TinkerTailor

The problem with watching the repair man is he is just going to deal with the adjustment that is a problem this time. Next time the machine acts up, it likely will not be the same thing. Start on page 14 and pay attention to the underlined parts. Page 16 gives details about what should be happening at each needle position. When it says figure y/23 go to the back of the manual and look at the picture referenced. It helps to have it printed out so you can see the picture, text and your machine at the same time. Work through methodically and the inner secrets of the workings of the machine will become clear. Scrapping the machine, shipping it across the continent and back, amongst other things you have mentioned in frustration, are like killing a bug with a shotgun.....all you need is a flyswatter. Its just a little out of adjustment. You paid good money for a quality machine made out of durable materials from a respectable name for a reason. It is by no means scrap. Give it the respect it deserves. Take the time to learn how to keep it running. Operating a sewing machine of this caliber in a one person shop type setting is much more than just pushing a foot pedal. You need to know your machine. That manual goes through the proper lube procedure as well, which you should absolutely know for any machine you own of any kind, and perform regularly.

You could also punch part way in on both sides and then drill out the middle. That would leave you clean top and bottom edges to the hole. Drill it right after punching because punched holes are a little oversize right after due to stretch and will close up some. Take advantage of this to help prevent the drill bit from touching the top edges of the hole. If it is rough inside the hole, or too small, chuck up a small hardwood dowel and use it to burnish the inside of the hole. A fine chainsaw file would work pretty good for cleaning out the hole or slightly resizing it. I have glued sandpaper around a dowel to clean holes in wood before, you could do this here as well. In woodworking it is common practice to cut the visible part of the joint very accurately with a knife, and hog out the non visible parts with a saw or chisel. Mortises are made this way.

After reading a chunk of it, that manual is really easy to follow comparatively. The English is really good compared to most manuals. I read a good part of the timing directions, and they go step by step, clearly and methodically through checking and setting the whole machine. Just follow them in order from the beginning checking the clearances and things, and eventually you will find what it is that is out of sorts. With a set of cheap metric feeler gauges and some calipers from princess auto and a day, you should be able to work through it. Be systematic, take it one step at a time. Don't be intimidated, Its just a machine. Of course the tech told you you cant do it. Thats how he makes his money. Alot of it apparently. He is counting on the fact that you are scared of breaking the machine and dont understand how it works. If he tells you, he gets nothing, if he shows you, he gets one service call, and if he keeps it a secret, he gets a call every time there is a problem. You will never know if you just paid 1000 bux to get him to remove a stray thread piece or something. Probably from the old days before the internet, when the manual was impossible to find, and he had it. That tech needs to learn you cant charge for information anymore really, just expertise, skills and time... There is no school to go to to learn this stuff. He just read the manual, fumbled through it the first few times, until he was fast at it. It always takes half the time to do something the second time...... Don't be discouraged, go slow and you'll get it.

One other thing to do before opening the wAllet is use a dental mirror and flashlight to look for threads and bits of fabric jammed up under there. It's amazing the havoc one inch of thread can create if it's in the wrong place. Look for gunk stick in the tensioners too. Maybe a deep clean is all it needs

I have performed with fire for years, mostly staffs and swords, some whip work. I would totally have worn your braces, however, I have made a few sets of crude bracers for myself one thing i found was it was crucial to fit the wrist well. It needed to go as low and snug as possible onto the hand without causing any movement restriction, because both staff and poi need alot of wrist flex and rotation. I think your design may prevent the hand from bending back a little, however that would depend on the dancers style. I rarely burned my hands or wrist but the middle of my forarm has been branded a few times (while not wearing any armour). Some "dirt twirlers" look at the soot marks and scars as badges of honor. Hard to explain to your work however... If you make another set, I would make them more of a straight cuff.

Leightons.ca is in delburne outside red deer and they sell and fix leather industrial machines new and used. They would also know a local guy who does house calls. There is also mason sewing in Edmonton.

