mikesc

Software /freeware /open source .."libre office" can be installed on any windows /mac/ linux machine..and can open any microsoft word files..even the ones made with older versions of MS word..MS word itself has problems opening files made with different versions of itself...For PDF files you can use sumatra ( more secure than adobe PDF reader ) linux has an inbulit PDF reader..mac has it's own too..for android ( phones and tablets ) there are various apps that can read word files and others than can read PDF..the better of the latter ( and it is free ) is called "file reader"..any portable ebook type reader can read PDFs..I have one ( the size of a slim paper back book ) with thousands of PDF files on it , from sewing machine manuals to Terry Pratchet, goes everywhere with me..all our phones can read word and PDFs and other "ebook "formats. "libre office" can also create PDF files from other formats..as can "calibre" ( ebook managment software ) calibre can transform files from one format to another.. ..it is available for mac /windows and linux and also in portable and 64 bit versions..totally safe..get it from calibre ( or your OS repo ) ..wonderful bit of software.

Took the words right out of my mouth there Uwe 220v or 380v is fine by me ( and most of us on the right side of the pond ), but , I'm thinking given that the major demographic of leatherworker.net is in the USA that it would need to be also available in 110v monophase 50/60 version , not many people have 380 3 phase at home.Is elastictrickery the same way up in OZ ?

Try holding the tip of an electric soldering iron* ( switched on )to outside of the needle bar where the needle is broken off..even a small amount of heat should make the needle bar expand by "a gnats smidgen" and in doing so the hole where the needle is stuck in should get just a little loose around the broken needle shaft so it will drop out. * don't use a soldering iron with any kind of flame or you'll risk setting fire to the machine oil on the needle bar and any built up lint..which would be sad.

Needle sizes and threads guide.. http://tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html For speed control ..get a servo motor and a speed reducer.. for threads here about them copy and paste this next line into any search engine. site:leatherworker.net servo motor speed reducer Btw..Here is a link about thread that should keep you busy reading http://www.thethreadexchange.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TTE&Category_Code=polyester-thread-information

Like dikman said the thread should not be wrapped around the little pin in the the 3rd photo, it should go directly from the tension discs down to the the spring controller.. that little pin is there to stop the tension discs from rotating and thus releasing tension, it is absolutely not there to wrap the thread around..and the person who made the video that says that you should wrap the thread around the pin should be taken out and beaten with a clue by four..and the video ( and any thing on the web that is based upon it, should be taken down and burned or nuked from off planet ( it is the only way to be sure )..passing the thread around the pin is an abomination and will always end in tears and gnashing of teeth.

Many years ago I container shipped red UK phone boxes ( the ones that had all the small windows, that British Telecom were scrapping ) to the USA.. Worked out rather well financially :-) However the last time I sent things direct to customers in the USA, ( via parcel post ) the delays due to US customs were so long that many of my customers complained about the delays ( as if it was my fault ! ) fedex etc don't seem to have those delays, but most customers did not want to pay what fedex et al charge from France to USA. Container loads of "antiques" from EU to USA can be lucrative.. Also shipped many thousands of 501s ( new and used ) from USA to France, along with other clothing items and collecters items like swatch.. Freight and even fedex etc is cheap from USA to France, but expensive when it goes the other way..Even within the EU I would pay much more than you to have the sewing machine that you bought ( I think it was in Germany ? ) to you..you paid I think around €45.00 ? ..same thing would cost me around €120 from Germany to me ( If I paid in France )..and I'm closer to Germany. So when importing to France I try to pay freight or postage in the country of departure..and when exporting from France, I try to pay in the country of arrival..applies to fedex, UPS , DHL etc..and even container shipping whether 20' or 40' :( The best things to ship nowadays are lightweight , hard to break, low initial cost , high profit margin , and scarce / expensive where you are selling it.. 501s ( new ) were around $15 to $20 each at retail in the USA..and were $100.00 each retail in France. 501s ( used and holed but clean and ironed ) were around $1 to $2 in USA..and sold for $ 50 to $60 in France..even higher if one added some lace in the holes.. BTW ( and back to Colt's topic ) ..I suspect that although the used 31 15 machines are cheaper in Europe, any spare parts that may be required will be cheaper in the USA than we would pay for them on this side of the pond. Plus the "good price" on anything is "how much / urgently do you want / need it" ..a litre bottle of pure water in the desert ( to someone in the desert ) is of greater value than the same litre bottle in the supermarket to the person in the supermarket.

