dikman

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.

It can take quite a while to get your head around how industrial machines work, some of the adjustments only have to be out a smidgin to cause problems and it's sometimes tricky to figure out just which adjustment is out. As you get used to the various adjustments it becomes easier troubleshooting them - but it takes time and hands-on fiddling to reach that stage. After all the messing around I've done with my machines I can still get it wrong! A little while ago I made a gunbelt for someone and started running the stitching around the edge. I got halfway and thought it looked pretty good - until I flipped it over, it was a mass of loops!!! I had to cut out all the stitches and re-do it.Seems I'd somehow forgotten to set the upper thread tension (still can't figure out how it happened). Those Singers, by the way, are great machines.

No doubt about it, Uwe, you do some nice work! Constabulary, the bluing worked, just thought you might like to know. Not quite up to Uwe's standard, but, hey, the leather won't care .

Dwight, that is very nice, quite elegant looking.

Good idea! I've got some cold bluing solution, I'll give that a try first.

Ok, Uwe's had me thinking about this, so I figured I'd have a go as it could be a useful addition to my foot collection. I had a spare welting foot that came with some bits with one of my machines (can't remember which one!). As I have two of those feet, and am unlikely to ever use them anyway, I figured I could sacrifice one. I filled in the hollow on the bottom with weld then got stuck in to it on the belt grinder. Took a bit of trial-and-error but I ended up with a working foot. It still needs a bit of smoothing down, and the only problem I can see is being plain steel it will rust. Two possible solutions occurred to me - coat it with Devcon epoxy or Parkerize it (more messing around but probably the best solution).

Nothing wrong with that, mate, once it's on the belt it'll look great.

Obviously good design right from the start!

Drawer? Mine goes well beyond a "drawer"!

No worries, glad I could contribute something useful. I figure the post on the front part of mine is for small spools.

Nice bit of fettling. As an aside, my 31K20 came with the winder in two parts, I assume you have the other bit to feed the thread?