toxo

I haven't gone into it too much but the servo I put on my Durkopp 239 goes down to five but the one that came with the Adler 69 I just bought starts at sixteen and I can't get it any lower???

I'm not familiar with that machine but I get one stitch at a time by replacing the hand wheel with a 170mm pulley and a smaller pulley on the servo motor.

Well so far so good. I made a die based on the altered pattern. I also left it longer at the bottom so it can accomodate a smaller band size. Eight panels cut. We'll see how we get on tomorrow.

Well age catches up with all of us. I'll let you know how it works out.

I think I've solved it. The pattern comes with different sizes and either a six panel option or an eight panel option. If I leave the widest part of the panel for the "puff" I can redraw the bottom of the curve according to panel option and head size ie, divide the band size by six or eight which will give the distance from center seam to center seam. Does that make sense?

I think I've figured it out. I'll alter the curve on the pattern so the individual panel size at the bottom equals whatever size the sweatband is. Here's what I ended up with.

I suspect there's no answer to this but you never know what lurks in the minds you clever guys and gals on here. I'm trying to make a newsboy hat from a Dieselpunk.ro pattern. This pattern was designed for hand stitching which I'm trying to avoid as much as possible. Ther are 8 panels, all french seams so three rows of stitches per panel. That's a lot of stitches. I managed to machine those ok. The problem comes when you get to joining the panels to the sweatband. Because of the "puff" to the hat there's a lot more hat than band. Tony See (Dieselpunk.ro) does it by clever use of the stitches. By using wider spaced holes on the hat than on the band each stitch pulls on the hat and closes down the circumference. If doing it with fabric you could simply put one or two pleats in but you can't do that with leather. On the prototype I put a cut in each panel and overlapped to close the distance. Maybe the answer is to start with a bigger still cirircumference, and make a bigger cut which can be stiched on the inside. Not struck on the cut idea because you're always ending up with nothing to sew at the end of the cut. So come on you smart people. What's the answer? At the end of the day I've cut out a considerable amount of hand stitching and will do the rest by hand if neccessary but we all love a challenge don't we! I've said a mouthful I know and I hope I've made it clear. Thanks guys.

This kind of question is nigh on impossible to answer because there are so many variables to consider. Apart from the usual, on an older machine the hole in the stitchplate might be too big and if the presser foot doesn't hold it the needle will poke it down the hole on thinner material. I've learned that each machine is different and the only way to find out is trial and error I'm afraid. Find some cheap thread/needles and experiment. A rough check on needle size (because thread is notoriously marked mysteriously or not at all) is the right size needle should slide on the thread when held at 45 degrees. Good luck!

It comes in at least two profiles, bevelled both sides or just one side. I don't hink it matters for what we do. If IRC there's one smaller than the other. The smaller one comes 100 x 1 meter pieces in a box, the bigger one comes 60x 1 meter pieces in a box. The trick is bending it. DIY is fine for the amount that I do.

That's a Discus. It's a Cichlid and for a freshwater fish it's one of the most beautiful. Comes in many colours these days. My favourite. Here'a younger one.

Nice job and welcome to the forum. Incidentally, my user name is short for toxophilite.

As above.

This is getting more complicated that it needs to be.Don, you're looking at it from a collector type point of view but the OP and many others including myself a while back who don't know one end of a sewing machine from the other just want the simple stuff. If a machine comes up for sale locally for what looks like a reasonable price I don't want to spend a week trying to find out if it will do WHAT I WANT IT TO DO. Forgive the caps. I promise I'm not shouting. A list of desirable features is what's needed. Not a list of machines. If a local machine looks like it might do and has the required features, THEN invest the time to find out how high on the desirable machines list it comes. My first machine was a boat anchor. I bought it cos it was local, it was cheap because it had a screeching motor and I thought "I can fix that". I put new bearings in it and had it purring by which time I'd found out it was a garment machine running at 4000 miles an hour and completely the opposite of what was needed.

I can see where the OP is coming from. It's not just newbies that would like a simple list. Of course you can't list everything inc subclasses but if the desirables are listed for each part of the hobby, any potential buyer can look closer or discount whatever machine is on sale. For example, when I recently looked for a cylinder arm I didn't know until a few conversations on here that having the needle close to the end of the arm is desirable if you want to sew gussets.

Are we talking about a lego'mutton type case or a rectangular case? I suspect if it has a zip it's the former.

Solentsew! Great shout guys. sailing andUV protection must go together. Why didn't I think of that?

Thanks gunny but I'm continually dissapointed with Abbeys prices. Can't bring myself to pay more than twice what others charge.

Figured it out! Now another problem. Since playing with various bobbins/threads/needles/stitch length It seems to just deposit a stitch in every OTHER hole but behaves itself better in reverse.

I already know it's not right because the thread jumps out of the little hook.

Really pleased. Slowing it down was a must. Now I can't get the needle thread path right for the life of me. It's that last bit before the check spring. It just makes no sense to me. The stupid diagrams are useless, the way they show it could be either direction. C'mon guys. Draw a little diagram for the thicko .

Fixed it! Tamed it! For once a project went right. Found a 40mm pulley with the same straight bore and keyway as the motor on the 69. The profile was slightly different though and I had to chop a bit off the original to make it work. Went straight on after lengthening it and there was even enough adjustment to tighten up the belt. Now can do one stitch at a time.

Thanks mate. That's all I need for now. Don't bother with the other one.

Thanks dikman. I've never seen a center foot with with just half a hole, A dealer on the other side of London is selling an almost identical 372 for £2000 so I figure I haven't been ripped off. I struggled a bit until I cut down on the bobbin thread. Now there's no clunking and the work pulls away freely. I'd be grateful for that manual, even in German it's better than nothing even if it just shows nthe oil holes. mine has no red anywhere. I found a YouTube vid of the servo under the name of Jegon. It's in Russian or something but I worked out that the top button shows F1 or F2 but if you press and hold it's d1 or d2 which it turns out is for direction foreward or reverse,. Don't know what F1/F2 is about. Then we have P1/2 or 3 which is a program I know but for what? The speed at the bottom goes up to 41 but starts at 16 which is the problem. Maybe there's a sequence that changes it but I haven't found it.

Me too folker! Clearly misrepresented but as it turns out it's ok. How much difference it makes to the price I don't know but it grips and moves the leather nicely and stitches well so i'm happy. I'll need to slow the motor down considerably (I still have "L" plates up don't forget.). First is the controller. Does anyone have the instructions for this motor? I can't get it below 16 at the moment. Once I get that figured out I'll change the motor pulley I don't know how feasible it is to change the handwheel for a bigger pulley the way I've done my Durkopp 239 which is a joy to use speedwise. There's only one set of feet which look a bit odd to me, (zipper foot/binder foot?)

I'm hoping Constabulary comes up with something. He usually does. I'm happier now I've had a little play with it. It does seem to have a back and forth feed rather than oscillating but it lays down a nice stitch and is in line forward and back. must get the motor slowed down though.