alexitbe

Hello Everyone, Due to replies on another thread i thought i would show you my recently acquired (yesterday), Gritzner outsole machine. It sewed perfectly at the place i bought it from, but all was not as it seemed... Front and side pictures are below. The only problem seems to be that i do not have tension control in either the upper or lower thread. See pictures below. I think there are two reasons for this. The reason given by Jimi, which is my thread is to thin for the particular shuttle See the large groove in the shuttle. Also the fact that the shuttle spring does not seem to fit flat to the shuttle, which i have labelled A and B. Large groove in shuttle Lastly the upper thread tension mechanism seems to be split in two. Firstly you can reduce the ease of the spool turning directly and secondly there is a round pulley, which I am not sure how it should work, but it stud or bolt is broken. The bolt had been glued with hot pistol glue and was not at first obvious, so I am trying to find a replacement. Can someone tell me what I am missing here? Cheers Alex

Thanks Constab, I will give that a go and also start another thread so this one does not go too far off topic.. Cheers Alex

Thanks Darren, I have just bought a Frobrana / Gritzner with a shuttle, however it has no tension on it . I cannot get the tension spring to work. I have found this shuttle for sale at 34 Euros and will probably give it a go... https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SHUTTLE-HOOK-CLOSED-FRAME-98622-98624-BOBBINS-95093-10-PCS-FOR-SINGER-45K-NECCHI-630-ADLER/32784850026.html?spm=2114.40010308.4.57.YYk4BB The only problem is I will have to wait along time for it to arrive... Cheers Alex

Thank you Constab.... I have seen a Frobana for sale, but it has no shuttle or hook race... I was wondering if it was possible to use the Singer 45k one... All the best. Alex

Does this mean the the 45K shuttle fits a frobana? this is good to know... Thanks Alex

With your leather skills you could have a line of women queuing up... albeit for handbags... Really nice work. Its a pleasure to see fine craftsmanship..Did you use anything to stiffen or strengthen the leather? I have never made a bag and wondered what goes in to it.. Cheers Alex

Thanks for your answer guys.... I have been looking for a roller foot machine for a while, but with no luck... Then this sewing machine came up and i thought I would give it a go... I will post pics if i manage to get in contact with the guy... Its an early version, because its black... Cheers Alex

I am starting a new hobby and need to sew shoe uppers... I can get a pfaff 345 very cheap and wonder if this will allow me to do the sharp turns neccessary for sewing shoe uppers... Ideally I want a wheel presser foot, but there is nothing as cheap as this pfaff at the moment.... Does anyone have any feelings about this? Thanks Alex

I have a pfaff 138-6 and it is a Tailor's sewing machine. It should come with lots of feet. I have been looking for a wheel presser foot for light weight leather, but there, I have had no luck. I like the pfaff 138. There are 3 needle positions and max zig-zag width is about 5 mm and max stitch length is about the same... Will that suit what you want to do? Cheers Alex

Hello Eric, Thank you for taking the time and trouble to scan and upload all this information. If you have anything on fur overseam sewing machines that might be fun to upload.. But seriously, we appreciate your generosity with your information.. Cheers Alex PS Got to agree with Constab. with regard to a reference section.. Good idea. Stickies = bad idea

Hi Martin, I wonder how you managed in repairing this sewing machine. I am looking at a Rafflenbeul, but there is very little information on them How do you find the machine for making soles? Is it better or worse than Frobana or Junker style outsole machines. I think the Rafflenbeul are unual in that they make the whole first and then make the stitch. Frobana does not seperate this process... Anyway, any information or light you can shed on these machines would be a ppreciated. Thanks Alex

And I guess I should show what it looks like in the machine... One fourchette sewn. Start at tip of one finger. to finger web. To the other end I could be wrong, but this is the way I did it... I think you could sew the fourchettes from the web to the finger tips. This would mean that you get the seam at the web perfect, but I really didn't have any problem with that.. Hope that interesting. Alex

Well, I didn't bother taking pics of the mittens. That was down to operator error with the machine... I will adjust the presser foot hight and have another go... However here are the pics of the inside of the glove... It looks all very neat and to be honest this is my best attempt so far... Back of hand, inside out... Black marks are melted knots or pen marks, I have forgotten.. Gusset is very neat... Inside out.