Even cheaper sometimes..( last one within 2kms of me ) the person wanted €10..was in excellent condition, and treadle table with cabinet ( I think the "cabinet, 3 drawers, was from a domestic machine, normally AFAIK , they only have a single drawer at the left side ) was too..If I had had the space :( Already have one ( shortened the table to a "drop down" at end" ) paid €25.00 in VGC. Some very nice condition other brands of similar models ( mainly German and old French ) available all the time in VGC for , as Jimi says €30 - €50, in France at least, people sell old treadle or manual machines for next to nothing and buy crappy modern powered plastic domestics instead..'cos they have all the pre programmed "must have" stitches. Weird thing is the cast iron table stand with working treadles, but without the machine ( and sometimes without the table top ) go for more than the ones that include a VGC working machine..they are sold as "antique sewing machine stands" which "can have wooden table top added" to make a "conversation piece".

Yay !! :))

Btw..it is pretty..all sewing machines are pretty, in their own way..just like all women are pretty.

How to post a picture depends on what system you have?..if windows? download and run irfanview ( freeware with no spyware/ malware )..then choose your image "open file" the ..choose "image" "resize" set the dimensions at 800x600 pixels and save as jpeg..then upload here BTW..what happens when thread tangles , or you have to "tie it off"..etc is a "knot"..with a "k" ..when "whatever" doesn't do what you want .."it is not ( no letter k ) doing"..else it gets hard to understand..

Most guides these days are in Chinglish..( never understand why the dealers don't read and correct them, or get them to make sense, and correct typos, but then I notice that even modern adler and old singer manuals have many more typos than I'd consider acceptable )..worse is when the guides/ manuals were in Chinglish and then are translated in China ( via what appears to be Google translate ) into French or Spanish or Italian..Even when you are fluent in two or more of the languages in the guides / manuals, ( applies to sewing machines, toasters, phones, whatever ) you are still left thinking the equivalent of "well it is English Jim, just not as we know it .. The manuals for servo motors make no sense at all, in any language ( I have had Chinese friends tell me that the Chinese in them makes no sense either, they figure that the factories must get the semi-literate janitors to write them based upon watching the servos for 5 minutes whilst sweeping up and listening to thrash metal ) ..and yet, Chinese "techies" and engineers can write really good accurate English.. read some of the "maker boards" and people like sexycyborg..yes read , don't just look at the pictures :) Very bright, good English. and there are millions more, but apparently no one ever asks them to write the guides or manuals.

This...on any machine..makes me say far worse words than "mongrel".

Heh..I'm after thinkin that you'd maybe be having some Irish in yer ancestry there Bob so you might..:)

