Undeadzombiehunter

I feel your pain, a decent press is worth its weight in gold. I would love a heritage press from weaver but at $700 plus shipping to australia would be too much. I bought an vintage fly press and some dies from the interweb and machined them down to fit and tapped the dies to fit. But I have a lathe. I ended up making some additional dies. Pic attached I doubt you will have any joy using a press on solid copper rivets, they need peening or setting with a tool and hammer. Cheers, Tony

I suggest it needs a service. How hard is the wheel to turn when to notch in the button? It should be quite easy. If it is so hard as to trip the clutch, then you have a seized part. If it is easy to turn the wheel when the button in pressed the the clutch might be the problem. Does the clutch ever open when sewing? Send it to a mech. Tony

Take the 206. That price for a new 206 is good. I would take the Consew any day. Tony

Steve, they look great. Nice and consistent engineering. You are inspiring me to get into the workshop and make a drop down sewing guide. Btw, remember that french swing press i bought. It came up a treat with a cleanup and paint. I bought a set of dies, double cap rivet and a set of four snaps. They all needed the anvil turning down to fit, and the dies all needed shorting, turning down and threading to 5/16 24 tpi. They were all great, all but one which was over hardened in the factory and i could not cut it. So. I just turned up a replacement and they are all setting much better then the old hammer and hope method. Sorry don't plan on hijacking the thread. Tony

I really like the result, nicely done. Just as well you don't have bedazzeller set. That result would have been a bit over the top. Tony

Consew 226

I doubt it. I am sure Sizes don't simply increase in every dimension proportionally. Tony

I would disassemble the jacket and trace them on to paper to make the pattern. Make sure there is plenty of paper around the drawn pattern to allow the re-drafting. If there are panels that are cut up or damaged, simply lay them flat and glue a layer of some stiff fabric over it to give the integrity required. Then using another jacket than fits you, lay the pattern pieces over your fitting jacket and extrapolate the changes by drawing around the pattern those areas that need correction. Most jacket etc, have common pieces, front left, front right, yoke, sleeves etc. Note: be wary of the right and wrong sides, and leave sufficient seam allowance around the actual part size. I have done this once, on a simpler garment and it worked well. Tony

Very nice job. The stitching looks great and the design beautifully executed. The leather selection, design features and stitching color work very nicely together. Are the two dorsal seams a deliberate feature or a necessity due the the size of or shape of the hide? Either way it works. What leather is it? Tony

Very nice, clean and precise work. Hand stitched I assume. I need one of those axe head covers, very tempting. What color dye did you use on the axe head covers? Tony

While I am very happy with my seiko stw-8b (consew 226) i want to keep it that way. In side the machine, and I mean right up inside is a lot of old lint and gunk. I assume it would be a good idea to clean this out, but just cant figure how? It almost needs a hose out. I have heard of older machines being soaked in kero, but not sure about the later models. And know that after whatever i do it would need a good re-oil. I do want to pull the machine apart if it can be avoided. Any ideas. Tony

I love my 226, and as long as you take it easy it can sew #277 thread, just watch the bobbin, as it does not hold a lot of heavy thread so just keep an eye on it with long runs. Since the machine is such a steal, once you are certain all is right with it, I would fit a servo motor. Much easier to control than a clutch, and while you can learn to control a clutch motor, i can get 1/2 stitch level of control. I fit a heavy foot plate and feed dog, which has a larger hole in it which is more forgiving when dealing with leather and the inevitable needle bending. This does however present a blackhole that can suck in very light weight fabric, but this is not a machine for sewing silk. I really like mine as you might have guessed.

Why not use a leather for the hinge? It is strong, flexible and leather.

