Uwe

I have a new Consew Model MA-104-1T, which appears to be a very close relative of the Singer 114W103. Mine's a little little dusty from sitting in a warehouse for a few years. It's apparently the machine to use for decorative stitching on designer jeans, among other things. Send me a PM if this one would suit you. The only price references I found on this machine were a new one from Atlas Levi for $1,620 , and Cory Leif got his used machine on Ebay for $800 in 2013.

I have a new Seiko STH-8BLD-3, which is the original, made-in-Japan Seiko version of the made-in-China Consew 206RB5. I'll trade my Seiko for your Pfaffs.

Perhaps a Diver-Suits Blindstitch Sewing Machine will do the trick. Or a Strobel style machine:

Closing long neoprene sleeves with a butt seam is very much a specialty sewing operation. Your feed-off-the-arm zig-zag machine is probably the right approach, preferably chain stitch. Personally, I'd be reluctant to commit to production work using a single, highly specialized, rare and used machine. If anything on that machine breaks you're no longer producing anything and parts/service may not be available. You might as well calculate two new machines into your quote for the job. Your customer may not like that quote and you may not get the job, but that's not the worst outcome I can think of.

Congratulations on a great auction find! Don't expect such bargains to be found when you buy parts and supplies. Glenn (Shoepatcher) shared this info in a previous post: "Landis Sales & Service in Arthur, IL. Ask fro Eli Schlabach. He rebuilds Landis 16 machines and has parts and needles. He should have the manual and parts list. Their telephone number is 217-543-3464. Hope that helps." I spoke to Eli earlier this year before I bought my own Landis 16 (for MUCH more than yours). Eli has apparently spent years accumulating all things Landis 16 and buying parts stock from other vendors. He is the expert on this machine and a key resource for making yours work. He probably sells the belts, too. Just make sure you sit down when you call him for parts pricing. There are a few other sources for consumables like awls, etc. Weaver Leather Supply sells awls for the Landis 16 at around $10 each. Run a custom Google search like "site:leatherworker.net landis 16" to see what has already been covered in previous discussions about the Landis 16 on LW. I also have some used and reproduction Landis 16 parts (bobbins, hooks, etc.)

Searching the LW archives for discussions about specific models is often helpful. Try a Google search like "ferdco pro 440 site:leatherworker.net" which brings up dozens of LW discussions about that particular machine. For example this older thread on the the Ferdco Pro 440 would make me cross that machine off the list of machines to consider for the type of work you're trying to do.

The Global brand appears to be one of the better clone options out there. Global brand machines were manufactured by the Minerva-Boskovice plant in the Czech Republic and distributed as a house-brand of the Dutch company IMCA starting in 1992. IMCA later bought the Minerva plant. Then Durkopp Adler bought the Minerva plant from IMCA and made some cooperation agreement to produce OEM Durkopp Adler parts and complete machines there and still make Global brand machines at the same factory. So the Global machines come from a factory with high-end manufacturing capabilities and good quality control. If the label says "Made in the Czech Republic" you likely are looking at a winner. Chances are high that the Global WF 1515 is a fairly faithful clone of the Juki 1508 and that it would accept most of the OEM Juki parts, but I have no first-hand experience with it. The Juki engineering manual for the 1500 series is nicely done and will be a big help in performing repair or maintenance tasks on both OEM and clone machines.

Sorry, I really don't know that particular detail. But I did order a some rare odd-ball screws from M. J. Foley to replace the one missing from a linkage arm on my Pfaff 545. Typing in the part number just so in the M.J. Foley search fields is an art and science and it often takes me half a dozen tries to get any result at all - an old-fashioned phone call may not be bad approach. One other source of rare OEM parts is http://aaasew.com. They can show parts listed by manufacturer and I've found several parts there that no one else carried. AAASew's payment system is barely functional and it takes real effort to make it work, plus a few weeks for delivery, but in the end they did deliver reasonably priced, obscure OEM parts that no one else even offered at any price - on several occasions.

Kunpeng on Ebay also has a good selection of feet and accessories, they may have some that fit your machine. You'll have to check the Pfaff 1445 parts manual for compatible parts numbers. OEM parts for Pfaff are a bit tricky to find. M.J. Foley is my source of choice for OEM parts.

So one little video is worth about forty written posts.