There is alot of very good advice here from very knowledgeable people. Add up your time not making things, and working on your machine. All of us have things we choose not to learn and pay people to do, because its cheaper than wasting time figuring out things we aren't interested in. While i have never had an industrial machine serviced, i imagine the repairman will make housecalls. Think about a garment factory, are they going to bring them all in for service? It may cost a few bucks to get him there, but you are back working again at something you enjoy, not fighting something you want to smash. If you are in the sticks like Vegreville or Edson or something, the pick-up to person quotient goes way up.....Put up an ad at the local grocery store, and at UFA if they have a board, looking for a truck haul it in. With the price of oil putting guys out of work and such, i imagine there are a few guys odd jobbing it to get by. I grew up in northern Alberta, and i know for sure that there are quite a few people around with a pickup that can be bribed to haul a machine in for a little fermented barley and hops.......If i still lived there i would help ya out..I bet the repair guy would be able to fix it right away in one trip if you bring it to him with a timmies card. When your car breaks, you have a choice to either fix it yourself or take it in. Sometimes you have to get somebody to take it in for you.

In general, I prefer a mallet with a head for lower, harder work between my waist and chest (seated or standing). Any higher up and it creates weird wrist angles. Round mauls work better when you are right at eye height and your elbow is on the table. I find i can keep a straighter wrist following these rules, thus more control and less fatigue. Traditional hammer mallet=elbow high, Maul= elbow low. At least from what I have experienced

His post clearly says he is in Homer Illinois.:

I take an additional shortcut, and email myself the pic because phones usually automatically give you the option to downsize the image for email. The received email contain my reduced resolution photos ready to go. Also keeps a copy of all the pics i post in my email if i need em.

Try tack and stable supply places. There are a few close items on here that may help you on your way or give you ideas of what to search for: http://www.horse.com/stable-supplies/barn-hardware/1080/ The alternative is to just make them, it is a pretty simple design.

As well as Longview leather in Longview, Plenty close enough. Tandy in Calgary is a special kind of nasty. The one in Surrey is huge and has all the leather layed out to see and feel. Calgary tandy just has samples in the front.....and is so small. I found myself with sore knees after a short while because they had product displayed on the walls right to the floor. I would rather not contort to see your product........Unfortunately buckskin has no hardware. they are right off mcleod trail, just a bit north of tandy. 5220 - 1A Street S.E Calgary, Alberta T2H 1J1 Canada

I looked at the pictures again and now i think it has been ground to clean it up. I think the seller cleaned (read: totally destroyed) up the face on a bench grinder and the concave would be the radius of the wheel. Because it was a bench grinder, the handle probably got in the way of turning it 360 to get a good face shape. Also, If you look at where the handle comes out the top, there are wear and work and use marks in the wood that have been recently ground away. Some bozo Effed it up with crappy grinding. Shoulda just wire wheeled it, or left it alone. You could just re grind it to a very slight dome fairly quickly with carefull use of a bench grinder or with a sanding disc on an angle grinder, and the hammer in a vise. This method would allow you to get a better dome without taking out the handle.I like the discs because they are easier to control, easier to swap for higher grits, cheap, and dont leave divets as easy as stones...Plus a piece of sticky back sandpaper won't explode unexpectedly and shoot chunks of rock at mach 7.6 towards your eyes balls. If you are buying tools for working not for show, buy the crappy looking ones and renovate them yourself. Shiny tools are way more expensive, cause they are really new, or have been polished and fixed up. If you are buying more than a few tools, its pays to restore them yourself. Its not expensive to get a basic setup for cleaning up tools, and its not that hard. 100-200 bux should get you a cheap bench grinder, some wire wheels and buffers, a vise and a dremel with attachments. Also some sandpaper and cleaning/protecting/polishing liquids. I wont open the pandoras box of what chemicals/solvents/finishes to use for what, but i will say that Evaporust is a rust removal solution that works really good. Soak and buff. No sand or grind. Also, cleaning and restoring a tool is the first step to making your own tools. That is the best if you can do it, in my opinion. I get a double boost of pride when i get to say, "I made that piece, AND i made the tools i used to make that."

Pawn shops usually have lots of drills to choose from. You are looking for big as possible, as beat up as possible but with the nicest chuck, preferably jacobs. I once got a 1/2 inch milwaulkee drill for 30 bux with concrete splatters all over it but with perfect chuck. I bought it to replace the chuck on my own drill which had chowdered its guts. A new jacobs chuck was probably 10 times that.

