mikesc

Any chance that you have a speck of dirt inside of the spring tensioner ( the barrel part that it sits in ) or even in the spring coil, that would make it stick just ever so slightly from time to time and give a "loop"..had that problem with a totaly different machine, was driving me nuts until I thought strip and clean it and maybe inspiration will come to me whilst I do that, there was the tiniest amount of dirt on a cotton bud when I cleaned it, put it back together and its sewed perfectly from then on..then again maybe I just let the gremlin out when I stripped it.

I agree with Uwe, neoprene ( like wet-suits etc ) is usually done with chain stitch ( looks like zig-zag, if you don't know what you are looking for though )..I have one of the old light blue 20U33 Singers 9mm zig -zag, if you go that way, you'll need to widen the zig-zag slot out a little if you use it at 9mm with over 92 thread..and go slow, or it will catch the needle and snarl/snag..and it will only be a zig-zag, not the proper chain stitch zig-zag.

Strictly speaking "Japanning" is multiple coats of transparent varnish charged with black pigment ( was usually finely ground charcoal ) and sanded ( actually the Japanese used pumice, lot of volcanic pumice to hand ) between coats..It was also called "black lacquer", although true lacquer is something else (varnish made from the sap of the lacquer tree )..Japan shipped lots of wooden goods with this "lacquer" finish, and when industrial paints "began" black paint was actually a black varnish, cheap to make ( hence Ford's "you can have any colour you want as long as it is black"* )..People associated a gloss black with Japanese goods, hence the term "Japanned" ..Sewing machines are not Japanned, far too labour intensive sanding down all those coats of black charged varnish. You have bare metal now.. Most important thing to get paint to "stick" ( so it doesn't chip off later ) is to neutralise whatever strippers you have used,( cast iron has "pores", you stripper will have gone into them and traces of it will be "lurking" in them ) and to degrease the bare metal. So..clean the stripped metal with a "metal prep" ( you can get it from an industrial paint supplier, or from a car body repair shop )..or you can carefully wipe it all down with acetone, which will degrease and neutralise in one go..use lint free rags or synthetic "paint wipes" to wipe over carefully the machine. Now plug any holes and especially threaded holes..and bearings if there are any left in place. Next..spray with either two part "high build" polyurethane spray filler, or two part epoxy spray filler.. Sand with , by hand ( in this order ) 120 dry sand paper ( body shop type , not woodworking type ), then 240 grade of same, them 400 grade of same.. Pay special attention to the "hard to get to" areas..sloppy prep will show up when the top coats of paint go on..paint does not hide imperfections. Then spray lightly with two pack PU top coat black ( or whatever colour you choose )..the kind used on truck chassis will do fine..unless you want to go wild and use "flip flop" of "prismatic paint" :) if you use the latter two, or any custom paints , you'll have to use special "base coats".. Sand your first coat of top coat with 800 or 1200 dry paper ( real body shops do not use "wet and dry" unless they are working "bondo" or sanding high build top coats of varnish ( either traditional of two part iso-acrylates )..the spray another coat.. ( if you spray matt paint , or metallics you can spray a final coat of two part iso-acrylate clear coat to get a really deep gloss effect ) let it all cure for a couple of weeks..and then polish with custom painters clear coat polish.. or.. Take it to a body shop, ask them to do the spray filler /paint/ clear coat spray steps, you collect it in between coats and you do the prep/sanding/polishing parts. or .. Spray the degreased ( but don't use filler ) metal machine with two light coats of hammer finish paint ( 30 minutes interval between coats ) ,and then one heavier coat to finish and get the "hammer paint" effect..practise on a vertical surface ( old tin or similar a few times, hammer paint "sags" when it is too thick , and doesn't make the hammer effect when it is too thin ) ..wear a "solvent proof" face mask mask, with fresh throw away cartridges ( especially with iso-acrylates, they can kill you hours after you breath them and think that you are OK )..don't smoke near any of it..and keep kids and animals away.. Brands ? ( you are in the USA, we don't have the same brands ) ..ask at a body repair shop..ask the spray guy..or ask at a custom spray shop, you may get some sewing work out of them too :) Until we moved from St Tropez area, I owned the largest custom paint and 3D polyester sculpture business : trompe l'oeil / carnival rides and circus trucks paint and design workshop in the south of France for over 15 years..The leather stuff and the rest ( design, computers, websites, trading ) is / are a side businesses, my real business is still artwork, sculpture, design etc. * if you "brush", you'll be able to see some of your brush stokes, no matter how careful you go, even with multiple coats and sanding in between them, real "coach work painting" ( like on vintage Rolls Royces etc, pre WWII ) shows the "brush strokes" through the many layers of paint used to build up to the coachwork finish, all the "strokes" follow the lines of the panels and the fact that you can see them ( if you know what to look for ) gives that kind of paintwork that " hand finished" caché, but it is very labour intensive, hence the prices ..modern Rollers are sprayed , only the coach lining is "hand applied", using brushes called "liners" or "swords and daggers"..( like in pinstriping ) and then there is hand applied gold leafing, and all the other artistic and craftsmen's touches and finishes. You can also degrease with a mixture of pumice powder and dilute ammonia ( be careful of ammonia, it can blind you ) rubbed in and cleaned off with lint free rags , it is how one degreases etching plates prior to applying the "resist" layer before marking the image and subsequently passing through acid baths to "etch" them, before printing from them. Oh yeah, and if you are spraying your machine yourself, ( best do it in a spray booth , with proper air extraction ) but if you do it outside, whether it is your filler coats, your paint coats, or your top coats or clear coats, add one or two drops of "lemon oil" ( the kind that you buy to rub on your skin to keep the mosquitoes away ) to a half pint ( or 250 ccs ) of what is in your spray gun, it will also keep the bugs and flies from landing on your fresh paint ( won't keep the real determined kamikaze bugs away, but the casual "oh crap its a bug on my paint" will stay away )..doesn't work for moths, don't spray at night, you won't see any runs, and the moths an night bugs will come anyway, and land on wet paint, and leave tracks and traces and bodies. Nice spray stand :) , ball bearings will last longer, but probably cost more..

