dikman

I'm with you, Big Sioux. I love music and when I'm casting boolits I'll play some nice easygoing instrumental/orchestral stuff but when I'm working with the leather - nothing. It's too distracting because I listen to the music, rather than concentrating on what I'm doing (and as you know, one mistake can ruin a project!).

Pfaff are nice machines, but be aware parts can be expensive.

I do lots of that too . I think you'll find your setup is perfectly adequate without a speed control.

" Apparently servos are all pretty much generic in their design." While this is generally a true statement, design does change, for example the optical operation you refer to appears to be an "older" design and they are using a different design now where the optical gradient isn't used. None of my three units has it, and it seems that once one changes the design the other makers follow suit. The best thing with a servo is to experiment with the start speed and top speed settings and in my case they appear to be interactive to some extent. Also, if you want to maximize the torque at low speed then fitting a speed reducer as well is highly recommended.

Just got back to this post. Your setup looks good, similar to what I use. I'll bet you're really enjoying burnishing now!! As for the servo motor you mentioned, there's lots written about these in the Sewing Machine section. They are generally used to replace the large, heavy (and fast!) clutch motors on industrial sewing machines. I have 3 spare clutch motors that I'm trying to think of a use for! Would be great for a burnisher (bit of overkill, though) if I had somewhere to set one up. If I can sell one of my bikes then I may have room in my garage to make a decent burnishing stand. Something TT said has got me thinking, i.e.mounting the motor vertically with a table around the shaft to act as a guide. Might also be possible to mount a sanding drum in place of the burnisher to give nice square edges.

I guess it all depends whether variable speed is required.

I assume you mean 1181? Anyhow, pretty well all modern (and some not-so-modern) machines that use clutch motors have a standard 3-bolt mounting. It's become a de-facto standard for mounting motors, and all servos should use the same system so any servo should be a bolt-on replacement. Any servo will give you the ability to set the speed, the one Wiz refers to is probably the easiest to use as most others require setting the speed parameters via push buttons and a digital display. I'm not sure what you mean by "small one"?

And that, my friends, is part of the problem! When I get interested in something I have a tendency to collect "things". Space has also become something of an issue, so the little voice is saying to wait - until the right one comes along. While it would be nice to have, it's not going to be the giant leap forward that I need/want.

The big worry is where it actually went - you don't want to run the machine unless you're sure it's not hiding inside, waiting to jam/break something.

Thanks MADMAX, you came up with better stuff than when I searched! After reading it all my feeling is that while it can handle slightly thicker material (and slightly thicker threads) than my existing machines there's no huge advantages to be gained in buying one (unless it is real cheap!). I think if I intend getting a bigger machine the next step has to be a 441-type.

For the reasons Tom has stated, I use speed reducers with two of my servos but on the third (the Pfaff) I fitted a much larger pulley in place of the handwheel, which gives the same effect as a speed reducer. Top speed is severely reduced, but that doesn't matter as I'm only interested in slow speed control. As for the motor you linked to, it's pretty typical of most Chinese sewing machine servos - motor and mounting plate, linkage to the foot pedal and control box. The major difference between models/makes is usually how the settings are changed, some use two buttons, some use four. No reason that it shouldn't work. One difference that I just noticed is that it has a 12 mm shaft, most that I have seen have 15 mm shafts, no big deal but 15 mm seems to be the de-facto standard for shaft/pulley sizes. If you buy it make sure, if possible, that it is fitted with the smallest pulley size you can get (usually 2"/50 mm).

Yeah, you're probably right. Plus the grind on every needle would have to be identical or changing needles could be a problem. On reflection, perhaps not one of my brightest ideas......

I know it can sew plywood (!) and horse rugs (ughh!) but the heavier thread could be useful - if I can find heavier thread. Given that it's not a compound feed, are there any potential issues with sewing veg. tan leather? What sort of thickness can it handle? Are spare feet readily available? Sorry for the questions, but searching mainly said that it can sew plywood and horse rugs and so far I couldn't find a lot specific to leather work as we do it. I gather that it's a fair brute of a machine but how would it go sewing holsters?

Given the machines that I have, what advantage, if any, would there be in buying a 132K6?

