Wizcrafts

Are you referring to an "American Straight Needle" shoe sewing machine?

Slant-O-Matics, like your 401 aren't meant to penetrate leather. The angle of the needle causes it to deflect off the strong top grain of anything other than soft chrome tanned leather. The needle could splinter into dozens of pieces when it deflects. Before I ever had an industrial sewing machine I tried a Slant-O-Matic at a Tandy Leather shop (private sale). I made a leather vest from a Tandy pattern pack and wanted a machine to sew it together along the various seams. I brought in some pieces of the leather they had sold me a month earlier and put a couple pieces together and tried sewing them on a slant needle. The needle deflected and broke into dozens of tiny pieces, some of which hit me. Never again! The needle must hit the leather dead on inline. It takes a lot of torque to penetrate real leather, especially hard stuff. You aren't going to get this power in a domestic sewing machine unless it is only a few ounces of combined seams that are soft to medium temper.

If the photo is showing the bottom thread, either the bobbin tension is almost locked totally tight or the top thread has lifted up out of the business end of the top tension disks and has little or no tension at all, or the tension spring is backed off too far, or the disk opener is prematurely pushing or holding the disks open.

I have a TS 2700 that I bought used from another member of this forum. It is a good medium duty walking foot machine. The table is U shaped. I use a short stool to operate it. The maximum thread is #138, but I don't need to use it in this machine. It does fine with #46, 69 and 92 bonded nylon thread. One thing I changed was the motor. I don't know what motor is standard now, but this machine had a brushless push button controlled servo that started spinning with a jerk at about 200 rpm. I bought a Family Sew FS-550s and a speed reducer and that problem is history.

The 441 machines aren't that complicated to understand. There are certain places that need adjusting for the best results. The operator and engineers manuals have a lot of details to help you set them up. Juki made the original TSC-441 in the 1980s and still makes it. 441 reverse-forward balance.pdf 441-timing-templates.pdf Juki 441 Engineers Manual.pdf Juki 441 parts List.pdf

Apparently. the (new) dealer failed to fully adjust and setup the machine. It takes time to develop a checklist of things that need to be tweaked and adjusted. I would mention it in a followup message to the seller. Adjusting the internal lift parts requires removal of the faceplate. There are two large screws holding it onto the head.The full lift is a little over one inch. The pressure spring makes it harder to lift that high when it's in, so remove it while you fine tune the lifter components. When you replace the spring you need to recheck for binding on the wheel inside the head that pushes against an adjustable steel guide block. That block can be moved at both ends to get the smoothest action up and down. I tweaked my machine via those lifter parts. When you are done adjusting the lift, oil all the tiny oil holes on the moving parts. Replace the faceplate, making sure you place the tension release lever slot over the stud that drives it on the rear lift lever. After a few times this will become old hat. Those internal parts need oiled every so often.

What Glenn said, with #69 or #92 bonded thread. It is a patcher for shoe and boot uppers, as well as for repairing purses, skates and sewing patches over pockets on vests. Every leather shop that does business with the public should have one. Once you get the machine and learn to operate the treadle, you'll be surprised at how fast it can sew. The big flywheel has two sizes of pulley. The smaller pulley gives more punching power while the larger one gives more speed. Keep the leather belt tight enough to not slip and you won't need a motor. Adding a motor to a cast iron patcher base is a big deal. It would be simpler to mount the head on an industrial sewing machine table that only has a belt slot cut out and a motor underneath.

Maybe the bearings are bad, or dry on the reducer. Or, perhaps the belts were too tight.

Since you're in Missouri, have you considered Springfield Leather? They sell industrial leather sewing machines from Cobra and Highlead. I see they have a Cobra model 26 cylinder arm machine listed on the machinery pages. It is a medium duty walking foot machine that comes standard on a pedestal table on a square column with a foot lifter pedal on the right side of the speed pedal. The pedestal height can be lowered for use when seated (requiring readjusting the motor linkage and foot lifter chain).

When I first saw that plate I thought it is a bobbin cover plate for a cylinder arm machine like a Consew 227 or Singer 153. I have a Techsew 2700 that uses long, narrow cover plates over the bobbin and shuttle. The slot could be for a sliding edge guide.

You can back off the foot pressure by turning the wide thumb nut on the top left rear of the revolving head housing. You can see the coil spring inside a channel on the rear of the head.

One of the more interesting System 190 needles I have are number 150, which are between #22/140 and #23/160 in diameter. They are a perfect size for #138 thread into medium to hard temper leather. I believe I got some of them from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines.

