spurdude101

Hello, I did the same thing to an old high back made by Tom Flynn of Silverton Colo. what I did was to soak the old pieces in the bath tub for a couple of days. this brought them back to their original size and made them flexible so as to lay flat for pattern cutting. I bought a saddle building book which really helped with the ground seat and finish/ stamping. I'll have to find the pictures and put up the whole story someday. turned out quite well and is on display in our living room.

so I have played around with this and did one by gluing in the lining prior to folding over for stitching. and of course the lining bunches up because when the fold takes place the distance shortens. is there a secret to installing a liner, and how much larger the pattern cut, than if no liner is used. as I found out the hard way the holster fits the gun much tighter with a liner. thanks Al

Well thanks guys. your thoughts are middle of the road, as mine are. I don't want to be a cry baby or try to rip them off. I just want a fair deal. they are the only game in the Rocky Mnt region let alone the Denver market. thay have all the parts, threads and many new machines as well as used machines. so I don't want a bad relationship with them in fact the salesman and the parts guy are really nice people the tech is an old guy, I'm guessing over 65. so I think what I'll do is look at the invoice and see what it says. I'll take your comments about spare parts removal into account, and talk to the sales guy who I have a friendly thing going. he also is the head cheese front man, I think. I'll just be polite and run it by him as I did you guys and see what he thinks, and how much of a trade in he might give a year from now. but it is good to know what you guy's think about it should I feel mowed down. thanks Al

As some of you know I bought a typical GB2972 patcher.I only gave $250.00 for complete unit. Thought I was ahead of the game. started sewing and right off saw it had some problems with feeding and keeping stitch length. the clamp would not stay put and the lift would be too tight to raise. so I took it in to the Industrial sewing machine shop here in Denver. told the tech what I just told you and said go thru machine and set to factory specs. now it did sew, so I thought it can't be too far out of whack. I also told the guy to call if it was going to be more than a $100.00. no problem don't worry. 3 day later I get a call with "bad news" the needle bar is bent, so when you turn the butterfly to sew the needle hits the foot. well I didn't know this or I would have told him that too, as I didn't have machine but a week and never really tried to find all that was wrong with it. I figured take to the experts let them see what I got. well here's the problem : the guy tells me he has 5 hours labor into it and hasn't even fixed it yet! well thats $325.00 plus it's only a diagnosis. he did use some used parts at my request (needle bar) and I assume he fixed the walking foot feed/lift. so the bill is $421.00 total. my question is for you guys is; is 5 hours labor sound right? I mean this machine is fairly simple. I think I could strip it down and rebuild it in 5 hours! I would an Expert to sew for 15 minutes , figure out whats wrong, make the call and talk about options. so MY thoughts are 1.5 hours diagnostics, 2 hours to fix, 3.5 hours plus parts. so Am I off base here? tell me what you think, before I throw a fit. thanks

I'm have a small production run of oval belt buckles for a local ranch. so I have to stamp the name of the ranch along with a horse type logo. these have to be uniform and look good, as well as being relatively fast to produce. so, I'm thinking of a jig for the lettering, as trying to get each one right by hand will be impossible, for me anyway. then using a press to imprint the cased leather. the press is another story, I was thinking about an old reloading press I have. could modify it somehow. any ideas? thanks

Well wrestlin all day with Typical GB2972. got the table built and mounted machine. Threading with the wire threading rod is a pain, then got going couldn't get the tension right no matter how stiff I make the needle thread it won't pull up the bobbin thread. then started having feeding problems again. set it to 5 stitches per inch and got 10. took the thinggy out and hit with a hammer then bent it back to shape and seems to have fixed it, although I still have feed problems, I have to encourage (push) the work through. And I still can't get the tension right. I did all this by hand wheel as I don't want to spend $200 on a servo motor if it ain't goint to work right. and one question, the guys at the sewing shop said this machine would only go as high as #69 thread, but the needle #29x4 the eye is too large for this thread, so I'm wondering is there same sized needles with smaller eyes or how big a thread can really go?

does anyone have a source for industrial table tops? the basket case I bought, as I found out, is missing the tops. it's an "L" frame and looks to be specific to the 2972 patcher. although I can locate some 20" x 48" blanks, they are expensive about $100.00 retail. this seems high to me for just a top. any other sources out there? thanks.. http://www.alibaba.c.../showimage.html

found out the answer to my last question in case anyone wants to know.. the answer is no. you can not just swap the shuttle box out for the bigger bobbin shuttle. the cams inside have to be replaced as the stroke of the shuttle connecting rod is longer. so will not be upgrading. thanks for your help.

Yep, that was it, it's a pretty simple machine, so it matches me pretty good...simple that is. I figured it out and got it feeding good now. thanks for your input. now one last question for now.. this is the model 2972 with the dime sized bobbin. so, can the rack box where the bobbin shuttle lives, be interchangable with the 29B rack box which has the bigger bobbin. although I ain't ever seen them, my common sense tells me that if the casting is the same, then I should be able to upgrade to the larger rack box bobbin of the 29B,that is if I can find on, and it is not too much $. what do you think? thanks again.

Thanks for the reply's and info. After receiving the machine, I see it's limitations. It was a good deal, and for $250.00 including stand and clutch motor, I figured I couldn't do wrong, as long as it wasn't broken. now this machine shows no sign of wear, that is to say the paint looks original and clean, the motor and stand show no wear, so I'm assuming it isn't worn out. however, I can't seem to get it to feed. the foot moves back and forth it doesn't seem to rise. it just sits there and rocks back and forth. so I guess I'll run it into the shop, Ralf's sewing here in Denver. and see how bad a decision I might have made. As for the work, I can see having it around to do what it was intended for. provided I can get it going and still come out ahead. any ideas on why it won't feed? thanks, ps sorry for the delay, I was out of town..

Hi new the site and new to sewing machines. I have a line on a Typical Model GB2973 with motor and stand. I know this is a shoe cylinder arm machine. I don't know what kind of feed it has or if it will do projects like sewing sheep on a saddle skirt, making a knife sheath or holsters. I read it will sew thru 1/4' leather, but with the hand wheel, might it work a little harder? the price is way low and too good to pass up