Diyer

I have just finished this lunge cavesson for a friend who has Sorraia's. This is a primitive breed here in Portugal, pony sized. She wanted one without the usual metal nosepiece, so I have made a more normal noseband, and covered it with a velcro'd on padding that is washable.The clips at the bottom are for attaching a bit if needed.

This machine is now sold.

I have not used the 105 for anything thinner than 3mm-as I have a Seiko STW8B for thin stuff. I bought the Adler many years after the Seiko.

In the days when I was helping run a motorcycle shop, I have memories of getting broken fins off cast iron barrels (BSA A10) brazed back on. I think it was heated first in a muffle.There was a local specialist, Smethwick welding, that did the work. Now long gone.

You can only get smaller sizes than 160 needles in non leather point. I have used a normal round point needle for years on my Seiko STW 8B, sewing mostly clothing leather, but occasionally 3mm bridle butts. I think your problem is going to be that the needles for the 105 in thin sizes are going to deflect more easily, and also break. My personal opinion is that a 130 is the smallest I would go to.As I have now dismounted my 105, as it is for sale, I cannot do any experimentation for you. I did buy some 130 needles, but as I now have a 205/370(new toy) I never got round to trying it out. lt is going to depend on how fast you are wanting to go. Industrials are designed to go flat out, so manufacturers´recommendations reflect that.

The Chinese appear to have a "range" of qualities.The dealer does a valuable job of "correcting" their supplier when bad quality shows up.I know there will be some machines out there which cannot be rectified easily by just putting in new parts, because the fault is in the machining of the casting. Bear in mind that I found a manufacturing fault on my new toy, Adler 205/373- some machining was incorrect, not allowing the lifter plate to be free in its housing. This was not rectified from new, because the Portuguese installer just upped the air pressure on the air operation.The lifter plate broke-so I put in a new one, and then spent a long time trying to find where the graunching noise was comning from.A piece of plastic 0.25mm thick as a spacer solved the problem.

As this is an old machine, presumably it was originally used with a treadle. If you are using a motor, if it was a servomotor, there would be much less vibration. Any of the machines I have bought have had some screws etc. put in with an impact driver, so as to resist the vibrations caused by a clutch motor. From what is visible, you could possibly find out what the thread size and pitch is by measuring.Line boring is going to be expensive.The ease or not of a welded or brazed repair will depend on whether the material is cast iron or cast steel. That is going to be either a lab test or there are some DIY methods.

I hope you can claim for the damage. I presume it was dropped? I do not know your machine, but if it has a cast iron body, you need a welding company that specializes in this sort of work. I would imagine the machine would have to be completely stripped.It might be possible to peg, and drill and tap the damaged piece back on.

It is possible to stamp patterns on predyed leather- I have done this on UK bridle and saddle butts. You do have to hit the stamp harder. Mauls and hammers- my preference is for ones with replaceable ends- so far not available here in Portugal.Also everything dries out, so I have to leave the head in a bucket of water from time to time. The rock sounds interesting, but it would need a flattish surface?

From the photos it looks like the leather is fairly thin,so I would say that both needle is too big, and thread is too thick,and the stitches are too long.

You have to buy something to cut the leather with. A stanley knife works well, but you need the sort that has a fixed blade. You can also get hooked blades, that mean you can go round corners.A steel ruler and square if you have them. Cardboard for making patterns. You do not say the thickness of leather you will be using. I can cut my bridle butts, that are 3.5mm thick with my dressmaking shears. For sewing, get an awl that will do SMALL holes- a lot of them are designed to make holes that are too big. Needles will be saddle makers ones with a round point. I also have a small curved awl, that is often used for cutting in to the leather at an angle.. Beeswax if you are using linen thread. Linen is much easier to "end off". You do not want your stitches to start undoing themselves. For carving, a swivel knife, preferably with a ceramic blade if you are US at sharpening like me. Some stamps that will look good as a border. A stitch groover with adjustable distance.This makes stitching to a line much easier, and looks good. A stitch wheel for marking your stitch holes, unless you have a sewing machine. A pair of pliers (small) for pulling the needle through the leather, when you are ending off or going back on your stitches An edge beveler to finish edges off-possibly a no.3.Also a slicker when you use edge stain and want a shiny finish.I still use my cheap plastic Tandy one. Edge stain and gum arabic for finishing the edges with, if your item is made of stiff leather.. Just in case you were wondering- I came into leatherwork from many years of sewing my own clothes, so a lot of the things I use are from that perspective.I also do a lot of woodwork and associated things, so I have quite a lot of tools, some of which get used for leatherwork. I hope that helps.

