Wizcrafts

I didn't know you were into milling or I would have suggested filling in the teeth with steel, or bronze rod, or maybe cutting one out of stainless stock. A decent mill should be able to turn out a smooth-top feed dog and bore the center hole/slot in under an hour. Just use the original dog as a milling pattern.

Actually, the inside pressor foot moves up/down/fwd/bkwd with the needle. The outer foot can be left or right or double toe. It's only job is to secure the material between stitches, while the inside foot and needle are up. Yes, the deed dogs move the material from the bottom, in concert with the needle and inside pressor foot. The outer pressor foot comes in a variety of styles, each designed for a different use. There are narrow outer feet, standard and extra wide feet. Inside feet are also available in several widths and lengths. I have a a set of left toe zipper feet that only occupy 1/4" width. I have sanded and buffed some pressor feet to make the slightest impression possible. That, and backing off the main pressor foot spring, while increasing the pressure on the inside foot can give a nice result. That is why this forum exists. There are no dumb questions. Now, I feel it is necessary to impart some advanced technological information to you, regarding the function of the feed dog. It is true that the feed dog is partially responsible for moving the work the set stitch length. This is the basis of most bottom feeders. However, the feed dog on a walking foot machine has a second function; one that is critical to the operation of the machine. Read on... When you get your new Consew 206RB set-up, rotate the hand wheel towards you (CCW direction) from the top and watch the action of the pressor feet very closely. If the machine has been properly adjusted by the shipper or seller, you will notice that as the inside foot and needle come down, just as the needle reaches the plane of the feed dog, the inside foot makes intimate contact with the top center of the feeder. As you continue to rotate the wheel (slowly), the feeder will move backwards, as will the inside foot and needle. When the feeder reaches the end of its travel, as determined by the stitch length setting, the needle and inside foot will begin to lift up. At this moment, the feed dog moves under the throat plate surface and is brought forward, to begin the next cycle. If the feed dog is lowered to avoid marking the bottom of the leather, the inside foot will push the leather down into the now basically evacuated, rectangular slot in the throat plate. The leather will tend to stick down into this gap and will fight the action of the needle and inside foot. This will either result in broken needles, or stitches that vary in length. You will immediately lose a good portion of the preset stitch length, due to drag. Further, since the leather will give at the bottom, when the inside foot comes down under pressure, the timing of the lifting will be thrown off. The inside foot may not lift when it reaches the back of the preset stitch length; it may in fact lift late, and less than normal. You see, the inside foot depends on the solid bottom provided by the steel feed dog to perform its lift and move action. If the inside foot stays on the material too long, the outside foot will also stay down too long. This will further reduce your available stitch length, due to pronounced drag of the double sprung pressor feet. Lastly, you will lose any semblance of an equal reverse stitching action, as the timing of the lifting and lowering of the alternating pressor feet are tied to the feed dog being at the correct height, at the necessary time in the cycle. If the teeth on the feed dog present a problem for critical jobs, I would recommend purchasing another dog and have the top milled or ground flat, then polished. Then, raise the height of the feeder to match the original setting above the throat plate. This will give you the bottom feed and support needed to both move the material and actuate the alternating pressor feet. This assumes that there is enough material inside the feed dog to grind off the teeth and not cut through to the underside of the oblong hole, enlarging it to a ludicrous size. Or, one could just have the teeth ground or filed down, leaving the smooth center bar and hole intact. This may disturb the timing, but not to the degree that lowering the feed dog all the way will do. All of this work can be avoided by purchasing a harness stitcher with a flat topped, smooth feed dog (with a 1/8"+ hole). The Adler 205-374 is such a machine. Its smooth feed dog can probably be used on 441 clones, like the Cobra, or modified for use on them. I don't know of any such feeder that is on the market for walking foot machines like the Consew 206RB, but I could be wrong.

There is only one throat cover (you called it a needle plate) for your machine and you have it. You can find left and right toe pressor feet on eBay, but most have teeth on the bottom. You will really have to search through the listings to find a smooth set. I resorted to buying extra standard double toe pressor feet and grinding off the left or right toe. There are no harness feet for a Consew 206RB. You will have to make your own narrow double toe set, by grinding off material from both outside surfaces of a standard outer foot. If you thought that a Consew 206RB is a harness stitcher, you were mistaken. It is an upholstery machine that is very capable of sewing leather. The feet you described are often included with Cobra and Cowboy stitchers. Those machines are twice as big and expensive as your Consew 206. They are specifically built to sew harnesses, bridles, collars, reins, etc. They are the machines that have alternate throat plates and harness foot sets.

