Anne Bonnys Locker

Wiz, how long will it take me to teach you lot that treadle is the only way to go? At the moment 90% of my business is hand crank and I am trying to upgrade them to treadle!

I have never seen an Adler 30-70 here in Australia but I want one!

Errr, Darren is the name . Anne Bonny is just the Pirate we named the business after (you need to be an Adam Ant fan to appreciate this). Best option is to actually replace the wiring rather than use the self amalgamating tape. The 15 is probably the best machine to play with as it is an oscillating shuttle. When it comes down to basics the 441 clones work exactly the same way so you will have a bloody good idea of the operating principals. BTW I may have full Phoenix decals available soon!

Lets be serious here. "Working condition" but parts are missing? Pull the other one - it whistles Dixie. If a machine is missing parts then there is a reason. Usually it has stopped working and been raped for parts so beware. Go back to the basics. What do you want to sew? See the thread started by Wiz and work out what machine you really need.

A quick look on the net and the parts list shows that this is a fabric sewing machine. Flat stick this thing will run #69 with an 18g needle. Pass it on and get something heavier but talk to someone like Bob Kovar before you spend anymore money. quote name='Greg612' timestamp='1334245912' post='243356'] I just got a singer 400w102 for free, I make holsters have been hand stiching but thought I might try the machine. Can anyone tell me the size thread and needle and if this machine can do the job. I have already tested to see if it will go throught he leather and it does without a problem but real fast. Anyway any and all help would be great. Greg

I think this machine is a fairly basic leather machine. Does your have the lube pot? What sort of shuttle does it have? As always pictures would be good.

I love old Iron! Often I get questions from people who have never used a sewing machine and want to learn so I will send them off to find a 15 or 201 to learn the basics. These are obviously not true leather machines but we all need to start somewhere so before they spend $2- 3k I want them to get a feel for basic sewing and learn how and why a machine works. If they decide that machine sewing is for them, then we talk about spending serious money.

The Necchi is probably a typical Italian piece of machinery - looks great and promises much but breaks down and costs a fortune to fix- but when it works it is great at what it does!

Hey Wiz, without doubt the 441 clone will make the 45k look ordinary but remember that these machines were the main harness machine for the best part of 70 years! Sure, the Pearson no6 was the saddlery machine for the heavy stuff but the 45k was and still is a fine machine. In an ideal world a 441 or a 205 clone would sit in the center of everyone's workshop but there is still room for the 45k/GA5. Every saddler I know has at least half a tonne of cast iron in his/her workshop and for the person doing lighter work I suspect we are being a bit heavy handed telling them to get rid of the older machines. I intend no disrespect here to your experience and knowledge - which are way beyond my meager abilities - but I think we often need to consider where people are actually starting from with their own experience and needs.

All of the following are the same thing: #69 TEX70 40 Ticket (European) 210d/3 (Asian) 40/3 (Combination Euro/Asian) etc. etc. etc. Confused yet? Well I am! Recently I ordered a couple of thousand rolls of High Tenacity Polyester from my Chinese supplier and the delivery confirmation came back as 40/3 which in the usual Asian system would be three core spider web but when questioned they advised that they are now using a "Europeanised" system!!!!!

Not entirely sure I agree with that Bob. The amount of dust, rubbish and even sand that I have found in machines that I have torn down and cleaned is scary. The 29k15 in the shop at the moment had wasp nests all through it!!!! Don't know what condition they are usually in when you see them but I tend to be the place of last resort for a lot of guys who buy machines on ebay so maybe I am just seeing the worst of the worst. Also my customer base is mostly rural so wasps etc are often an issue for machines sitting in sheds for 30 years.

I really should finish that automatic, stand-alone bobbin winder in production for patchers!

Have to agree with Ron there. Old does not mean bad! There are times that I have to tell a customer that the machine they have bought elsewhere is never going to do the job they want but it is best to try and get them to do some research on a site like this to find what they need.

A master saddler recently described repairing horse rugs as "throwing a bucket of sand at your machine". Keep it clean or those precision ground gears are going to wear. A conventional central bobbin machine is less prone to wear which is why the 132k6 is so popular for the job.

Anyone who spends time making obsolete machines work will tell you that you require a large collection of hammers (or a collection of large hammers) and be able to swear fluently in several languages because one just isn't enough!

One of the big problems is that we use bonded nylon thread which is coarse, abrasive and strong. A heavier thread in core spun poly would not do as much damage but would not suit the work.

Golden rule with any sort of machinery: If there is metal to metal contact - oil it!

Most of my contact with Steve comes from drooling over the magnificent toys he lists for sale although I have sold him a machine.

Did you buy that from Steve?

Thanks Bob, A very useful machine but I might leave it on the backburner for now.

I have been offered some second hand Seiko CW-8B machines at a very good price but they are not a machine I know a great deal about. On paper they look to be an attractive proposition being cylinder bed with compound feed but they have not been spoken about much here. Does anyone have any experience - good or bad with these babies? The seller claims that 1/2" of veg tan with 277 is no problem. Is this so?

Plenty of leatherwork over the last century was done on the Singer 45k25 which is what the GA5-1 is based on but there are better options. The majority of GA5-1 production is probably the non-reverse model but it is better to have it.

I have taken the prototype along to a couple of shows and have proved that the world really is mad. While I intended the machine to be an attention grabber I never expected it to be something that anybody would want but there is demand for it and I am holding several orders!!!!!!!