Ferg

I fully agree with your thoughts on this topic. Do not portray "SNOB" to your customers. Portray yourself as someone who gives exactly what people want only better than they expected. Your monetary profits will soar as well as your self esteem. Be happy, love your family and life and enjoy yourself. ferg

GREAT MEMORIES......... A little house with one, two or three bedrooms, one bathroom and one car on the street. A mower that you had to push to make the grass look neat. In the kitchen on the wall we only had one phone, And no need for recording things, someone was always home. We only had a living room where we would congregate, unless it was at mealtime in the kitchen where we ate. We had no need for family rooms or extra rooms to dine. When meeting as a family those two rooms would work out fine. We only had one TV set and channels maybe two, But always there was one of them with something worth the view. For snacks we had potato chips that tasted like a chip. And if you wanted flavor there was Lipton's onion dip. Store-bought snacks were rare because my mother liked to cook and nothing can compare to snacks in Betty Crocker's book. Weekends were for family trips or staying home to play. We all did things together -- even go to church to pray. When we did our weekend trips depending on the weather, no one stayed at home because we liked to be together. Sometimes we would separate to do things on our own, but we knew where the others were without our own cell phone. Then there were the movies with your favorite movie star, and nothing can compare to watching movies in your car. Then there were the picnics at the peak of summer season, pack a lunch and find some trees and never need a reason. Get a baseball game together with all the friends you know, have real action playing ball -- and no game video. Remember when the doctor used to be the family friend, and didn't need insurance or a lawyer to defend? The way that he took care of you or what he had to do, because he took an oath and strived to do the best for you. Remember going to the store and shopping casually, and when you went to pay for it you used your own money? Nothing that you had to swipe or punch in some amount, and remember when the cashier person had to really count? The milkman used to go from door to door, And it was just a few cents more than going to the store. There was a time when mailed letters came right to your door, without a lot of junk mail ads sent out by every store. The mailman knew each house by name and knew where it was sent; there were not loads of mail addressed to "present occupant." There was a time when just one glance was all that it would take, and you would know the kind of car, the model and the make. They didn't look like turtles trying to squeeze out every mile; they were streamlined, white walls, fins and really had some style. One time the music that you played whenever you would jive, was from a vinyl, big-holed record called a forty-five. The record player had a post to keep them all in line and then the records would drop down and play one at a time. Oh sure, we had our problems then, just like we do today and always we were striving, trying for a better way. Oh, the simple life we lived still seems like so much fun, how can you explain a game, just kick the can and run? And why would boys put baseball cards between bicycle spokes and for a nickel, red machines had little bottled Cokes? This life seemed so much easier and slower in some ways. I love the new technology but I sure do miss those days. So time moves on and so do we and nothing stays the same, but I sure love to reminisce and walk down memory lane.

With the engineers out of the way, I set to and cut up a huge box of scrap as I rapidly learned how to use the machine properly. By 5pm I was confident that it was all going to be fine but I'm now absolutely exhausted. I hadn't realised how stressful the process was going to be and hadn't allowed for the fact that I had almost no control over events once they started happening. I just had to ride the wave and see where it went. Not at all easy for a confirmed control freak like me LOL! Has anyone else had a delivery day to remember? Ray I do not often reflect on our experience with delivery of a machine. We had become a pretty good sized company selling product to 25 -30 major catalog companies with 25 employees. We had bought a two head CNC Router in 1989. Business required that we buy another machine. The new machine was built to our specifications as was the first. The original, we still have and use it every day. The new machine had a vacuum table measuring 4' x 12', you could use half of the table or all of it. Two 20 horse power motors, speed control continuously variable to 30,000 rpm. I had 150 Amps of three phase power wired up for it. The day came for machine to be delivered. I was so nervous couldn't sleep the night before. We had made arrangements with a crane operator to off load and install the machine and computer controls. Manufacturer was to send the unit on a flat bed trailer so we could allow the crane to attach the slings easily. They sent it in a closed truck and all the way to the front of a 54' trailer. Crane operator pulled the machine to the back of the trailer, reattached the slings, lifted it and moved towards the ram going into our shop. The machine was out of balance in the slings, flipped upside down and crashed to the concrete ramp. I pulled the overhead door down, called the company, told them their truck was returning with a pile of broken metal. Long story short. We had made a downpayment on the machine, never got any of it back, $150,000 in the machinery alone with another $25,000 in other equipment to enable it, the crane operator wound up in court, the machinery company got $2000 from him, he is in a mental institution, financially disabled as well. We continued in business and tried to put all this behind us. Almost 25 years later we are still in business. What else could we ask for? How about the crane operator having his nealth and family back. ferg

