Gump

My Toro 3200 came with white lithium grease on the drive gears at the base of the machine behind the little swinging covers. That would be very good lube, as it doesn't drip off and is much easier to spray on rather than trying to get oil in there. So yes it is factory grease and proper for the purpose. As for the waxed thread, not needed, just use bonded nylon.

No this is not normal. Check that the latch is clicking when you put the bobbin case in place, and if not check for debris or plastic shims! Also check that the bobbin is sitting flush in the bobbin case, and that it is the right bobbin for the machine. Your hook should be even with the plate screwed on just about on top of the hook. Lastly, are the needles 135 x 17 size?

Round points are also known as sharps. My machine was acting up a couple of years ago, and I had dirt build up under the bobbin case tension spring. Cleaning helped for a while and then I just changed out the bobbin case. I bought my machine used and it came with two new bobbin cases so I guess that is a wear item to be changed regularly as needed. No visible trouble with bobbin case, but a change solved my problems.

I have the same machine and use a 20 or 21 size round point needle in vinyl with 92 thread. Bobbin tension should be just enough to pull thread straight as you pull it out of the machine. Once set, forget about your bobbin tension and just use your top adjustments. I can sew 2 layers of vinyl or 2 layers of 8oz vegtan with the same settings. Needle and thread charts are made for sewiong fabric. Most times vinyl and leather will require going up 1 needle size from recomendations due to grab of the vinyl.

With an 800 watt motor at 5:1 reduction, a speed reducer is not needed. It will run slower than cold molasses now.

Why not have the best of both worlds and get a Consew or similar cylinder arm machine with removable flatbed attachment. I have both a 206RB3 and a 227R cylinder arm and I use the cylinder arm for most lighter sewing, wallets bags etc. It is much easier to work with the cyl. arm machine, more space and room to manuever. I have a servo with needle positioning, and it won't work with speed reducers, so I am set up so I can bypass my speed reducer for high speed commercial sewing with needle positioning on.

The Artisan Toro is a 12" version of a 441 clone. Mine came with a 800 watt servo with a 2" pulley, and a 10" hand wheel pulley, giving you 5:1 reduction. All other specs match Cobra, cowboy and techsew. Had mine for about 8 yrs and only one adjustment was needed once the machine was broke in.

Thread comes in right and left hand twist. One is for each needle. The wrong twist will unwind because of the bobbin spinning opposite direction.

Dieseltech; Consew 227R is a cylinder arm version of the 206 RB. It has pretty much the same specs as the flatbed, except for the bobbin size, which is slightly smaller. I have both machines, and would keep the 227 if only allowed to have one. You can always put a flatbed on the cylinder arm.

Yes, that is the bobbin case opener. Put the bobbin case back in place and simply bend the opener up until it is level with the triangle tab on the bobbin case that it pushes to open the thread release, allowing the thread to pull around the bobbin. It looks like it only needs a mm or so of lift. To high and it can hit the cover.

I would suggest looking for a refund. That noise is mechanical, like the armature is out of round, and is hitting something inside the motor. I don't think it will cure itself until whatever is hitting breaks off or grinds away.

Get a treadle machine.

At 5:1 ratio, a sewquiet 6000 will give you 40 stitches per minute minimum. Thats 1.5 seconds per stitch, that is slooooow.

Fibersport; What machine are you putting a servo on? Sewing at 1.7 stitches a second is a snails pace. You will grow tired of that really fast. These new servos have full torque at minimum rpm. I have the same variety of servo on Techsew 3800/cb 3200, and I removed the speed reducer as it wasn't necessary. It eases the needle through 1/2" vegtan for fun. My Artisan Toro also has a digital servo with 5:1 reduction that sew 7/8" without a hesitation. I can't compare them to a Consew servo, but I don't have a lack of torque problem.

Guess I misunderstood also. But to reiterate, the throat plate and feed dog are not a problem as far as marking the leather. I have yet to have any noticeable marks on my work.

Hate to argue with Reliable, but my Sewquiet 6000 runs at 198 rpm minimum at a steady rate. I used a laser tach directly on the motor pulley.

Techsew has narrow and regular width foot sets for $30cdn. Stateside - Cutex sewing supplies has pretty much all available feet for 111 singer which all fit Consew 206.

Check the linkage that runs the walking feet, If they are out of time, the linkage can bind on the inside of the case on the back side. Your presser foot doesn't appear to be moving the same amount as your walking foot. They should alternate an even amount for best performance. iI

Smooth bottom walking foot sets are readily available for that machine for 30 -40 bucks. The throat plate serrates aren't deep enough to leave marks, and I have no problem with feed dog marks either. If your feed dog is still sharp on the edges, just smooth the sharp parts off and try it before bothering to grind it away, as you can't put it back on. Btw I am running a 206 RB 3 with moderate presser foot pressure.

At dead slow, you can pretty much feel the fields of the motor as it almost bumps from one to the next. With a needle positioner you get 1 stitch for one tap of the pedal.

I can run the needle slow enough to thread it on the way down. Ramp up is as slow as you can ease the pedal down. Slowing down is a little more abrupt, but that is because of so little resistance from the pedal.

Your speed setting doesn't have any bearing on slow speed start. My Sewquiet 6000 is set on maximum with a speed reducer. I can do 1 stitch at a time or 1183 spm flat out. Without reducer I get max machine speed at setting 22 out of 30. For high speed work the motor can be set higher, but you lose slow speed start. I got this from the manual, as it isn't in the spec. literature. So apparently it has slow start speed built in.

I have a pattern pack from McCall's, #6289, that has a similar hat plus a ball cap and sun hat. It also has a tie pattern and men's vest patterns. The pattern pack is copyright 1992 so may be hard to find. If you can't locate one, message me as I will part with mine.

Gil has Fiebings much cheaper than Tandy.

So maybe hope for Lonsdale Leather as they import and bottle their own dye. Not Fiebings, but alcohol based quality dye.