Wizcrafts

This makes two members in one week who mistakenly bought Pfaff 335 style binding machines thinking they were standard cylinder arm machines. I would advise you to post pictures and ask before buying a similar machine if you are looking at buying a used cylinder arm machine off some local ad, or auction site. If you see one advertised by a dealer, ask questions first. Binder machines are specifically built and equipped to sew edge binding onto material, like seat covers and sports gear and bags. They are not equipped to do "normal" sewing without changing out or adding some often times expensive parts. Off-brand machines may be even harder to change over if standard parts don't fit.

Yep, get a 2:1 or 3:1 speed reducer.

Are you sure its the hook that moved and not the needle bar? SOP is when the needle has risen 3/32 inch the hook should intersect it about 1/16 inch above the eye. If the impact that broke the needle also push the bar up, you can never get it in time until you lower the needle bar to where it belongs.

That Taurus looks like a clone of a Pfaff 335 binder machine. But, the drop down edge guide suggests that is is used for normal stitching too. To do this requires a needle plate over the feed dog. You would be wise to go and test the machine to see if it properly feeds the leather or other material you want to sew. It should get at least 5 stitches per inch, or longer, into 1/8 inch of thickness. Other than that, it looks to be in great condition and has a digital servo motor. Unfortunately, the pictures don't have a closeup of the feed area from slightly above to see if there is a needle plate over the feed dog.

All I have found out about the differences is that the light/medium duty hook takes M style bobbins, which holds approximately 1.58x more thread than the G style bobbins that are used in the Singer 111 walking foot machines upon which the Juki LU-562 and 563 were cloned. In contrast, the heavy duty 563 hook takes U style, double capacity (2x) bobbins. This difference in capacity is based upon the standard G size bobbin which is regarded as 1x capacity in a Singer 111 walking foot machine.

I received my package from Australia last week. It left AUS on a Tuesday (in US Eastern time) and arrived in the US the next day (there is 14 hours difference in time zones) and was delivered to me two days later. There was a long delay getting it out of the country though, at the post office. They are short staffed in AUS too.

That foot with the flag toe is called a paddle foot in the USA. For those who don't already know this, the paddle foot comes in right and left toe versions that are sold as accessories for the big Cowboy 441 clones.

I wanted to report that I used my narrow Aussie throat plate and feed dog to sew a holster with #277 thread and a #25 needle on my Cowboy CB4500. Previously, I used them to sew a zipper into a cloth coat using #92 thread and a #19 needle. I had to increase the top tension which I had backed off to balance the knots with the lighter thread. I will probably leave this set in place going forward unless I need to use my holster or stirrup plate. My next narrow set test will be with the inline feet I got from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. Previously, I used them with the slotted throat plate sans the feed dog. FYI: sewing leather on a Juki 441, or a clone, without any feed dog changes the forward stitch length and throws the reverse stitches out of sync (vs using a feed dog). This is because of the leather's drag on the throat plate under the usually high pressure of the inside foot. Without a bottom feeder you only have dual feed. With the dog you have a more predictable triple feed.

You need to add the model number, and if possible, a photo of your machine. Ferdinand made several types of leather sewing machines. Each was different. That company has been out of business for years. Their remaining parts were sold to various sewing machine dealers, at least one of which is now out of business. Ferdinand sewing machines have been discussed in this forum for many years. They were all customized versions of other available heavy stitchers that Ferdinand modified with custom made parts. Some folks have identified the original machines they were built upon. Some of those machines have online manuals that were available at the time that information was posted on the forum. Here is the google search results for Ferdinand sewing machines discussed on Leatherworker.net.

I just ordered three packs of 794 needles from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines (866-362-7397). Bob Kovar stocks them and system 7x3 in most or all sizes and point shapes. The leather points I get are either S (inline) or D (tri-point). Type 7x3 are round points for cloth, webbing, vinyls, plastics or smaller sizes that don't have a leather point available any more. S points sort of submerge the ends due to the slicing shape, giving the impression that the stitches are shorter. D points keep the ends on the top so it looks like you have longer stitches. I sometimes use the D points when I want the top thread to stand out more than with the S points.

