forbeskm

I have been happy with my Nicko Sew analog servo and they have provided great service for a post-bed I purchased from them. I am also happy with my other knock off analog servo from Ralphs Power Sew in denver. I recommend a local shop if you can find one, Nicko Sew was great to work with over the phone. Make sure your pulley is small enough, that can really help out. You can always add a speed reducer if you want it to crawl. I am not partial to the clutches they take a bit getting used to.

I just saw a Kingmax 206 (Consew Clone) on craigslist for 600. That's a good price. They usually go for 900-1200 or so used at a dealer. Great machine and it has the safety clutch button thingy to put it back in time. I like the bigger bobbin. Sews through vinyl, leather and webbing with no problem.

Check out the 99 superior catalog on http://supsew.com/ Should give you an idea what is available. You have to go to your local sewing shop to order.

Thanks, I didn't find my serial there (starts with W736) but I found http://www.singerco.com/support/machine-serial-numbers/single-letter which shows single letter starting with W for 1911. I thought the 51w54 was from the 50's.

I finally have my used Singer Post Bed 51w54 from Nick-O Sew all setup and happy. I am almost ready to try my hand at men's hiking boots. I may add on a speed reducer though at the moment the servo works quite nicely. Does anyone know how to tell how old a Singer is?

Great Job! I want!

I think I am getting that Nickosew myself for my post-bed I have on order from them, I have talked to Nick and he has a nice setup. I am not sure on the service yet as this is the first time working with them but they have a huge presence so I doubt they wouldn't support things. That said the NKS 5500 is an analog and I am guessing its like my Consew analog servo and doesn't give the bump control with the pedal I think you can get with a digital servo. Be interested to hear people who have both a digital and a analog servo on the differences.

I have a consew servo on my Kingmax 206 clone. I dropped the 70mm pulley down to a 1 3/4 I think and now I can get it to go quite slow. I pondered the reducer but its anywhere from 125-145, I may save that for when I get a post-bed where I'll need slow for tight turns. I think the torque is fine for what I do, I can always hand wheel helper it. If you are going from a clutch to a servo I don't think you'll be unhappy. I have seen the digital servos out there and youtube videos on how to turn them down more but they are 160+ on ebay so I went with the pulley change on my analog.

One just came up in my neck of the woods. http://denver.craigslist.org/bfs/4135197231.html I'd get one if I had infinite garage space. This too was painted white too and not terribly well. I am dabbling in shoes but so far I don't see any need for a tacker, an outsole stitcher but not a tacker

Great job! I was thinking of giving bags a shot and those look great!

Bob Kovar at http://www.tolindsewmach.com/ I am told, just sent him an email for one. You can search for him here and see a description of the 3 to 1 gear reduce servo. Nice deal for 500 btw! A steal.

You have done well for a week! You must have some past artistic experience ?

I am guessing regular stitching with a foam pad sewn in. Usually you have a pad in the tongue anyways so they did some decorative stitching over top. Check out auto upholstery they do a lot of that kind of thing. Try some decent vinyl remnants at your local fabric store, auto trim supply, shoe finding place. Then contact cement some foam to of a sample piece for the tongue and then sew your stitches to get your look. An auto upholstery place should have some foam if you can't find a shoe finding place nearby. A shoe repair shop if you have one handy can help you as well. At least I think that is what you were asking.

Thanks, I take it there isn't a manual out there for these things?

Very nice! Nothing like that goes on in my neighborhood, everything starts at 700 on up

Thanks! Good to know, I have a 2 15/32 long 11/64 in diameter pin that was rolling around in the box when I got it. Any idea where it goes? It has a tapered end on one end about 1/2" covered in corrosion, and about 5/8 covered in corrosion on the other end.

Bump, going to start taking this apart today. Will post any issues I find.

Depending where you are, look for a design incubator. Denver has the Denver Design Incubator, they have free sewing on wednesdays! Not the largest selection of machines, but they have flatbeds, walking foots, sergers, etc. Look around where you are, I am sure you can find a contract sewer who you can befriend and get some time.

