dikman

While ornate and heavily worked items can certainly look impressive, there's something about a simple clean design that just speaks of elegance. Nicely done.

It's certainly easier than messing around stitching loops! I guess some might like the look of stitched loops better, but I figure it's only a loading strip so as long as it's functional I see no point in spending too much time on one.

The few I've made didn't need stitching of the loops. I measured out the spacing first and made a template with all the dimensions on (so I could easily duplicate it). I marked it out and punched slots for the loops, basically feeding it through and back so that a loop is formed at each slot. The leather is dampened slightly and a cartridge inserted at each loop and pulled tight at each loop. I glue the start and end bits of the leather loop strap, although some use rivets. I make two of these loop strips and glue them back-to-back to make a double-sided holder with a thin leather spacer in between then stitch them together ('cos it looks nicer). I've been using Kangaroo for the loop strips as it's thin but strong. Punch a hole in the end for a strap (more Kangaroo!). The top one is a bought one, the bottom one I made.

Just saw this (been away on a bike trip and catching up on stuff), nice job, I did up one of those stands and reckon they're a great looking stand!

You going to fit one of them thar racing pedals with holes in it? You know, to make it go faster?

Bugstruck, thanks for the compliment but I'm a rank amateur, compared to others on here, when it comes to sewing machines! On the other hand, I just bought a min-lathe (Chinese, of course) and spent the last three days stripping it and re-building it so it works properly.

DLG, my apologies, I missed the bottom line in Northmount's post that said the original had a toe plug. My bad. It made my post somewhat irrelevant in this case.

kgg, I bought the shoepatcher early on, I was handstitching and didn't know much about anything and it seemed like a good idea at the time. I've never actually sewn anything with it as it wasn't long after that I got the bug about industrial sewing machines!! They're not a bad little machine for what they are and I'm sure I'll use it eventually. The reason I got into leatherwork was because I needed holsters and gunbelts and so far all the stuff I've made has been gun-related (although I'm itching to have a go at making a leather vest!).

(Only problem with that is Brian lives on the other side of the world and shipping can be an issue). Good job, mate. As long as it works that's all that matters.

My first thought was that the top tension is way too high (assuming there is a little tension on the bobbin). Is that top pre-tensioner necessary? looks like the lower slot in its guide will let you bypass it and just go straight down to the lower tensioner. Might be worth a try. Either that or back of the top tensioner so it's not doing much.

Just because there's stitching at the bottom doesn't mean it's got a toe plug as it could simply be decorative, as in carrying on the edge stitching to give it a "finished" look.

kgg, you didn't mention what you use them for (just curious).

Appears to be in very good condition.

Where I buy my leather they naturally also have belly. As it is cheaper I asked the chap about using it and he said while it might be ok for odds and ends he wouldn't recommend it for anything "important". It's thickness can vary and it can stretch in unwanted directions. I guess it could be ok for lining something where it can't be seen much?

Constabulary, it's not just sewing machine gearboxes that have this problem of squeezing the grease out of the gears! Unless the gears run hot enough to melt the grease back into the gears (!) they tend to not be as lubricated as we might think. Your idea of a sticky oil is pretty good, chainsaw bar lube might also work ,it's designed to be sticky stuff and might be a bit thicker than the spray-on stuff for bike chains. Food for thought...

Pulley choice came down to what I had handy - big pulleys tend to get expensive here! The one on the Pfaff is heavy enough to act as a flywheel!!! The "hand crank" I bought cheap, it is alloy and had a bit of bad corrosion at one point on the rim so I cleaned it up and gave it a coat of paint. Good enough for a hand crank.

Constabulary, yes, if you like the "traditional" look on old machines then you definitely won't like this setup! Wiz, that, of course, is something to be aware of. Careful selection of the pulley is important, if they're pressed steel then not good, but cast pulleys can be smoothed over. In my case(s) they have substantial rims that are smooth. I do a lot of handwheeling and haven't had any issues. Matt, both machines have 550w servos with small 45mm pulleys and I haven't had any problems (and I tend to sew slow and creep the needle along!)

Yep, I did this on two of my motorised machines (photos here) - It works well.

True, my idea only works if you've already got a suitable machine, it would be false economy to buy a sewing machine just for pre-punching holes. If you have to buy something then a drill press makes more sense.

I use one of my sewing machines for pre-punching the holes in my holsters. No thread, a 140 needle and I handwheel it, makes it easy to keep the holes straight!

Not necessarily. I bought one 'cos it sounded like a good idea (being a newbie), tried it out but didn't really like it much - because I tend to sew slow there''s no real advantage in having it. For someone who sews fast, however, I can see where it could be quite useful. By all means try it out, who knows, it may suit your needs/sewing style.

In one case I used an existing pulley that I had in one of my spares boxes, the other one I happened to pick up a cheap old pulley at a junk yard. In both cases, though, I had to make sleeves to fit them on the shafts (Pfaff and Seiko machines). I forgot that I also fitted one to a Singer so that I could hand-crank it. Might not necessarily look pretty but it slows things right down and they're good for hand-wheeling too.

Building a speed reducer will help, also fit a 45mm pulley on the motor (every little bit helps!). Another possibility (instead of a speed reducer) is to replace the handwheel with a large pulley, I've done that on a couple of my machines and it works well at slowing things down.

Incidentally, I have an older Pfaff 335 that has a manual upper tension lever, i.e. even if the presser foot is lowered until I operate the tension lever the two tension discs stay apart. If I forget this and start sewing when there is minimal tension on the upper thread, guess what the result is? A massive bird's nest underneath which eventually jams the bobbin case!

A model number would be nice as it appears Jack make an awful lot of machines!