May the torque be with you.

The very common, cheapest (around $110ish shipped on Ebay) and actually pretty good servo motors go by various names, usually something like Family Sew 550 or FESM 550, etc. They all come from the same factory, it seems. They are being sold by a bunch of distributors. It's a good, basic choice that should be a huge improvement over your current clutch motor with its apparently defective clutch. This servo motor has a simple dial that allows you to limit top speed down to about 400-500 RPM usable speed. This motor should be a direct swap for the clutch motor without requiring any modifications of the table or motor mount points. Depending on pulley sizes, this should get you into the 3-10 stitches per second range at the low end with good low speed control. Fancier servo motors that cost about twice as much ($200 or so) often have a digital control box with a bunch of buttons to navigate a cryptic menu to adjust how the motor works. Some of these fancier motors also allow adding a Needle Positioning System (NPS), sometimes called Electronic Position System (EPS), which makes the needle stop in the UP or DOWN position whenever you let go of the pedal. NPS is nice to have for some high volume, fast production applications, but it makes the whole installation more complex. It doesn't sound like this is something you'd want/need. Same bottom speeds of about 3-10 stitches per second. Speed reducer pulleys are surprisingly expensive at around $150 and slow things down by a factor of two or three ( about 1-3 stitches per second instead of 3-9). They can also be a real pain to install, depending on your machine and table setup. The speed reduction may not be worth an extra $150. Servo motor speed ratings are deceptive when they state "0-3,600 RPM", making you think you can smoothly accelerate from 0 to 3,600 RPM. What they really should say is "0 RPM, and then 300-3,600 RPM". They jump from 0 to 300, there is no smooth ramping of speed between 0 and 300. One new 1,100 watt servo motor sold by SewPro USA for about $200 plus shipping has a significantly lower usable starting speed of 100 RPM. The motor is not yet on the website, you'd have to call and ask for it. The slower starting speed gives you the same effect as a speed reducer pulley, but without the extra cost and pain of installation. I've used these motors for a few installations and really like them. A needle position sensor is available for an extra $25 with a nice, simple Up/Down button on the control box. You can turn the NPS function off via a menu setting (other NPS systems can not be easily turned off, which can be real problem/pain). Alas, sewing too slow can actually cause problems with your machine, since it has an oil pump that only works properly when running at high speeds. You'd have to run it at full speed every so often to keep things lubricated properly.

For threading, here's how I would do it for the top. You'll need the long piece of notched metal wire. I made my own from a welding wire rod by filing a notch at one end to hold the thread as I'm pushing it down the chute inside the needle bar. My machine is missing the little lubricant cup that is shown in that Ebay listing I referenced above. Sadly, my machine is also missing the shuttle hook, so I can't do any test sewing right now or show that threading detail.

For a rough price reference, this Ebay listing is the only thing I've seen so far that comes close to my machine: http://r.ebay.com/hWCERT

I came across this Bradbury manual yesterday: http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/bradbury/bradbury a1 repairer threading.htm It's the closest thing yet to a manual for our machines, I think. It has threading instructions but the picture doesn not show details very well. In any case you'll need to use one of those long wire tools with a tiny notch at one end to grab the thread and push it down the center of the needle bar. I'll try it out when I get a chance. My machine turns over nicely, but I'll have to find a bobbin to do some test threading and sewing.

I don't think we have it quite nailed down yet. The body casting of ours has more of an I-Beam cross section, whereas most of the machines we've considered so far have a round or oval main casting cross section. The lower front arm on our machine also goes to the top of the head, not into the center. Apparently there's a mind-boggling variety of manufacturers that made these machines. Christoph Schiffmann in Germany has the most extensive collection I've seen so far. I had no idea there were so many copies of this design by so many manufacturers! It's almost like the hundreds of long-defunct U.S. Auto companies that were all tried their hand at making variations of the same car design and didn't survive past the second decade of last century. From Schiffmann list: The Adler 27 has a similar body casting, but the lower front arm is not right: The C. Schmidt & Hengstenberg has the correct front lower arm that curves up to the top of the swivel head - very few machine have that design detail. Alas, the body casting has a rounded cross section, not I-beam like. Maybe I'll contact Herr Schiffman to see if he can identify the precise model of ours.

