mikesc

@dikman..that link is a ..404..

@stickandtin..all your questions are better addressed directly to Bob Kovar, who sold you the machine, especially re English instructions, and the machines capabilities.

What are going to be the deciding factors are, how many layers, of how many ozs.. such as 3 layers of 4oz ? ( 12 oz total ) or 2 layers of 8oz ? ( 16 oz total ) Pouches ( if "cased" ) sounds like you are going to want a cylinder arm machine that can sew at least 3/8" total, and you'd probably be happier with one that can do 1/2" total or even a little above that occasionally..There are medieval fairs all over France all year round, at least half a dozen big ones within 30 minutes drive from me each year, plus various jousting tournaments and similar events at local châteaux..I knew one full time professional "costumier" who had a workshop in the town of Dinan http://www.fete-remparts-dinan.com/ She also made all the costumes for the theatre there for many years ( she is now retired ), she used a Juki lu 563 and for the lighter ( textile and chrome tan ) work a Pfaff select 4..I bought my Kachiran 4048D ( the same machine as the Pfaff on her recommendation ) ..But it won't sew more than a couple of layers of 2 or 3 oz chrome tan leather ( bear in mind you may also be making some lightweight costumes for women and girls, chrome tan is fine for that sort of work ), you may also know the same machine as a "Pfaff jeans machine"..You can get an industrial textile machine for textile work, but they are usually fitted with clutch motors that go "like a bat out o' hell", and you'll want the control speed..the Kachiran ( a Pfaff clone ), is a domestic, but a very solid and useful one.. You might also "luck" on a singer 20u ( zig -zag and straight stitch ) for the textile work..in which case you'd have piercing power to spare ( much more than the Kachiran type ) so no problem with multiple layers of textile, and even butt joining some veg tan leather..But for control with veg tan you are really going to need a walking foot, after it depends as others have said above on how thick ( total thickness ) are you needing to sew..and you'll want a speed reducer ( if you are using a clutch motor ) or ideally a servo motor ( with maybe a speed reducer for real slooooooooooooow work ).. Cosplay is probably going to mean lots of diverse textiles, foams and leathers..definitely want "compound feed" ( needle feed walking foot ) for that.. ps..this link might be useful for you for inspiration.. http://www.fetes-medievales.com/departement/bretagne and this one from the largest French theme park after Disneyworld Paris, specialised in Medieval spectacles ( now does others aswell ) http://www.puydufou.com/en/shows?season=summer

Requires creating a youtube account..with all that that entails..better ( IMO ) to run your own site, host your own videos etc..But, it wasn't my original video ( I just recoded it and rotated it, to try to help out ) so I don't have the rights to host it.. Youtube is sent from Google as flash in a lot of browsers and systems ( no matter what format you may have uploaded it there as )..which is a horrible security risk, and when it isn't sent as flash, it is sent as HTML5 media..which many older machines, operating systmes and browsers don't support, so they drop back to flash, with all the security risks that running flash entails..nearly an exploit per day for years..thanks macromedia /adobe.. However, at least one is not required to join, sign in, or register in order to see content on youtube, unlike facebook , pinterest et al..

<aside >The original encoding is h264 in a .mov ( which one would think would "just work" with apple in an ipad, as they are behind both .mov and h264 )..it plays OK in your computer Bob, because your system is reading the header that tells it which way up you took it ( apple gear ? )..When I tried to recode it as a smaller h264 ( actually an mpeg ' avc ) which is the same thing, I could do so, but I could not get it small enough to be uploadable here ( best i could get was a compression to 1.5 mb , below that it was too "lossy" )..so I switched it to mp4 ( which most systems can read "native"..I could have wrapped it in an mkv, which again most systems can read "native"..VLC player reads almost anything on almost any platform, and it is free and open source ) ..Video is always a bit of a crapshoot though..and worse since MS removed the media player in win10 ( I don't have win10, I did , I was one of the testers, but as MS decided to ignore all our input, and make crippled spyware that doesn't like many expensive programs or a lot of hardware configurations ) I wiped it of the machines it was on and put back win7 ulti or linux.. life is too short to mess with win10, and my win7 installs are airgapped from the web, because again life is too short to leave a win box on the web..I have one xp machine that is allowed to talk to the web because it has software that needs to authenticate it's licence every 6 months..and another win7 box that has software with a similar need..and all "updates" to win10 are blocked off..Linux is not invulnerable..but it is so much easier to keep secure, and anyone can see exactly what is in the system, and what it is doing, open source software has everything anyone could need except the gamers who want directx12..and for them there is open GL etc..:)..and it doesn't have the worry that some skiddie can own it like MS systems have, or that MS can brick it with a bad update, or that they are in your files and sending things back to the mother ship..( try running wireshark on a win10 box, it will open your eyes just how much win10 talks to MS's servers, even when it is ostensibly doing nothing ) you cant block all telemetry in windows, even MS admits this..and since safe harbor is no more, as a business in the EU any of us cannot legally send customer data outside due to privacy laws, so we cannot let MS ( or anyone ) read our hard drives and files.. </aside>