Pete, Get a copy of "Parallels" for your Mac. You can play your windows games then. ferg

I could be totally wrong of course but isn't the needle you are trying to use with this size thread too small? I have had thread "ball up" at the needle eye when this is true. ferg

I don't need another machine but Please tell me, What thickness of leather will that old machine sew and what size "Rope" do you have it threaded with. LOL ferg

Competition perhaps but what is wrong with that? They do make some mighty nice looking product. I think you are making too much of this. ferg

I am curious as to what those of you that have been sewing leather on an industrial machine, Consew, Juki, Pfaff, whatever, most often use as a point shape. I fail to see why the manufacturers have all these tables showing eight different shape points and only stock one or two. Must be a reason!!! Please? ferg

As some know I am an old geezer. Funny, I have no problem with Native Americans wearing ear jewelry or any other of their native adornment. At least 50 percent of the males wearing ear rings these days remind me of a pimp or a fruit cake. The distorted ear lobes get me the most. I am convinced that a large majority of the males wearing the "Junk" jewelry are doing it to get attention. If that is the reason it worked. ferg

Welcome to LW forums. You will find it is difficult to stop reading the entries in this site. That will also whet your appetite to do more leather butchering. Lots of tutorials here on just about anything you might wish to know about leather work. Have fun and keep practicing

Nice work, you should be proud. Did you put any finish on that top? Some nice satin Poly would look good and keep it "pretty". ferg

You need to make a faint registration mark/line on the leather to begin the basket stamp. Hold the other tools firmly in your hand, tap with mallet, reset the tool to exactly the same place and hit a good whack. Practice, practice, the basket stamps are not the easiest to use but they look great. ferg

Beautiful carving and stitching. I would have to pass on the Ostrich Seat. ferg

The weight of leather they are suggesting is pretty thin for wallets. Other small items would be okay. The price is more than double the cost of the leather if you were buying a whole side for instance. Plus you will have shipping which could really drive the price upward. If I were you I would check for some leather companies in Germany or the UK, they may be a better buy for you. There are suppliers in the USA who sell Internationally. Check in the directory on this site. ferg

The reverse is so easy and quick, I would definitely bite the bullet and get it. ferg

With my research into sewing with a machine I would say there are a multitude of feet for your machine that will fold that little ditty just right. May I say, "There's a Foot For That." ferg

Sorry, I will never in my lifetime slam Tandy. They have been good to me for many years. Sure they have some tools etc. that aren't as good as they were 50 years ago when I bought most of mine. I fail to see all the crying about the quality of their leather. Oh BTW: I have never paid $11.00 a foot for any leather from them. I have bought some leather not so good and lots of it that has been top notch. I have done the same thing when I bought HO. It must be that it is Halloween. LOL ferg

The bolt to adjust to the leather is going to get a little tiring. You need to search on the forum site for stitching horse/pony to see the mechanism most use to tighten the jaws onto the leather. You done a nice job on the woodwork. ferg

Great job!! If you have Baltic Birch Plywood available to you, might consider making your top of it. ferg

I don't have your make of machine and am just a beginner but,,,,, I thread my needle from left to right. ferg