Despite being very uncomfortable with disagreeing with you Eric ( especially given the help that you have given me ) .I have to disagree there re "joining woven textile to leather"with a serger.. Maybe it depends on what one is making , aswel as whether it is in the context of "production" or "hobby"..Example most of my designs are made for me as "production "runs in Asia after I produce the original samples and send them to the factories, for the factories* to work to. I mainly design for women's garments, for our own labels and for others ( the design process is more interesting and challenging, the markups are better, and I began by designing way back in the 70s for my girlfriends ).Mostly what you would call clubwear, with some lingerie, some BDSM, some Goth etc , some "fashion"..such as skirts, trousers ( ladies pants to the USA ) jackets, from "shrugs" to "biker", boleros , waistcoats and corsetry. Leather is usually lambskin, goatskin, calfskin, some cowhide and buffalo, and some "exotics" ( reptiles, fishskins, ostrich etc )..and some "stretch lambskin", this is lambskin backed ( stuck to or fused to ) with cotton ( like tee-shirt cotton , it is a "knitted" textile which has various percentages of lycra incorporated, so as to "spring back"..makes very "clingy" tight fit leather..harder to work with than normal lambskin, requires much more careful, planning, cutting, sewing etc ), but as in general womens wear ( even in purely textile )is far more "constructed / architectural" than menswear, once you begin working with leather and lace etc in the same garments, you kind of get used to the "it isn't going to be easy, but it is fun, and the scenery is great".. Linings, also a lot of stretch fabrics that are not knitted. Silk..( either "charmeuse" or raw, raw is scratchy , so raw is rarely "next to skin"..some moires and other luxury silks and even occasional woollens ) ..lot of stretch silk, which frays even worse than "normal" silk, and ( in case anyone is wondering, is, like "stretch" lambskin, in that the stretch is not equal in all directions, which must be allowed for when laying out and cutting, especially if you have a pattern or a logo repeating and accurate joins of such to respect. Rarely use polyester or synthetics, firstly because they are not "luxury" ( which is what we make ), and secondly, because they do not feel / look as good..The exception to this being the use of lycra in textiles for "stretch"..like lace ,and of course some "metallic" finish textiles. Denim, as liners and sometimes as intermediate liners ( leather denim , silk sandwiches ) such as in corsets, bustiers and bras (if there is a lot of seaming or boning that would irritate if all that was separating it from the skin was silk, denim makes a good solid lightweight comfort layer or "comfort padding", and it wicks perspiration away very well. In all of these, whether the clubwear, the lingerie, the biker style jackets, the corsets etc, I have never used a serger to join the textile ( woven or knitted ) to the leather, be it 0.7 mm lambskin or thicker, or 2mm to 3mm buffalo..Used a serger to stop the edges of the textile from fraying whilst constructing the linings,yes, but never for joining / attaching the lining to the leather, the way a serger sews, the visible stitches look like crap, so they are always on the inside ( like in lycra bikinis ) never visible either "topside" or when the garment is open and the lining is visible.I've never seen anyone else do this ( use a serger to attach woven or knitted textile linings to leather garments either ) neither the stuff made for chainstores ( the kind of leatherwear that Walmart etc has made for them in India ) ..nor the budget / discount / biker gear like Schott etc sell, nor the high end designer wear like Gaultier or Lang or McQueen , Lauren or Jitrois or Bui**. I rarely design menswear, so maybe sergers are used for joining woven textiles like denim to leather in some circumstances, but I obviously own some, made by other people/ companies /designers, all my leather jackets ( two of them are sheepskin lined and one is entirely sheepskin, one is cowhide lined with heavy plaid, none have the linings attached with a serger stitch ) my waistcoats, cowhide and buffalo all have their linings ( woven polycotton ) attached with lockstitch, not with serger stitch. I know that you work with far greater range of products and machines than I do, or have, and have way more experience than I do in the production side, but as I said above, I've certainly never seen anyone in the high end fashion production*** attaching woven textile to leather with sergers, serger stitching just looks so awful, that even in the so called "constructionist" styles ( where all the seams are on the outside and the stitches are huge and frequently in contrast colours to the base ) I've never seen anyone use a serger where the stitches can be seen, which is where they'd be if one used a serger to attach..Unless you mean that the serger is used to attach the woven textile to the leather and then the resultant seam is hidden inside and then the seam stitched down flat again from the outside with lockstitch ? But in all the high end stuff at least that I've seen or designed, the linings ( if they are serged to prevent fraying ) have the serger run around their edges ( which are then turned over and pressed flat ) before they are attached with lockstitch to the leather. ***That is in production runs of dozens or maybe hundreds or thousands of each design. Hence why I posted what I did above.. I'm intrigued as to what garments one would sew linings in with a serger..and what the finished seams and garments look like.. You obviously make them, but it sounds so weird, like if you said "we attach the linings with saddle stitch"..I'd think.."folksy", but weird :) *factories with a few hundred workers in each, no child labour, full 9001 cert etc, and I know personally the owners ( was at art school in the UK in the 70s with each of them )..One of them makes for a major US leatherwear / biker wear brand and some EU brands in the same sector..the other are OEM manufacturers for well known leatherwear labels, mainly in fashion and clubwear and lingerie. **Ms Bui has a house a couple hundred yards away from me, so, I could always go and ask her ( but won't, she doesn't come here at weekends and holidays to "talk shop", but to relax and for the beaches, might ask her if I run into her in the supermarket again though ) , she has some sheepskin and rabbit skin lined women's wear ( at least one coat is sheepskin lined with a leather outer ) in her fall / winter collection for 2017.

Personally I think if you are going to be working leather, you'd be better off selling the serger* and using the money to get the parts for the imperial ( keep it ) and a servo for the 111w115 ( keep it ) ..you can pick up a clutch motor for next to nothing ( that is about what they are worth since servo motors came out ) to put on to the serger to sell it onwards.. How many times does one serge leather ? ~Crickets~ *overlocker for those of us on the right hand side of the pond..

Nobody ( with any sense ) is going to say anything which ( should anything go wrong at any time with a strap that you make ) might come back to bite them..blame always looks for something / someone, to stick to..and then there are lawyers, who for a cut of the proceeds, will try to make anything stick to nothing, and ruin everyone in the process.

They want nearly $5000.00 ( or slightly over $5,000.00 inc shipping ) for it ! My mother used to talk of a machine that she had when she was small, "it was for catching young ducks"..this could be such a one:)

I'd tend to be thinking along the same line as gigi, those loops ( and the fouling ) when sewing reverse at max stitch length, might be that the timing is just a gnat's smidgin retarded.

