Wizcrafts

Here is a description of what that Singer industrial sewing machine is designed to sew: "Suitable for stitching such products as blouses, shirts, men's, ladies and children's apparel, uniforms, overalls, lingerie, etc." It will handle thread up to #69 bonded nylon, which has an 11 pound breaking point. It is a tailors' machine, with a small pulley on the flywheel, enabling it to sew at very high speed. The springs that create top tension on the pressor foot and thread are set to garment material strength. You will have wasted you money if you buy this type of machine to sew leather. It simply will not sew 3/8" of veg-tan, especially hardened leather. What you need to sew armor is at a minimum a heavy duty leather stitcher designed from the ground up for slow speed, big needle, large thread size stitching up to 7/16". The Cowboy 2500 is such a machine and is available at a very reasonable price from Bob Kovar, at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. His phone number is 866-362-7397. Call him and see what kind of deal he can offer you, or what alternate machines he has in stock, new or used, that will sew 3/8" hard leather, with #277 nylon thread and a #200/25 needle. Be prepared to spend around a thousand dollars for a CB 2500, or similar machine, based on the old Singer 45 class machines. Here is a scan of the product sheet he sent to me for the CB 2500.

I always wanted a Randall stitcher, but had to settle for a Union Lockstitch Machine. It was neat seeing the photo of the old Cyclone Machine. I wonder how many spi it can handle?

BVM; There are special cording/welting feet available for just about every type of sewing machine. They come in various sizes, to place the stitch right next to the right edge of a covered cord. Just figure out which diameter you need for a cord covered with the leather your want to use and order it online. Bob Kovar stocks a good selection of welting feet, at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. I have welting/cording feet for my household and walking foot machines. The walking foot and straight stitch industrial machines have a wide range of sizes available, from 1/8" to over 1/2" diameter covered cords.

Good point! There are indeed American made leather sewing machines, still in production, or available as rebuilds. Actually, these should be referred to as "leather stitchers" not sewing machines. They are specially designed to stitch together very thick leather, with very heavy thread. These American made stitchers include: Luberto Classic (similar to the old Number 9) Luberto Cub Tippmann Boss Union Lockstitch Campbell-Randall Pilgrim Landis Ferdinand Bull, et al (I don't know if they are built in the USA) This is not all of them, as you can still get rebuilt Champion, Tippmann Aerostitch and American Straight Needle machines from various rebuilders.

That machine looks like it will handle the materials you intend to sew. You should test the machine first and see if you are able to control it at slow speeds for sewing belt leather. You can also contact Techsew (Raphael Sewing) in Montreal and see what they have to offer. They have several types of leather and upholstery sewing machines, including some super heavy duty machines. The company advertises here and has a good reputation. You won't have to worry about Customs. Their toll free phone number, in Canada, is: 866-415-8223

I'm glad you are open to our opinions, which are very strong on this forum. Most of the pros here have worked their way up through many sewing machines to get to where we are today. While we cannot decide what you should do with your own money we can offer learned advice. My advice is to go with a Cobra, Cowboy, or Artisan long arm 441 clone. I personally think that the best choice would be between the first two, as I know the dealers personally and have spoken to both about their machines. You will definitely get more than your money's worth from our member dealers. They are available personally to answer any questions you have and to fix any mechanical problems that may arise. The Cobra and Cowboy line of machines are custom built to leather-sewing specifications for the US dealers who promote them. Additions are made when they are unpacked, then they are adjusted, mated to a motor/table and sewn off. There is a big difference between a stock 441 type machine and a specially setup leather stitcher. Our dealers install special leather and harness stitching pressor feet, guides and throat plates, plus they make proper adjustments to the clearances inside the machine. A leather sewing machine has to endure a tremendous amount of pounding, as huge needles and thread penetrate 3/4" of often hard leather. I hope this helps.