I have one of these exact carriers and have one logic question for you: "Who takes the beers out of the box at the store to put them one by one into a carrier?" The picture doesn't show very well the strap on the lower side designed to stabilize it on the seat-tube. The rivets scratch the labels on the bottles. Seriously though I would suggest designing it to hold a boxed sixer....from someone who has and sells them....They are a bit of a pain in the rear to use. The beers get warmer faster as well. Now a handle bar mounted holster for a mini-keg...........We are on to something.. Btw, I have a special holder on one of my bikes for a handlebar martini shaker, just in case.....

There are alot of videos and articles about paracord braided bracelets and gear that can be directly related to leather braiding. Search for rope braiding or paracord braiding and such. The leather braiding world is small and shrinking but there are cross-applicable videos. The patterns are the same. Sometimes its even easier to see paracord videos because they use several string colors in some videos, making it easier to follow a particular strand through the braiding or knots. Here is a search for 6 strand paracord braid: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=6+strand+paracord+braid 25b: This is helpful: this is not: You basically said, "Why are you asking again if you didn't take my advice before?" Sometimes people are looking for other opinions than yours, or are trying to elaborate on what you have said, while restating for clarity. Let them. Also, I never would have seen his post to help and perhaps neither would Bret (millwright) if it wasn't reposted. People use media in different ways. Leave the spankings to the moderators.

from theft. Wheel and hitch locks or someone will drive it away.

That first tool is based on the sheetmetal thickness gauges that metalworkers have used for ages. http://www.starrett.com/metrology/product-detail/1-Precision-Measuring-Tools/11-Precision-Hand-Tools/1115-Fixed-Gage-Standards/111506-Thickness-Gages/283

Here is the tool from the video: http://www.buckleguy.com/Harriss-leather-gauges/ Btw, Weaver also sells these but don't have all of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=895pVicyZ0E @ 3:33

Try to drill a hole in your wooden backer board big enough to jam in 1/2 a wine cork flush with the surface.. Hot glue works to hold it in the hole. The cork will be much easier on your awl point than the wood, when it comes through the backside of the leather. The other thing i have seen done, is to drill a small hole in the end of a steel rod, and a threaded cross hole. You put a machine leather needle into the hole in the end and hold it in place with a set screw in the threaded hole. Then chuck it up into the drill press. I have an old home class treadle that just does 6 spi, and i use it with no thread loaded for punching holes in anything that will feed. With no thread the machine punches evenly spaced holes really good, just use a big leather needle.

Nigel Armitage of Armitage leather has reviewed almost all of the available pricking irons/stitching chisels in great detail on youtube, and in articles here.

Kits are for campers.... If you are a tool and die guy, patterns should be a piece of cake for you. Make your own patterns from things in real life taken apart. There are a few users on here as well that freely post patterns in pdf format all over this site. Some will even make a pattern for you from a picture if you ask nice..... Word of warning about wallet patterns, Bills are different lengths around the world, and so are wallets. Don't assume any pattern you find will fit US currency until you try...Put money on the pattern. If it don't fit, you have to either modify the existing or get a new pattern. I dont like patterns with stitch holes because different leathers move in different ways, and casing, tooling, and dying can change the shape of leather, causing the stitch holes to misalign and creating weird warps and stuff in ther final product.. Punching them later eliminates this. As for leather choice, tons of info here for any given type of project. Just today someone posted a wallet made from austrailian cane toad...... I would suggest researching places you can go to in person to buy leather close to you besides tandy. Tandy is ok, but much nicer leather and prices can be found from the local leather guy in alot of cases. I have found in general, independants are more forthcoming with the tips and info compared to tandy. At tandy i am frequently directed to the courses/books when i ask a question. There are also several leather suppliers who advertise here that seem to be very reputable (disclaimer- i have never ordered from any of them due to my canadian location). Watch Nigel Armitage's videos on youtube. Armitage Leather. He is on this site. Watch Ian Atkinsons videos on Youtube as well. Search for Leodis leather.

I forgot to mention, some countries have bills that are shorter in length. You should also check before you get to far that the wallet was designed for american money. For instance, British money ranges from 135-160mm or so wide and american is 190mm approx. This means i have to fold money i put into the wallet i got in the UK. In italy i was in a handbag and wallet store in Firenze that had them sorted by currency size. Actually put money onto unknown wallet patterns to double check before you cut any hide.