I think that when Juki designed the TSC-441 they marketed it for companies that sewed buffing wheels, car wash cloths and other thick items that would need very thick thread. The hole in the so-called blanket feed dog, part of the blanket foot set, allows for up to a number 27 needle (for #415 bonded or 6 cord linen thread). When the Chinese cloned the Japanese 441, they copied the feed dog hole in the blanket set, but elongated it into an oval slot in the smooth top leather feed dog. Most people buying a new Cowboy, Cobra, or Techsew 441 clone will receive the blanket set with their machine. I got it with my Cowboy CB4500 and one of my best friends got it with his Cobra Class 4.

Check your motor to see if it accidentally got set to rotate the wrong way. This recently happened to another member.

I used mine today to sew in a zipper in a gaberdine jacket, using #92 thread and a #19 needle. Earlier, I sewed a quarter inch of veg-tan test strip with #277 thread and a #25 needle. I will be starting a new topic about this feed dog and throat plate when I have time to shoot a video. I think that this topic, originally about light duty cylinder arm sewing machine recommendations, has lost its true north. I think we should refocus on helping the OP find his best machine for his type of work.

When you click to reply, look at the bottom of the reply frame. There is a paperclip icon next to the words: "Drag files here to attach, or *choose flies*" Note, you may have to take the picture at the smallest resolution to keep within our file size limit. There is a post about posting and reducing the file size of images in our Computer Help section.

This changes to equation. There are different machines that are best suited to these jobs. One is the shoe and boot patcher and the other is a post bed machine. A patcher is a Singer 29 or Adler 30 style machine that has a long tapered arm that resolves down to either 1 inch or 1.25 inches wide at the needle end. The material is pulled by the foot which you can rotate in 360 degrees. If you can fit the work over the arm you can sew round and oval patches, or any shape patch. The foot is controlled by butterfly tabs sticking out the underside of the head. The bobbins in the narrow version are extremely tiny and limited in capacity, while those in the wider nose are simply small in capacity. They are referred to as small or big bobbin patchers. A post machine has a vertical arm that stands between 6 and 7 inches above the bed. Some have a roller foot, some a flat foot and others have walking feet. Some take a G bobbin, others an M bobbin. Pfaffs take a Pfaff bobbin. I prefer to use a post machine when sewing hats. They do ell on bags too. If you can fold the material out of the way you can sew a patch onto pants knees.

The item that he refers to as a game changer is a narrow throat plate and feed dog. Using these will make a 441 or clone more friendly towards thin work. Currently, the best way to sew soft or thin material on a cb4500 (etc) machine is to dumb down the machine. Sometimes that includes changing to the slotted throat plate and removing the feed dog. I have done this many times and it takes about 20 minutes altogether. With the newly developed narrow feed set you can sew both thick and thin materials on the one machine. I have a narrow plate and feed dog set in transit and will report on my findings after putting them through the paces.

I found some on Ebay, in series 16x257LR. You select the size from a drop down menu. You can consult this thread and needle chart to find the best combinations.

The only part I will address is that you have bought what appears to be a dedicated edge binder machine. This is a special setup that has a moving plate on top of the arm to which a material folder/binder should be attached, but isn't. The visible presser foot is single left toe to allow the binder attachment to get really close to it. This is to make the edge binding flow more evenly over the edge of the material. The required inside foot is missing! The feed dog is made to work with the binder and only moves forward and backward without dropping and raising like a normal feed dog. This means the feed dog will fight against feeding material without a binder. There is no standard needle plate. Unless those parts are included in a parts drawer or box, in order to use this for standard sewing you will need to buy the missing parts and disable or remove the synchronized moving plate. This may cost you some serious money. OTOH, if you wanted a binder machine, this one is perfect. If the binder is missing you can buy one that screws onto the moving plate. Here are some previous discussions about synchronized binder machines: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/82285-walking-foot-with-synchronized-binder/ https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/45986-pfaff-335-binder/ https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/70162-pfaff-335-binder-attachments/ https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/88856-is-this-a-synchronized-binding-machine/ https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/66497-adler-69-pfaff-335-binder-options/ http://leiflabs.blogspot.com/2011/08/pfaff-335.html

You could drill a hole in it and a hole in the table directly under that hole, then connect it to a floor mounted foot pedal with a chain. Or, you could fashion a tapered latch that sits on the table out of the way until you lower the reverse lever and rotate the latch to hold the lever down. You could probably print out such a thing on a 3D printer.

