dikman

Figured it's time to see if this wee beastie will actually work! Foot clearance measured at 3/8", which is what I expected given that it's a 111-class machine. I shoved several layers of veg under the feet and fitted a #22 needle (no thread). It punched through ok, but tended to lift the leather on the upstroke. I couldn't get enough tension on the feet to stop it lifting. It was fine if I reduced the thickness of the leather. Changed to a #18 needle and no problems, went through whatever I could jam under the feet, with no lifting. Fitted a bobbin and some #69 thread and it sewed beautifully.Top tension was off a bit but that didn't matter. Back to the #22 needle and some #138 thread top and bottom. As long as I kept the thickness down a bit it sewed fine. I figured the 22/138 combination is probably pushing it past its design parameters, but the fact it will work if I keep the thickness down is a bonus, as far as I'm concerned. My original intention when I bought it was just to use it to pre-punch leather when handstitching, but the fact it sews is great, considering what I had to do to make it into an "ordinary" machine. Not bad for $150 .

That's actually quite a clever way to mount the burnisher! It never occurred to me when I was making my burnishers - so simple that I missed it.

My first thought would have been the takeup/check spring. If the stitches are coming out ok then it means you've got the tensions right, there's not much else I can think of. That spring has a couple of adjustments - travel and tension - and if either one is wrong for the thread you're using you'll probably get slack thread. I think.

Ah, yes, I seem to remember that coming up somewhere. I think it was the plate that the dial adjustment lever slides in, the slot was deliberately made shorter to restrict the stitch length. It doesn't make any sense that they would re-engineer the cams and offsets inside just to reduce stitch length. The machine in that photo, at least, appears to have a full-length slot. I would really like to know what the vendor meant regarding stitch length.

I bought mine from China via aliexpress. The company has a warehouse in Sydney so they shipped from here instead of having to come from China. I've bought three and so far haven't had any problems, however I'm aware that if something goes wrong it could be a hassle to sort out. The 550 watt (3/4 hp) were about $200 each and the 750 watt (1 hp) was $250. If you have any concerns then buying locally should give you peace-of-mind (although it will cost you more). A member on here, Darren Brosowski, sells machines and may sell just the servos (not sure).

G'day Lee, no, it came with a standard handwheel that the previous owner had fitted a wooden handle to (pretty rough job though). While on holiday recently, browsing through second-hand stores as one does, I saw this 8" alloy pulley for a couple of dollars. It had a bit of corrosion on part of the rim but I figured it would make a good handwheel. I cleaned it up, drilled and tapped for a handle and gave it a coat of paint - but I did have to make a bushing 'cos the centre hole was to big for the machine shaft. Once I get the feet sorted I need to find out what the limits are leather-wise that it will work with.

Welcome to what is probably the best leather and sewing machine information resource on the planet! For a newbie any industrial sewing machine is a big step. The Paff 335 is a very nice machine and as long as there's nothing wrong with it mechanically it should be great for what you want, and coming with a servo is a huge bonus for someone just starting out, but ideally you need to see it sewing first. Is this photo the actual machine? If so it is set up with a binding attachment (most of these seem to come that way). You can sew normally using the binding feet, but it's not ideal. The feet and feed dog plate will need to be changed to more conventional types.There have been posts about this before. Be aware that if there's anything wrong with it Pfaff parts can be somewhat expensive. I'm not sure what the vendor means by trouble with stitch length, like all machines they have a maximum stitch length, I'd want to see it sewing different stitch lengths to make sure that the stitch length adjustment is actually working ok. I haven't used mine much (too many machines!!) but I'm impressed with it's quality, and like Gary have got it to sew with #138 thread.

Unfortunately, Brian, living in Oz as we do, when it comes to repairing old machines the only two options we sometimes have are the first two. Good luck with your search, though.

You nearly got it right, Chayse - the All Blacks are Kiwis (NZ). The list so far - Had a homemade thread tension and release - replaced with a proper assembly and internal release fitting. Both feet needed adjusting to get the correct clearance Needle bar had to be adjusted to take 135x17 needles (first needle I tried went Twang! when the hook caught it). I've no idea what it was set for. Feed dog was set too high Came fitted with 1/4" piping feet (nearly all my machines came with these , most peculiar). For some reason the vibrating feet off my 111/211 don't line up on this machine so because these feet fit I've decided to fill the piping grooves with epoxy and sand flat to give me usable feet. Chayse, the routing itself wasn't difficult. Rather than make a template to use as a guide, I clamped a guide along one edge of the table , with stops so I didn't go too far, and took 3 or 4 passes, going deeper each time until I went through. I then shifted the guides to the next edge. It was a bit time consuming, but I'm pleased with the cutout itself. Where I went wrong with the corners is that I should have taken shallow cuts and checked as I went, instead I relied on my measurements and tried to do it in one go. Dumb!

Uwe, your photo enlargement showing the thread path makes me wonder how it worked at all.

No cold one yet, Chayse. As it's Winter I'm having a nice hot cup of tea instead! The feet height still have to be adjusted and when I put a needle in it hit the hook, so some tweaking is going to be needed there, but that's all fun stuff compared to building the table.