I would use pigskin if I was building that wallet for myself, because it breathes and stretches as you load cards into and under the slots. I have a black pigskin wallet I made in the late 1980's and it is still in my pocket every day and full of cards and ID. I have fresh black pigskin on hand and can make a wallet to your specs. I don't lace my wallets; I machine sew them. Lace dries up and breaks. Nylon thread lasts for decades. My pigskin wallet is over 20 years old and it keeps on going, and going ... You can contact me through the Forum's PM.

That is a bartacker. It's only job in life is to apply a tight zigzag pattern across about 5/8". It is commonly used to secure velcro to vinyl items, shoes, or clothing. The machine is automated to sew this one pattern which is designed into it. You cannot use this type of machine for anything else.

I hope you ordered the small pulley from SewPro, or an authorized dealer. That motor has a smaller diameter shaft than clutch motors and big servo motors.

Ferg asked what's the smallest size thread and needle that can be used in a Consew 206RB. It is capable of sewing with common size 50 polycore thread, if you reduce the tensions to the lightest setting on the bobbin and top thread springs. There is also #46 bonded nylon available that can go through the machine. I would use a #80 needle with those thread sizes. Walking foot machines are tough on light weight thread and tend to break them often. The tension springs and thread path are designed to manage heavier thread. The wide outside foot allows soft material to pucker as the inner foot lifts with the needle. This is because the outside feet usually have a 1/4" gap between them; clearance for the inside foot to move with the needle. Most light weight upholstery and leather vests are sewn with #69 bonded nylon thread, with a #110 needle. Heavier projects, like chaps, wallets, purses and lined dress belts are sewn with #138 (T135) bonded nylon, using a #22 needle. If you decide to try to sew with #207 bonded thread, you'll need to have some #23 or #24 leather point needles on hand. #23 is ok if you use #138 in the bobbin. Otherwise, use a larger needle to make a bigger hole for 4 strands of very thick thread (2 up, knot in middle, 2 down).

My SewPro 500GR servo motor, purchased from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, came equipped with a 50 mm, a.k.a. 2" pulley. What size is on yours? Where did you buy it? You can reduce the pot setting on the back of the motor for slower top speed. Just stay above 50% and you'll be fine.

Mike; Who are you replying to? Is this in the wrong topic?

I was tired when I posted that info last night and forgot to include phone numbers. Cowboy brand stitchers: Bob Kovar, Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines: 866-362-7397 Cobra brand stitchers: Steve Tayrien: 866-962-9880 I apologize for any inconvenience.

A number 23 is all the needle you will ever need for #138 thread. A #22 will probably do as good a job, depending on what tension adjustments are doable. See if you can loop the top thread around one more hole in a guide post, along the thread path. Make sure the thread is pulled all the way into the top tension disks. There is are usually two, but sometimes one screw in the bobbin tension springs. If two, one mounts the spring while the other adjusts the tension. The mounting screw would be at the end, away from the thread path. The tension spring would be half way towards the thread output hole (there is an angled slot, sometimes with a hole at the end). Remove the bobbin covers and look for these springs. They should face you, in both bobbin cases. They will be covering the slots where the bobbin thread is drawn up. There may even be a channel in the body to allow a thin jeweler's screwdriver to line up with the adjustment screw head.

The needle is too small to draw the knot well up into the leather. The tensioners should be tightened on top, or loosened on the bobbin, or both, to sink the knot into the bottom layer. Do you have a #22 or #23 leather point needle? Either will be an improvement when you sew with #138 bonded thread. However, the motor power required to penetrate the leather increases as the needle and thread sizes increase. Do you have enough horsepower and gearing to punch a #23 needle through all those layers? That 24-3 is linen or cotton thread and is a lot more flexible than bonded nylon. I suspect that the tensioners are not equipped with extra heavy springs needed to pull up bonded nylon thread. Try loosening the bobbin spring to the bare minimum. It's not a leather sewing machine. It's a garment machine that has been drafted into sewing leather.

That machine is made to sew pants, shirts, underwear and corsets. It is absolutely not a leather sewing machine. You will need a #22 needle to sew with #138 bonded nylon thread. You might not be able to get such a large size needle for that garment production machine. Or, maybe you will find an equivalent needle somewhere.

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.