The outside foot connects to the "presser bar," which is connected to the lifting mechanism by one or two screws Loosen those screws and the bar can be rotated. It is also possible that there will be an alignment tab at the upper end of the bar that rides inside a split shaft. That tab has a set screw too that can be loosed to rotate the bar.

My Father owned a tailor shop from the time I was born until long after I left home. I learned to sew and adjust an industrial sewing machine by the age of 12.

The Singer (and Adler and Claes) patchers are all lockstitch machines with bobbins. The bottom thread is feeding the bobbin winder, which winds fresh bobbin loads, not the bobbin in use. That bobbin lives in the left end of the cylinder arm, just to the right of the needle and is inside an oscillating shuttle that picks off the top thread loop formed by the needle making a down>up>down jog. The bobbins are extremely tiny and aren't normally threaded with anything larger than #92 bonded thread. That isn't to say one couldn't wind a bobbin with #138, or #207 thread, but there wouldn't be very much of it on that bobbin. During the Ice Age of sewing machines, when Singer came out with the Universal Feed mechanism (UFA, 29-2, 29-4), meant for shoe cobblers, there was no bonded nylon thread. They used cotton or linen thread. Some of that thread could have been up to 3 or 4 cords. The reason those machines could actually sew with heavy thread back then was because linen thread is soft and very flexible. If wound tightly, you can get a lot more linen thread in a small bobbin than modern bonded nylon. Also, linen thread didn't require as much tension to pull up the knots, thus was not as tough on the take-up mechanism. I still have a spool of 3 cord thread I occasionally use in my patchers for special jobs.

If the machine uses System 7x3, 7x4 and 794 needles, the smallest I've found is #18 in 7x3 round point. That size is used with #69 thread, top and bottom. Those needles are very long and thin. They bend easily if the thread is too tight. They are also easily deflected by irregularities in the layers. If I was sewing with #138 on top and #92 in the bobbin I'd use a #22 needle, not a #23. The "knots" will be loose in the holes poked with a #23 needle. A #22 will grab the locked stitches (knots) tighter. There are people who believe in running smaller thread in the bobbin to make it easier to pull up the knots in leather. That is their preference. Other needle trades use a thick top thread for appearance only. They back off the top tension so that a thinner, less expensive thread can be used in the bobbin, which is usually prewound. This practice is popular in car seat upholstery where they use a thicker top and thinner bobbin thread for a bold top appearance. These scenarios favor looks and ease of sewing over strength. Every stitch in a mismatched combination is only as strong as the smaller thread. This may not matter much on a seat cover but is could be the difference between life and death if a handgun holster lets go because of the stress of drawing and holstering when one thread is under-rated for the shear load. If you want to use a larger top thread, make sure the bobbin thread is strong enough to hold things together under stress. When I sew holsters and double leather belts I use the same size thread on top and in the bobbin. You can find the breaking (shear) strength of various sizes of thread on this page. It also shows the range of needles that are commonly used with each size of thread. When two needle sizes are listed, use the larger needle when the same size thread is used on the top and bottom, or when the material is very tough or dense.

Be that as it may, the OP asked about sewing machines for leather and this sub-forum is about leather sewing machines.

The thread size determines the best needle size, not vice versa. The rule of thumb is that for every thread size there will be a basic minimum thickness that can reliably hide the lockstitch knots. For 6 ounces that might only be #92 thread.The best needle for that thread is a #19 (metric 120). A #20 (125) can also be used to poke a slightly bigger hole. The needles you listed, 160 (23), 180 (24) and 200 (25) are for use with thread sizes 138, 207 and 277, top and bottom. To bury the knots with #138 thread you would need about 7 to 8 ounces thickness. I'm not saying you can hide them in 6 ounces, but it will take a lot of dialing in the top and bottom tensions. #207 thread is 50% bigger than #138 and takes a #24 needle. I recommend using that size when sewing about 10 to 12 ounces. #277 forms fairly large knots and is best used when sewing 1/4 inch up to about 1/2 inch. For holsters exceeding 1/2 inch you should use #346 thread with a #26 needle, or 415 thread with a #27 needle.