dikman

Don, if you're referring to the one R8R pictured it appears to be pretty much identical in construction to my servos (in other words, fairly "standard" construction).

My Seiko uses 135 needles. Is there a needle type that is the same shank diameter but about 3-4mm longer?

Well, I've gone as far as I can to get the synchroniser working. The belt wasn't long enough to try the 4" wheel and my other belts are either too short or too long. I recall that when I first got it it worked fine but the pulley ratio was pretty much 1:1. It might work at 2:1, but I'm beginning to suspect not. The unit I have appears to be a pretty generic type as supplied with several servos, so probably pretty basic.I suppose the last two days haven't been completely wasted as I've learned something (and made a nice bushing for my big pulley). Matt, good luck with trying to achieve what you want, I'm sure it can be done - with enough money! Me, I'm back to a tiny pulley on the servo and I can crawl the Seiko and it easily punches a #140 needle through 1/2" of veg.

A bit more info for those who might like to know these things. I fitted the 3" (actually 75mm) pulley and it works fine! Actual ratio is 2.73:1. Whether it's firmware or software is probably irrelevant but I would assume that it's programmed to only work up to a particular ratio, and if so then logically one would expect it to be a whole number and 3:1 would be a good guess. What I need now is a 2 1/2" pulley in order to prove this, unfortunately it's not a common size. Now to experiment with settings and see if it suits my needs with the 3" pulley. It's now an hour later and it's not as simple as I thought. If I go slow it stops fine, needle up or needle down, but if I run it fast it appears to get very confused when I take my foot off the pedal and shudders slowly for 3 or 4 stitches and then throws up an error. Next thing is to swap the 3" pulley for a 4" (2:1) and see what happens. Only problem is I'm running out of belt adjustment! It's obvious that it's no longer going to be an option for me as I'll lose the slow speed and torque I had, but I need to know at what point the synchroniser will work (the info may be of some value to others).

Very nice! I actually like that "honey" colour as it has a nice warm feel about it. Great job on the stamping.

At the moment I'm using a simple belt, unlined, with a right side holster and a left side cross-draw. I angle the belt across my waist so that the right side holster sits lower, this places the cross-draw at my front left and higher. Both holsters are angled on the belt. If I'd used a heavier/lined belt it might have been too stiff to sit at the angle across my waist. If you have two holsters, left and right, then yes, the ranger belt will probably give better support.

Is the right length needle fitted?

Could be a fairly involved project, Matt. I guess my next step is to replace the motor pulley with a 3" and see if that works. This will give me a ratio of 2.67:1 compared to the current 4.5:1. I don't particularly need the synchroniser, but now that I've invested this time and effort it would be nice to get it working. And I need to know.........

Matt, I hate you! You piqued my curiosity, I knew the synchroniser wouldn't work with a pulley reduction system (I tried it), but you got me thinking "did I actually try it with a (very) large pulley?". So I just spent all day to prove it one way or the other - and you're right (unfortunately). I had to make a new sleeve to fit the pulley to the shaft as I needed it more accurate than the existing one and also machined the end to take the synchroniser. Took most of the day! Then I had to move the control box from the left side of the table to the right side 'cos the cable wouldn't reach. While I was at it I swapped the motor and controller over, as one of my tables had a 750w motor which I felt would be better on the Seiko. So at the end of the day I tried it and found after 1 1/2 stitches it stopped and gave an error message indicating a synchroniser problem. The two pulleys, by the way, are a 1 3/4" on the motor and an 8" on the head. I wonder at what ratio it stops working?

Excellent job on the belt! Why not make the holster belt in the same style (if it's good enough for Clint Eastwood )? As to your question, I think you've answered it yourself, the only reason to make the billets single layer is to make it easier to feed through the buckle (or use two layers of thinner leather). It would certainly look better lined.

I also had a look at Alibaba but so far haven't found anything like it. I did find one with the knob control and a couple of push buttons next to it which looked interesting. If I need another one sometime I might consider it.

Thanks for clarifying things Matt, now I understand where you're coming from and can see where a synchroniser would be a real asset. I just spent some time on Aliexpress trying to find that "German" motor (I wondered where they sourced it from). I was looking for that particular control panel, but the only match I found didn't have a synchroniser, although it did come in 600 and 800w models. Unfortunately my Chinese is non-existent so I couldn't make any sense out of the instructions!