"The Potteries"..know it / them well..and what looks like Noddy Holder and Lord Charles ( Ray Alan's sidekick ..I preferred Quackers ) in your avatar. :)

.....Um....Even though I've seen some of his videos before..each time a few minutes that I'll never get back, lost to the twilight zone of tacky video effects and surreal background tv soundtracks, but that.. That was traumatic.. like a sewing equivalent of a 20 car wreck on the freeway, bits of mangled and mauled dead cow all over the place, and one of those horrible, nasty sailwrongs complicit in the butchery..and "manly scissors" ( yes..I watched part two, in case it turned out to be a joke..it didn't )..felt like a sewing equivalent of the shower scene from psycho.. Think I'm going to have drink and lie down for a while and try to think happy thoughts..

@TinkerTailor.. :) Yep, that makes perfect sense re frequencies..but I'm surprised ( given that Harry seems a "techy" kind of person ) that he bought a machine ( the beeping servo in his video does indeed seem to be the model most usually seen on the ads for machines complete with servo in the USA ) that was equipped with a servo to USA "spec"..I remember another of his videos that shows a servo on another machine he has / had , it didn't "beep", but that one may well have been bought "after market"..The servos that I ( and Constabulary have ) were bought from the UK, and cost around the $130.oo ( + VAT at 20% of course ) and they don't beep at all , but then EU supply ( at least in UK, FR and DE ) is pretty accurate at 50hz.. Ours are Chinese made, I have contacted the manufacturer in China with a view to importing them to France for resale, just dotting the Is and crossing the Ts with the customs people here so as not to get slammed for " we made up a figure and tripled it" customs duties on the first batch..The usual retail price here in France is waaaaay more than in the UK, for exactly the same unit. Dikman ( in Oz ) bought his direct from China, very similar to the UK model and about the same as the ebay price. @teched If I were in the USA, I would go with wiz'z advice and get one from Toledo Bob, reasons.. He is an advertiser whose ad dollars support the forum we are posting on. He ( and the other dealers here ) are incredibly helpful, even to people that they didn't sell a machine to. ( French dealers forget you the moment the check is cashed , and they don't offer free advice on forums ) His price on the servo with the dial ( haven't seen any of those in the EU ) is around the same as the ebay price. Free shipping on ebay frequently means free from China, could take weeks or months via China post ( they ain't offering "free shipping" via fed-ex or DHL )..and there may be extra customs duty to pay when it arrives on top of the $130.oo If it arrives from China defective ( can happen, no-one tests every single thing they are shipping, they won't be trying to screw you, it can just happen that you receive a "dud" ) .getting a refund or a replacement is going to be a hell of a lot harder from China ( and take longer ) than from one of the dealers on here in the USA..and you might have to ship the defective one back to China ( at your expense ) before they'll refund.. If anything goes wrong with it once you have it, the dealers on here have a reputation to protect, they are likely to be far more "reactive" than a reseller in China..and yes, the ebay ad will be from a reseller..even if they are in China.. How do I know this..because I now know how much these things actually cost ( the good ones ) since I received mine and tracked down the manufacturer in China..they don't cost $130.oo ( or even close to that ) when you buy them in multiples of 10..I could sell you one when mine arrive, at the ebay price, but definitely not with free shipping ( shipping from China via China post is so cheap it makes me weep in jealousy ) ..it would cost me nearly $130.oo to send one to the USA..and I couldn't give any after sales service to anyone outside of France..and every one would lose on refunds as the exchange rates $ to € and back again are not nice.. Buy it from Toledo Bob, who wiz recommends, or one of the other dealers here if you think Bob eats kittens or some such ( merely jesting Bob ;) ..and sew without worrying about if the magic blue smoke escapes one day, or it arrives DOA, how are you gonna mail it back to the ebay guy in China. Oh and one other thing..the Chinese ones, when ordered direct tend not to have a small pulley fitted as standard..which means you have to add the cost of a 2" pulley ( and then play around fitting it, and voiding the warranty inn the process )..whereas the dealers here will fit one before they send it out to you. Oh..yeah..they weigh around 5 kilo..around 12 lbs ( at least the "kits" in the boxed version ones I have coming do )..without EPS..which you probably won't need or want..and which costs extra anyway..they also may have a "take off" point for running an low voltage LED machine light ( useful ) from.. Oh..and one last thing..just my 2cts. I know that you didn't mean it that way teched..but I think that wiz or another mod ought to edit out the picture with the brand name and the bold type in your last post..If I were one of the dealers who support this place by paying for ads..I'd be real pissed at seeing what is amounting to a huge ad ( yes I said you didn't mean it that way teched ) for another company in the middle of a thread that didn't cost them a dime, while my ad dollars are in part paying for the thread that it is on..That post is like a billboard for the company whose ebay ad it references up there, I would be spitting nails if I was one of the advertisers here who are helping pay the bandwidth for that and I saw that...and if I were Johanna, who sells ad space here on her site, I wouldn't be overjoyed either..remember who keeps the lights on here guys.

