dikman

Leatherator, download the manuals for the 152 - 155 models - they're free, just do a search - and they will have the nominal settings/adjustments (although these are for walking foot models). The 152 - 154 are set for 10 mm (3/8") and the 155 is 1/2" (I think, I know it has a higher lift than the others). I have mal-adjusted mine to take a thicker leather, but that creates additional problems as the needle bar then hits the leather unless it is also lifted and then you need longer needles and then if you want to sew thinner stuff you have to re-adjust everything back to normal...bit of a pain, really. Much easier to operate it within the constraints it was designed for.

Steve, that pricing I came across certainly makes yours competitive. No doubt, if I searched more, I could probably find something a bit cheaper but for an item like that I wouldn't consider it worth the risk unless it was significantly cheaper. I would love a Cowboy, but for my uses I cannot justify the cost (heck, for that money I can buy myself a nice Winchester 73 and a couple more revolvers!!). Unfortunately I've never seen one come up second-hand, which says a lot about the machines. A friend of mine recently got one at a very good price, but only because a mate died and his wife asked him to help dispose of his leather gear (the machine had hardly been used due to his ill-health). He did the right thing by her but still got a good deal.

Just looking on AliExpress (Chinese ebay) and came across a Cowboy 3200 for around AU$2400. Pity about the shipping, another $1300!

You mean I'm supposed to do more than just put oil everywhere............

cj, a machine of that type should certainly do what you want BUT (always a but) the knife sheaths may be an issue if you try to make them too thick. While a VFD control is always a possibility if it's a 3-phase motor, as far as sewing machines go the best way is to simply fit a servo motor, regardless of what you buy. For a newbie it will make it so much easier to control the beast! Once you make up your mind to buy one the desire to do so can be overwhelming, but don't rush in. For a first machine you need to know that it actually works so that you don't have to spend time (and money) sorting out problems. There's a lot to learn about these wee beasties and it's much easier if you have a working machine to start with. There's plenty of reading on here to help you understand what will suit your needs, and don't be scared to ask as there's lots of very cluey people on here (not me, I'm still learning!!).

There you go, looks like it should do what you want! Good old Uwe, there doesn't appear to be many machines he hasn't got stashed away . That foot looks a bit rusty, Uwe, hope it's not indicative of the rest of the machine? Leatherator, I forgot to mention a servo motor, if you're going to be sewing leather it's probably the best mod you can do to the machine. My 111WSV77 (which I think is a W153) has about 3/8" clearance under the foot but I can squeeze a bit more under it, although the presser bar/vibrating foot bar need tweaking a bit. It will push a #22 needle through basically whatever I can get under the feet BUT it then needs stronger downward pressure on the presser foot to stop the leather lifting on the upstroke. This, however, is without thread as I use it to pre-punch my holes for handstitching. If I add thread the additional loading can become an issue with stitch formation - in other words I'm exceeding what it was designed for. The mechanics of the 111 class are pretty solid but the real limitations are foot clearance and needle stroke. While they can be tweaked a bit no-one is going to turn a 151 (or 152, 3, 4) into a 155, let alone a Cowboy 3200!

What brand is the thread your using? Virtually all manufacturers will use one of the generally accepted "standards" for thread designation, here in Oz the Metric (M) is the most common. My first thought, looking at your label, is its Tex 32, but that's a pretty fine thread. Can you give us any more info about what size you think you're using? I'm curious.....

It's similar to a 211G266 (I think the 466 has a bigger bobbin), which are pretty capable machines, but it all depends on what you want to sew. It could be a good deal if the price was dropped (seeing that it's untested and they can't run it - they're saying that their warehouse doesn't have a 220v feed? Bit surprising for an industrial site). Of course, that assumes the internals are ok. The rust on the handwheel says it hasn't been touched for quite a while and the foot pedal is all rust! Tilt it back on its hinges and look underneath to see if the bits are coated in oil or bone dry and rusting - if the latter then probably go no further unless you know how to rebuild one. If that's ok then try turning it over by hand, it should be fairly easy to turn, and see if the various bits go up and down. Hold down the reverse lever and make sure the feed direction reverses. Try to adjust the stitch length. The switch box on the front of the table looks like it has a cover missing (bit hard to tell), at the very least there's exposed wiring. None of the wiring matters, actually, because the best thing to do is discard the motor and wiring and fit a servo motor, but I'd just tell them that the motor and wiring look dodgy and it's going to cost to fix it. As for referring to the new cost that's irrelevant seeing that you haven't been able to buy them new for a very long time! It's basically an old machine of indeterminate condition (seeing that it can't be run). I figure that you're probably not going to buy it, but this might give you some ideas for any future machines you may look at.

When you say "adding another foot" I assume you mean turning it into a walking foot? If so, nope, can't be done. The other machines (152, 3, 4, 5) in the 111 class are walking foot, but this one is a needle feed straight stitch. If you fit a smaller pulley to the motor this will slow it down a bit and might make it a bit easier to sew with. If you're suggesting fitting a bigger, stronger motor it's probably not a good idea, as this machine was designed to sew parachute material and if you try to punch through the same thickness of leather (or thicker) then it's probably not going to be a happy machine! It will probably sew dress belts, as long as they aren't too thick, but at the end of the day it's a straight stitch, not a walking foot, so will have limitations.

Lucky stiffs!!

