dikman

Wicked, there is a lot to learn about industrial sewing machines, particularly relating to leather use. Just keep reading, it took me quite a while to start coming to grips with the subject. For what you want to do any of the "old standbys" should be more than adequate - Juki 562/563, Consew 206, Singer 111W153/154/155, Singer 211G165/166, Seiko STH-BLD, all are pretty similar in operation and capability. Or a Pfaff 335 cylinder arm. These machines are all "oldies but goodies".

Fish-scale pattern? Makes a change from basketweave.

Nothing wrong with that video, Wiz, looks fine. Bit of a motley bunch you've assembled!

Paint it? Heck, it's in far better condition paint-wise than all of my used machines! I'd leave it like that (unless you want to change the colour). That little wooden needle holder looks OLD!.

Very nice, on the face of it looks to be in very good condition overall. You've done well.

Matt, I've made a few different ones and the one big advantage that one has, in my opinion, is compactness. To make one like that you have to either cast your own pulley stack or figure out how to join different size pulleys plus machine it to take the bearing - not impossible, of course, but a lot of messing around, and time as Darren said.

Nice. Just wondering what I could use it for. Might work for stitching bullet loops on gunbelts? Might have to make one anyway (just 'cos I can ).

Yep, first one is a basic edge guide. Only problem with attaching it to that plate is you have to make sure that plate can't slip back, otherwise the edge guide will move. I'm no expert on feet, I'll leave that to others.The hook thingy fits into a hole along the back edge of the bed and is a pivot for tilting the machine back. You can see the round bit screwed to the table that it fits in to. This is an older style of tilt. The roller wheel is a roller feed, used instead of a presser foot. Not a lot of use on a walking foot machine!

Nice! Now if it had more clearance under the foot and took heavy thread it would be nice for holsters, although it would handle belts as is. Mike, we use 230v/50 Hz single phase, 415v 3-phase.

I used British Tan on the second holster I made, it came out redder than yours!

That's a very generous offer, NC. Just goes to show, the nicest people use this forum...... Tom, thanks for enlightening me about the needle size (without calling me stoopid ). I was pretty sure that the ones I had were virtually identical, I'll have to have a closer look. Whilst I sort of understand the sizing numbers, I'm obviously still confused about system numbers and the point shapes/styles.

135/16 and 135/17 are virtually the same. My Pfaff is supposed to use 135/16 but I use 135/17 'cos that's what most of my other machines use. Dismantle the tension assembly and have a look at the inside of the pressure discs, sometimes they can get grooves in them. One of mine was like that, I smoothed and polished the discs with some very fine wet and dry paper and swapped the discs front to back (which changed the position of the grooves so that they didn't line up with the thread path). And yes, you can buy the tension assembly's pretty easily, but check out the one you have first and make sure it looks ok.

Yeah, Picasso doesn't do much for me, I much prefer a nice landscape myself. The loop, using screws or snap studs, is certainly easier as you don't have to worry about stuffing the holster down through those loops, and visually it has a flatter, smoother profile. Or you can make it as a strap with a buckle on front, which looks quite nice. But I'm determined to make a Mexican loop, in part so that I can say I've made one. It will take a while, as I have a couple of tons of firewood to sort and stack and need to make a pair of leather suspenders first for my new Cowboy pants .

Tkt 20 is close enough to M20 that any difference isn't worth worrying about. Servos usually just use the existing motor mounting holes, and depending on the type may have a separate control box or it may be incorporated in the motor housing. You would probably need a different length drive belt, most likely shorter. If you're not confidant about fitting it if you know someone who is an electrician/technician and owes you a favour () they shouldn't have any problems fitting one, it's not that complicated. That machine basically has similar performance to most of mine and they handle #69 and #138 with no adjustments needed, but if you're going to lighter weight thread it may need the timing re-adjusted. The manual says it can handle down to size 12 needles so I would think it should be able to handle that smaller thread, but it may need the timing, tension and checkspring adjusted slightly? Don't know for sure as I haven't tried lighter thread but I'm sure others who are more experienced will chime in. The fact it's working with the other thread/needle is good, as it means there's not much wrong.

I've just re-read Jim Simmons (sticky) tutorial, and he uses a slot, rather than a slit, to make the loops. Looks like I may have the wrong idea about how it's done, so shall defer to more experienced makers. I will, however, make the slots fairly narrow, I think, in the interests of aesthetics.

I'm with billybopp, I'd remove the head and pack separately if possible (that is the one part you definitely don't want to damage).

As Mike said, a servo is an excellent investment to "tame the beast". As for thread sizes, yep, it made my brains hurt for quite a while trying to come to grips with it! Here in Oz we generally use the Metric designations, so #69 (commonly used designation in the US) is M40, #138 is M20. These are probably the two most commonly used sizes of thread, from there you start getting into the heavy stuff (which is not easy to find here in Oz). What do you intend making/sewing?

Uwe, you've done it again! Much clearer than my attempt to describe it.

I always thought of them as "Hollywood holsters", as Dwight said, and that they came about as a result of movie-making. I suppose they make a visually cleaner-looking holster, but what I've found interesting is the trend in more recent movies back to the Mexican loop style, striving for greater authenticity I guess.

Ok, 3rd photo is almost right. You could probably try coming into the top tension disk and straight out the bottom into the lower disk, i.e. not wrapped around the pin. In the lower disc the thread should come around the disk, as you've done, and then up past that little bent lug you can see in the second photo pulling the check spring (that little bent spring) with it. If this doesn't make sense I'll see if I can get a suitable photo of the path.

"(I love the tinkering)" - I know exactly what you mean!

Bobby, I take your point re- the slits and can see what you mean. In my case it won't matter because it can only be used at the range so little chance of it catching on something. I had, however, already thought of that potential issue and am considering punching small holes at the ends of the slits which hopefully should help relieve stresses at that point. Clintock, I had a look at the site. I'm assuming that their holsters are mass-produced to provide a relatively inexpensive product, and as such might suit some people who just want a basic holster, but they look "clunky" to me. The three-loop, in particular, just look wrong, the straps are too thick and too close together and in places are a sloppy fit. But then I'm known to be picky! As for the edges of the slits, one site I came across said to insert a steel ruler (or similar) into the slit to lift the strap up which will allow access to the edge. It should be possible to finish the edges, but may require a bit of "creative thinking" to do so. Guess I'll find out, and if it doesn't work then I'll simply turn the slits into slots! My template just needs a bit of minor tweaking, but I've learned not to rush and to give it plenty of thought to try and figure out what I've missed....

I forgot to say in my earlier post that's pretty impressive service from Darren, what I call real old-school type of service.

Just a thought (and I'm probably on the wrong track) but I thought the 132K6 had a "snap foot" system, where the presser foot kicked forward and back? (Or something like that). If that's the case then if this one has a roller foot then it can't use the same "snap feed", can it?

Nice. Is it just me or does that design look a bit like an ancient Greek helmet?