I had an old Western saddle that I reconditioned.The leather was cleaned with Oxalic acid.There was a small amount of tooling-nothing fancy. The leather came up a nice colour, which I did not want to darken. I used R.M.Williams saddle dressing, which is an Aussie product also available in the UK. There might have been a little darkening, but not much.

Years ago I used to make a saddle carrying bag for a high end bespoke English saddler. The bags were a heavy duty canvas, with leather piping, and leather handles. I used normal round point needles, and had to "help" my sewing machine do the 3mm thick leather on the handles.I cannot now remwmber the sewing machine- I know it was a Singer walking foot of a similar class to my current Seiko STW 8B.The work used to make the machine go out of sync. but it got done. I would not use any sort of cutting point on canvas. With the leather, if it is thick, you can make life easier by cutting a stitchline in first.This also helps with longevity, as the stitches are recessed.

Ok, thanks for that. I think it is going to be a "suck it and see", on the basis of use vs expenditure. I have yet to come across a sewing machine "breaker", like you do with motorcycles.No racing on roads and crashes, just speed crashes when racing to get a job finished asap I guess- but that does not result in write offs and insurance claims!!

As my new "monster" Adler 205/370, will be sewing thicker and larger items, I have bought an Adler 169/373 for thinner leather and material work. I spent most of the day trying to work out why the feed dog did not rise and fall as it should. Turns out that my machine was originally set up for binding, so the feed dog only moves back and forth.Thanks to a nice gentleman on the other end of the phone at Durkopp Adler for that info. To replace all the parts to make the feed dog rise and fall is going to cost several hundred pounds,(unless someone here has these items available used??) so my question is-what are people's opinions on what if any problems am I going to come across, or things that will be difficult to do, if I leave the feed dog as it is?

Put it back to what you were doing before it was serviced. Check for any changes- different noises etc. Check if it does reverse as it should. If it doesn't, or there are noises that were not there before the service, there are two possibilities. 1.The servicing has introduced a fault somewhere- ask exactly what they did. 2.Something has come loose or out of adjustment, since the servicing, but not neccessarily as a result of it. I would be inclined to look at the parts book if there is one, to see what is involved with reverse. You could also unthread the machine, and see if reverse is still a problem. I do not know your machine, but what I am suggesting is basic fault finding routine.

I have just spent a long time trying to find out if Schmetz do a particular needle- a 794 s point in a 160 or 180 size. Their "system" of putting all the needle sizes under different "departments", according to industry type and material is maddening. The most useful folders they have are the "saddlers" one, and the "leather shoes and footwear" ones.I eventually realized that what I wanted was available by looking at US websites, which actually listed the size. Then I went back to looking at the lists. Groz Beckert, on the other hand, do not have any sort of useable online needle size catalog- you have to be a dealer to have access to one,.Grrrr!!

Having recently replaced a number of my wicks on the Adler 205/370-here is some useful information. 1. The Adler wicks inside the plastic tube are made of COTTON . I know this because when lit, they smoulder. Wool does not do this. Also as a long time sewer of clothing I can tell the difference. 2. It is quite cheap to buy the wick and plastic tube from an Adler parts place. There are two part numbers for this:- 9041100015 for the wick, and 0699979100 for the plastic tube. The lengths suppled are over 2 metres for the wick, and around 1 1/2 metres for the tube.You will need a needle of some sort to stuff the wick down the tube-I used a Tandy one meant for lacing, as it has a barbed end.This job becomes really difficult if you are trying to restuff oily wick down new plastic tube, or the brass tubes in the "oil box/tank". Where there is a joiner or "t" piece in the system, Adler use those "fluffy caterpillars", so you do not have to feed wick through the whole thing. 3.Using felt as a wick has one problem- felt in thin lengths will not hold its shape, and falls apart. That is why the original wicks are woven. I used some 80% wool mending yarn threaded through the plastic tube as many times as I could- I got 3 lengths in, and it seems to work well enough that I am not replacing it, even though I now have the correct wick material. 4. In the UK new wool "fluffy caterpillars" are available from Worldofwool. co.uk at a very reasonable cost. They fit in the slider mechanism pretty well, and being wool, should last as long as the originals.

