dikman

Can you post a photo of exactly what is broken? It will make it easier to advise on the type of repair needed.

Simple, really - if you're going to sew leather you can't beat fitting a servo.

(or maybe ). Not a problem when you wear suspenders - no belt loops.

Or needle timing?

What do you mean by "too long"? Electronics are generally pretty reliable these days so leaving it on shouldn't normally be an issue. I left one of my servos on for over a day with no problems. Look for a fuse, most likely on the back of the control box, and check that, if that's ok try what Tom said and unplug it for a while. If it still doesn't work then it's most likely been damaged by a power surge or spike on the line. Sometimes, if you know what you're doing and you're very lucky, you can open up the control box and may see a damaged component that can be replaced - but these days you've got to be real lucky for that to work! From what I've found you can't buy the control box separately, only consolation is complete servos are relatively cheap.

That scenario would have caused me sleepless nights - I don't have the room for a collection of that size and yet the thought of them going to the dump........not good.

Good that you found the problem (operator error?) but I must admit I'm a bit confused by what you mean by a "simpler motor".

Looks good. I'm not surprised you had a problem with the claw blade. Now, this is just me, but on the Sig holster you have some right-angled stitch lines around the trigger area, I reckon it would look neater if you curved the stitch line. It wouldn't make it any stronger but aesthetically I think it would look better.

We don't get re-runs of the good old Westerns on tv here, it's mostly "reality" -type programmes (I call it garbage!!). Other than the news we don't watch a lot of commercial tv (funny that). I don't understand how the maker could think something like that was acceptable. I stitched a belt once (on a machine) and part way along I got the same thing, nothing for it but to remove all the stitches and start again.

I'm gobsmacked! I only knew about the 20 you mentioned you got recently, but another 10...... You'll have Constabulary drooling over his keyboard .

You have been a busy girl! A nicely grained piece of wood is always pleasing to look at. So, one down and 19 to go.......

I mentioned in another post that a chap asked me to basically duplicate his strongside holster as a crossdraw (he saw Gene Barry's holster in Bat Masterson and liked it). No big deal, although trying to copy an existing one is a bit of a pain, but I got pretty close. Two pieces, 8-9 oz. and 4-5 oz.all handstitched. I fitted a small spacer for the trigger guard, as per the original, but after it was finished realised it should have been thicker. Oh well, never done that before so didn't know how it would turn out. After gluing the pieces together I gave them a coat of Fiebing's black to put some colour in before working it.It came out patchy, which didn't matter as it was getting another coat, but interestingly when I wet it down to shape it the colour lost a lot of the patchy look. (Word of warning - if the gun being used to shape it has synthetic ivory handles wrap them up before messing with dye!! Fortunately the black marks cleaned off! Dumb!). The original holster has steel liners in it (which I don't use) and I eventually realised why - I reckon he used pre-dyed leather, which remains soft and won't hold a shape. The last photo is the back of the belt that he bought. Although the guy obviously had a decent sewing machine I thought the stitching left a lot to be desired.

So, it sounds like the whole tension assembly was moving slightly when that rod was pushed in?

Mizzy, could you have just replaced the pin inside the machine with a longer one? A nail, piece of fencing wire (old Australian joke, you can fix almost anything with fencing wire ) or a broken drill bit maybe? Just wondering.

3/4 hp should be fine.

All of my used machines came with that type of feed dog, for what it's worth, and the replacement feet/feed dog assembly that I bought for my Pfaff 335 also had serrated teeth.

Koreric, that left photo could have the very faintest tinge of green in it - maybe. I've tried a few Feibing's "brown" dyes and all appeared to have faint reddish undertones so based on recommendations here I tried Walnut and at least that is BROWN. As for welts/fillers, I've never bothered with them as wet forming around the actual revolver gave me the fit I needed. Having said that, a chap has asked me to make a crossdraw holster that matches his existing pair, no real problem but they have a bloody thick welt in them! I'll probably fit a welt, but not quite as thick to make it easier for me.

Given that photos don't always show things as they really are (light/shadows/colour etc) that looks pretty good to me!

Videos - Uwe has posted some very good videos on here about adjusting machines, youtube is the only other place I've come across where there are videos relating to sewing machines. As for books, I've never seen any and, as Tom mentioned I've used various manufacturer's manuals, coupled with what I've found on this site to repair/maintain my machines. Industrial sewing machines are an extremely specialised subject and because they're usually associated with factory production any maintenance/repair would either be done inhouse or carried out by specialist businesses. I doubt if there's ever been a lot of call for general repair books on the subject, in part because of the wide variation in design between the manufacturers.(I could be wrong, of course, but I've yet to see any).

550w (= 3/4 hp) would work fine on your machine, 750w (=1 hp) would obviously give a bit more available power but unless the price was good I wouldn't worry about it. Most servos appear to come with 75mm (3") pulleys as standard, you should fit the smallest you can get, in my case the supplier (in China) sent 45mm. You're in the States, so I would suggest you take Wiz's advice and get a Family Sew as he has been happy with them (plus I reckon the price is good). You can buy cheaper from China (which is pretty well where they all come from anyway) but buying "locally" should give you peace-of-mind in the unlikely event you have any problems with it. As has been said, just start with the servo and smaller pulley first.Keep it simple.

As far as that first post goes, you're quite right Bob, BUT (there's always a but) he then says he wants to use 1mm thread. That's when the discussion turned to heavy machines. There are two incompatible elements to his requirements - a (cheap) machine and using heavy thread, which I think has been clarified here. My (medium-weight) machines can do pretty well anything I need except holsters. I've found that using #138 on belts doesn't look too bad, but the holsters have to be hand stitched, which is tedious but strangely satisfying (only problem is I feel that I can't really charge for all the time it actually takes!). My Seiko, btw, only cost me $150 (Aus) . I just needed to add a servo. It's great with #138. But a 3200 would be nice.....

If you've never used an industrial sewing machine with a clutch motor it can be a fairly scary experience - they are fast! For sewing leather you really need a slow speed, in part to give you more control and to give you confidence when starting out. It is certainly possible to sew leather with a clutch motor but it needs a light touch and can take a while to learn. A servo motor will be money well spent as it will give you smooth, slow speed control and make the machine much more pleasant to use. Some also find adding a speed reducer and smaller motor pulley as well as the servo helps, but you can start with a servo first and see if that's enough by itself. Me, I have 3 servos, all have smaller motor pulleys, two have speed reducers, one of those also has a slightly larger pulley replacing the handwheel and the third just has a large pulley replacing the handwheel (which has the same effect as a speed reducer).

1mm?? That's the stuff I use for hand stitching and there's no way any of my machines could handle that! You'll be looking at a pretty heavy machine to use that, and then you'll probably have trouble trying to sew such thin leather with it. Constabulary, that needle is, umm, huge! (Compared to what I've been working with). It looks bigger than my hand stitching needles!!

My guess, assuming nothing's loose, is a belt problem (maybe too loose?). I had a similar issue once and all I had to do was tighten the belt.

A nice machine, particularly if the price is right (and it's working, of course) but holsters? Afraid not, it won't take heavy enough thread, large enough needles or have the grunt to go through the leather (plus ideally you want a cylinder arm for holsters). Should be ok for belts, depending on the thickness, but it will be limited to #138 thread which is probably a lot thinner than you're using for hand stitching.