Hi Alex, Thanks for taking the time to write this up and make a video. I look forward to watching it shortly. Cheers Alex

Hi Eric, I do not know the model of the textima of hand... Its hidden away in the cellar. What happened is that it worked fine until I power hosed it with water to clean it. After that the feed never worked properly... Anyway, I have spent the whole of today getting the Singer conected to a treddle and have managed to do one leather glove and one shearling mitten. Camera is being difficult at the mo and I am too tired to try and sort it... I will post the pics tmrw... On the whole I am pleased with the result of the leather glove. Without ironing or preparation it does not look homemade... The seams are very straight and unwavering The mitten looks terrible as it is too thick. The seam is wondering very badly on the underside. More tmrw Cheers Alex

As Eric said, all these fur or glove machines have a small footprint and are portable and weigh at most 16 kg. I would say that the single thread overseamers are only good for fur, where there is little risk of the thread being broken as it is protected by the fur itself on the oneside and lining on the other. double thread can be used for gloves or Ugg boots( I just checked my girlfriends)..It does not unravel if broken. Eric, perhaps I can ask your opinion on one of my overseamers?... The timing is wrong and I cannot fix it. The wheel either does not feed or feeds at the wrong time time when the needle has penetrated the leather. It is not a Bonis, but a Textima. Cheers Alex

Hi Eric, I would never have thought of doing that, but it makes sense as the Bonis machine's stitch can easily unravel when broken. However, it must take a lot of skill to sew the seam twice and I know I couldn't do it (atleast at the moment). I have enough trouble sewing in a straight line. There is a big market for Bonis machines. If you were to sell, I am sure you would get a good price. Cheers Alex

Thanks Eric, Bob and Trash Treasure... Glad you found it interesting. Eric, thanks for the kind offer, but I have managed to a parts list, just not a maual. It would be nice to somehow find a manual. Today, I had another play with it and it managed to sew some shearling really nicely. The thread was too thin really, but here are both sides of the same piece. needle thread Spool Thread. I might try making a tester shearling mitten just to see how it gets through it. I would say that thread size of upper and lower have to be the same...Otherwise it doesn't sew. well.. I am using Gutermann 120, which is a little thinner than the Gutermann sewall thread. It is used particularly for sergers and I would say that it is happy in 80 nm sized needles.. Cheers Alex

Well I thought this might be a bit different to what we normally see on here... Its an old glove making machine which is unusual in that it does a standard lockstitch. In my experience most glove machines are like fur machines and do a single or double thread overseam stitch. It took me severall attempts to thread, and it might still be wrong, but its sews well with only an occasional pull through of the upper thread (red) to the underside (black thread). The machine is full of fluff, especially in the spool ad hook area so I think a quick clean will do the job. The spool is not turning smoothly by hand, so I think this is the source. Lower or spool thread side. Upper or needle thread side Enjoy something different... You can ask me questions, but I really know nothing about it. It has a variable stitch length adjuster, which is handily writtine in SPI. The largest look to be about 5-6 mm, which for gloves seems to be extremely long. In addition, as with a normal sewing machine one must hold the threads at the begining otherwise the upper thread gets pulled through and there's a bit of a mess underneath Cheers Alex

Hi Constabulary, I will post a picture of what I have... It is a real bastardised Singer 111w It has a lever for stitch length adjustment and also does reverse. Its German made and is called Singer 111wd180. I can find no information on it.. It came with a spare presser bar with a roller attached. So I have installed it and wish to set it up properly. Cheers Alex PS I now have a spare shuttle carrier for the Claes. Maybe you can convert your 201 to the larger spool 203... I can lend it to you for an extended period...

The Patent Elastic is the forefather of the Claes patcher and the Claes patcher can do 12 mm. It is far superior to the Singer, in that respect... The Slaes patcher is rebadged for the US market as.... hmm I have forgotten...I will find out later. Alex

Hello all, I have a strange singer 111w, which is needle feed only. I have an old singer rolling presser foot, but no matching needle plate or feed dogs. I understand that I need a single line feed dog, but there seems to be two types. One with a teeth both infront and behind the needle hole and another type with teeth only behind. I will need to do sharp turns and I wonder if the feed dog with teeth behind the hole would be best. Do you have any advice? Thanks Alex

Thanks for posting... I think I am going to give it a go... I have a few tools from a cobbler, a press and a few other things.. I am waiting for this book, "Handmade Shoes for Men" by Laszlo Vass and Magda Molnar,to arrive before Christmas and then I'll have a crack... First, I might try replacing a leather sole on an old pair of shoes.. Cheers ALex

Despite not owning one of their machines and being on the wrong side of the pond...Ryan O ' neel has been nothing but helpful and courteous, despite me not spending big bucks... That's great service.. I just wanted to let my appreciation be known.. Cheers Alex

aw.... "handy?!" that's terrible... Thanks Tom for the work on making it a searchable pdf...That's a real bonus... Does anyone have anymore glove resources, maybe we can add them here? There is not much around.. Cheers Alex