Off Topic Security Warning! I noticed that several of our members have posted their email addresses in replies on this topic and others. You good folks need to know that spammers send out robot programs whose sole purpose is to scour web pages for email addresses. Every email address that is recognized by these bots is harvested and sent home to a spam database. Your freely posted email accounts will then be spammed. Your harvested email addresses will not just be used to send you spam, but will also be forged in the "From" and "Reply to" fields of spam sent to others. This means you will get bounces or be accused of spamming by recipients unfamiliar with how spammers conduct their campaigns. How to avoid having email addresses harvested You can prevent most email harvester bots from acquiring your posted email addresses by obfuscating them. This means that you need to use spaces, extra words to be removed, substitute the word AT for the @ symbol and use the word DOT instead of a period in your address. The more obfuscated the address is the less likely it is to get harvested. Example: yourname at yourISP dot com (Remove the spaces and convert the AT and DOT) This does make a little more work for people who want to email something legitimate to you, but it may keep a previously un-spammed account from getting into a spam database through a forum posting. For better security you should only list your email account in your profile and tell other members to use the link in the forum posts or your profile to send you email or private messages. Only members have access to this feature. This adds to the work that a spammer must do to reach you and most don't have the time to do so, or even read English as their native language. Another mistake that can cause your email address and those of your friends to be harvested is to send a group mailing using the C.C. field for the recipients. If just one recipient has a malware infection that includes an email harvester, every name in the CC list will be harvested. Instead of CC, use the BCC field. The recipients will only see their own name and the words Unspecified Recipients in the TO field. This is much safer than exposing your entire group of friends to spambots. I have been involved in the anti-spam community for a decade and I see these mistakes frequently. The results are always the same.

You're welcome Hipshot! Let us know what you find after you disassemble the head and pressor foot drive assembly. Once you build up all clearances to factory specs the machine will do a fine job on most projects under 1/4" thick. Just remember, the machine was made to sew boots, not belts.

Todd; The feed dog is mounted on a plate with two screws. You can loosen those screws and reposition the feed dog slightly, hopefully until the needle is in the dead center on the downstroke. If the feed dog plate cannot be moved to place the needle in the center (f.b,l,r), try loosening the screws on the fork mounted to the rear axle, that moves the feed dog forward and backward. Reposition it accordingly (f,b,l,r) and lock it down. The height of the feed dog is controlled by a separate fork on the front axle. By moving it up or down you will raise or lower the maximum protrusion. If the rear fork cannot adjust the feed dog to center it, the gears driving the rear axle might be misaligned, toward the bottom rear of the machine.

The brass shims are a temporary fix for a worn out drive puck. It is best to have a welder braze some bronze welding rod onto the puck, then reshape and polish it for the best fit at all normal angles of deflection, as the drive assembly moves up and down. This will add years of regular service to the machine, well beyond the life of a brass shim (brass is a soft metal). I did the task myself with a propane torch, fitted with a "hot" pinpoint nozzle, not the spreader nozzle. Clamp the part in a big vise, apply the flame directly to the worn puck until it turns red, then touch the end of a bronze welding rod to it. Do this to apply an even layer to the puck. Let it cool, then try it for fit. If it is too large begin filing away weld until you get a good, but tight fit. Buff the puck to a high polish with a buffing wheel and compound, until it fits into the ring without slop or binding. Slightly round the side edges to allow it to rotate inside the ring, 360 degrees. This will yield the maximum possible stitch length, for many years, before the bronze wears down. Steel weld would be even better, but is a little trickier to shape and polish.

Carol in Caro; I use a #18 or #19 needle with #69 thread; #20 or 21 with #92 thread and a #22 or #23 needle with #138 thread. I recommend Schmetz leather point needles. Use the smallest size that does the job and places the knots well into the leather. Read the sizing trick article in this forum's sticky topics to choose the best needle for a given size of thread. You should ask Bob Kovar, in Toledo (866-362-7397), about needles for your Adler. Some of them are setup with shims inside the shuttle case, limiting the minimum and maximum needle sizes. He has shims in various sizes if you need to change over. You will want diamond or oval point leather sewing needles.

You're most welcome! Once you have cleaned and oiled the Singer, you should replace the old clutch motor with a new DC gear reduction servo motor with a 2" pulley. Get a V belt in the length that allows the motor to be in the middle of the adjuster screw range, with normal tightness (1/2" deflection in the middle). Bob Kovar of Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines sells these motors. I have one and like it just fine. It has plenty of startup torque and can be controlled from a few rpm to 1500 rpm. It is a bolt on replacement for a standard clutch motor with a three point mounting bracket. If your motor is mounted differently you will need to drill 3 new bolt holes through the table.