Your lever slot looks pretty small compared to mine. I spent some time trying to figure out how to get a longer stitch length but there's no internal adjustment. I did squeeze a bit over 1/2 a stitch extra by filing down the bottom of the silver plate that the adjusting lever moves in. I noticed that the plate was stopping the lever a bit above the cutout in the body, so by filing it down the lever could go all the way to the bottom of the slot. In your case, take off the silver cover and try the lever without it, that will tell you if it will give you any more travel.

This might help you set the bobbin carrier.

As has been said, won't work, will go poof and smoke a bit. Clutch motors are induction motors and there is no cheap way to slow them down electrically. You have three options - fit a speed reducer pulley, swap it for a servo motor (most economical way to get speed control) or swap the motor for a 3-phase motor and use a VFD to control it. The device Uwe lists is meant for electric power tools that use brush motors, will also go poof if connected to an induction motor.

I bought a set of punches similar to those. I took one look at the extreme bevel on the cutting edges and spent some time on a belt grinder putting a much longer taper on them. They work much better but it does make the cutting edge pretty thin.

Nothing wrong with hand stitching, it's something to be proud of. I've done four gunbelts, three with what's known as gunfighter stitching, and one dress belt with the same stitching. Yes, it does take a long time (!) and I doubt if you could justify it if you were doing it for a living - it only works if your time isn't taken into account. I also did them using one piece of thread, but it does take a fair bit of managing until you reach the half-way mark!! I also recently made a gunbelt from a single piece because I wanted one that was flexible, but in general I think two pieces glued back-to-back makes for a stronger belt. Whilst I now use a machine for gunbelts, holsters and cartridge slide/holders are still handstitched but I can't really charge for the time taken as it's my choice to do it that way. And yep, music helps when doing a belt.

Well done! Now that you've proven the concept works you can make a better pedal.(Maybe ).

Thanks Evo, looks like a bit of reading ahead of me. Basically a pretty simple process, but like all simple things the devil is in the detail.

Fair enough, Gigi, in your case it makes sense to use a VFD/3 phase motor setup. Should give you some flexibility.

Gigi, I'd try it without the speed control first, you may find that it's not necessary. As I mentioned I've been running my "original" one at full speed with no problems, and it looks like Sam is doing the same in his video.

I'm also interested in the process you used (just out of curiosity 'cos I don't know much about it).

Thanks Rej, I knew I'd seen one somewhere, that was it! I'm definitely going to make one now.

Sounds like you're having fun! . One thing I slowly learned, as you have, is that once you get into "old" sewing machines you can't treat them like modern machinery etc as the information can be difficult to find - if not impossible (as in the Singer SV machines, lots of models but virtually NO handbooks/manuals anywhere!). I also learned to treat the adjustments/settings in the manuals as merely a starting point. It takes some time to understand how the machine works and how the various bits interact, and I have tweaked all of my machines in various ways. Just because the manual specifies a particular setting (hook above needle eye, for example) doesn't mean that your machine must be set that way. A particular thread/needle combination may require a different setting to work. I consider it very important to have an understanding of the machines I have, not only from a maintenance viewpoint but so that I know I should be able to fix the inevitable problems that will arise (after all, these ARE old machines - bit like me, I guess ).

Yeah, I read the same thing about using aluminium, but I'm a bit curious (besides, I like turning ally on the lathe, it's real nice stuff to work with). My grinder-mounted burnisher is running at twice the speed (2850 rpm) but it actually does a good job at burnishing. It will be interesting to see which one does the better job.

You inspired me, bikermutt, so here ya go! The motor came with one of the sewing machines I bought - the WSV77, the head unit was fine but it had a home-made table, which I junked, and had this motor (1/4 HP, 1425 rpm, made in Canada and it's old!). I stripped the motor and found it had bushings, not bearings, but there was no slop in it so I oiled it up and away it went. A simple wooden mount so that it's portable and can be clamped to a bench/table along with a switch on the end. The burnisher is a made from a Blackwood tree that I cut down a few years ago, I had turned a few cylindrical pieces and put them aside to dry. This one had the least amount of splitting!! The motor shaft is 1/2" (so I can't use the burnishers that I made for my grinder) with a hole through it so I drilled the burnisher to fit the shaft and then drilled a crosshole and screwed a metalthread screw through the shaft hole and tapped into the wood. I'm also tempted to make a burnisher from aluminium, just to see how it would work. Maybe later, once I've cast a suitable cylinder.

Sticks, I doubt very much if a high-end fashion house is going to be very interested in a beautiful row of saddle stitches. It's doubtful if their customers would know the difference between a saddle stitch and a machine stitch anyway (or even care), so I don't think it's a valid comparison. Besides, I think we all know that much of the high end stuff is churned out of the same factories as the budget stuff, so little difference in the type of stitching (=machine). As for learning to stitch, like JLS I got the books, watched some youtube vids and away I went. It's not that hard once you understand the mechanics of it but like most things does require some practice. The main reason for using machines is one of economics - if it's your livelihood then it's all about getting a return for your time and hand stitching can make that almost impossible. I just made a couple of small knife sheaths and a couple of cartridge-loop strips (for Cowboy Action stuff). Because they are smallish items I chose to hand stitch but this was my choice and there's no way I can charge the guy for the extra time, but because it's just a hobby for me that doesn't matter. In my opinion the hand stitching looks much better anyway (and he'll no doubt show them to others so I want them looking good).