I'm thinking ..that going from to and thinking the only thing that you need to succeed in making the latter group is a machine I'm thinking.. "don't try to run before you are sure you can walk" Designing / making the patterns / grading the patterns / pattern cutting / making the items / fitting ( and if necessary "adjusting" the items ) etc ..is a whole world of talent and experience away from dog collars, camera straps and wallets..it requires far more "miles under your belt" in talent / experience and probably expensive mistakes.. That said..for that range of garments..you need a triple feed compound action cylinder machine ( yes you could work with a "post bed" and roller foot but a triple action cylinder would be better, get a post bed later ) , get one that can be fitted with a flat bed "conversion" that can stitch up to 12mm ( half inch )..if you want to make stuff that is thicker , you'll need a 441 or a clone of a 441.. Ron might be able to tweak one of his new 3850s so it would sew from two layers of 1.5 mm up to it's usual top end size..or you are going to have to get at least two machines, if you want to go any thicker than 9 or 10 mm total ..most if not all of the garments that you mentioned are in chrome tan ( soft ) very unlikely that you'd need to sew thicker than 9mm, unless you are thinking of making heavy duty restraints and heavy BDSM gear..in which case, you want a machine specially for that.. The hardest thing in making good, well fitting , quality leather garments is designing the patterns, knowing how to grade them, knowing how to lay and cut them depending on the skins/hides that you buy, and the actual sewing of leather garments is not at all like the sewing of textile garments..

^^^ 211U166A - I have it's twin ..will sew 8 to 9 mm ( total thickness ) of veg tan if run slowly with a speed reducer ( I made my own ratio is 5:1 ) and a servo..love it :)

Try again ..this time as a .zip

One other thing, tilt it onto it's back and look for any unusual wear on the shafts , or the bearings, or any ( hevvin furbid ) cracks on the bearing holders in the castings, while it is tilted back also look also at the end away from the needle ( the belt end ) for any signs of slop and wear wear..again take each of the moving parts in between your thumb and forefinger and do the wiggle test use ..some force when doing the wiggle test.. these things are as strong as most motor cycle engines, you won't hurt it..turn it over by hand in the normal sewing direction* ( you should be turning the wheel part at the drive end towards you ) ( with it switched off ) when it is tilted back, that will let you see what should be moving smoothly..any other wiggle or slop is wear..( and is negotiable )..Also looking below the machine tells you how clean they kept it..look for any broken needle s and pins and gunk down there.more than a few means it was run hard and not treated nice.. * These machines always sew when the drive wheel turns over towards you ( or if when you looked at the drive wheel "end on" , from the right hand side of the table ) ..even when sewing in "reverse"..when they run in reverse it is the feed dogs which "cycle" differently, the machine drive wheel still turns towards you ( if you were sitting at the operators position ) and the drive wheel still turns anti clockwise if looked at "end on" from the right hand end of the table.. Oh..and with a servo ..even with the power off ..you may have to press lightly on the pedal in order to be able to turn it over by hand as Texas said above while I was typing ( I must type faster )..When I began this ( my second post )only yetibelle had replied.

Take some leather with you ( veg tan two pieces total about 3/8 thick , and some thread 92 or 138 ) test it.. *Take a hold of the needle bar ( when it is "up" ) between finger and thumb just above the needle and try to wiggle it, back and forward, left and right. do the same to the feet bars..take off the throat plate ( where the ridged feed dogs stick up from the bottom ) and try to wiggle the feed dogs and the shaft they are on. Do all those "wiggle tests" with it switched off..:).. Then switch it on.. Try stitching with it at the smallest stitch length..and at the largest stitch length.. Sew about a 12 inch run forwards..and without changing the stitch length press the reverse lever and see if it can sew back into the same holes it made going forwards..try this on the smallest and the largest stitch lengths..the more accurately it can sew backwards into the same holes at each length the better.. Listen for any odd creaks and "sticky spots" as it runs slowly.. Then feed it some denim or canvas about 3/8 thick and floor the peddle .. if it does all this OK.. Give the man the money and run away with it before he changes his mind.. Get a receipt..cos if it all runs OK at that price with a servo fitted it is a steal, would be even without the servo. HTH :) * try the "wiggle tests" again with the feet bars and the needle bar lowered..without a needle in preferably..you are checking for wear at the top end.. open the throat plate and try to wiggle the "hook" ( it isn't hook shaped ) ..it is the round thing that the bobbin sits in from side to side..take off a few covers and look fro rust and to see if anything looks worn or if it looks like it was regularly maintained and oiled.. At that price..I'd take it and run..if it isn't shot.

If it runs and is not worn that price is a very good deal from your point of view.. The latest version of that model ( the DNU1541-7 ) is over 5K in the USA.. So the one you are looking at will be a DNU1541 ( some number )..the ( "some number" will tell you the exact model and give an idea of the year ) How old is it ?

Brings a smile to Irish eyes :)