Uwe

I'm not sure I follow the logic that a smaller wheel will allow for tighter turns. You can spin a bicycle wheel around the vertical axis on the spot just like you can spin a wheel half that size on the spot. What am I missing?

We have a "make your own table" topic with lots of ideas and samples (se link below. I had posted a link to a DXF file I made for my Consew 225 tables: http://uwe.net/CAD/Consew225_v2.dxf Perhaps you can import that CAD file as a starting point to dial in your own dimensions.

I'm not sure exactly what the question is. Are you saying your max step height is not high enough to step up to or down from thick seams? In general, the maximum foot lift height is limited by the design of the linkages. If you've already adjusted to maximum foot lift height and it's not enough, there's not much else you can do other than manually moving the material to help step over the seam (lifting the presser feet and moving the material a little bit by hand, then lowering the feet again to continue.) If the foot lift is less than the height of the seam you're trying to step down from, the inner presser foot will not press against the feed dog and as a result the outer presser foot will not lift up from the material. On vintage machines when sewing slowly, I think it's okay to dial in maximum foot lift and just leave it there. I cannot think of any real drawbacks of sewing at max foot lift at slow speeds. As the sewing speed increases the large movement start to cause problems due to "foot slap" (feet hitting feed dog hard and fast) and increased momentum of accelerating and decelerating the feet and linkages as they step. If you need to sew fast, then lower the foot lift height and shorten the stitch length to avoid too much stress and wear on your machine. Some modern machines like the Durkopp Adler M-Type 867 machines allow you to pre-set two different foot lift heights and then quickly switch between two foot lift heights with a simple button press. This allows you to sew fast on a long, flat stretch and when you get to a seam, you can quickly switch to a higher foot lift and slower speed with a button press to step over the seam. This video shows the lift height (and speed) switching at the 4:20 mark: Just for reference, I think this is the video you referred to in the earlier posts. It shows how to adjust foot lift height on a Juki 563 class machine at the 3:14 mark:

Welcome to LeatherWorker.Net Mattias! I also have a Pfaff 593, but unfortunately I don't have a user manual for it. There is a Pfaff 593 manual available for sale at Manuals.help - it's expensive at 32 Euro. I've not used the manuals.help website before, so I can't say if it's any good. You may be able to use a manual for a very close relative of the machine, like the free Pfaff 591 User Manual to figure out some things like threading. Just compare your machine to the images in the manual. If it looks the same, chances are it works the same. If it looks just a little different, often you can still work things out. The Pfaff 593 Parts Manual is readily available online. It will be useful to determine which part numbers you need to look for. As for the codes on the identification plate, a "D" usually means heavy duty version, "L" stands for leather version, "M" means it has a safety clutch, "N" means its has a 6mm maximum stitch length. The full Pfaff numbering system is explained in the document In Introduction To The Pfaff Numbering System.pdf which I came across to day in my stash of documentation. I'm not sure changing out the roller foot for a regular presser feet is really an option (or a good idea). Check the parts manual to see if there are any other foot options listed. Give the roller foot a try, you may find you really like it. Post some more detail pictures of your machine (backside, too). Often we can figure things out just by looking at a picture.

Perhaps it's just semantics, but I am curious why the 78-1 would not be classified as a Top + Needle feed machine? Both top inner foot and needle clearly feed the material. The 31-15 is a bottom-only feed machine, right?

I'm a little bit in the parts business. My price for the four parts (#240500, #240607, #240688, #233614) would be $95 plus $10 shipping to CA. 2-3 weeks for special order from my supplier plus three days priority mail to CA. PM me if you're interested.

"Consistently Perfect Stitches" are an elusive goal, especially if you're expecting perfection in all situations you may encounter while sewing a hand bag. Occasionally things come together (machine design, adjustments, operator skill, operator mood, material, thread, needles, etc.) and you really do get perfect stitches, but all bets are off if you change even one aspect. If you're expecting one machine to master all sewing challenges involved in making handbags, you will be disappointed. When you look at a luxury handbag with seemingly perfect stitching all around, chances are there were about twenty different machines, very skilled operators and a lot of manual labor involved. Machines that may get you closer to the goal are likely cylinder arm machines designed with unison feed and full feed dog movement. Examples include Juki-LS1341 or Juki LS-2342 , Durkopp Adler 269 or 869, and a few other candidates, including aftermarket copies of those designs.