It isn't a link, it is downloadable video..Hope Bob doesn't mind I rotated it ( it was sideways on ) so it is easier to watch.. Had to crop it a lot after the rotation to get it past the1.4mb limit here ( apparently Bob can upload bigger files than I can his was 4.3mb )..it will play on VLC player or similar. BOBS VIDEO ROTATED.mp4

That is what I thought was the case, especially given your other thread I replied in about the tension discs and the pin /post, but as I see very few Consew machines here, wondered if there was not some variant or subclass that was a twin needle, specially as a lot of shoemakers seem to like double needle machines, that said, I know guy not far from me who makes leather and wooden "Sabots" ( kind of traditional Breton Clog* ) for kids, real cute they look too he uses Pfaff single needle walking foot flat bed and a Pfaff cylinder arm...the uppers are nailed to the wooden soles.. Some Breton Sabots were like the Dutch ones, entirely made from wood, carved out and then decorated and stuffed with straw in place of socks, my Parents in law ( deceased now ) both wore these until the 1970s , they had leather shoes aswell, but like many people, their leather shoes / boots were kept for best "wearing to church" on a Sunday..real all leather shoes were really expensive compared to a wage in the countryside back then, even basic ones..

Indeed it is visible now :)..and those are very small holes..you said above you changed the "needle"..it is a single needle machine ? if so, your stitching is real accurate on the second rows, looks like a twin needle was there..

Not the only way ( no-one said that they thought that, ) by any means, but ( as someone who has been involved in programming and computers since 1972, and who also has another business specialising in computer security , I'd say why allow fb or instagram or anyone to track you, or me, or anyone visiting or posting to try to help you ? ) ..leatherworker.net allow uploads of 1.46mb, that is plenty big enough,( hosting large amounts of data , on sites with large amounts of traffic ) costs large amounts of money, I know, I run a lot of websites..and pay hosting for all of them.. But..if you reduce the size of the data load in your images before uploading, ( it is very easy to do, will take you less than 30 seconds ), plenty of free software and apps to do that for you, or that you can use, depending on your platform..if you are on windows I'd recommend irfanview..on linux "gimp"..apple, I don't know, I don't use any apple gear ( but I have 10 computers here ) and a bunch of smartphones and tablets )..cropping reduces the physical size of the image, it doesn't reduce the data size by much unless you crop a huge amount..but saving as a jpeg , and adjusting the degree of "lossiness" will allow for a huge reduction in data size..

@MG513 btw ..anyone who blocks scripts from sites other than leatherworker.net like I do( and probably many others who do not want facebook or instagram tracking them all over the web ) cannot see the picture that you inserted above..I had to look in the HTML page source to see where it was being called from, better to upload images to leatherworker.net so that anyone who comes here can see them without having to allow 3rd party networks onto their computers..

No..as shown by Bob in his diagram just above, and in many videos.. the thread does not go around that little pin..you'll never get the tension right if you put it around that pin..but there is at least one very misleading video on the web that says that the thread does go around it..by a guy whose videos are often inaccurate and whose videos make me seasick..avoid them for both those reasons.. and many videos by others ( I think that Uwe may have made one ? ) that show how to do it properly..that tension unit is common to many machines.. http://www.google.com/search?q=206rb+tension+threading&hl=en&gbv=1&sa=X&as_q=&spell=1&ved=0ahUKEwju2_CXibfNAhVDWxoKHTVtBOUQBQgRKAA

Maybe it is still in intensive care*, rigged up to a machine that goes "ping" ! :) *Nope, "intensive care" for a sewing machine would mean it was on Eric's bench :)

Without knowing where you are ( you put "everywhere" in your profile to the left there ) , anyone is going to find it very very difficult to suggest somewhere for you to buy one ( or any machine for that matter ) and to have support available from the dealer..

Just as it is..It will be absolutely fine for what you want..and for a lot of other stuff that you might want to do later too, and if you decide that you want later to do lots of bags and cylindrical things with small openings, then you'll have made enough money with your Seiko, to by a cylinder arm machine too..welcome to the world of sewing machine addiction

