the small bobbin case and its itsy bitsy bobbin. There is a curved wire spring the is fastened by a screw, which lives on top of the revolving assembly surrounding the needle bar, on top of the head, behind the top tension disks. You should try to tighten the screw (clockwise) with a screw driver in one hand, while twisting a wide blade screwdriver between the the arch of the spring and the block behind it that raises and lowers, with your other hand. This should add some friction to the butterfly assembly. It is the only method of tightening the revolving action unless you add the thumbscrew to the front. Normally, that spring will secure the butterfly from freely turning on its own.

The Singer 29-4 only accepts small bobbins and small bobbin cases. The two ends of the throat plate are for thin or thick needles and thread. I never used the small hole when I had 29-4's. You can secure the butterfly by disassembling the head and its components and installing a locking thumb screw. Order a front locking thumb screw (9/16" of threads) for the new 29-72 patcher from a Singer parts dealer (Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines in Ohio sells them). Measure the pitch and width, then buy a drill and tap (ASA) to match. Punch a center mark 1.5" up from the bottom of the head, dead front center. Then, drill a pilot hole size and cut the threads into the iron head with the proper tap to match the thumb screw. After clearing the slivers and inserting the thumb screw, reassemble the head. When you turn it almost all the way in it will lock the butterfly in position.

Ray; Assuming you haven't changed the thread path, or neglected to go through the pre-tension hole block, the thread itself may be the problem. Try stuffing some soft foam in the thread stand feed loop, above the spool, and feed the thread through it. This should even out the twisting as it moves through the foam. It will also add a touch of back tension. If that doesn't fix the problem, try running it through the lube pot with silicon lube, or Lax Wax (from Campbell-Bosworth). If all else fails, replace the spool of thread. Or, loosen the top and bobbin tensions. Less tension on top means less chance the thread will pop out of the disks. Make sure the top thread loops around all of the holes in the pre-tension block or post.

Andrew; Things are moving along not too badly, considering where I live. I just built a holster for an 8" bbl Dan Wesson .45 LC revolver, with bullet loops sewn on the front, on my (your ex) ULS machine. The ULS has no trouble at all penetrating 4 layers of 8+ ounce veg-tan leather. I use #277 bonded nylon most of the time, but occasionally, #346 polyester. If you do buy a Campbell Randall, get some #346 bonded polyester thread with it and various sizes of needles and awls, plus lots of bobbins. If you opt to buy linen thread, I recommend 4 and 5 cord Barbour's Irish Linen, left twist, and a gallon of Lax Wax. The cheaper Hungarian linen thread is not as well smoothed and bonded and has lots of loose "hairs." It's too bad we live so far apart. If we were in the same area we could split the cost and use of a Randall! I understand that Dan sells them fully rebuilt for under a gazillion dollars!

The Union Lockstitch you traded to me does all that too. There are pressor feet and throat plates for round reins, raised work (holsters, stirrups, buckles, snaps), beaded line steppers and even a stitch in the ditch set. There is even a special foot used by Wilson to sew footballs. You should have held onto it! I agree though; it would be nice to own a Campbell Randall! Nothing sews holsters, straps or harness like a Randall. I had my chance when Sam Friedman offered to sell me one of his. If only ...

You're welcome! If all you plan to sew is leather seating, not 4 layer holsters or heavy straps, a flatbed walking foot machine with reverse is all you need. Try to find a Japanese built Consew 206RB-x (where "x" is the version number; 5 is current), or Juki, Mitsubishi, National, or Seiko compound feed walking foot machine (or maybe a West German built Adler or Pfaff). They have solid moving parts made of quality steel. The castings are very good, bearings are hefty, bobbins for some of these models are 50% larger M style, and the newest model's pressor feet lift almost 1/2". I don't know what the differences are in the Chinese built model that is now for sale. Couple that with a 1/2 horsepower clutch or servo motor, with a 2" pulley and you can sew everything from couch covers to motorcycle seats. You can always swap the pulley and v-belt to a bigger 3" set for more speed on cloth and vinyl upholstery jobs. Another good thing about commercial walking foot machines is the mind boggling amount of pressor feet and binding attachments available for them. Items sold on CraigsList can be great deals, or nightmares. One advantage of buying locally is that you can at least see and try out a machine before buying it. You don't get that opportunity when you purchase online. I found my JP built National 300N walking foot machine on CraigsList and couldn't be happier. It is almost the same as a Consew 206RB. All I changed was the motor and belt to a gear reduction servo motor, with a 2" pulley, from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. It uses series 135x16/17 needles, available up to #25 and sews 3/8" of harness leather without bogging down.