First of all I think I am going to love this little machine. Won't have my Speed Reducer maybe, until Monday, I did change the pulley size to 2" on the Consew 550 Servo. #14 needle with 68 thread on top, 46 in the bobbin. Servo set about halfway on the speed dial. Sewed single layer of 8 oz. Cowhide Veg tanned. Stitches set at "6" on the dial, If I can remove the dial plate, turn enough to make it read in reverse, put it back on. Seems to me the dial is backwards in reference to the stitches. Slowest sewing speed I could get was about 6" in about 3 seconds. Had no problems at that speed. Increasing speed "fudged up" the thread in the needle. Changed needle to a #16 same thread. Speed did not make any difference but I didn't try to make it "fly". Nice stitch. Put #138 thread on top with #92 in the bobbin. Increased needle size to a #20. Two thicknesses of 8 oz. veg tanned cow hide. Adjusted tension on top, haven't touched tension on the bobbin yet. Timing seems to be perfect. Had to increase the speed dial on servo about 10%, moved faster than I wanted but was not hard to hold a steady straight line, reverse worked like a charm. One layer of 4/5 oz. horse hide, two layers of veg tanned 6/8 oz. cowhide. Same set up as above. Had to bump the speed dial just a tad so it could penetrate that much leather, especially with Horse Hide. Sewed fine but I didn't like the looks of the back side. Needle holes were not cut clean, speed may have something to do with that, don't know. One layer of 6/8 oz. Veg Tanned Cowhide with one layer of 4/5 oz. Oiled cowhide. Beautiful stitch both sides. Obviously this type of sewing is this machines "Long Suit". I didn't attempt to ease the foot pressure. Obvious marks on the leather, some people may not care or notice but I don't want it that way. Seems ridiculous to have to smooth the marks after sewing. Working on that:) Keystone is sending me a speed reducer with three pulley sizes, 3", 6", & 9". For anyone that does not know, the nine inch is belted to the small servo pulley with the other two being available for connection to the machine. They also have a Needle Plate that replaces the serrated Dogs that come with the machine so there is a smooth surface next to leather you are sewing that may have finish sides top and bottom, this being on the bottom surface of course. Keystone is also sending Walking Feet that are smooth with left and one with right side removed so you can sew close against a vertical side. I have #207 thread but do not have any needles larger than the #22. They definitely are not large enough for this thread. Can only go to #24 or maybe #25 needles on this machine. May give some folks a little edge if buying a new Consew or any of a number of other similar machines. I am a machinery addict, just ask my wife. I love this new Toy!!! ferg

Just an up-date for October 26, 2010 My Consew 206RB-5 was made in Japan, was packaged in a "Phaf" (spelling) carton, may not mean too much but all the packing fit the machine. I am definitely going to need a Speed Reducer. Put the smaller pulley on the motor with only a little difference. With speed dial about 50% it had no problem with 8 oz leather and had no marks from the presser feet. Used #68 thread with a #14, #16, and a #22 needle, #46 thread in the bobbin. I have # 92,#138, and #207 thread coming tomorrow. Another interesting note: The instruction manuel says their is a needle plate available for this machine as an added accessory, that enables the use of two finish sided leather without making marks. Obviously has no serrations. Would the fact the machine was made in Japan have anything to do with the different needle plate being available? I'm never going to get any sleep with this machine in my shop. ferg

Wiz, Did you know the Consew 206RB-5 comes with smooth presser/walking feet? The video I watched from someone, not you, the feet were definitely grooved. I got my machine to the ready this evening. Wife left me play a little. I had the machine shipped via UPS (Free) so the table was not assembled. I am going to try different sized thread to see what happens. Threaded according to specs, worked perfectly. I have bought a so-called 2" pulley for the motor, it is actually 2 5/8" outside and 1 1/2" inside measurements. I did not get a speed reducer but may very well need one. Wanted to play with the tension on the belt also. Thanks again, ferg

Wiz, As always, I value your expertise with the machines. I am naturally inquisitive and usually do a "tear down" on machinery we own. The purpose is not to see what they are made of but to understand how they work. It is much cheaper and easier to fix your own equipment. My wife almost passed out when she seen parts of our $100,000 CNC Router laying on various workbenches just a short while after we bought it. We have never had a service call on any of our equipment in almost 35 years owning our manufacturing business. If anyone has a handle on where to get a smooth feed dog for the Consew 206RB-5, please let me know. Even if it needs some TLC to fit and work properly. Again, thank you very much for your information, I will probably be asking more questions. BTW: The machine was delivered just before lunch today. ferg PS: I understand that grinding/filing the teeth off the dogs could change the timing. That said: You don't need to file/grind them off, you just fill the voids between the "teeth". Experiment with how much filling would need to be done so you could still enable the dogs to do their thing. Seems to me this same procedure could be done to the walking feet/presser feet in lieu of ginding their teeth also. Any comments? ferg