dikman

Don't forget the take-up spring adjustment.

It's a tension issue, although I'm not sure why it happens on the curve. I would have thought a manual machine would be less likely to do that. You can see it on the stitches around the curve, you've either lost top tension or bottom tension has increased. Again,

Tooling leather looks easy - until you try it! You've made a start, now you just need lots of practice to refine your techniques. Keep at it.

That is an interesting mod.

Like friquant said, everything about sewing machines is a compromise, the 160 needle might fit in the needle hole but is likely to be a problem once you add the thickness of the thread. Best way is to try it at the dealers but I would imagine #138/Tex 135 would be the limit. That was good of them to admit they made a mistake and allow an exchange.

Max of 8mm? That thing is definitely overkill, it's a 441-class machine, a harness stitcher!! It's too late now but you should have found out what options the seller has then ask here as to suitability. They should never have sold you a machine like that for what you are sewing.

I can't answer your question but I'm jealous!! Fancy finding a hunk of machinery like that at the dump!

It sounds like your machine has a clutch motor - big, heavy and fast! It takes a lot to learn to feather the clutch on these to go slow (I couldn't do it!). If so what you need is a servo motor, possibly in conjunction with a pulley speed reducer. This will enable you to sew slow without worrying about it accidentally taking off like a runaway freight train.

(This is for Al, not you friquant). In my early experiments I made a pulley out of wood - but it was a lot smaller! If you paint it black it might blend in better. Anyhow, as long as it works is the main thing. I wonder how it would go on a 441?

Looks like a good book, I've added it to my collection.

What are you actually going to use it for? If hammering rivets etc on it then aluminium will be too soft and will mark easily, steel plate will have to be pretty thick to avoid bounce when hammering. That's why anvils are so good (even little ones), they have mass to resist bounce.

Well, that's......different. Excellent workmanship.

Looks ok to me, it depends on the type of needle you're using. Some give a slanted stitch, some give a straight stitch.

Have you put the needle in the right way around? The scarf has to face the hook on the bobbin/shuttle assembly.

I just made a couple of bigger (longer and deeper) rests, one for horizontal use and one for vertical use. The coarsest grit I've got at the moment is 100, which came with it, but it's pretty good at ripping into the metal even with that.

Can you run the binding leather through by itself to see if it's actually folding correctly? Maybe trying to do a double fold with leather is asking too much of it?

Should have known that you would have already done it Chuck!

Neat idea - and looks cool!

Unfortunately the controller appears to be a custom job, you can't just replace it with any old sewing machine controller without modifying it. I've bought several items from Vevor over the years and only ever had issues with one - a spot welder for assembling Li-Ion batteries. It kept tripping the circuit breaker when switched on! It turned out to be a poorly designed main transformer so I replaced it with a re-wound microwave transformer that I built. Then it worked as it should with no problems. This issue, by the way, isn't confined to just Vevor, other brands used the same machines with the same results.

Yep, for anyone who does full-time leatherwork a 2x72 (or 2x48) grinder is the only way to go if you want a grinder. For me this has the advantage that I can easily move it wherever I want so I can keep all the fine dust outside, something I can't do with my other belt grinders. I also have a small wheel attachment for the 2x48 and I intend modifying it so I can fit it to the little one, it should be great for getting into tight corners. Bruce, this one is a bit dearer than the others but it's far more versatile. The quality of mine is excellent, once I had it assembled it worked with no issues. I've mounted it to a slightly larger wooden base so I can clamp it down wherever I want, now I'm trying to figure out how to fit larger, stronger tool supports. Thanks for the belt info, problem is we can't always get the same stuff you can but I'm looking to see what's around.

After seeing one of these on Road Agent Leather's latest video I just had to get one! Although I have a couple of belt grinders this one looked ideal for leatherwork - it's fairly compact, portable, uses 1" x 30" belts and is variable speed. This one is sold by Vevor and the quality looks very good. It uses a sewing machine servo motor (550w) and a modified control box. It's got some grunt behind it, I pushed a piece of steel into the belt -hard - and it didn't slow down. Impressive. 4"contact wheel, platen and best of all it can be tilted horizontal. First thing to do is make a larger base for it and then make a longer tool rest which will be better when it's used horizontally.

BlackDragon, that looks like it might be a heavier duty version. Nice. A long time ago I bought a rechargeable scissor-type cutter set, I found it was excellent for cutting long strips of material for making patches for my muzzleloaders. Great for cloth material but no good for leather.

Yep, tight curves in particular would be a problem. Doesn't matter though, I just had to buy it when I saw it! You know the old saying "He who dies with the most toys wins."

I saw this little thingy at Aldi and for $15 just had to buy one. Rechargeable rotary cutter, says it can cut up to 1/4". I tried it on a piece of old saddle skirt, 1/4" thick and quite hard, and it cut it nicely. The blade is interesting as rather than being round it is octagonal so has sharpened "points". Could be useful for softer leathers.

Thanks for the kind words folks.