TinkerTailor

Can't even get the thread started until the bobbin is wound......

Here is a thread where i posted some really good videos of basketweaving a few months ago.: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=66417&hl=

Apparently neatslene is a mostly (80-95%) petrolium based product and lists no neatsfoot as an ingredient, according to the msds sheet: http://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/MSDS/Sheps-Neatslene-Harness-Oil-Light.pdf Where as 100% neatsfoot oil is just that. http://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/MSDS/Sheps-Pure-Neatsfoot-Oil.pdf This would explain the color difference, he is not actually using any neatsfoot oil. It just has neats in the name.

Fixed that for ya. No hammer was needed....

Selling work with any brand logo is a tread lightly and do your research first topic. From what i understand, harley has a pretty strong view about knock off hardware and brand licensing. They KNOW putting their brand on stuff increases the value. They want a piece of the pie.They have aggressive lawyers just for this. I would be careful if you are selling things with their logo. For instance, it is probably ok to buy a harley belt buckle from them and attach it to a plain belt and sell it, but not ok to tool the logo onto the leather. One-off items for gifts and personal use are probably safe as well. Advertising these items, not so safe. Buying old licensed gear and repurposing the hardware may be ok. For instance, is it ok to inlay an embroidered logo cut out of a vintage jacket and sell it? What about reusing the buttons? Who knows? This is why corporations pay lawyers bigbux, to know this stuff. Do some research just in case before you advertise this kind of work. It can't hurt and it may save your butt.

If you can find a needle with the right shank but is a little too long, you may be able to grind/file a bit off the end to get it to seat into your needle bar further and align the eye properly. Just go slow so as to not overheat the needle and ruin temper. If you can't touch it it is too hot, put it in water for a second or two.

Someone may have adjusted the machine for a different needle, And perhaps you could do the same. I know nothing about your machine, however this is done in some old machines.

Hardest part for me was getting the belt tension correct. The factory bobbin winder kicks itself sideways to disengage when the bobbin is full. I needed it just tight enough to grab and spin the bobbin but loose enough to still disengage. I am using a really old belt and apparently after a 6pack of bobbins, it has stretched a little, so it slipps as the bobbin gets fuller, for now i just put my finger on the belt to add a little tension. Tomorrow, gonna take the belt to the vaccuum guy up the road. He has any size (under 18") round belt in stock. Seriously. The guy is crazy about belts.....Went in for a belt for my vacuum, and he not only found it in a couple seconds, but went on a diatribe about vacuum beater head belt design, and how my machine was one of the worst for throwing belts......

Here is a page of parts lists for most of the 46k variants. There are alot of different 46k machines, which subclass is yours? Yours looks like a 46k15 from the picture. This page list a needle size of Needle = canu 08:65 - system 459 r - 1567 - SY 6520. Hope this helps. TT

This is very similar a way accidental babys occur......

Duct tape and a nail gun.

Here is the easiest way to get belt length: 1:) set adjuster to somewhere around 25% of total travel. This should leave you enough slack to make installing the belt easy but give you plenty of stretch adjustment. 2:) measure outside diameter of both pulleys. 3:) measure the distance from the center of one pulley to the center of the other. 4:) Plug these three numbers into this calculater: http://www.blocklayer.com/Pulley-BeltEng.aspx 5:) Double check with this calculator if needed: http://www3.telus.net/shebang/pulley_calculator.html 6:) Order belt to nearest 1/2 inch if possible. Done. No math needed.

How is the speed? Mine is a much faster gear ratio, the motor pulley is the same but the winder size is only about 1.25 inch diameter. Probably a 2-1 reduction where as yours looks like a 5 or 6 inch pulley which is more like 10-1 reduction. To be honest i would like mine to go about half its speed. 11 seconds per bobbin is overly fast, although i can pedal it down easily. May have to install a speed reducer to give it extra punch........

I appreciate the advice. I will definately try a smaller needle. Any reason a D point would not work? I am probably going to try them anyways, not a big expense to know for sure. If they do not work when i try them monday morning, i can still order some and get them next week. Hell i spent more on espressos yesterday than a pack of needles cost. I just wish i could find a place local that carried at least some leather stitcher stuff. Oddly, i have access to supplies for needle and awl machines, many of the things most people travel high and low to get, HUGE thread, wire for autosolers, landis stuff all a bike ride away. The local industrial sewing place only stocks thread in smaller than 92 and very few needles. When i inquired about bigger thread, i would have to order a whole box per color. Are you kidding me?????? If anyone knows of a place other than Mason to get 794/7x1 needles in Vancouver, kindly let me know. Thanks

Playing with needle size is my next step, however i only have bigger in front of me. 24, 25, 27 To be honest i am not sure what point they are. They are off brand needles that came with the machine. Might be an S-point, pretty round hole though. They look round. I called around today and I can get 794 in D point locally in 23 and that is about it. Anything else i have to order. Would a D point work? Needle points are foreign to me, it is something i would like to learn however.

Not slot punches, just round, Its all in the twist.Think about it, the edge of a small punch is no longer than the edge of a skiving knife.

Will post photos of some test stitches tonight.