I finally got around to making a table for the 117, because it has a longer baseplate than the "normal" Singers I couldn't just swap it out with an existing one. I had an old cast Singer industrial base and used a spare ordinary tabletop I had that I cut down to fit.I carefully measured and routed out the hole, but when it came to routing the depth of the corner supports even though I carefully measured and double checked I still cut them too deep!! Oh well, I figured I'd build it up with hard rubber later. The hinge cutouts were an absolute pain, I thought I had them right but they were too high so it was matter of cut a bit, drop in the machine, lift it out, cut a bit more etc. etc. Lifting that lump in and out all the time hasn't done my back any good! Finally got it right but boy, they're deep. As for the corners, it occurred to me that if I used wood screws in the corners I should be able to adjust them to get the correct height. It actually worked! Due to the weight of this lump, and the fact that the table is chipboard, I fitted a piece of angle iron underneath the middle, resting on the top of the legs and screwed to the table to add some stiffening and support.As it is going to live in my garage I need to be able to move it around. Fitting wheels was a problem, as everything I came up with was either very complicated or lifted the table too high - so I took the simple approach and tack-welded casters onto the bottom of the legs. My intention is to keep this as a hand-operated machine, but if I should decide to motorize it I'll just stick the motor on the top of the table behind the head (as Uwe has done before). Oh, and fitting the knee lift was another pain-in-the-butt, took me about three hours to get it sorted!!!!!!

Why does the thread appear to be wrapped around the thread tension nut?

bb, my advice is do not consider importing direct from China. It's the sort of thing I would do, but then I like a challenge and I'm known for knocking my head against a brick wall! If 1) you are mechanically adept and like fiddling with things 2) are prepared to spend time learning about the mechanics of these machines and 3) are happy to spend time chasing spare parts then by all means look for an older machine. If you can afford it, and as you obviously have little experience with industrial machines, your best bet however is to buy from one of the sponsors here. They have demonstrated that they will look after a customer and you will have peace-of-mind that your machine will work (and more importantly keep working). You may occasionally have to tweak it a little, but that's a lot easier than trying to get a worn machine to stitch consistently! Plus you will be getting a machine that is suitable for what you want to make.

There have been a few manufacturers who have copied the Pfaff 335 design. If you look for cylinder arm machines on various manufacturers' websites and find one with 335 somewhere in the description it's a safe bet that it's a 335 clone. I don't know what brands you have access to over there but look at their websites.

NIce (as usual). Interesting ideas, sewing the holsters along the front and back edges, and sewing the cartridge loops onto a leather strap first and then sewing that to the belt is neat. I've been putting off making a cartridge belt as I just couldn't come up with a design that appealed to me, but your idea has possibilities.

That would be Patria. As I understand it he hasn't "inherited" it - yet - but it's in the family and he's making use of what's in it. More like an Aladdin's Cave than a warehouse, I reckon!

The only thing similar about these machines is they're both sewing machines. The Chinese shoe patcher isn't bad, for what it is, but be aware that the foot will mark the leather as it has aggressive teeth on it. I have one and it took a fair bit of work to tune it (smoothing parts, generally cleaning it up and making a new bobbin winder). It will be limited to size 69 thread and the bobbin is very small. As has been said, if you can only have one machine then based on what you want to make (ignoring holsters, too heavy for these machines) a 335-type machine is probably your best bet. The patcher has the advantage that you don't need power to use it, but all things considered out of the two the Juki would be the better choice, in my opinion.

I know the feeling well! Just sold the 31K20 so I can get the 111W117 working. There's no doubt that some of these old machines are works of art.

Quite a contraption, Brian! Of course, for leather work it can be made a lot simpler as no heating elements are required. I use a compressor head for getting a vacuum, I just hook the chamber up to the inlet side of the compressor head, has no trouble pulling 28" of vacuum.

I thought the same thing. A MAPP torch and some silver solder from Bunnings plumbing section should do it.

For what it's worth , I have some braided thread that is ex-factory, used for shoe/bootmaking, and I cannot get it to sew reliably with any of my machines. The braiding always seems to snag somewhere at some point. Pity, it's really nice thread. Your list of things that you want to sew is fine for probably most "medium" machines that are commonly used here - except for holsters! They require a heavy duty machine. If you look at the list of machines that I have they're probably amongst the most common types, but none of them can do holsters (unfortunately). Holsters I still sew by hand.

Great deal! At that price it's worth chucking the clutch out and investing in a servo. As Uwe said, try without a speed reducer first. I've found a 2" pulley on the motor and fitting a larger pulley (8") in place of the handwheel works well without messing around with a speed reducer (did this on my Pfaff and Seiko). Just saw your post. Although there may be differences, the manual should be fine for getting the basic adjustments and servicing needed on yours.

Two thinner pieces stacked together? (No idea if it would work). If you have a belt grinder then a slightly thicker one can be thinned down (common practice with firearm springs) although it might take a while with a bigger spring. Sometimes they reduce the sides of the spring, rather than the thickness, by making it an "hourglass" shape. Just trying to come up with a few possibilities.

The stand looks great! Good start.