dikman

I don't see why not. As DT said either buy a new motor or you could use a VFD (Variable Frequency Device) to convert your existing single phase to a 3-phase output to run the existing motor.

Best thing to do is to try it on a scrap piece of canvas. I sewed some plain canvas (a painter's drop sheet) using a round point needle and #138 thread (I couldn't get smaller needles) and the narrow needle plate on my 4500 and it worked fine. The key was having the narrow needle plate and feed dog. I just used the single sided foot, but experiment with what you have.

Pretty clever, Gerry, as long as it works for you is all that matters. SG, nothing wrong with fabricating it yourself, it's very satisfying to know you can still do it.. The table mine is on was originally a full-size table, then I decided to make a pedestal-style table and then it occurred to me I could achieve similar results by chopping up the table it was on. This also made it easier to move the lift pedal to the left. In your case if you can use material you already have lying around that's even better!

Very nice job! Almost a work of art. The only thing I would add is to line the jaws with leather.

Looking good, but you may find that having the leg between the two pedals might be a bit of a nuisance. Most tables generally have the two pedals side by side, makes for easier foot movement.

Yep, very nice bag indeed! Those Juki 563's might be old machines but they have a great reputation. Good choice (just don't expect to sew holsters with it).

SUP, I suspect you're right, the common denominator I found, when looking at the MSDS for various leather treatments, is mineral oil. It generally forms the major component in order to make the beeswax soft enough to spread as a paste. Most of the other additives are in quite small quantities, perhaps to add a pleasant smell and make people feel good because it has "natural ingredients" - although many companies consider mineral oil to be a natural product for the purpose of advertising. Plus it's probably relatively cheap to use as a commercial component.

This was my solution, it takes up the minimal amount of space for a machine its size. It was necessary to extend the foot pedal support and fit a castor under the end because the centre of gravity of these machines means they tip over if the machine is mounted right on the edge of the table. The foot pedal arrangement might look a little strange but it lets me operate the foot lifter with my left foot so I don't have to shift my right foot off the go pedal. It's on wheels because I need to be able to move it depending on the workpiece BUT even though a couple are locking wheels it's not as stable as having a fixed table.

Why? I just swapped the thread, needle and bobbin from 277 to 138 and it sewed ok with only minor tweaking to allow for the variation in material thickness.

Should be pretty solid!! Keep posting your progress.

My thoughts too, plus they're getting tossed around, rubbed against things and generally take a beating (and often in hot water). And then you've got assorted soaps and detergents to contend with. I doubt if any leather/faux leather is going to be too happy with all that going on.

Nothing wrong with those mate, they look great.

Yay! I finally found out how to convert my .jpg/.bmp image into a vector .svg file in Inkscape AND end up with thin lines! Inkscape is pretty good, for a free programme, but is not user-friendly or intuitive. I'd better write all this down before I forget how to do it.

Well, I finally got a fine line image that printed a, well, fine line. Thanks Bert, for letting me know it could be done. It's been a long frustrating process!! One of the issues that wasted a lot of time is that the trial version of Coreldraw won't let you save an .svg file. Virtually anything else can be saved but not that, nor do they tell you that. My solution - save it as a Coreldraw file (.cdr) then import it to Inkscape and then save it from there as .svg. Slightly convoluted but it works. The other issue is that the version I'm using (X7) has a bug that doesn't always let you convert a .bmp to RGB, which creates a save error. There were other issues too, but I won't bore anyone with them. Now that I have a slight understanding of the process I'll try and find a free programme that will do what I need. It's also occurred to me that maybe I don't need to tool something like a narrow belt, if I can lightly burn the pattern on the belt, use the swivel knife to lightly add the missing details and then apply antique paste it should subtly highlight the cut pattern? Something to think about.

Some servo/needle positioners do work with speed reducers although they seem to be in a minority. If it was all shipped as a package deal then I would assume it should work. I guess you've changed any settings in the menu that may need to be done for the positioner?

Very nice work on the knives and the sheathes.

Another few hours down the rabbit hole (it's getting bloody deep!). Finally figured out how to import a file into Coreldraw, managed to ungroup and apply the hairline but there's no way to save it, believe it or not the window that opens up for it extends down off the screen and I can't find a way to move it up! Also, Coreldraw won't let me save it as an .svg file, only a .cdr file. I can import the .cdr into Inkscape, and then save it as an .svg but when I import that into Lightburn the the laser tracks the image but doesn't actually turn on the laser to burn. All very bizarre. My laser is quite capable of burning a very fine line - but thus far I can't convert my image to do that. My language has been somewhat colourful of late.

Interesting, that's good to know. I downloaded an earlier version of Coreldraw but being a trial version it won't let me import images so isn't very useful. I'll look into it further.

I thought something was different - no Chuckie posts. Good to see you're still alive and kicking.

Is that the quick-draw version? Very nice job on the leatherwork, looks great.

Cheaper if you make your own, I've built three so far. Lots of information on the castboolits forum.

To change it to vector I have to use the trace function first, which gives me a vector image, but I can't see anywhere in Lightburn that will let me isolate individual or part lines into different layers (it may be there but I haven't figured it out if it is). I have successfully changed the image to a vector but the linework is too thick and when I engrave it and then run the swivel knife over it I'm left with an "outline" or edging from the burning alongside the tooling. Searching has shown that Adobe Illustrator will let me convert the thick vector lines to a thin line using the artwork function, but I don't have Illustrator (nor am I about to buy it!) and thus far I haven't found any other programme that can do this function. It looks like I'm heading down another rabbit hole. 30 mins. later: ok, it looks like I need to duplicate the image and assign a different colour layer to each duplicate (as many times as I need to vary individual lines). This still wouldn't allow for a line that tapers in cut depth along its length, this would have to be done manually with a swivel knife. Plus each layer would need editing to remove parts that don't need cutting. I've been dabbling in Inkscape to use as a suitable drawing programme but it's far from being user-friendly or intuitive. Overall it seems a clumsy way of doing anything. Whilst engraving the lines is great to use the cut as a guide for the swivel knife it looks like the best way is going to be finding the settings that only just engrave the image with just enough burning to see the outline and leave a minimal marking on the leather and then use the swivel knife normally.

I have those Gerber pliers too, I've had them for years. I carried them while working at the Grand Prix here in Adelaide and one day whipped them out to cut some fencing wire, turns out the wire was high-tensile and notched the cutting edge of the pliers! I like the way the pliers just slide out without having to open up the handles. Nice pouches, should last forever.

That drop-down guide is a rather strange-looking contraption. The two notched rods on the left had me puzzled until it occurred to me that maybe that's where the spring fits that holds it up and down?

That makes four of us! I discovered that little trick not long after I started leatherwork, my little machine couldn't sew leather but it could punch little holes. Made my saddlestitching much easier (and neater).