amuckart

I would use the router around the whole circumference. You'll get a far better result that way. Take most of the material out with a jigsaw, leaving a small amount inside the lines, then take it back to the lines with the router. It does mean you'll need two templates, one for the full thickness cut and one for the corners. First route full thickness with a template like this: Then route the corners half (or whatever) thickness with a template like this That will give you a hole like this: You'll need a way to ensure the templates are perfectly lined up but that can be done by making sure the outsides are exactly the same size and clamping a builder's square on to the the table.

Router bits have cutting edges that are a certain length, say 1 1/4". With a router bit like that you can cut material 1 1/4" thick. If you want to cut material 1 5-16" thick you have to leave 1/16" of the shaft sticking out pf the bushing on the router. This is invariably a Bad Idea. If you can get a 1 1/2" bit, then you can use up to 1 1/2" thick material for your table top. That's more than enough for what you want to do. 1" is plenty for table tops like this.

To answer this question - no, adding a reducer won't affect the way the machine stitches. Have you checked for wear throughout the machine? Does the shuttle carrier have any play in it if you try to rotate it while holding the hand wheel still? Is the point of the shuttle worn? What type and size of needle are you using?

Thank you very much for sharing this.

I was a bit unclear. You can't (or rather, shouldn't) try and cut materials that are thicker than the cutting edge of the router bit + bearing are long because doing so requires only partial insertion of the shaft into the collet of the router and if you get that wrong it can go very badly very fast when the bit is spinning.

Yes, that's what you want. There are two types of flush cut router bit: ones with the bearing at the shaft; and ones with the bearing at the tip. For this job you want one with the bearing at the shaft, which that ones has. To use a bit like this you need to cut the bulk of the material out first so you're just using the router bit to create the finished edge. Just make sure that whatever material you end up using is thinner than the router bit is long.

The secret to routing slots for a sewing machine is to use a template and a good plunge router that you can set the depth on (especially for the corners). I've made complex router templates out of 4mm masonite/hardboard before and that has worked well. I drew up the plans in inkscape (free SVG editor), printed them, checked the dimensions and stuck them to the hardboard. I used a stanley knife to carefully cut the shapes out, going over it with multiple passes, not trying to do the whole cut at once. You could use a scrollsaw or a jigsaw if you're really good with one, but a knife is more accurate if you're not. Slots are easy, just clamp a straight edge on to the material, clamp a couple of stops to that and route between them. All of the big loft-style sewing tables I've seen have been custom built for the space they're in. They're not inherently complex things to build if you've got the tools. There's no reason you couldn't build one with a hand saws and a hammer & nails, but power tools would make it quicker. The only tricky bit is getting a consistent slope away from the machine at the right angle to help the outfeed but not so steep that the fabric just slides down it.

This is not my idea, I saw this specific implementation on Donna Nobilo's machine. It is very similar to the way flatbed tables attach to Pearson No.6 machines, and similar to the way flatbeds attach to 29k patchers. Donna runs Ethos Leather in New Zealand and is a member on these forums. It is so much better than the (IMO ridiculous) way the tables come from the Chinese factories with four bolts at the back of the flatbed to attach it to the machine table I don't know why they don't ship the tables built like this already. It takes less than a minute to attach, and requires only two bolts. It's pretty stable with just one but it is slightly more secure with two. You need two M8 machine screws. I'm using cap head allen screws and an M5 allen key. If you used an M8 wing screw that would make the lower attachment easier, I just don't happen to have one. The m8 screws don't appear to be a perfect match for the threads tapped into the machine head, but they do work. I don't know what the thread standard in the holes in the machine is, but at least some of the other bolts in 441s are metric as well. The table attaches using brackets made of bent aluminium strip. This stuff is 50mm wide and is a standard stock item at big box hardware stores. The rear strap of the bracket sits across the rectangular cutout in the arm The front strap of the bracket wraps under the shuttle race Add the machine screws and you're done This cost me less than $10 to do, and about half an hour to make. The only vaguely difficult bit was measuring up the bends. Here's a video showing how easily it goes on and off. https://youtu.be/u8zhPB5c5iA

Glad to hear you got it working. If you can share the specifics of what you adjusted to get it working again it would be of use to future visitors to this forum.

When you say "knot" what do you mean? Is the upper thread not drawn down into the stitch properly or is the lower thread being drawn up too far and showing on the top? What point in the stitch is the machine when you lift the foot? It should be at a point where the shuttle has picked up the loop of top thread but the needle is still all the way through the material.

It's a fairly ancient singer patcher. There will be a model number on the small round-ended rectangular plate on the front of the machine. It's probably a 29-4 or 29-13. Without its treadle base or a motor it's not a lot of use because these models couldn't have the hand wheel moved to the front like later models could. If they sew they're useful for lighter leather, but they're next to impossible to get parts for. They feed using the foot and will leave marks on soft leathers unless you modify them. They were originally designed for sewing elastic into boots but they are modernly used for repairs and sewing patches onto jackets and the like. The presser foot rotates through 360 degrees, so they can sew a circle without having to rotate the work. Unless you specifically want a restoration project, or you desperately need a patcher for some reason I'd pass on it.

I hadn't, thanks for that.

AFAIK all the screws in the BUSM machines are BSW. I have a mate who go,unreels at MOTAT who has access to all kinds of thread guages. If you want to send me one I can get him to measure it.