You misunderstand me, where do you sell your trays? I would love to buy one

Just to lcose tjis out, I did sell the juki, within 24 hours of posting on gumtree, for $600. So,back to one machine and so far so great. Tony

Thank you. I have been googling your business but can't find it. Do you have an online store? How do you market these. Tony

Can you tell me the color code for the green. Did you dye it yourself or was the leather drum dyed that color when you got it. My wife is after a handbag that color. Tony

As an archer i would love one of these. Beautiful work. That basket weave is a great affect when done well, you have such a nice job. Was the ray very hard to stitch? I have tried before and just could not get the stitch hole where i wanted it, they went where the ray wanted them to go :-( Tony

So I needed a padded camera bag that would protection my DSLR and lenses but also wanted a soft-ish messenger bag, and thought I could make one that serves both purposes. Firstly I made a canvas tray/carry thingy. It is heavy canvas encasing 6 mm close cell foam and al velcro assembled to maximum rearranging. Based on those dimensions I made a messenger bag using some drum dyed blue 2 mm leather lined with cotton Dusk, and a thin layer of bamboo wading. Man I learned a lot about fabric, binding and other none leather stuff. The Seiko STW-8B (Consew 226r) performed perfectly. Maximum sewing was 7 layers of 2mm leather, with one layer of wadding and two layers of cotton duck. For that max part I did have to remove the presser foot and basically operated as a needle feed for that 5 inches or so. The bag is over size, I contrasted the blue with saddle tan, wrapped the strap under the bag and stitched through for maximum security, the camera is heavy and expensive. When not carrying the camera the liner can be simply lifted out and I have a large messenger bag. I finished it off with a "tree-of-life" concho. I know the colors might not be to everyones taste, but I had the blue side and nothing else to do with it.. I think the mopst interesting challenge was the internal binding, it looks a little rough, but only God is perfect right? Design on the fly is a lot of fun, and I have learned a lot about my new sewing machine. I love it. Any comments would be most welcome. Cheers All, Tony

Anything form upholstery leather to garment leather. Almost anything will do, it is all design dependent. I assume you are machine sewing, in which case lighter is better, if you are going to line it.

These are wonderful heavy duty machines with little wear out on them. One limit is with very light weight sewing and thread. Thread below #96, M40 or so struggled. The trouble was usually getting enough bobbin tension on the light weigh thread. These built like tanks, heavy, bullet proof and a pleasure to use and to just have in the shop. And they hold their value. I would keep the roller foot, they are hard and expensive to find. As this is designed for saddle harness work, i did find the feed dog dig mark the underside. One trick is the paint the dog with liquid latex, which fills in the grooves a bit and softens the marks. Tony

Wiz, i thought the speed dial only changes the max speed and has no other affect when starting and at low speed. But you have mentioned that it does reduce torque at startup and low speed. Is that correct? I understand the low startup torque I did not realise that the changing of max speed also degraded startup. Tony

I have had this rpoblem and still do sometimes. I am sure it is not the anvil. I have experienced this with cheap snaps, or when the material is too thin. I am sure what you are seeing is the internal post compromising the cap shape from inside, which could be the result of being over driven withe thin material, the post has to go back soemwhere if there is insufficient material to contain some of the post material. Do you have a photo of the cap attched to the material, say a few mm's of leather. Just my guess, others might have bettr explaination, I just didn't want to leave you hanging. Tony

G'day all. I recently bought a nice Seiko STW-8B which as far as i can see is al a Consew 226r and there is a brother and singer variant. The machine came from a known dealer with a new table and new servo. Man i love that thing. Being able to sew slow, even 1/2 cycle at a time. Even without an enps, i can jab and get the needle up or down. Anyway, where I need advice. The machine,only came with one set of feet, and that was a 1/4 inch piping set. What feet variations should I buy? I have order a standard set, but are there others that would be useful . I have considered a top stitch set. As i am making bags, and pouches i also need to sew fabric lining on occasion. Cheers, Tony

I have found it hard to machine sew with. While my 45k would easily sew m8 or thicker, it struggled with the braid. I think this is due to a number of reasons. When being fed from the bobbin, it lies flat, and therefore gets a twist as it feeds through the spring of the bobbin. Is quite thin on the flat while a couple of mm's wide. I think it also struggled to form a loop for the hook to catch. I have given up on machine sewing it, though i understand others have had some success. I use it exclusively now for hand stitching. Tony