My guess is that it is an oil wick .If you have a machine handy, see if it matches up with an oil supply nearby.Does it show up as an item in the parts book? If it was there as a bits collector, I would expect the sides at each end to be machined with a gradual slope, so as to catch "bits" as it went around.

As I have now got my dream machine, an Adler 205/370, my Adler 105/64 is surplus to requirements. I am selling the head only for a couple of reasons- one is transport cost, the other is I have a use for the table. It is in good working order- I have used it on occasion in the past 6 years I have owned it, mostly to put holes in things that need hand stitching! I spent most of today checking it over and setting it up.It will sew through 8mm of leather comfortably .Raised presser foot height is back to the standard of 12mm. There are a number of different presser feet, as shown in the photos.The hinged Simanco foot helps with changing leather thicknesses. The needles are mostly 180 and 160 sizes,one in 130. Very few have been used. There are some Groz Beckert ones in the plastic bag, size 200. The roller foot is a standard Chinese one that I started modifying to fit. Price- offers around £500.00 Transport cost is going to be approx. £85.00 within Europe. PM me anyone that is interested.

I shall look forward to getting mine- hopefully this week. I thought they were made by Kwok Hing.

Hi there. I have just recently purchased the same machine, and have been busy doing all the adjustments needed. Firstly-spares.I gave a long list of parts I wanted for my machine to Solent Sewing, who are authorised Durkopp Adler dealers. It was in Excel format, as I wanted to make life easy. They came back pretty promptly with prices and stock- most items were out of stock. After about a week, I had the answer for time for the back order- 7 to 10 days stated. I can have parts faster, by using College Sewing, who listed most parts in stock, but their parts are 20% higher cost. You will find "pipe cleaners" inside the end of the head, and wound round some of the motion actuators- unless someone has taken them off. The parts book does not list them, so I found a supplier of WOOL ones in the UK- World of wool in Yorkshire. Your machine has an oiling system that uses wicks-check yours are all in place by looking at the parts book and UWE's videos.One of his videos has a nice shot of the "hamslice" on the end of the head, with its two oil wicks and plastic pipes. I order from the UK because it is quicker than here in Portugal. I tried to find an online seller in Germany, but no luck. Your short needles are what is fitted to my Adler 105/64, a predecessor to the 205. One of the reasons your machine might have been set up for the shorter needles is so that they have a greater range of needle sizes below a 160. Schmetz list 160 in non leather points, but it would really need the correct little needle spacer to work well in the 794 size. The 4 small springs you are missing- a tempoary arrangement can be made from biro springs. This is what I am doing until the correct ones turn up. Get extras- they have a habit of "jumping out". The 0.2 and 0.3 shims are part of the original factory setup, and you will need to get them. From the photos the timing looks completely wrong. Start again using the correct Adler manual which can be downloaded from the Durkopp Adler website. It has "rules" which give you the work sequence and adjustments. Hook timing means you need to get at the shaft running along the cylinder arm, which is a good workout for stomach muscles! I have a feeling the illustration shows the flatbed model. The part I am talking about is on page 2 of the parts book, pt no 205 150103 shaft, and collar 205 150143- that's what you will be undoing to alter the timing, and also set the shaft further in or out. The manual is really annoying, because it keeps on referring to pictures at the end, and you might find it easier to print out the pictures first. Yes, needle bar height will need changing. I am by no means an expert, but speak from recent experience.

Danny, Do you still have stock of these machines? If so, what would be the shipping cost to Portugal? Regards Oriana

That picture looks a lot like the standard type of gearbox used in a lot of agricultural applications. Look up PTO gearboxes to see what is available. Thre are also a lot of different types and sizes available for industrial applications. For anything driving at right angles- there is power loss in that configuration. Bevel gears inside mean there would not be as much problem going in reverse, as with worm and wheel.

Chen, I am selling my 105/64 if that would interest you. It is in good working order. I am selling it as I now have a 205/370.