The Durkopp Adler 69 Service Manual will allow you to check if key settings are what they should be. I'm not saying you should adjust it yourself (although many people do). Just about anybody with a cheap caliper and loupe can check if certain settings are within spec. Just compare the settings given in the service manual with your machine. Don't loosen any screws, just compare. Chances are, you will find a few settings that are just not right, most likely in the hook area. Then it's up to you to decide if you want to try and fix it yourself or to have a mechanic do it. If a mechanic does it, give them the service manual and ask that they bring the machine within spec, not just make it sew a few stitches on their bench. The service manual will also allow to check the mechanic's work after you get the machine back.

I've been working on a flatbed table attachment for the 441 class of machines for a while now and it's finally far enough along to share a few photos. It's intended as an alternative to the standard table attachment available from the machine vendors. After initial trials I decided to incorporate the throat plate opening into the metal plate to come as close as technically possible to the original flatbed version with a continuous flat surface without gaps. The center metal part is made from a 1/16" stainless steel top plate bonded to a 3/16" aluminum base plate. Small oil access holes in the metal plate allow oiling the machine without having to remove the board. My Cowboy 4500 served as the testbed for development and test fittings. The flatbed attachment should also fit the original Juki TSC-441, Cobra Class 4, and various other copies of the Juki TSC-441 design with a standard length arm. This post is about sharing the design and concept of this prototype flatbed attachment. It'll put a separate post in the marketplace section when the production version of the flatbed attachment is available for sale in mid-January 2017 ($159)

Very interesting machine! That looks like a really loooooong extension of the original design, whatever it was. The U-channel welded on top of the head for reinforcement suggests wicked lever forces are at play. That welded custom table stand is very nicely done, I think.

Here's a simple little mod that I just did for a different topic. Cutting a simple slot on the inner presser foot that allows you to quickly pull the thread in and out instead of threading the hole.

The Pfaff 145/545/1245 style feet will not fit the Juki 562/563 or other Singer 111 class machines. They look similar, but the inner presser bar thickness and the needle hole offset are different. If you can't find suitable ready-made feet, put a Dremel tool and a polishing wheel on your Christmas wish list. A simple metal saw blade and abrasive cloth will do the trick, too. I had ordered some smooth, left-toed feet from NGO Sew on Ebay for under $20 some time ago. They're cheap, nice and good candidates for modifications like cutting a slot. If you order two sets you won't feel super guilty if you mess one up. The actual modification took all of three minutes. Finding the feet, photographing them and typing this post took 30 minutes.

I think the lower limiting bracket is indeed redundant on the Juki LU-562/563 models and is of little use to the hobbyist/craft user. From what I have seen, there's nothing the lower limiting bracket can do, that you cannot also do with the upper limiting adjustments. The Juki design actually has three ways to set stitch length: the excenter that creates the feed motion (with the clunky press-a-button-then-turn-the-hand-wheel adjustment), the reverse limiting bracket underneath, and the upper reverse limiting adjustments. You could, theoretically, set the excenter to generate max feed motion motion all the time and then regulate stitch length by holding the reverse lever in a precise position. Other designs (e.g. Consew 206RB5) do exactly that, the excenter always produces full feed movement, and that full movement is then regulated by adjusting the reverse lever position via the stitch length dial mechanism (on those designs you can see the reverse lever move up and down as you adjust the stitch length.) Many industrial machines have features designed for a factory setting with a few trained mechanics supporting dozens or hundreds of operators who are trained to sew, but not trained to adjust the machine they operate. The main purpose for the secondary limit device on the underside is likely to give the mechanic in the factory the option to limit the range of stitch length adjustments that the operator has access to (after removing the button that holds the excenter). Factories often are very controlled environments and only the mechanic is allowed to adjust the machine. Certain adjustments are locked out somehow (e.g remove a button or prevent the machine from being tilted back.) The mechanic may set up a machine to perform one specific sewing operation perfectly with a special feed dog and throat plate that have a smaller range of motion than what the machine is capable of. The mechanic then doesn't want the operator of the machine to accidentally/maliciously dial in a stitch length that is too long and damage the special parts (e.g feed dog hitting the front or back of the smaller throat plate opening). In that example it makes sense to limit the stitch length adjustment with the bracket underneath and then allow the operator only to make the stitch length shorter, but not longer than pre-set, locked-in limits underneath. The hobbyist or craft shop user is frequently both mechanic and operator. In some cases that full access to all adjustments amounts to a loaded gun pointing at their foot. When adjusting a machine to operate at its design limit or slightly beyond, it's always wise to very carefully check movements and range of motions with slow, belt-off, hand-turned stitches to make sure nothing binds or touches that shouldn't. Crane your neck and use a small dental mirror to see parts of the machine not easily visible from the normal vantage point. While sewing, pay close attention to how the machine sounds, too. The moment the machine starts making strange noises, stop and find out why. Sewing at full speed while blasting death metal music may shorten the sewing machine's life expectancy. I contemplated showing how to purposely unbalance the reverse mechanism to maximize forward stitch length in the video, but visions of irate folks blaming me for luring them into breaking their machines made me leave that part out. On my machine I could unbalance the reverse mechanism so much that it was touching the casting on the underside in a very hard to see spot, making the reverse lever bob up and down while sewing. If you're a careful, methodical person, then I think it's fine to adjust your machine close to the limits like you did.

