Wizcrafts

The Consew CP206R should be able to sew up to 3/16" to 1/4" of soft leather, if equipped with a leather point needle that is just the right size for the thread. Don't waste time trying to get it to sew with anything heavier than #138 thread in a #22 LR needle. They use the standard industrial needle system used in full size walking foot machines (135x16 LR and 135x17 Round) The portable walking foot machines can be modified to sew thicker/denser material, driving up their cost, but they still have the same interior and often inferior moving parts and bearings. Sometimes they are damaged beyond repair if the box they are shipped in is dropped on the front or back end. Shafts jam and bend from the shock and plastic covers snap off. This happened to one I bought and I went through Hell trying to get a refund, after paying to ship it back. If you buy a portable w.f. machine, of any brand, make sure there is a full refund offered if it doesn't turn over smoothly and sew when you unpack it. If you do get one and it arrives in good working condition, search for threads on this forum where owners of them discussed how to modify them to do a bit more serious work. Bob Kovar, at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, sells portable walking foot machines and sets them up and repackages them to survive shipping. He is a member here. His number is 866-362-7397

Since you live in Canada, have you considered getting a Techsew? The company is located in Montreal, a division of Raphael Sewing. Ronnie, from Techsew, is one of our sponsors and has banner ads all over the LW forums. Their 180-2 series is similar to the other 16.5" cylinder arm 441 clone machines available here in the USA. You won't have to worry about Customs, since the machines are already inside Canada. They also do the servicing and have parts and accessories for their machines and many other brands. The phone number for Techsew is: 866-415-8223

If you really want to rebuild that machine, take it to Toledo, to Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, on Marine Drive. They do that kind of work and don't need microfilm to get one back together.

I should add that leather drive belts come in a variety of diameters, from 1/8" to 3/8" and can be cut to your required size (+ a couple of inches just in case). I use a 5/16" belt on my long arm Singer patcher. The bigger diameter gives better grip. But, home treadle pulleys may not accept that width of belt. You may be limited to 1/4" or less. If so, belt no-slip is imperative. All new leather sewing belts ship with a couple of C clips. You have to punch or drill small holes into the two ends, about 3/16" in and clamp them down with pliers.

Welcome to the Leatherworker.net Leather Sewing Machines Forum, Colin! The machine you bought is called a patcher and is primarily used to repair torn boots, shoes, replace zippers and to sew patches onto leather jackets and vests. It is not designed for any heavy use, despite its appearance. The bobbins are tiny and unless you restrict them to a maximum thread size of #69, they run out very quickly. You may be able to find a cast iron base for sale, but shipping could get very expensive. If you want to modify a standard treadle base, get one with the smallest possible drive wheel diameter. A patcher base comes with a dual size pulley: 9" and 12". Most home treadles only have a 12" wheel. This is too fast and lacks punching power on such a clunky machine. Anyway, if you find a treadle base with even a 10" pulley, hook it up to the larger of the two pulleys on the back of the machine. Get a good quality leather belt to drive it and spray on some sticky belt no-slip treatment. I sold a 29-4 patcher head to a local shoe repair shop and he put a home sewing machine motor and a belt on the back of it and uses it semi-motorized for small patching jobs. Parts are usually available from most industrial sewing machine dealers. At least one of this forum's member-dealers is Bob Kovar, of Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. He has patcher parts that would make your head spin. Call him at: 866-362-7397.

Oops! The Adler patcher for sale in Flint is a model 30-1, not a 30-7. I apologize for any confusion.

Catskin; ? There is an adjustable brake screw on the back of the servo motor (it may be inside the rear motor casing). It is secured by a lock nut and it is hard to turn, at first. I adjusted mine to give some foot movement before the motor engages. However, it does not give as much free movement as a clutch motor. Bob Kovar can assist you on the phone, or by email, with this adjustment.

Could be. This happened around 1987 or 88 and the machine is long gone. I never bought another Juki for myself after that, but I did arrange to buy them for other people and they seemed to work okay.

As a favor, I have posted the following machines for sale, in the Used Sewing Machines For Sale section of the forum, at: http://leatherworker...showtopic=28118 ... USM Puma Skiver, Rex 26-188 walking foot machine and Adler 30-7 long arm patcher These are not my machines, but belong to a local leather shop for whom I do part time work and contract sewing. Contact the owner (phone number is in the listing) if you are interested in any or all of these machines. They are all cash and carry, from Flint, Michigan.