Fair enough. Personally, I found that once I'd slowed everything right down for sewing leather I didn't need the synchroniser, if anything I found it to be a nuisance. I can see where they would be an advantage for high speed sewing, particularly with small stitches, but in my case it would sometimes give an extra stitch and with larger stitch spacing the last thing I needed was an unwanted extra hole!

Technically, a California-style Slim Jim with a Mexican Loop half skirt. Very similar to Cullen Bohannon's holster in Hell on Wheels (except his was plain and grotty looking ). Very nice job indeed. Of course, you realise that you're supposed to give details too? Like colour used, finish etc?

Oh? Have you tried it? It should work as the ratio between the two pulleys is constant, whereas fitting an intermediate speed reducer means the ratio varies as far as the synchroniser is concerned. That will definitely cause issues (well, it did with mine).

Replace the handwheel with a (much) larger pulley. I'm assuming you have the smallest pulley you can on the motor? This will give you a considerable speed reduction and allow the use of the needle synchroniser, This is my Seiko. I did the same on my Pfaff 335.

Yep, a commonly suggested mod for small lathes. Many years ago I built one of those speed controllers and to play a joke on someone we connected it to a motor they were using. The joke was on us as it burned the tracks on the board out in nothing flat. I've since learned that "ordinary" single phase induction motors are tricky things if you want to make them variable speed. The common advice is to replace them with a 3-phase motor and use a VFD.

I'm still not convinced that a light dimmer can be used to vary the speed of a squirrel cage AC motor.

As soon as holsters are mentioned you're straight away into the realms of heavy-duty machines. A CB3200 (or equivalent) would have to be considered the starting point, and most likely a CB4500. Forget the post bed machine, totally unsuited to your needs. Alibaba is generally considered a supplier to the trade/companies, whereas Aliexpress is their equivalent to ebay (supplying to the consumer, but their prices are higher). I've also looked at importing a machine (441 type) but by the time all costs are factored in there's very little to be gained and a lot to lose if something goes wrong! You really need to have a lot of experience working with industrial machines if you go down this route as you will basically be on your own. ComputerDoctor, industrial sewing machines are designed to work within a particular range of operations. It is a simple fact that no one machine can be designed to sew thin garment leather one minute and then also handle 3/4" thick holsters next. It's a sad fact that unless you specialise in only making a certain type of item then you will soon learn that you need more than one machine.

Bought some 190 needles, only problem is they're round point garment needles, they don't have leather points in stock. After much stuffing around I found that I can get 1/2" of leather under the feet and it's possible to sew it with #138 thread (required quite a bit of effort hand-cranking) BUT (there's always a but) these needles don't like thick veg-tan and kept getting stuck in the leather!! I guess I was asking too much of these poor needles. They work fine with thinner leather. So far the only place I've found that has 190's in leatherpoint is The Thread Exchange. I think this machine has possibilities if I can get the right needles.

Pretty close, although I think it should have been a little bit shorter and no tie down, Andy Anderson's rigs were designed to be fast draw without needing a tie-down. Nice job on the belt stitching, that "gunfighter" stitching is a bit of a pain to do!

There are other brands of oil treatment additives besides STP, all do pretty much the same thing. Just mix with some engine oil and you end up with a lube that sticks to things! Chain spray - there are lots made for motorcycle chains (and bicycle chains) and all are designed to stick at high speed. Some are quite thick when sprayed on, and most are messy! Best idea is to spray a bit into a container and use a swab or brush to apply it to the machine. Some bikers use DuPont teflon spray on their chains and swear by it as it dries to a non-sticky coating and works well. With a machine like this you're unlikely to go wrong with any of the modern oils/greases/lubes now available, just find something that works for you. As Constabulary said, you're not likely to kill it.

I decided to have a go at adjusting it today, using the 151 - 155 manual. While that brochure tends to lump it in with these machines, 'cos it's a 111, it's significantly different in construction and appears to be, for want of a better description, a dumbed down version. The adjustments available are less than on the other machines. Not necessarily a bad thing as it makes it easier to adjust. It's definitely designed for a longer needle than the others. Would be nice to get a manual for it though.

Rang the dealer, no luck on the 126 but they do have 190's in size 110 and 140 so i might go for a ride and get some. They're only a couple of mm shorter so I can live with that. I decided to adjust it today, the needle bar had the two marks on it so I set it to spec, fitted a 135 needle and noted where it was hitting the hook. I them measured the distance needed to set the needle correctly and it came out about 8mm difference, so the 190 will be close enough.

I have various manuals for some of the 111 class but I was hoping for something specific to the 116/117 as they appear to be different. I guess the 155 is as close as I'll get.