Some of the servo motors make a horrible "beep" sound all the time, you don't want one of those, you are in the USA, the dealers who advertise on the site here also sell servo motors , and they won't sell you one that "beeps" :) The USA members ( particularly wiz ) have posted in the past about which motors they recommend..( they'll no doubt join in to guide you ) I think that the prices that you see on ebay are about what you'll pay from a dealer here.. Servo motors can be run in reverse, but that won't make a sewing machine run and actually sew in reverse because the "hook" and needle combination will only make stitches when they are turning in the designed direction ( twin needle machines with twin bobbins are unusual in that the two "hooks" don't both turn in the same direction ) ..the "reverse" on a normal machine refers to the change in motion of the "feed dogs" apart from that drive for the feed dogs changing the rest of the machine doesn't change its rotational direction when you go from forwards to reverse. When you get your servo motor, you need to make sure that it is set to drive the sewing machine main pulley ( at the right side ) in a counter-clockwise direction ( in other words, towards you )... Search for ( copy and paste the line below, exactly as it is , quotes and all into your favourite search engine.. "servo motor" site:leatherworker.net it will get you all the threads that have the words "servo motor" in them that have been posted on this site. HTH :)

Are you sure that you are turning the machine in the correct direction ? ( are you treadling it ) The wheel on the right side end should be turning towards you as you sit in front of the machine..or anticlockwise if you are looking at the machine wheel "end on".. If you turn the machine in the wrong direction , the "feed dogs" ( that is what they are called ) will try to work backwards, and they won't succeed, and you won't be able to make a stitch. previous thread ( there are others here ) about the model that you have..

Billybopp ..your first link there to a previous thread here is broken ..so here the link is again..

What to use depends on what you can get, and what you can get ( easily ) depends on where you are..you need to update your profile ( town or area and country ) so that you can be advised..needle and thickness of thread depends not so much on how thick the leather is as much as what will you be making with it, almost all thread on spools for machines nowadays is left handed twist, unless it actually says otherwise, probably why the manufacturers don't mark the twist on the vast majority of threads now.

From the evidence in the bottles, it would appear that both your camels are pregnant ( the one on the right may be expecting twins ), and two of your crocodiles may be dead or injured, or at least severely pining for the billabongs. Onya

Ah Fruit in multicoloured alcohol with sunshades for the ice cubes..and an earworm. Think I'll stick to this 30 year old scotch I have here in front of me..nothing wrong with multicoloured alcohol, but I prefer my fruit separately, unless it is juice..Rhum ( dark ) and juice..Tequila and juice..Vodka and juice..Poitín and juice even, but "single malts" ( with or without the "e" ) no juice. If it is a hobby you are looking for, drinking pints of Guinness through a straw, with a shot of Paddy's in each glass

I'll bite..what are "boat drinks" ? schooners of sherry ?

