DrmCa

You will need at least some pan. Mine is from a different model machine, but it is a pan anyway, so I just trimmed a spam can to fit between the pan and the moving parts on the bottom of the machine, put some oil in the spam can and it works. I run the machine at high speed once every few months to let oil pass through the system, and I see it going through. Normally I stitch at very low speed, so even if I did not oil, the machine would still last another 100 years. You should be able to find a pan which will fit at the dealers or online, they should not cost too much. I never bothered, after figuring I will have to take a 2 hour drive to buy a matching one, when I already figured the spam can trick.

This is really not a big deal. Put it anywhere you are comfortable with, where it would rest on the casting. Plug the old hole with a dowel. Done. I would move the peg NW near that hole on the casting in your 1st picture.

Going by the rust on the oil intake ports, it can be clapped out quite badly. Witn my very similar (but lacking reverse) Juki 553 I am getting away with just keeping a cut off spam can full of oil under the oil pump (it came with a non-original non-matching oil pan).

Wow, very nice! Quality work and they look strong.

There is another popular "pseudo-industrial" zig-zag Singer out there to stay away from, but the model number escapes me. It's a glorified household machine which only looks like industrial, even though it comes with the K legs.

If you can get a zigzag machine, even better, but if not even an old Juki DDL-555 series should do fine on any fabric. I have 553 without reverse and until I screwed up presser foot pressure trying to adapt it for a roller foot to use on leather, it stitched anything and everything. These can be had for close to nothing (I fished mine out of a construction dumpster after noticing a K legs and a table top sitting beside it).

If you still have the broken off part, and he did not butcher it too bad trying to tap, and it is indeed cast iron, then it should be possible to bronze braze the parts back together.

I am in the same boat as Bob - never used organic acids on suede. Just pointing out that vinegar will dry up all by itself, leaving no traces. One concern though, is that grocery store vinegar may contain other unwelcome substances, like sugar for instance. You never know what they spice things with to inflate sales! If I were to use vinegar on suede, I would buy glacial acetic acid from the drug store or chemical supply instead.

Citric acid is a solid, lemon juice will need to be washed off. White vinegar is acetic acid which is volatile, it will evaporate. Choose one you are more comfortable with.

You brush it. I used to have a brush with 3 rows of hair bristles and 2 rows of brass bristles between the first 3 rows.

As long as the customer is happy, the result is good.

It may be the amount of crawling through narrow spaces

Sorry to sound critical off the bat, but he'll lose the tape sooner or later. I would have preferred a pocket for it. I know because I myself keep carrying the tape on my belt and losing it.

Looks like a textile machine for setting sleeves into shirts. I hazard a guess it is not a walking foot machine. It may be good for very lightweight leather, but even then I would prefer a walking foot machine as this one might mark either side of leather.

That I am not sure of, but in general knowing that sunlight has a potential to bleach many organic pigments, I would try drying hulls in a dark place.

Of course you need to dehydrate hulls as much as you can, every extra water works against you.

Was your brew concentration high enough? Tying whole hulls in cheese clothe sounds strange to me, I would crush them in a coffee grinder and pour just enough water to barely cover the granules. And perhaps repeated adding more crushed hulls to the brew several times. Sounds like your brew was too dilute.

I too made a burnishing cylinder on a lathe, but I drilled and glued the wood onto the steel shaft first, then turned the wood dowel on the shaft, so it's perfectly concentric.

Organ should be fine. I found no difference in performance among Organ, Schmetz and GB. You might be just stretching your luck putting too heavy material through this machine. I own 553 and it does not like heavy stuff. It will stitch 4 layers of denim no problem, but give it leather and it will skip and shred nylon, poly or polycore thread which works fine otherwise. 55x series is a textile machine after all. It did stitch marine vinyl no problem though.

Hoping this helps someone! If you are looking for a motor with very high RPMs, you can find one in a vacuum cleaner. Many of them usually run 10,000 RPMs. But they are low power, keep that in mind. And if you are looking for a variable RPM motor, then you might find a combination of a variac with a lawnmower PMDC motor might be a good choice. The variac will provide variable voltage, the bridge rectifier will rectify it, and the PMDC will respond well to variable DC. Going between 20V and 150V on the variac gives a full range of PMDC motor RPMs and slightly above. Do not use a variac with a powerful AC motor, as at low RPMs they will overheat: both the variac and motor. The variac will overheat as it uses same diameter wire along the entire range of coil, and the motor will overheat, as its impeller will not provide enough air flow at low RPMs, where current increases.

Seeing how in Slovenia there is a shortage of used industrial machines, you might be better off sewing sheaths by hand for the time being. Those household machines in your pictures will do you no good, they will break thread, break needles, even break take up levers pulling thread through heavy leather if you tried. If you are handy with a grinding wheel, you can make awls and pricking irons from old chisels and files to get you going.

Thank you for correcting me Wiz, I could not recall the correct belt type for the life of me!

Now all you need is good thread and needles, a bunch ob bobbins and a few sets of feet, a jar of oil and inspiration.

Hear, hear. This is what happens when people allow the government bureaucracy to perpetuate absurd with impunity. Sad travesty, same as with "endangered woods" which leads to US customs destroying travelling musician's guitars. [Waving smilie]. On topic: pig skin is awesome! I had made in Italy dress shoes made entirely of pig leather, and they were the best pair I ever owned. Inexpensive as well. Pig leather can be superb quality if tanned properly. NOTING like a football!

The belt looks like type A 3/8", but I am not sure of the exact specs. You can get the correct V belt from any sewing machine supplier.