Not really worth increasing the bobbin size if it is the "G", doing so involves changing hook, basket, but most importantly the machine bed would probably need milling on a lathe to allow the larger hook and bobbin assembly to pass ( that milling removes enough metal to allow the hook to sit further away from the needle ) but..it really is a lot of work unless you have a lathe ( a real machine shop one, not a hobby one ) and are experienced at using it.. I only asked for curiosity value as some machines came with a larger hook and bobbin, ( my 211 has a "G", but they also made some with an "M" which is the bigger size ) great if you have them, but seriously you'd only really worry about running out in the middle of something if you were running a lot of long seams like in upholstery..one way to not have to worry about that is not to sew loads of long seams without checking your bobbin to ensure there is enough thread in it..as Floyd says, thicker thread takes up more space on the bobbin so you get less on the bobbin..but you'll probably be sewing mostly with 92 or 138 ( running heavier than 138 often isn't a good idea in all these similar machines anyway , for heavier threads you really need to be running a heavier machine if you are going to do a lot of them )..How much thread will you use ? ..a rough guide is that a lockstitch machine ( what this is ) will use 7 times more thread than the length of the seam you want to stitch..so if you measure your seam at say 20 cms..you'll use 140cm of thread..the thicker the material the more thread you'll use to go the same distance of seam, and the thicker the thread the more thread you'll use to go the same distance on a , it might be that you'd multiply by a factor of say 9 or 11 .. You can always make a plexiglass substitute plate to replace the sliding steel plate that covers the bobbin and hook, that will let you see how much thread is left on the bobbin while you are sewing, or wind a full bobbin, then unwind it all and measure how long the thread was in total..then apply the factor(s) above depending on the seam length and the material thickness, an you'll know how many centimetres of seam you can sew per full bobbin of thread..eventually you get a feel for it and can calculate without thinking too hard..

Yes..especially with a servo motor already on it..worth well more than £300.00 if it isn't worn, and even if some minor parts are, they are plentiful and cheap .. ps Thanks @Bob for the info on the bobbin size:)

Yes, top tension is way too loose( but only tighten it in small increments ), normally you adjust the top tension and don't futz with the bobbin tension..you can, but 9 times out of 10 you adjust the top tension and leave the bobbin tension alone..If you run both thick and thin threads in the machine ( but not usually at the same time ), most people keep a bobbin case "adjusted" for each thickness and swap them out accordingly as they change to a thicker or thinner thread..

@SARK9 do you know what size bobbin the 8B comes with?..Is it large or small ? Belay that question or perhaps not .. Just found a thread in which Greg from Keystone posted a link to the original manual .. But it doesn't say what size bobbin is in there..as a manual goes it is pretty Spartan .. http://keysew.com/Webpages/DemoImages/Seiko_STW-8B_226R_Owners.pdf

What ever it is , it looks a lot like a clone of a Juki lu 563.. found it ..Seiko STW 8B.. https://www.google.com/search?q=seiko+clone+of+juki+lu+563&biw=1432&bih=665&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlnpfe1rLNAhUIfiwKHX8rBNcQ_AUICCgD#tbm=isch&q=seiko+stw+8b+walking+foot+ Single needle walking foot machine.. Seiko are solid machines..could be a good find depending on condition and price..

IME College Sewing's deliveries arrive ( via UK parcel post and then French parcel post, not DHL or one of the expensive ones ) within 4-5 days, a lot of Ebay sellers ( not all ) are selling things which are actually in China, and that can take 6 weeks by China post. I agree with Uwe, better to wait a few days and have the correct needles, than to "bodge" a machine and maybe do some expensive damage.

I always turn after the needle has entered, and pierced all layers , but well before the rise begins..made more sense that way, for all the reasons given in posts above..

Ooops , yes, I forgot that one, the "true craftsman's approach", best one of all :)..thanks MADMAX22 :)

That is one of the clearest explanations without a diagram that I have seen on the web about anything , not just sewing..raises hat / glass to Wiz :)

ATM ( due to concerns about "Brexit" ) the UK pound has fallen in value somewhat, making things cheaper if ordered from outside the UK..If the UK votes to leave the EU, the pound will probably ( IMO and that of many observers ) fall much more.. are you a "betting person" ;) ps..That isn't a "political judgement"..but as someone who has businesses registered both in the EU ( France ) and the UK..I watch currency movements and UK, EU "events" as they affect me and how much I pay , am paid..

No..not absolutely required, ( you can instead use variants of "poor man's reverse" ..make 2 or 3 stitches, let needle rise and clear the work, lift foot / feet slightly, pull work towards you so that original 1st hole is again in line with needle and then lower foot/ feet and needle and stitch over those 2 or 3 stitches again ..then do the equivalent at the end of your sewn run to "lock off" ..another way is to begin with two or 3 stitches, then with the needle still in the material, lift the foot/ feet a little, swivel the material 180 degrees and lower the foot/ feet , then continue on over the stitches you had made..either way will "lock" the seam ends )..but reverse is very useful to have to avoid that extra "manipulation"..For years machines did not have reverse, stuff still got made, ( using variants of those methods ) and very well made it was too.. If you have reverse, important is that the machine is adjusted so that the needle goes into the same holes when in reverse as it made when going forwards..