MADMAX22

This is the stuff I use to clean it with http://www.autozone.com/wash-cleaners-and-exterior-care-products/polish/blue-magic-metal-cream-polish/142419_0_0/?checkfit=true Not what it was intended for but..... I usually take a shop type paper towel and get a little on it and rub it in and let it sit for a minute or so then buff it out by hand (basically a clean papertowel) then I usually use some for of wax like hard turtle wax. Leaves a nice shiny clean machine. This has worked for me on my 111 and 31.

Have you buffed the part out? I am pretty sure that will shine it up some. I actually use a metal wheel polishing compound on my old machines. It actually gets the old dirt from years and years of fingers touching them off and brings up a very nice shine. It is amazing how long it takes to get all the brown residue off of old machines.

Good point Rock, didnt think about that.

Would like to add, anyone that has that machine next to a modern power tool, a plastic skeleton, and some chicken wire is probably gonna be someone interesting to chat with for a little while. Probably worth going over there just for that.

Maybe the guy didnt glue it and as such added the extra stitch lines to keep it down. You can use the contact cement like you mentioned or I have used the 3M 77 spray and it works good. Snake is not ideal for belts because of the skales, usually being coated with some kind of lacquer when used as such. Ive done a few snake inlays and used a lacquer (dont recall the type) which gave it a shiny finish, worked good for those products but may not be what your looking for.

If you can get that singer 7 for a good price, ya could clean it up and resell it as it looks to be in nice condition. Or you could buy both and have them in your shop taking up space because they are cool looking machines and will probably have there place some day for some project you may do.

Thanks for all the info. One thing I read when I was doing some research previously on this subject is that some of the guys recommended dupli color engine enamel paint. Said it gave a similar result albeit not original and I think it still needs to be baked on for best results. Was thinking of going that route just because of the plan to paint a 31-15 I have in a different color. Although the idea of a paint brushing the finish is appealing.

As far as the back ground color from the stamping it can vary depending on angle of the tool, pressure of the strike, dampness of the leather, from piece to piece of leather. I usually get a little darker in areas because of how wet the leather is if I dont case it properly. I like the leather to be a little on the dryer side for the matte backgrounding because it stamps down better vice squishing out. Not sure if its recommended but a swivel knife cut to delineate the area to background helps keep it segregated. When coloring the background area different then everything else small paint brushes (artist paintbrushes) are the best way I have found. Or antiquing if you want to go that route as the backgrounding will hold the antique and the rest of your project should have a resist on it to prevent it from picking up.

Yeah whatever lol. The ones in my community all work pretty hard atleast from what I can tell. Guess thats the price ya pay for living in some wonderful countryside. Oh and you said "They are the most overpaid, incompetent, lazy people as a whole that exist." so looked to me like you were grouping ALL postal workers together. Didnt realize you just meant at your local hub.

Nope I picked it up a bit back.

Thats really weird, Ive had far less issues with them than anyone else. Not to mention with all the cuts made to the USPS the number of employees have dropped considerably. They may still make the same but fewer people doing the same job. In my area the main office has one checker now where there use to be 3. In 2000 they had 787'538 employees, 2015 it was 491'863 employees. Plus whats wrong with making a livable wage? Straight from the interwebs USPS mail carriers reported an average annual salary of $51,390, as of May 2011 or an hourly wage of $24.71. Most mail carriers -- 80 percent -- earned between $19.46 and $27.27 per hour, and reported annual salaries ranging from $40,470 to $56,720. Where minimum wage is around $15/hr, so someone that is handling "your" expensive items and private information and not just flipping your burgers or wrapping your burritos well seems like a fair wage to me. Than again maybe they should make $20k a year, maybe that would be better? EDIT to add that its going to be a big disagreement on pay and other aspects of any government run entity. On one side ya may have some insurance company employee complaining about what USPS employees make while the insurance company rakes in a huge amount of cash because they are required by law, or the "farmer" who has land but hasnt produced a crop in years (or in some cases is actually dead) and still gets huge government subsidies.

Good deal Bill. Yeah that cap looks to be aluminum which is easy to goof up the threads ecspecially when going onto steel which I am not sure if the body is steel or not. Either way aluminum sucks for applications like that but its cheap so companies use it if they can get away with it. Good luck with the new valve when ya get it.

Yep that's your issue. Time for a new valve. The threads look cross threaded or were at one time. New valve will more than likely fix the issue. Just gotta be careful taking it apart and putting it back together

Can you post.a pic.of.the.part in question. Usually threads aren't used as a sealing surface in air systems.

Assume your looking for better clips for the 380 laser holster you were working on? Did you try contacting Paul Long, he had some nice looking clips at a fair price but not sure if they are wide/strong enough for a holster. Maybe theclip.com

Could have told you to stay away from that place anyways. Its like the tandy of knife making stores. Typical for any company to be large enough to have bean counters, once they are that large the individual customer can piss off.

Great start. Can you share a quick rundown of the process/ingredients you used. Thanks Oh and to add every smooth black singer I have gotten has had a nice shiny surface hiding under a 100yrs of finger oil and dust.

Probably a surface plate and an old one. They put stickers on them now a days. There is probably a company from that place way back. I've got a 2x3' X4" that I got off Craigslist. Works great. Little overkill but it don't bounce around either.

Worth it IMHO. 4" thick is way sturdier then the counter top stuff. You can sink it into your bench and it will work great. If there are any divets or holes just use a slow setting epoxy to fill it in then sand it smooth with sandpaper and a wood block.

Have scene a few different custom jobs but nobody is really selling them for some reason, personally dont have the time to be making them but hopefully will at some point. I have not used the reverse on my 4500 in a long while, got tired of the back becoming a mess or the mismatching alignment. It does turn out alot nicer just flipping it around to back stitch. Did get the inline ones Bob carries or use to carry, it works good with the holster/stirrup/slotted plates but is harder to get to play correctly when the feed dog is underneath.

If you file a police report the pawn shops are "suppose" to enter the products they get into a data base that will pop up with the police if the item matches the description of the stolen items. Supposedly. While back I had a rental powered drain cleaner stolen. Ended up costing me $1500 and a bunch of time wasted. Still find it hard to believe someone stole a crap covered drain cleaner that I had used that day to clean out the sewer pipes under my house.

Wiz I dont know about the 441s being even close to the awl machines in stitch appearance. Maybe the top layer but the bottom is no where close to what I have scene. The slotted needle plate seems to make the bottom even worse IMHO, it makes the bottom deformities even more defined plus it removes the ability to do a decent reverse stitch. Now if we could just get a decent awl machine cloned.

Good info Uwe, I forgot about the orientation of the 206's (have not had one yet) and thought it was the other way around.

Thanks all for the entertaining information. Now I know, and also know how to search for info relating to these in the future theoretically. The same person has a 280L for sale also which I kind of knew about from Wiz's various post and shared info.

Thought this was just covered but cant remember what thread its in. Uwe has a couple of videos showing this issue and how to correct it if I remember correctly. EDIT thought it was for 206's but its for Juki under this thread