dikman

Chris, biggest problem with that is you still need the original to make the mold. Making a gun-size mold and then casting with a suitable material won't be cheap either. A hobby 3D printer should be able to print a suitable gun in separate pieces and then glue and pin them together. In my (limited) experience the standard PLA material should work as it is surprisingly tough. The main issue, as Lobo pointed out, is getting the 3D files from somewhere. And they need to be fairly accurate.

Thanks mate, now it makes sense. Something else for me to make.

Josh, another quick question if you don't mine? In another post you mentioned when doing a serpentine stamping you cut first with a swivel knife and then use the knife to bevel the cut edge to act as a stamping guide - is that curved blade in the knife the bevel blade you were talking about?

I'm half-way through, fascinating stuff and exquisite photos!

Looks good to me. The good thing about making boolit loops is that there's no right or wrong way, it's whatever works for you.I made up some dummy rounds (filled the primer pockets with silicone just in case Mr. Plod sees them and has a coronary!) that I keep in the loops while drying in case of shrinkage.

As Gregg has mentioned, if the machine is being used at high speed then a balance wheel is just that, designed to ensure that nothing is out of balance while spinning. If you're using a servo and running at low speeds then balance is pretty much a non-issue, so any handwheel or pulley that will fit should be fine.

I was being a bit facetious, but you're quite right, of course, it would certainly help someone who is struggling to understand these beasties and is having problems. Could be worth a try, but it will rely on someone having one of these testers so they can provide the base-line figures - looks like it's going to be you .

Something fishy about that idea . They might not be sensitive enough, but could be worth a try I suppose. I tend to rely on calibrated fingers and how the thread feels - very scientific approach .

If you're comfortable with using a clutch on the old Singer then if this one runs better I'd stick it in the Singer. I doubt if there's a huge market for clutch motors (there isn't here) but I suppose you might get a couple of $$ for it? Probably can't ask much. I have 3 "spare" clutch motors at the moment (I've already given one away and junked another very old one!). One of the spares is a very old Singer, but it just looks real nice so I kept it .

The other main style is the traditional one where the holster forms a loop over the belt extending down as the rear skirt. This allows the holster to be positioned anywhere along the belt. I've noticed that more recent Hollywood westerns are using this more authentic style of holster, although it was used in the Sergio Leone Spaghetti westerns and John Wayne tended to use this type too. The study of holsters, their design and their use is quite a fascinating area.

Looks pretty fancy. The Buscadero is basically a Hollywood invention, if you bought it used and it fits you then I reckon you were lucky. One of the problems with a Buscadero rig is it's non-adjustable regarding positioning of the holsters. A member in my club said he's read that it might take three sets of holsters before you find out what works for you . It's also a bit tricky making a cross-draw Buscadero rig .

I hear what you're saying Don, but due to the design of this machine there is no "fine-tuning", it either pushes on the release lever at the back of the tension assembly or it doesn't. If you move the assembly out then it doesn't work. No matter, now that I understand how it works it's not an issue. Jimi, before I readjusted mine I was putting just under 3/8" veg under the feet and it punched through without too much trouble (servo, 45mm pulley and large pulley on head). I don't think I'll make a habit of that but it's a pretty solid bit of engineering in these things. I tend to use my Seiko for thicker stuff.

I think I've finally got this thing sussed out (it doesn't help that there's virtually no information on these old ones). I'll post it here so anyone searching on Pfaff 335 will find it. After a lot of adjusting and re-adjusting I've found that when it's set to operate correctly, i.e. the tension discs release when the lifting lever is operated, there is 1/4" (6mm) clearance under the feet. Any thicker leather and the outer presser foot will go higher and start releasing the tension discs! If the release pin is removed and the curved slotted arm on the back is adjusted then you can fit 5/16" (8mm) under the feet. If you leave the pin in it will release tension during a stitch cycle. If the release pin is removed, the slotted arm adjusted and the arm (next to the yellow arrow in my pic) re-adjusted on the outer presser foot shaft, as mine was, then you can just squeeze 3/8" (10mm) under the feet. For the second and third options you will need a manual tension release like mine has. It looks like mine was deliberately set up for maximum clearance under the feet, but I decided to compromise and set mine to 5/16" as at 3/8" the needle bar is almost hitting the leather during stitching.

Yep, that's them.

You just HAD to go and show a serpentine pattern again, didn't you!! Damn, but you do nice work Josh!

My first thought is something in the thread path is causing the tension (probably upper) to vary slightly during stitching. Can you attach a photo showing your thread path? (It will help the more experienced here to diagnose the problem). There can't be too much wrong.

Don, I agree but was perplexed because it was like this when I bought it (it had been used in a small factory then eventually replaced) and I made an assumption that it had been correctly adjusted but something must have broken. Jimi's photos showed that the correct parts were fitted and nothing was broken, so as you said the lifter has to be incorrectly positioned on the shaft (I'm guessing it happened a long time ago and no-one knew how to fix it so removed the tension release pin and fitted a manual version). Now I know (at last) what to play with to fix it .

I'm the same.

Type of machine?

I found some on ebay (from China), weren't very dear and I just picked an assortment of sizes.

My book just arrived! Looks to be in perfect condition and even has a clear plastic covering to protect the cover. I'm stoked!! A lot of books/magazines are downloadable these days (which saves a lot of physical storage space!!) but there's something nice about having an actual book in your hands.

Jimi, a couple of photos. Plinker, apologies for a partial hijack First photo shows everything assembled, second I've removed the unnecessary bits.The arrow points to the hole where the push rod fits, the sliding part in front is attached to the outer presser foot lifting shaft, you can see the cutout so the push rod isn't activated with the presser foot down. Third photo is the outer presser at the top of its stroke during a normal stitch cycle. As you can see, there's no way to stop the rod being pushed and releasing tension during normal use. As I said, I'm slightly perplexed by this as it appears to be deliberately designed to operate this way.

This is my chart. The slot width will depend on the thickness of the loop leather, as I'm currently using Kangaroo (which is thin but tough) my slots are not very wide. I use dividers to step out the spacing. Between Dwight's measurements and mine this should give you a good place to start.

I'll have a look later, noob. Dwight is right in that the spacing isn't critical you just have to make sure that there is enough clearance between the loops so that they can sit properly with cartridges inserted. I just tried a few on scrap leather until it looked right.

Yep, thanks gigi, that makes sense. Careful, plinker, you're one step closer to collecting!. I'm curious to see what other bits came with it.