DrmCa

Finished my second purse and some gloves. Outside is mirabella, inside is 100% alpaca.

Hear, hear! After lots of inquiries I found Watco Clear Wood Finish in brushable cans and spray cans at Home Depot. But I was not successful using it on leather as when dry it did not stand to abrasion. Once I rubbed treated leather to itself, shiny surface turned into a grey spiderweb. So it may not be true what I was told about those old belts.

Yeah, what Uwe said - I learned that the same way a few weeks ago right in this forum. Mine is 335-17 and the largest needled is stitches with is #22.

Oh, boy. Another order arrived that I put before knowing the first couple of feet did not fit. First they created a shipping label but USPS never scanned it. Tracking been like that for 2 weeks, when I followed up they said "Okay, we will ship again". Huh. Out of 2 welting feet ordered one does not fit. Both inside and outside feet have to be grinded. Another set fits perfect - hit and miss quality. And they shipped wrong size/system needles just like in the first order. This is such a waste of time, I wonder if the old owner sold the business since I shopped there last time.

I think you did a damn fine job for a novice purse maker. If only you had a matching strap, but I guess we are not supposed to argue with a mom.

This is a very nice unit you occupied, and neatly arranged. I am sure your work there will be very rewarding both emotionally and in terms of income. Totally agree on labeling all boxes! On all 6 sides!

Other than a plastic insert nothing will help. Leather is acidic from tanning.

That's odd. General Industrial Sewing Machine in Toronto where I shop for supplies sells those motors all the time and has several in stock at all times. That tells me it is a popular product. You probably looked at a defective unit. It is supposed to stitch slowly at 0 speed and not supposed to be noisy at any speed. I won't even ask what kind of noise, as not turning at 0 speed is a show stopper.

More questions than answers: Sounds like thread tension sometimes drops and you see the loops. They are on the underside, correct? Are the stitches the same length in the areas with the loops? Is the pressure plate or spring hanging up sometimes as the foot and needle go down? I'd looked around the tension mechanism to see if there are any burrs or lack of lube that may prevent correct tension.

By comparing diameter of the needle holes, thread and the bag itself I would hazard a guess that it is bonded nylon. But why are they using such a huge needle with medium size thread is beyond me - it leaves huge holes that look weird.

There is a huge difference between availability of something outside Canada and in Canada unfortunately. Most things that are not sold by the retail stores in Canada are made of Unobtainium113 so it seems. Just recently a US supplier of 3M adhesives simply cancelled my order on Amazon with an explanation "We are unable to restock the item". Guess what? They are still selling the same product and getting new feedback as I am typing that - just did not want to ship to Canada. I am used to such treatment and not going to bitch about that much, it's not going to get anywhere. Or take a UK supplier of kitchen appliances I tried to order a 220V unit from - will not ship to Canada due to "product liability" whatever it is. So yes, I did a few days of googling and found no one in Canada who carried nitro lacquer in stock or on order, or anyone who would ship to Canada for real, not inflated many times price.

One of my distant ancestors was a leatherworker and over several generations I inherited several belts made by him that preserved very well for being over century old. They were all glossy and I was told that they were treated with nitrocellulose lacquer after tanning. I wanted to try that on some scraps with the idea to restore an old jacket that I loved back in the day. The only problem is that I cannot find any supplier carrying nitrocellulose lacquer in Canada. I tried Cabbot Stain and their Brushable Clear Wood Lacquer is listed as not available. Lowes, Home Depot and Rona do not carry anything other polyurethane lacquers. I heard that guitar makers use nitro lacquers for the decks, but I don't know of any suppliers in that field. Any tips appreciated!

What is the brand name of the motor? Pictures? If you have a large pulley on the servo motor and small on the clutch motor, you can try swapping them. That will slow down the servo even more and give it extra torque it may be missing.

Two suggestions: an old tire and a hockey puck. Though hockey pucks are not that strong, at least the "hard" black ones. I tried to put it between the jack and a car body and the puck crumbled.

Thread Exchange carries lots of poly and nylon thread in all kinds of sizes but the color hit and miss. When the project can afford it, I order a couple of colors that are very close to what I think they describe their thread as, and one usually matches.

And there is always Family servo motor w/ small pulley option.

The fastener companies may have those odd screw sizes. Here in Toronto area, Canada, I go to Brafasco if I cannot make a screw myself. If they had a screw, it would be way cheaper than at Home Depot etc.

+1 for re-tapping into M6. The machines use finer thread pattern than standard M as they are continuously oiled and there is a possibility of a faster thread to undo itself under stress and vibration. I am pretty sure you can get a slower 6mm tap from the ebay and re-tap. I routinely use locktite 262 which holds like nails, but not sure how it would hold in a continuously oiled environment. Slower thread sounds like a better option.

Neat and in good taste! Love the colors of leather and stitches. I wish there was darker brass furniture to match such leather.

I have no idea what acting in poor faith means for me as a customer, but I also do not have time for back and forth with the suppliers and have no desire to fund the postal service with its exorbitant shipping rates. So out comes a dremel and the supplier is on their own dealing with the consequences of shipping out garbage products. To bad so sad.

The inside foot I bought the machine with was chrome plated. The outside foot was not. Ended up borrowing my son's dremel tool and cleaning up the holes in the inside feet. Now they fit. The presser bar is metric 5mm while the holes were oval 4.9 x 5.05. He also grinded the outside foot which did not fit. And then I had to enlarge the screw holes in both the outside feet to allow the screw to go all the way through. Guess I will have to do that again for the welting foot sets.

Are those chrome plated? Mine are bare steel and they look different.

In the past I bought industrial sewing machine supplies from Jim Tally Inc on the ebay. I bought lots of feet for Juki 553 and lots of needles for all my machines from them and never had issues. So when I got Pfaff I too bought a zipper set, plain set (double-sided outside foot) and two sizes of welting feet (still in transit). But the inside and outside zipper foot and inside plain foot that I received did not fit on the bars. The outside plain foot fit the slot, but it is twisted ever so slightly to the right that it would interfere with the inside foot (if it only fit!). I could ream the inside foot cavities and I do not actually mind buying a couple reamers in that size, but the totality of this purchase just sounds wrong. Is it common that aftermarket foot sets require fitting? Can anyone recommend a more reliable supplier?

piheart How's your project coming along?