The Singer Singer 112w115 is a twin needle straight stitch, flat foot, bottom feed machine. You'll have to remove the entire front end to replace the take-up lever. It sits behind the needle bar and pressor bar and in mounted onto a rod that pivots as the main drive cam rotates. The bobbins sit horizontally under cover plates on either side of the needle hole and feed dogs. The 111w155 is a walking foot machine, with a horizontal bobbin under a sliding cover plate, on the right side of the needle bar and feed dogs. It sews in forward only and has a push button that is held in while you rotate the flywheel, to change the stitch length. It is a good starter sewing machine for upholstery and garment leather, and can sew belts. It is capable of handling #138 bonded nylon thread. I would avoid the twin needle machine with the bad take-up lever, unless you really need to sew two rows at a time. You will incur a cost for the take-up lever replacement. That machine should not be used with #138 thread unless the tension is lowered on top and bottom. Then it can be used for upholstery. These are very very old machines.They are manual oilers and require oiling before or after each run. They will probably be equipped with old clutch motors, with large pulleys. As such, they will be unsuitable for sewing veg-tan leather. They will be able to sew chap, upholstery and garment leather. The 112 will have a harder time with garment leather and vinyl, because of its flat steel pressor foot.

Yes, you can sew a camera case like that on a Campbell Randall needle and awl machine. You cannot mechanically sew in reverse with them, but, if you are careful, you can spin the work around and sew back through previously stitched holes. The needles have a barb near the top. The top thread is looped into the barb, then pulled down and around the bobbin, to form a lockstitch. The barbed needles tend to rip out previous stitches, unless you carefully position the barb to just miss the other stitches. Tricky, but I do it all the time on my Union Lockstitch machine. Aside from the difference between types of needle, the main difference between the machine in your embedded video and a Campbell stitcher is the motor and drive system. The leather machines being built and sold today are using servo motors and often, speed reducers, to allow the precise control of the machine in the video. Furthermore, that motor has a needle position control, which allows you to use your heel to stop with the needle down. This is a no-brainer with those electronic positioners. A needle and awls machine uses a constantly running motor that drives a belt that goes around a huge flywheel, which free-wheels on the back of the main shaft. When you turn on the motor, the flywheel spins, but does not engage the machine's mechanism. Only when you press down on the big drive pedal, does a lever push the flywheel into a circular clutch pad on the back to the main shaft of the machine. If you lightly engage (feather) the clutch, you can sew at very slow speeds. If you go all the way down you will sew at the maximum speed set by the ratio between the motor pulley and the flywheel diameter. On a Campbell machine the maximum stitching speed is usually set to about 300 per minute (5/second). This can be slowed down even more, with an optional, 2-speed - speed reducer assembly, to a bit over 2 stitches per second (125/minute), at full throttle. I have sewn on a Randall and found it very easy to "feather" the clutch, for sewing one stitch at a time, without giving up the higher top speed, which some speed reducers force on you. There is a learning curve and you will go through a lot of thread and leather, but in the end you will be able to sew anything that fits under the pressor foot, including briefcases and some luggage. You limit is on the right side of the needle, where the body begins about 10.5 inches from the needle and awl. Campbell Randall stitchers and use either bonded Nylon, bonded polyester, or left twist linen thread - run through Lax Wax in a wax pot (one on top; one for bobbins). The awls must be larger than the needle being used. A smaller number needle is for smaller gauge thread. A number 2 needle is equivalent to a #180 standard needle and is used with #277 bonded, or 5 cord linen thread. I use a number 2.5 awl with a #2 needle. If you search on YouTube, you will find videos posted by the Campbell-Bosworth Company, showing their standard (for 3/4 inch sewing) and high lift (1 1/8") machines in action. Most people do just fine with the standard lift machines.