I picked up a Landis 5 in 1 on ebay for a decent price. Since it needs a few parts I was pondering taking it apart, cleaning, sand blasting, powder coat and put it all back together. Are there any guides out there other than the parts diagram? Any gotchas on taking one apart and putting it back together? Should I just replace my parts and leave it alone? Thanks, MIke

Feel free to pm, I'll send you my email/phone. I am happy to help out anyone on what little I know on shoes from my week of making boots. I was at Bonney and Wills just 2 weeks ago, check out there facebook page. I highly recommend them and if you have sewn like you have its so much easier.

Maybe I can help on the shoe/boot school side of the world. I just attended shoemaking.com, Bonney and Wills Hiking boot class and I am looking at starting to makes shoes here myself. His courses are great, 7 days long and you get pretty much full hands on the sewing machines, except for the Landis but I am sure we could have asked. Bill had several machines, flat bed, post-bed, and an Artisan TORO-3200. We mainly used the post-bed with a roller foot for sewing up the uppers, these did a great job. I found a local place near me that has a post-bed so thats next on my list. We could have used the flat bed for most but it would have been more work and not as much fun. The large cylinder isn't needed for shoes but its cool to have apparently. Bill used to pre-punch holes for hand stitching the backs of the quarters on the boots. He said you can stitch the outsole of a shoe but its difficult as you have to sew upside down and it depends how close you need to get to the last. We were using multiple post-bed machines, he had old singers, 168W, 236, Artisan 5110, Artisan 4618. He also had quite a few flatbeds, one was a Juki 8700, Note, the Artisan 5110 was more than enough to do what we needed and my top leather was 8-10 oz bison and I had no problems sticthing the liner to it with bottom feed and roller on top. He had top and bottom feed singers, artisan and walking feet, and he recommended the roller with the bottom feed post-bed if you were only to get one machine. A post-bed makes sense to make shoes though the work area is small. The roller feed is great for making shoes, I would not want a needle feed or walking foot as it would just be that much harder to see where its all going, the roller follows lines with ease. I have a consew 206rb clone at home with the needle feed/walking foot so I can use that if I need more than the post can handle. Landis 12/K, a 800 pound behemoth is used for stitching the sole on the outside. A Landis McKay 88A was used to stich inside the shoe for the insole to the midsole. Both of these are shoe machines of a past era Pilgrim carries them as does craigslist, look for a shoe place closing. I figure I can hand stitch until I fully commit. Or I can take my few pairs down to a shoe repair place and have them run one of these old sticthers for me, a lot cheaper and leave me more room in my already small place. All depends what shoes you want to make. We were using 46 up to 92 thread, I doubt you would need to go higher, maybe 138 for looks. The 3200 artisan cylinder does 69-415 so it might be a good compromise, though it would not have the roller foot like the post-bed. I am not familiar with kevlar and nomex so I'll defer to Wiz and others here to recommend a cylinder machine. Most of my research there was on the post-beds. Happy to talk more about shoes if you are interested.

Add as well.

There are far more qualified folk who can chime in here, but if you want to do multiple different stitches a industrial machine is probably not for you. The industrials typically do one thing very well. I have a Consew 206 clone which is a needle feed walking foot flatbed straight stitch, great for leather and webbing and thick material but not so much for fine fabric. There are plenty of industrials that will sew fine fabric but usually not in a bunch of different sticthes on one machine. If you want computerized embroidery, it looks like you want more of a home machine style. Something like Janome and Bernina may be what you are looking for an all around multi stitch with computer options. They can sew leather but let me define leather as the thin stuff 2-3 oz. This forum can help you out with a leather machine to fit a task or general application but it will not do most of what you ask above. For home I use a Janome DC4030 for fabrics that I don't run on the Consew 206 clone and its a great machine. I'd go to some local dealers in your area and do some research on your options.