Iron Pounder

I love it!! The color really makes it stand apart for the crowd.

Has the dealer asked about the fix and are they planing on fixing it at least for future machines? I understand no machine is perfect but when I fix is available to what I hear is a fantastic machine it seems it should be upgraded. I did try an Artisan and a model 4 side by side and that was the first thing I noticed is the Artisan had full range of pedal and the model 4 had almost full speed with the pedal barely moved. Having said that both had a great stitch and unless something else comes along I will be purchasing one of these.

Pete, that's a great idea and I will try it right now but wondering if the glue will bleed over some when I push the two parts together. Maybe I just put too much glue on. I will try and put less on than I normally do and use the tape.

I have a wallet that I'm trying to do that the pockets will be very close to each other and I need to glue them to hold until I get it stitched. Trouble is I only have 3/16" of an inch and when I glue it up it closes the pocket too much. This is cow embossed to look like gator so it is not smooth. I've not used any tape before but wondering if a very strong sewing tape would work. Any advice would be great.

Just went through this with our lawyer. If you have nothing better to do and a ton of money you can protect your name. If your last name isn't very common I guess that would be an easy way to keep others from using it. He told us a big corp like Coke spends millions per year protecting trademarks. We went round and round on a name and landed on one only to have a guy start up with the same name a few weeks later. He doesn't do leather but does do metal fab. Doesn't matter much to me as someday, hopefully soon I would love to just do leatherworking, other than seat pans, brackets and bars. He mainly does tanks, fenders and I think he hardtails some metrics as well. I'm not sure an origianl business name is even out there. We only have so many words in english to use .

It does seem to workout better when I try and turn right when the needle starts to feed. I need to order some right and left feet so I can get closer on my stitch line. What is the smallest thread the Boss runs without any trouble? Some of the colors I want are 207 at the biggest. I have heard of several guys using 207 in my other machine, 111w155 but I would rather just keep that machine for 69 and 138.

I changed the secondary tensioner to ccw and decreased the bobbin tension a bit. So far I really like the way it stitches. I now need to try and get corners to look better. Any tips on making corners looks as good as a straight section?

Just wanted to let anyone thinking of getting one while on sale the press is great. We had a bunch of new canopies for strollers at work come in with bad snaps. My boss said they "got a deal on them" and then went on to tell me we can ship them back and the factory will fix them but they will have the same problem again. I told him I could fix them so work paid for half of the press as well as the set up for 24 snaps. Everything you need is on sale right now and I just fixed a ton of them without one problem. I would have to guess I would have banged up a few doing this many and I would guess the press saved me 2 hours at least so far. Anyone who has ever finished making something and went to put a snap on and got the thing on half way or messed up the inside and it won't snap right these things are priceless. They have several other dies for rivets, eyelets, hole punch and I'm not sure what all.

I got it now. Thank you for the drawings the first is how I do it when I can turn everything. I will try the way you do it when you can't turn and see if I have any luck. I had both tensioners going clockwise but the old manual show I needed to change the secondary to counter clockwise. We love Tucson!! I have a fair amount of family in Casa Grande and try to get down that way when we can. Have a great trip.

I looked at an old Boss manual and it shows the secondary being wound the other direction from how I put it. I would guess the way I have it makes it much tighter on the top which would make sense that it could work with the bobbin being so tight. I'm going to change the top and take some tension out of the bottom and see how it goes. It seems odd they would have set it way too tight from the factory. Mlapaglia, I will have a go at the way you do it once I get the tension set right. I can tell the thing is going to sew great once I get myself dialed in. Do you have a picture so I know when I have it right? You can email it to me if you don't want to post it.

I love that thing!! I would like to have the pattern.

Then I guess the bobbin must be WAY too tight. If I grab the thread coming out of the plate with my thumb and index and bear down on the thread as hard as I can it will slip from my fingers before I can pull any thread from the bobbin. When I put two fingers on it and my thumb and pull I can pull some out. I'm pulling this to the rear of the machine in line of how I would stitch. I have the top set to what the factory says wouldnt that mean I would have to back off the top a good bit? This is just my slack of expierence but I will get there.

Thank you for the links, that was exactly what I needed. I do have another issue. How much pull should be on the bobbin thread? It seems very hard to pull and for whatever reason it seems to be too tight based on looking at the stitch at times and others times looks fine. I guess it may be right on the edge of either too much bobbin tension or not enough top tension. So which should I change, top or bottom? I think I remember seeing a guy tightening up both a bit at a time but it sure does seem very hard to pull out any bobbin thread. This is still the factory bobbin from new and whatever they have in it.