Welcome to LeatherWorker.Net, Chen! I can't help you with finding a used Durkopp Adler 205-64 in your corner of the world, sorry. Durkopp Adler stopped producing the 205 class of machines a few years ago. Several aftermarket copies are still available new (for example Cowboy/HighTex 7205W64). The 205-64 is a bottom+needle feed machine. Most folks are looking for the 205-370 version, which is a bottom+needle+top, or unison feed machine. Documentation is available online: Durkopp Adler 205 brochure which shows the various models and subclasses. Durkopp Adler 205 Service Manual Durkopp Adler 205-64 Parts Manual Previous discussions on Leatherworker.net about the Adler 205-64 machines can be found by doing customized Google search like "site:leatherworker.net adler 205-64"

I made an in-line walking foot for a Pfaff 545 a few weeks ago:

Without the control box, this motor will do an excellent job of holding the door open. It's unlikely worth the effort to try and repurpose it for anything else.

Great find! Do you have a link to the original Singer brochure at the Smithsonian? I'd like to read the rest of that brochure.

Yes, the Adler 67-373 is a walking foot machine, and a very nice one at that. The "GK" means safety clutch, or hook clutch (Greiferkupplung in German). I'm not sure how the "GA" is different, if at all. The Adler 67 Class Brochure shows the different versions in that class. I had two of these, one with the original Adler sticker and another with a Chandler sticker some time ago and made a few videos with the Chandler. Leaflets_Adler_Class_67_part2.pdf

For North American folks, that stand is listed in the Nick-O-Sew Leather Sewing Machine Catalog on page 24. It's been on my short list of things to try for some time now. I'll get around to it eventually.

Is that name a secret? If not, this is great place to share the info.

Use an online picture resizer service like http://www.PicResize.com to get image file resized down to something that will upload here. You can upload multiple files at the same time: I recommend using a custom size and setting the resize width to 1000 pixels.

I don't really know a whole lot about my monster zig-zag Singers other than how insanely heavy they are and that I survived moving them in 100˚F weather. Both do a plain two-point zig-zag as far as I can tell just by turning them over. Gregg's Adler machine is what you really need, you just haven't come to terms with it yet .

Industrial zig-zag is not going to be cheap, I'm afraid. Long-arm industrial zig-zag is even more expensive. If you're in the mood for serious vintage iron, I have a few zig-zag machines that qualify as a step up from your Singer 107w1. I'm not sure these would actually do well with sails, they seem more like the elephant-carrying harness type. One is a Singer 47K with a HUGE hook and bobbin. The other is a Singer 6KSV9 (by far the most heavy duty zig-zag I've ever seen).

I'd recommend checking with Global Industrial Sewing machines - they're located in Haarlem, Netherlands. They carry new Global brand machines (http://www.globalsew.com/en/cylinderarm-walkingfoot.htm) and also lots of used machines. Global used to own the Minerva factory in the Czech Republic, which Durkopp Adler bought from Global. Certain Global machines come off the same Minerva production lines as the Durkopp Adler versions.

I just took a closer look at one of my Singer 111W151 machines. This machine was in storage and had been sewn to a 4 mm thick (10 oz) piece of veg tan leather before I got it. Bottom+needle feed are a step up from the usual straight stitch garment type machines that only use bottom feed. The hook and the underside of the machine look identical to my 111W155 machines with no apparent difference in strength of the parts in the mechanism. Slowing things down and increasing torque with smaller motor pulleys, larger hand wheel, a servo motor and/or speed reducer pulley should offer the same benefits as with other machines. The top presser foot does not move at all while stitching, it just glides on top of the material. The needle and the feed dog move the material. The feed dog on my machine has teeth, which may leave marks on the underside. The presser foot just needs to be polished well to slide easily and not leave marks. Whether or not it will do exactly what you have in mind, I don't know. I've not sewn with my 111W151 - it's needs a good CLA before I put her to work. But I have a feeling the Singer 111W151 is not a bad candidate for sewing dress belts.