You could try grinding a flat on the needle?

Martyn, of course, is quite right. I don't groove my holsters so I didn't even give it a thought. Not using grooves makes it simpler. Try using the machine like I said, to pre-punch the holes. If it doesn't work then use your punch. Either way do away with the Ezyawl, get the gear you need for saddlestitching and do it that way. I think you'll be pleased with the results. (Al Stohlman's books tend to emphasize grooving so many people seem to think that it has to be used. It has its place, but not on everything).

Axeman, there have been a couple of threads about these Chinese machines. The larger one sounds like the one you'll need as the smaller one is best with #69 thread (it may handle #138, although the bobbin is very small so won't hold much of that thread!). Darren is certainly the one who can best advise on these wee beasties. As Martyn said, you can't beat a good saddle stitch, which is how I still do my holsters. Have you tried punching the holes before grooving the back? That way you may be able to tweak the groove to line up with the holes. The other thing you could try is using the machine you have to punch the holes in the leather first (no thread, just the needle). I do this with some of my hand stitching as it gives a nice even spacing and makes it much easier to get the awl through when saddle stitching. Without thread loading the machine down they can punch through leather fairly easily.

That is what I would call a minimalist table!

Instruction manual - https://www.manualslib.com/manual/790496/Juki-Lu-562.html

Probably not much help 'cos you're talking about a walking foot, but my 331K was doing the same thing when I fitted a new foot. Finally found out that the bar that the foot was clamped to was slightly out of alignment, so I re-adjusted the bar and all was well.

Considering how long ago these 111 machines were made, I'm not sure that "type B or D" is relevant any more, as oils have developed lots since then! As TT says, if you can get the Lilly White stuff you can't really go wrong.

Good question. The only way I can think of to really find out is to spend time searching alibaba and aliexpress, the two main Chinese online selling sites. If you can find the same motor that you have, sold separately, then the answer should be yes. I know they sell many different types of servo motors but I've never seen any listed as a spare for sewing machines. As Mike said they're generally sold as complete "kits", with the wiring and connections specific to the particular control box. Even if you did find one on those sites, whether anyone outside of China would bother stocking just the motor is another matter - and it would probably cost you nearly as much as a complete replacement anyway.

I've been involved in several oil threads on other forums over the past years (usually guaranteed to start a heated debate ) but this is actually the most interesting. Beats reading about why my car/bike will blow up if I don't use brand-x oil! Mike, the oil used for air-tools was also mentioned in various posts I came across while researching oil for my lathe. It is pretty much the same thing as hydraulic oil. I'm pretty happy about using my ISO 68 oil on my machines, although if I lived in colder climes I'd probably want ISO 22 or 32. Now to start figuring out how to clean out the other oil I used and replace it with the new stuff.

Art, thanks mate, always good to expand one's knowledge. Gregg, problem I've got is that I've no idea if Lilly White is even available here. There's only one sewing machine place I can think of and I think they sell their own brand of oil. Hence me trying to find out just what the stuff is so that I can get something close. TT, that document is interesting (but I don't think I'll be trying to duplicate the recipes in a hurry!). We know a clockmaker (semi-retired now, but still fixing clocks, including ours). I once asked him what he uses to oil his clocks and he said the best thing is Sperm Whale oil - if you can get it!

Rocky, the reason I (now) know a bit about hydraulic oils is because I just bought a new metal-turning lathe and they specified an ISO oil. I figured that a good motor oil should be fine, but started doing a bit of research first and realised I didn't know as much as I thought I did! The recommended oil is an ISO 68 (which is roughly equivalent to SAE30 motor oil in weight, but quite different in composition). Motor oil, amongst other things, can attack brass/red metal fittings, so is not a good idea in a lathe gearbox. ISO oils generally don't have a lot of the additives that are in car oils, have anti-corrosion additives and are designed to withstand high pressure/temperatures. I bought some Penrite ISO 68 and was surprised at how thin it is, and to answer your question It's also clear. An ISO 22 is equivalent to SAE 0W - 5W, so is pretty thin! I'm not sure about staining (I suspect it probably will) but I'll be using this in my machines from now on (partly 'cos I bought 5 litres of it!).