Floria ( city ) is in Erbil ..Kurdistan. Maybe Fifi6464 is running through a proxy ? I tend to agree with something dikman said in another thread, it would make much more sense, and be much more helpful, if both the city and country fields in the member "profile" were compulsory / mandatory..should be easy enough to tweak the CMS to do that. PDF is 15 sheets..so about 5-10 dollars to send by slow mail to almost anywhere, from almost anywhere.

Consew was made by Seiko, so probably this Seiko STH-8BLD-3. HTH

Could have been worse, they could have used home made play dough for grease, and olive oil for oil. The latter I have seen.

Servo motor allows much more control, can start slower, and can let you limit it's top speed.. Not tough, depends how good you are with a welder.. search here for previous threads on servo motors and speed reducers copy and paste this servo motors site:leatherworker.net into your favourite search engine, read the results, many threads, with details of servo motors and then copy and paste this speed reducer site:leatherworker.net into your favourite search engine, and read the results.., many threads including images of bought and DIY speed reducers both have been discussed loads of times HTH

I think on the Consews that for it to have reverse that there must be a letter R in the machine designation, but there appear to be at least 3 machines there , two do not have a reverse lever , the one at the back , can't tell, the head is partially masked by the ones in the foreground, reverse would be ideal .

I'd like a cylinder arm "just because" Seriously, yeah, I thought about suggesting a cylinder arm ( one can always make a table to convert it to a flat bed ) but at $550.oo the price seems good ( if they are not worn out ) and a cylinder arm can be bought later* as an additional machine.. and a collection is born *"a bird in the hand"

You'll want to swap out the clutch motor for a servo motor ( about $100.oo to $150.oo) and maybe a speed reducer too ( build your own, or buy one around $120.oo ) ..for what you want to do, the 255b will be OK..It is a clone of a Singer ..Looks a lot like my 211

OK Brian, Talk with you via pm tomorrow ..off out in a hour to visit an antiques fair..( probably going to come back later today somewhat poorer at the last one I picked up a cobra skin briefcase , with the equivalent of 6 good skins, big pieces ( including the head markings of each ) for only €5.oo..it's 12.15 hrs here..and sunny ..

Hi Brian, just looked in during my breakfast coffee.. I didn't mention any European suppliers due to what I thought would be prohibitive shipping costs to get it to you..but, if the suppliers near you are asking for 5000m then I think they re just buying in and have no stock ( there is French elastic supplier like that , minimum order 5000m and wait 6 weeks, so I buy from UK or China in 1000m or 5000m runs and pay waaaay less ..try these people in the UK http://www.technicalfoamservices.co.uk/ or these http://www.paulamar.co.uk/default.aspx Thinnest that I have come across in France is 2mm, but , I can phone to the two companies in the UK that I posted links to and ask about 1mm and prices , quantities, shipping to you etc if that will help ?

I was basing my reply on this part of your OP In your OP you didn't say that you were looking for advice on those specific machines.. For what you want to be able to do..there are many machines better than the two you mention, which is why I pointed you to Wiz's post and it's subsequent thread.

Their prices are downright friendly compared to what the dealers in France want me to pay for any spares, for any machines, or for new machines. A bobbin case for a Singer 29K51 here runs €300*.oo..or about $350.oo and only one guy sells them ( I would imagine he doesn't sell many ) 550W servo motors like dikman, constabulary and I have cost €450.oo here ( about $520.oo ) college sell them at €115.oo ..I'm already reselling spares in France that I get from college and elsewhere ( USA and China included )..Spares for old machines here ( France ) can cost so much that most people just scrap their machines if it needs a hook or a needle bar or a bobbin case. You pay very low prices in the USA..especially for new machines..even the big brands like Juki and Adler. Machine mechanics here ( and they are not very good at all many of them ) charge so much , from €80.oo ( $100.oo per hour upto twice that ,( and often still don't get the machines running correctly, but charge anyway, and they markup spares that they fit by 300% over what they paid, which they already pay expensive ) that Eric ( gottaknow ) could retire to St Tropez on what he could charge, and when Eric's done with a machine, it works properly.. * Not a typo..and college do them for around €9.oo or $11.oo I think Fortunately really good leather ( if bought directly from the tanneries ) and excellent silk, if bought from the weaving mills, is "cheap" here..