Ha yep I'm with ya. Laid there last night as I couldn't sleep and went through it in my head. I will have to see if I have a pair of needles small enough to do that and not bend. I have some size 0 but I think that is the smallest I have.

I have sent this to a few guys that have had trouble with the lack of adjustment. Years ago I worked as a tech in the printing industry. We had these optical switches all over small offset press. We had the same lack of adjustment problem and made a new part of out a frisbee. It was stiff enough to last and when you thin it down enough light will start to pass through it. It is a trial and error type thing for sure but we got it lined out. Of course the factory said they didn't have any problems with other machines around the world (this is THE standard answer you always get). The following year I was at a training class and someone brought the very problem up and all the sudden the room lit up with everyone having the same problem. About 1 month late the factory had to admit it and sent out an updated complete assembly. It's to bad such a good machine (from what a saw last week and have always heard would have such a flaw. I guess it is at least operator fixable, but if it is operator fixable it is dealer fixable if they wanted to. If this was a car it would be recalled for safety reasons, as I bet some lawyer could have a field day with it. Think if your car pedal worked this way.

I thought I had it in my head until you said 7 threads in one hole. I'm sure it is just the pain in my leg not letting me think about much else. It looks like back in the hospital on Monday. I sure hope they can save it as I kind of like it. My thought is 2 threads from the regular stitch, 2 threads from the saddle stitch and one thread pulled from the top to the back. So I get 5 in one hole but then again I'm in Missouri and we have our own math system here. Either way you guys have been a big help for sure. Ryan

This sounds great. Do you just saddle stitch say two stitches back and then bring both threads to the back and knot it and tuck? Or saddle stitch a few and then trim off? I like the look and feel of stitches not in a groove but a groove would really help with the look of start and stop.

I tried to search. Do you have a link or know what wording I need to search for? I like the idea of not having a double stitch at all if possible.

Very nice

I found someone selling a old clicker for 250.00 here in Kansas City. There is no way I can put something that size in my garage right now so I have to pass. I talked to the folks that have it and sounds like they used to do tack with it but haven't in roughly 6 years. 110 volt machine that takes up about 5'sq and weighs roughly 1000lbs. I would be happy to go look at it if someone would like me to for them. If you go to http://kansascity.craigslist.org/tls/3147604754.html you can see the ad. I know they have a way to load it on someones trailer. I would guess they are ok with storing for a reasonable time until it could be picked up. Anyway it seems like someone could get a bunch of good out of it so if I can help put things together for someone I would be glad to help.

First few runs of test stitches came out great. I used a full wrap around both tensioners and factory base settings as suggested by others. I like the look I get when I loock the stitch like I do with my 111w155. This is how I do it... I have heard others say they do it at least close to this as well. I sew a test run on a scrap of same weights I will be sewing then take the length of 3 total and start that far in from where you want the first stitch to be and sew towards the first stitch location, with the needle down in the hole of where the first stitch will be spin the leather 180 degrees and sew as normal putting the next two stitches in the same holes you made locking the stitch. I've not had any problem with doing it like this and with thinner thread (69 and 138) it doesn't stand out much. I'm not completely understanding the way Tippmann says to lock the stitch I guess. When I do it the way I understand them telling to do it I have a loop on the bottom and it looks bulky in general on the top as well. I would like to come up with a way to lock and have it look nice without turning the leather. One of the disadvantages of a smller throat machine I guess but there is no way I can turn one of the things I would like to sew. Would things work out ok if I started stitching just one stitch and then pulled it back and stitched that same stitch again and ran out like normal from there? My thinking is I wouldn't get that loop on the bottom then. I understand the start will never look as good as hand stitching but just trying to get it as good as I can. Most of the things I want to sew with this machine can have the sew pattern adapted to be able to sew in a circle and lock the stitch by sewing back over the first stitches when I complete the circle but everything.

I did 2 belts on my 111w155 this morning. 2 layer of 7oz with 138 thread in top and 92 in bobbin. It laid down a nice stitch even though I think that is a good bit beyond what it should do. I think a guy could run 207 on top without much trouble but I haven't tried it with this machine. I'm by no means a sewing machine expert like some here are just telling you what I did with mine this morning.

Solid work! I really like the first one.

Do you wrap the secondary and primary tension or just the primary?

Ya if you look at the foot just follow it uptil you see a screw that attaches it. Tighten that screw up or check to see if the threads are ok.