It seems i am hitting a limitation with my current setup and am not sure what to change next. I am making a bag with veg-retan latigo. It is 4-5oz and very stiff. It is beautiful and for this purpose, perfect. The problem I have is I can not get the stitches centered in this material. I am using 207 nylon with a 24 needle, sewing 2 layers, so 8-10 ounces. I can sew vegtan and chrometan in both thicker and a little thinner and get a nice stitch after a little tension adjust. I ran some seatbelt webbing through and got a good stitch on 3 layers of that When i sew this veg retan, I get the stitch just pulling up into the leather, then i breath on the tensioner a little, and half the knots are popping out the top. I can get it to a point when the knots in the holes are evenly distributed on the top and bottom, but never buried ...Switched to a similar thickness of softer leather, no prob....At first i thought it might be a stitching through glue problem, but i was really careful on the second stitch line to stay out of the glued area, and it did not seem to make a difference. I have glued up samples just like my bag to stitch on as the actual bag was supposed to be a double stitch line, one through the glue and one inside it. I am running out of scraps to test stitch on. Machine has been rethreaded many times both the techsew way and a couple others. Tried bobbins wound tight and with almost no tension. I have tried with almost no top and bottom tension as well as quite a bit, same result. It stitched ok when i stitch flesh to grain with the grain side up, but flesh to flesh, no dice. Btw, 3 layers of this leather stitches ok, I can get the stitch buried here. -Is this thread too large for material? project is already started with this thread, don't want to switch.. -Would a smaller/larger needle help? I am thinking due to the limited stretch, the hole is too small to contain knot so it pops one way or the other -Is the material too hard? -Would casing the leather on my seams make a difference? I need alot of foot pressure to hold this stuff down, i am afraid of marks from the feet on the wet leather. I am also concerned that uneven casing would cause uneven stitching. Is there another variable i am not looking at? Getting kinda tired of test stitching

This is funny in a couple ways.. First joke, Adobe?/......Not going to do it. They lost this customer. I actually owned photoshop 4, 5 and illustrator 8,9,10,11. I have issues with them. This forum is not the place. Second joke, I actually already use ifanview for some resizing and I did not find any decent batch or watermarking when i looked........Perhaps because my software version is from 2008 .........upgrade much...lol Thanks for the reminder to update my software.

May not need to touch them up, However due to after purchase sharpening, i can hand push most of my punches 3/8" and under through most any leather up to 8 ounce. A push and twist and i am done. Force and finesse are generally opposite, if you have to force a tool due to dull edges, you can not finesse it.

I have never received a tool sharp enough for my standards. I touch them all up. Some come much closer to perfect than others. Sometimes you get what you paid for, and sharpening, polishing and honing cost money.

What do you guys use? I currently use 1 app to crop my photos square and downsize them for web, and another that batch watermarks with text only 5 at a time with the free version. I want to be able to point a piece of software at a folder, and batch process them. Basic prompting to choose the cropping area, and the rest of the operations just happen, resize, watermark, crop, rename to new resave to new folder. I would like to be able to use a graphic logo for the watermark. I would like the whole thing to be as close to free as i can get. Any chance it exists??

Labelle supply in Vancouver. Need to be a business and do $50 bucks a month to maintain account. No pricing on the website, though they are not bad on the things i have checked. Most everything i looked at was good quality, leather included. First time i walked in the door, the lady very abruptly asked "Do you have an account" before i said hello. She was ready to turf me and get back to real customers..... I replied no I don't have an account, but i was interested, as they seem to be the only local supplier for thread for my heavy stitcher as well as a few other products i was currently ordering online. The old guy in the back piped up and asked me what machine i had. As soon as i told him I had a 441 clone and was looking for alternate thread to nylon in tex270+ or 4-6 cord, braided poly, linen, etc, he lightened up, and he took me into the back and gave me the tour. I went in with a specific list of a couple product to look at and get a price, and did not waste his time. Nice guy and i think he appreciated the difficulty in having one of these machines in getting supplies. Told me after we had a good chat, some of the conditions of the account could be waived if needed. I think these standoffish places are more than willing to help if you know what you want and don't waste their time. If you are a Martha Stewart crafter, and go there for a lesson with every purchase of one bottle of dye, you won't be their favourite. I have seen the guy in the local leather store give a lesson on how to set rivets to a newbie EVERY time i have been in there....He has had the shop for 20years plus...........How many free rivet lessons is that to sell each person a few rivets and a buckle......It would drive me crazy.

I have a few hand cranked and treadle machines myself. I frequently fill bobbins for one on the other. I also lived off the grid for many years, so my mind is also looking for electricity free ways to do things. Just had a thought, I bet an industrious person could build a pretty swell winder out of a fishing reel.

I get bicycle vintage 3-speed transmissions at work all the time that are broken....They are usually fine and have seized up from improper oil, 3in1 and even sewing machine oil. Any oil over time will eventually turn to varish, how long is the question. My fix is to spray an ounce or 3 of wd40 into the lube hole and then run the hub as fast as i can until it frees up. I then drain the wd40 (and all the chunky black cruddy stuff) out and put in ATF. It lasts and works, but would stain stuff in a sewing environment. WD40 is a great cleaner and solvent, and will break down gummy oil and lube the machine a little while it does it. It is the only thing i know of that will break down old lube but not leave the machine unlubricated while doing it. It is NOT a long term lube. Ever. Btw, wd40 is amazing at taking off sticker glue from surfaces.