Anne Bonnys Locker

Hi Jim, You have yourself a very fine machine but more importantly some magnificent friends!

I muck around with old machines for a living and sometimes I get out of my depth. I just have to back away and realise that it is just as much fun as when it was a hobby.

The hole is 17 1/2" X 6 1/2" on my table with a small cut out to allow the bearing blocks to fit at each end. Don't treat it as a serious project - just have some fun!

The beauty of my business is that I have started with the absolute basic product - a wertheim, Bradbury type clone. The next step for them is a 45k type machine. Eventually some will move up to a 441 clone.

If you want to do decorative stitching work then a compound feed is possibly more of a hindrance than a help. Go back to your 45k type machine. Thanks to Jim Beaton for this information as he is a master saddler and has forgotten more than most people on this site ever knew about stitching leather.

Now, if you had taken up that Cowboy distributor agreement you would have access to the full range of options!

Like any other machine you just plonk it on a table. I have one with the original two speed treadle base

If the 7-33 is available for a couple of hundred bucks then buy it. Use it to do repairs to horse rugs and heavy canvas. Whatever money you make from this can be put away toward a proper leather machine.

Personally I am not a fan of using compressed air on sewing machines.

Great machine for horse rug repairs but keep the bottom end clean by regularly flushing with kerosene. Oil the gears but don't use grease as this will do nothing but attract lots of dust and sand.

Put a 441 clone on a treadle. Great control, both hands free and a better machine all 'round. Simple technology is the best.

There are differences between the machines in that the outer retainer is flat while the inner is stepped. I have just tried the GA5 parts on a 45k and they appear to fit with a bit of modification. 1/ The grooves on the outside of the inner ring (the ones to accommodate the two studs) are smaller on the GA5 so these will need to be ground out slightly to fit - not a biggie. 2/ The 45k I am testing on is not a runner so I cannot give it a test but I suspect the shuttle is too tight. A cardboard shim is probably all it needs - once again, not a big issue. The GA5 is a good machine but I would strongly suggest you work on getting the 45k going!

In the Servo motors I have played with there is certainly incremental speed control off the foot pedal. The linkage is connected to an iron core which moves through a field to give you additional control. Try adjusting the linkage on the motor itself to give it more travel.

The best investment you could make right now is a copy of the manual for your machine. Go through it page by page and make yourself familiar with everything in that book. In the long term this will save you money and time. A good percentage of the machines that people ask me to fix have nothing wrong with them that a working knowledge of the owners manual would not have cured.

Does the machine have a safety clutch?

I deal with a lot of people who have no experience and not enough money for the right machine so I send them away to look for an old Singer 15, Pfaff 30 or 1950's Japanese straight stitch machine to start the process off. Most of the central bobbin machines will happily run #92 all day long and the customer can learn to sew on lightweight leather while saving money for a bigger machine - best of both worlds.

There is lots of fun to be had with old machines. Everyone who uses a machine should learn how to time it as this is the most basic function of any machine.

Hi Chris, I have a 45k25 and a GA5-1and will compare the parts tomorrow. There is a long term plan to work out which GA5 bits fit the 45k but I am waiting for a full kit of parts to try it all out.

You don't mention where you are. Parts for the 31-20 are available brand new even in Australia!

Roller foot/roller feed 31-18

I think Wiz mentioned on another thread using "Tool Magic" or similar - available from beading suppliers to fix the foot marking problems. My own experiments with this have been very positive. Nobody is against the patcher but like all machines it has its limitations. It is probably not the ideal machine to start with but certainly has a place in any well equipped workshop.

I would have to ask the question, and It is the sort of question I would ask one of my customers - Do you need a genuine Juki? Any salesman - and I am sure this includes Tech-Sew - will ask what you are going to do with the machine. If you need a machine to bang away through heavy product 8 hours per day at speed in a production situation then I would probably suggest a Juki even though I couldn't sell you one. OTOH in saddlery it is low speed and relatively low use so one of the clones will give you decades of reliable service.

You don't know what control is until you have used a treadle.

I see that you have pulled it all apart but have you tried after cleaning all of the crap out of the race and reassembling it? Recently I fixed a 45k that someone else had determined was "stuffed" with a simple clean. On another "broken" machine the screws on the shuttle driver shaft were loose! Jim Saddler gave me a bit of advice (and I think Bob mentioned it here too) that you need to back the timing off a fraction for heavier leather. I fixed another "buggered" machine with this method recently. There seems to be a nasty groove in the retainer ring. Is there a raised 'welt'?

Looks to be one of the Japanese built 132 series machines but if it is missing the stitch length lever then I would be very worried about the overall condition.