dikman

A bit hard to tell from your photos but the finish doesn't look too bad. I'd be inclined to clean it up as best I could and leave it at that. Potentially probably has more value with the original lettering etc on it.

I'll bet you like watching old stationary/steam engines too. I'd say you've done well getting a wee beastie like that, tt.

For $50 you can't go wrong! Well done.

As I mentioned before, in order to stamp leather it needs to be slightly damp. Dunk it in warm water (in and out, be careful of soaking it as you don't want it to go mushy), leave it for a few minutes then repeat the process. If it doesn't repel the water it should slowly start softening and you should be able to slowly start straightening it. You can't rush this or you could damage the leather. Once you've got it flat it will probably be pretty damp so it needs to dry a little before you start stamping - you want it barely moist, not wet. Adding anything (saddle soap, leather balm, neatsfoot oil etc) could prevent it from absorbing the water. If it's previously been treated with beeswax then you may have a problem!

Being new to leatherwork, I don't think you realise quite what a job you would be setting yourself - and there's no guarantee you could even stamp the leather. Normally leather is cased (pre-dampened with water) so it will take the stamp imprints but there's no way of knowing how this holster has been treated. It may not take up moisture, in which case stamping it won't be very successful. Plus, imo, basketweave is one of the trickiest stamps to use and get a good result with. You would want to do a lot of practice first.

That looks a lot better than it was. You appear to have rounded off the flat part a little, but as long as it works ok is the main thing.

There's a lot of lint there!! You could probably start with a pair of tweezers and pull out as much as you can, then a fine brush and a vacuum to finish off.

The biggest problem you may have is finding suitable screws to attach the plate!

Try using very fine wet and dry paper, used wet, on a piece of glass, you should be able to get them very smooth and then finish off with metal polish. Unless you have a buffing wheel, of course.

If it was me I would temporarily fit a piece of cardboard, plastic or whatever I could find and then do some test runs (needle only, no thread). Measure the stitch holes and mark the strip accordingly. In my limited experience these marks are generally only a guide and not to be relied on if you want accuracy.

. Mike, you beat me by 1 minute!

Sorry, tt, but that's exactly what you asked in the first post. And as a result we now know that there's no such beastie. Mike, I'm well aware of your ongoing battle with spell-checkers, I was just rattling your cage. We may not have any alpha predators on land here but we do have some very nasty spiders and snakes (and drop bears)!

Tony, you are faced with the same unpalatable truth that many who start out with industrial sewing machines soon discover - there is no one-machine-that-does-it-all (unfortunately). Many want to start with bags, dress belts, purses etc - oh, and maybe the odd knife sheath, and maybe a holster or two. Which is why people end up with a minimum of two machines (and generally more!). In my case I have to hand stitch holsters as I have nothing that can handle them. I recently came across a nice used 3200, unfortunately it's 3 days drive away so I'll just have to keep looking.

"capitol A.." You missed that one, Mike. Sorry, I couldn't help myself as you are usually very meticulous when it comes to posting.

Fascinating stuff. I never knew a spokeshave could be used on leather (but I don't think I'll be modifying mine). As for using a normal wood plane, it's obvious that it won't cut it. (Sorry about that ).

My mistake, I thought it was the leather that was developing cracks. In that case I'd say it's the treatment your putting on top? Try dyeing a bit of scrap and just coating with neatsfoot oil to see what happens.

I haven't seen anyone use a speed reducer pulley on a domestic machine before.

I'm on holidays at the moment so not home. I can tell you that the servo is a fairly generic one that I bought off ebay, the vendor was here in Australia so I didn't have to buy from overseas. It's rated at "550w" but as you know that can mean anything! It's perfectly adequate for the machine it's on and can punch through 1/2" of veg with no problems.

Very observant, jimi, judging by the horizontal banding on the sides I'd say you're right.

Yes. The term refers to all the extras/gadgets/etc that you wouldn't get on a "standard" machine. In this case the pneumatic functions, which presumably require the original motor/control box to function. I guess it all depends how badly you want those functions.

Ahh, ok, you didn't mention that before. The only thing I can think of is that the needle bar is bent slightly.

Brian, I am more than happy to acknowledge your superior experience in these things, but I must admit I'm with Constabulary on this. The feet look the same type as those on my little 201K (domestic) and I'm blowed if I can see any advantage in filing out a notch like that. Plus, as you say they are two different type of feet, so to prove that cutting the notch makes a difference the comparison should be between two of the same feet, i.e. before and after. Of course, I could be completely wrong...... I see you posted just as I did, Gymnast. Interesting tests, but as I said you should do the comparison between two of the same type of foot in order to get an accurate result.

I'm confused, you said the problem is that the needle isn't centred in the feed dog. Given that the needle bar can't be adjusted laterally the only way you can centre it is to move the feed dog, as Gregg has shown.

It happens, mate. Not all sellers will do the "right" thing.

And it comes with a 2" pulley, which is nice.