I would hope the castings are the same but I don't know for sure, sorry. Of the 31 class I've only seen a 31-15 in real life so far. Singer does not include the body of the machine in their 31 class parts diagrams. But even if it's the same basic 31 class body casting, the different subclasses may vary subtly in how they are machined and/or have holes drilled in different sizes and locations.

The "it seems" part makes it less of an absolute statement. Perhaps I should have used "intended" instead of "designed." What I meant was that in the SInger 31 class of machines, the 31-15 subclass was not originally configured with roller feet and no roller foot options were listed in the parts book. The 31-17 subclass on the other hand is configured with roller feet and drop feed and the 31-18 subclass has roller feet and roller feed. I suspect there's more to the 31-17 subclass than just the different roller foot. Yes, you can swap feet/parts and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. In this case it kind of didn't at first. If Singer had a specific roller foot in mind to be used with the 31-15, they probably would have included it in the list of optional parts. Instead they seemed (<- see what I did there?) to say that if you want a roller foot machine, you should use the 31-17 or 31-18 subclass instead, which were designed/intended for roller feet.

Well, I have no idea what it is, but I do hope we collectively figure it out, because I happen to have one almost exactly like it. Yours is in nicer condition, it appears. On mine, the picture of the factory on the handwheel is from a different angle, too.

I'm not sure a double needle machine is a good starter machine. Most beginners have a hard enough time keeping a single hook system adjusted and working properly. With a double needle & hook machine roughly twice as many things can and will go wrong. Also, for three-dimensional bags (as opposed to flat pieces like wallets and belts, etc. ) most folks end up wanting a cylinder arm or post bed machine. In the $700 range, I'd recommend looking for a Juki LU-562 or similar single needle flatbed machine instead of your double needle candidate. Also, instead of a double needle machine, consider doubling your budget and looking for a used Juki LS-341 or similar cylinder arm machine. The pain and suffering caused by an ill-suited first machine has its price, too. I always recommend a modern servo motor to beginners. Personally I find them much less intimidating and MUCH easier to control at slow speeds. For about the price of a speed reducer pulley ($150), you can also buy a decent servo motor that often doesn't need a speed reducer pulley at all. Sewing leather, especially bags, really benefits from being able to sew very slowly and very precisely, at least initially until you get the hang of it.

Does the manual not describe how to perform initial setup of the machine and how to adjust the table height? The machine must come with some kind of documentation. Bob at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines is your contact, since you likely bought the machine from him. Give him a chance to earn his customer service brownie points. If you want people other than Bob to chime in, we'll need some pictures at the very least. We really have no way of knowing what your table looks like or if it is similar to others we've seen. Some table stands have internal gas cylinders designed to balance the weight of the machine. If the cylinder is compressed with no machine on top and you loosen the knob, it may pop up and put hole in your ceiling or forehead. All I can recommend is be absolutely certain that you can securely and safely install the machine head on the table before you ever pick it up - have a plan and a plan B. It may take half your foot off and likely self-destruct in the process if it falls off.

I find it hard to justify spending much effort to track down a single screw or two when you can buy a complete new 6028 hook for about $20 on Ebay. Even if you want to continue using your original singer hook to keep things original, the screws and other bits from the aftermarket hook should fit.

Very cool photo ,Thomas! That is the first time I've seen that outer feed drive wheel of the Singer 18-3, which is a very interesting and different feed transport solution. I always wonder if they made those left-handed machines for actual left-handed operators or if there is some other reason for the left-handed design. I happen to have some (maybe a lot - not really sure yet) Singer 45K parts, mostly used, some new. Nearly all of them are still hiding in dozens of unorganized parts cabinets/drawers I acquired recently. I put some Singer 45K open frame shuttle hooks (91774 or DD1OP) and Singer 45K Feed Dog Carrier frame (91160) on Ebay. You may not need those, but I thought I'd mention it. Good luck with your restoration! You appear to be doing a very nice and thorough job. I'm looking forward to seeing some before/after pictures and perhaps some video snippets of the machines in action.

Please forgive us if we come across harsh, but we don't answer questions that sound a lot like "How do I get this stuck knife drawer open?" with a simple "Press down on the safety latch and pull on the handle."

I'll rephrase that: Don't trust the person who installed the belt to do things properly. Read the manual and do it yourself.