You forgot to mention the model number of the machine. If you don't know it, take a small resolution photo of the operator's side of the machine and upload it in a reply. Then we who might respond will know what to tell you about where the pressure adjustment is on the head. Also, tell us if there are teeth on the bottom of the presser foot or feet.

You can always buy Pfaff System 190 needles which are exactly 3/16" longer than System 135x17. They have the same top shank diameter. I'll bet that the previous owner raised the needle bar to let him/her use these longer needles to get higher alternating foot lift. I've done that on a few walking foot machines to sew a particularly tall step or thick seams. The scarf is a cutout on one side, above the eye hole in the needle. The other side has a ribbed thread channel. Normal alignment places the scarf side of the needle towards the rotating or oscillating "shuttle hook", which has a sharp point on one end that picks off the thread loop that is formed as the needle rises above bottom dead center. SOP on your machine is that the point of the hook intersects the rising needle about 1/8 inch above the eye. At that position there is usually a decent loop for the hook to split and carry around the shuttle and bobbin. If you don't plan to sew over 3/8 inch, download a manual for the Singer 111w155, read the sections about timing, then lower the needle bar.

It would help if you included your location in your profile. There are parts suppliers in different countries.

This is why we frequently recommend calling or visiting a dealership before buying an industrial sewing machine. These dealers are usually old school and love to deal directly with their customers. They are knowledgeable in the makes and models they carry and want to have happy customers. Before the Internet this is how things were done every day. I'm glad there are still real brick and mortar businesses that serve the needle trade. I personally travel 2 hours each way to visit my favorite industrial sewing machine dealer when I want another machine. Sometimes, like the OP, I come home with a different one than I originally thought I wanted.

Check all the guides and rollers/tensioners for a burr.

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I have a Cowboy CB4500 and a good friend has a Cobra Class 4, both of which are now about 8 or 9 years old. From day one I can move the stitch length/direction levers on both machines with two or three fingers and they stay in place. If you have to force the lever up and down, it is binding or too tight somewhere.

Then some moving part in the stitch length/direction path is now binding against another part. 441 machines are robust and don't usually have bent shafts, but anything is possible after a hard stop that throws the timing out 180 degrees. It may help if you post a movie of the parts in motion inside the bottom inspection cover on the lower right front on the base of the machine. Somebody more familiar with the way things should move may see the problem and offer a solution.

If you post some pictures of the shoes apart and under construction it will help you get answers to these questions. Otherwise, one can only speculate on whether or not this machine or some other machine is best suited to the job. I can tell you that SOP is to use a McKay machine to sew the upper to the insole and a curved needle machine to sew the outsole to a welt. In the case of shoes that have a side sole that is attached to the uppers (like sports shoes), a sidewall stitcher is required. That is a different model than the 5100. It is the model 7600 sidewall sole stitching machine. This machine is capable of sewing 2 stitches per inch.

Yes. You want to make sure you have round points on hand in case you have to sew webbing straps. Leather slicing needles will break the strands. Ditto for sewing denim. Use round points on woven materials and leather points on animal hides. Naugahyde can be sewn with either type of needle.

The top thread is probably coming out of the top tension disks. Loop it around the top post, through the holes, in a counterclockwise direction to offset the natural coil of the spool. You can also reconfigure how the thread comes out of the three hole guide before the top tensioner to feed it from the lowest point into the middle of the disks. I actually flip my guides down to give me three positions to place the thread, depending on how the thread is acting. They tend to vary with color and amount of bonding.

Yes, a Singer 111, or clone will do just fine for thinner projects up to 3/8 inch of medium temper leather. I use these machines to hem things, to sew patches on the back of vests, to sew zippers into jackets, sew flat cases, wallets, upholstery, motorcycle seat tops, etc. The 3/8" isn't where they sew best, but how high they climb and still form a stitch. If you get into repairing jackets and vests, you will encounter seams that thick. The CB3200 is a holster class machine that fills the gap between upholstery class and full harness/saddle class machines. It starts with #138 thread (22 pounds test) and goes up to #346 (~56 pounds test). It can sew from about 6 ounces up to 1/2 inch (32 ozs). Here is a thread and needle chart that shows the diameter and number of cords in various sizes of thread we commonly encounter in leather work. The best needle sizes are also shown, as well as the breaking strengths. The #277 (~#44) was meant to show the breaking strength in pounds (#) of size 277 thread.

It would if the bag is made with fur and the hide isn't too stiff.