A friend of mine, with a professional leather shop, has placed three of his production machines up for sale, on the Flint Michigan Craigslist. The ad was posted on December 6, 2010. They are as follows (use links to Craigslist to see photos): United Shoe Machinery Puma leather skiving machine, with an extra unused blade, a 1/2 HP, 120 volt motor and table. $500 or best offer Adler long arm patcher on a treadle base (black). Has several small bobbins and an extra bobbin case. $750 Rex walking foot machine - model 26-188. $500 o.b.o. All of these machines are sold as is, but in good working condition. This is a cash and carry sale. No shipping is provided. The buyer must remove the machines themselves. The machines are located in Flint, Michigan, at M&M Leather, 1276 Linden Road, Flint, Mi 48532. Phone Doug Monroe, at: 810-732-4907 for more information.

There is no Juki 565. I think your friend has a 562 or 563 model. The 562 has a standard industrial bobbin and the 563 uses a large, M style bobbin. Both are otherwise the same machine. The maximum thickness I was able to sew on a Juki 563 was under 3/8". The stitch length varied all over the place, because the reverse lever was part of a spring loaded balance system. When I sewed fast, the stitch length mechanism floated between forward and reverse! The stitches went from long to short until I slowed down. The machine was a real POS and not worth the gas money to take it to the dump.

What about a "pippin" punch? They cut a hole and slot, similar to a guitar strap hole and slot. You can make one like I did, by welding a 1/4" hole punch tube onto the end of a 3/4" steel chisel. The hole punch needs a piece sawed out so it can be attached and welded to one end of the chisel.

I have an idea! Take some scraps of the garment leather you will be using and go visit all of the sewing machine dealers within nominal driving distance. Include your nearest Joann Fabrics, as they have a Viking and Singer sewing machine department in every store. The ladies running that section know their machines as well as anybody does and may let you try several to see if any of them can sew a keyhole buttonhole in your leather. Or, they may tell you that it won't work, and/or might damage the machines. If you can go to an industrial sewing shop and look around you might find an old buttonholer that they will sell cheap, as a fixer-upper. I have gotten machines for almost nothing that were in poor visual condition and needed a few parts replaced. Sometimes, they will sell you two partially complete machines for the price of one, so you can use parts from one to complete the other. I got that kind of deal once on two post machines, which I turned into one perfectly working sewer. Finally, if you can still get a real industrial buttonholer machine, with motor and table, for under $1,000, grab it! But, try it first with leather. I apologize for the long sentences. That it my literary style (writer's license)

We have already discussed this matter and you were looking into industrial machines that are designed to sew button holes. What happened regarding those machines? You are not going to find a home sewing machine that can properly sew button holes into garment leather. It is too sticky and flexible. You need an machine that clamps the leather from the top and the bottom, then moves the clamped work in a button keyhole pattern. This calls for a specifically designed industrial, cam driven machine. Prepare to visit your bank manager for a mortgage on such a machine. $5,000 to $10,000 should get a decent model, marked down from $14,000+.

Without a picture of the stitching pattern, I am guessing that you have installed a leather point needle, with oval sides on a slight left to right angle. This needle causes the zig zag stitch pattern. You can escape from that by purchasing triangle or regular point needles. However, the regular point needles will hit much harder on thick or dense leather. The oval leather needles go in smoother.

Suem; I strongly advise you to take the machine head to a professional sewing machine mechanic. Without the proper tools and know how, you may damage the moving parts beyond repairability.

It is much safer to exchange email addresses and phone numbers via Personal Messages, on this and all other forums. PM's are not viewable by non-members. PMs are not usually stored in a spiderable folder. It is still better to use the phone and talk to each other.

You may not realize it yet, but you just left your email account on a publicly viewable and spiderable web page. Email harvester bots, sent by spammers, will come around soon and will add your email address to their active account spam lists. Never leave you email address on a web page in plain text or as a "mailto" link. Obfuscate your email address, at least by separating parts with spaces and by substituting @ with AT and .com with DOT COM, or DOT NET.

Bob Kovar may be able to get you a darning T-nut assembly. Send him an email, to: sewmun AT aol DOT com

The clutch on the motor is too far in. Back off the big screw on the front facing portion of the pulley side of the motor (front side of output shaft). It is secured by a large nut. Loosen the nut a bit, then back off the screw until you have the desired free movement, then tighten the nut again.

Contact me by PM and I will find a compatible foot for your machine, from one of my suppliers.

It depends on the type of feed system the machine uses. If it is only driven by the feed dogs, you'll need to change the pressor foot to either a roller or nylon foot.

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