I corrected your spelling in the quote. You must have been tired when you typed it. That happens to me too. I have owned several 29-4 Singer Patchers and I can tell you that if moving the regulator down doesn't increase the stitch length, on material less than 1/8" thick, the puck inside the rotating feed driver is probably shot. It could also be due to the pressor foot teeth being filed or ground down, or too much top or bottom thread tension. One of the machines I bought had a worn out driver puck and I had to braze bronze onto it and reshape it to restore the normal range of stitch adjustment. The puck is inside the bottom rotating ring, on the round head of the machine. The butterfly knobs are on that ring. The puck moves inside a channel in the ring, as it goes up and down. A pivot point inside the ring assembly allows the pressor foot to go forward and backward, with the up/down motion. As the little round shaped puck wears out, the stitch length becomes shorter and shorter.

Carol; I recommend that you keep the 44-whatever machine, with the roller foot. It is designed to sew leather. The 96K40 is a tailors' machine, meant to sew gabardine, cotton and polyester garments. All of the tension components are probably thinner on the 96K than on the 44. To effectively sew soft leather you must have either a walking foot or a roller foot. Otherwise the leather will drag on the pressor foot. You will want to keep the machine that has the strongest parts and gives more pressure to the roller and the top thread. FWIIW: I had a 96K40 that was converted into a roller foot machine. It was great for making leather vests and pants, using a #18 Schmetz leather point needle, with #69 bonded nylon thread. It was of no further use on any other leather projects, especially belts. It couldn't lit high enough to sew on or over the thick seams of jeans.

A Singer 111 is a whole nuther story. I couldn't see the pressor foot in your photo, so I went by the model number you gave us. That is one of their first walking foot machines. It can sew a solid 1/4" of belt leather, and maybe a little more. It can handle #138 thread, top and bottom and takes the common 135x16/17 industrial needle system, which tops out with a #25 needle. Parts and accessories are readily available for all of the 111 series machines.

Not a chance in Hades. Been there, failed to do that! You should redirect your search for a true leather stitcher, such as those sold by several dealers who are members of this forum. Figure out the maximum thickness you expect to sew, then contact each one for advice and prices. Expect to pay over $1200 for an entry level holster machine, set-up and capable of sewing almost 1/2", to around $2500 or more for a much better quality machine capable of sewing 3/4 inch. These machines can all use #346 bonded nylon or polyester thread and number 26 or 27 needles. Big machines do big work!

Not really, unless you change the Singer's pressor foot into a roller foot assembly. You will be limited to #69 bonded nylon thread and will probably have to ensure that no folded seams exceed 1/4". Since you already have the machine there is nothing to lose in experimenting with different pressor feet and feed dogs.

BTW: The pressor foot on the machine in the photos is a left toe zipper foot. It is specifically made to sew close to the teeth of zippers.

Are you looking for a tailoring machine, or a leather sewing machine? The 96K40 is a tailoring machine. You can buy the roller foot conversion package from Atlas Levy, on eBay. It comprises of three parts and a screw. There is a video down the page showing you how to change the three items to convert a straight stitch machine into a roller foot machine. The video shows the foot in action, sewing up to 4 layers of garment leather, which is the limit it can handle. If you are wanting to sew harder or thicker leather, this is not the machine for you. Also, the 96K40 is manually oiled. Find all of the oil holes and keep the machine oiled frequently. Use sewing machine oil, not 3 in 1 oil! Wipe the dripping oil from the oil pan occasionally, to prevent it from overflowing onto your legs.

The Singer is made to topstitch parts on shirts and underwear, while the Pfaff chainstitch machine is designed to sew the inside seams on shirts and underwear.

That looks like a 96K40 tailors' machine. I had one from 1986 until 2005. It is useful for sewing leather vests after you replace the pressor foot, throat plate and feed dog with a roller foot conversion. It uses system 1728? needles, available up to size 21 and is able to sew with up to #92 thread. The pressor foot lift determines the sewing capacity, which is usually 1/4". You might be able to trick up the foot a tad more, to allow you to sew 5/16", but that is pushing the machine beyond its design limits. Do not consider the 96K to be a leather sewing machine, just because somebody has sewn leather on one. This was actually my first industrial machine purchase. After going through a half dozen other machines and several thousand wasted dollars, I finally bought a true heavy duty compound feed walking foot machine, then a Union Lockstitch machine and have never looked back since. Point of interest: My Father was a Tailor and had a 96K40 in his shop. I learned to sew on it. He used it to hem pants, coats and other garments, for customers needing alterations.