Wiz has already mentioned having the shuttle race on too tight. I've had that problem too, but it didn't come right until I completely removed the shuttle race and reinstalled it, being careful not to do the screws up all the way. On my machine I do the screws up just until the springs disappear and that seems to work with size 277 thread. The other times I've had this happen to me on my CB4500 it was either because the upper thread was getting caught on the shuttle, as Wiz said, or because the shuttle position was wrong. It was cycling back too early and the top thread was getting caught between the back of the shuttle and the top rear of the shuttle race. The symptom aside from the loops was that as the takeup lever moved upwards, instead of drawing up the loop from around the shuttle, it pulled the check spring right up and drew off more upper thread through the tension disks. It did this even with the top tension wound all the way up. You can check this by turning the machine over by hand while looking into the end of the arm with the shuttle cover removed. Turn the machine over slowly and see if you can see where it's happening. Sometimes this will only happen when there is material in the machine, and sometimes it'll work if the machine is turned over very slowly but not when it's run at speed. If you turn it over slowly and it works, or you can't see anywhere where the thread is catching, try running the machine with the motor and see if you can see it. If you still can't see it, remove the needle plate and try again. If that doesn't work, check all the timings. I'm not sure if the CB3200 is a 441 clone or a different type of machine but the shuttle timing for walking foot machines is set in the head of the machine, rather than directly off the shuttle driving cam like non-walking foot machines. If the CB3200 is a 441 type machine, you could go over the steps in the Juki TSC-441 Engineer's manual, but for me at least, it took a few reads to get the sense of that set of adjustments. If you think the shuttle position is wrong, you can adjust that by removing the cover plate on the front of the machine under the stitch adjusting lever. If you peer in there with a torch while you're cycling the machine you should see a hex bolt come into view that moves in sync with the shuttle. This is the connection between the shuttle driving cam and the shaft that actually turns the shuttle. If you loosen that hex bolt off you will be able to turn the shuttle manually. To do this, set the stitch length to zero, remove the needle plate and feed dog (which will necessitate removing the shuttle race and shuttle first). Cycle the machine until the shuttle has rotated counterclockwise as far as it goes in its cycle. At this point there should be about 3/64" of shuttle point sticking out past the rearmost lip of the shuttle race. If it has disappeared completely the shuttle has rotated too far counter-clockwise. If there is more than about 1/16" of the shuttle point sticking out, it is rotated too far clockwise. If that looks correct, with the stitch length at zero, cycle the machine until the needle has gone past bottom dead centre and come up 3/8" (5mm). In this position the shuttle point should bisect the vertical centreline of the needle, about 1/32" above the eye. If that is correct, leave the machine in that position and move the stitch length lever up and down between its maximum forward and reverse lengths. The needle and centre foot should not move more than about 1/32". If all that is correct, then I'm not sure what's happening. If it is not[/u] correct, then you need to re-time the feed. You do that by making adjustments to bits in the top rear of the machine where the main shaft turns the shuttle driving cam and the main feed cam.

whar are we looking at? Top or bottom? Can you describe the problem, what you were doing /changed right before it started happening, and what you've tried so far to fix it?

The Lee Valley brad points are specially lipped so they're a different thing than the cheapo ones you can get. I've tried a normal brad point bit and it doesn't work well because there's nothing to cleanly cut the perimeter of the hole. With the lipped bits there is. The plug & tenon cutters are no good to me. I'm outside the USA so I work in metric units, not fractional inches. I'll see if I can find some 5mm OD carbon steel pipe.

Thank you for the ideas. I don't have a drill press, alas, but I think one of these lipped brad point drill bits with some careful stropping might do the trick. I'll order one and find out. I'll also try and find some tubing if the right diameter. http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=42247

Very nice. Those are neat machines. Much more useful than the SD29 with it's extremely limited throat depth.

Here's Singer's patent for a machine for sewing leather cases. It illustrates the setup of the 45kSV mentioned earlier in this thread. https://www.google.co.nz/patents/US2652014?dq=US+2652014+A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=B5AvVdPYBIbo8AWc34DICw&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAA

I'm trying to find a way to cut a clean 5mm (~3/16th) hole through 12mm (~1/2") of leather, made up of 3 layers of 4mm veg bridle. I can't pre-punch the holes in each part beforehand, so I need something that'll go through all of the layers at once. A drill, even a very sharp one, doesn't leave a clean hole, and I haven't seen any sort of hole punch that isn't tapered on the outside and far too wide 12mm up from the cutting edge to made decent holes. Has anyone solved this problem already who can give me pointers? Thanks.

Thanks, I'll flick them an email.

The skiving knives sold by Lisa Sorrell who is an advertiser on this site are excellent. They come insanely sharp, hold a great edge and are easy to sharpen. They're US$78 for both sizes. http://sorrellnotionsandfindings.customboots.net/product/skiving-knife/

A lot of that sounds like the blade just isn't sharp enough. Splitter blades need to be really sharp to work well. If you wouldn't shave with it it's way too blunt. If you wouldn't let someone do surgery on you with it, it's too blunt.

Interesting about your holster plate being smooth. When did you get your machine? I was hesitant to grind the grooves off of the standard plate because they were very deep and I thought it would remove too much material. I just had another look and did it anyway. They're not 100% gone, but only slight traces remain. Before & afters: It's interesting how polishing shows up irregularites in the plate that were hidden by the satin finish. I wish they'd satin finish all the feet and plates, it is much less prone to corrosion in humid environments than a polished finish. Another thing worth mentioning, on my machine at least, I can install the holster plate without having to remove the feed dog. I can't do this with the stirrup plate.

Here's before & after pictures of my holster plate. I ran it down on a belt grinder, 120 & 200 grit to get the grooves followed by 80 micron trizact which gave an acceptable finish. I made sure to relieve all the edges and corners slightly on the trizact belt and did the inside of the slot by hand with 2000 grit. I don't understand why Cowboy stamp these grooves in either. Before: After: