dikman

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!).

Jimi, that list shows just how many different models Singer made, and that the SV designation goes right back to class 5! I noticed that classes 68 and 69 had a very large number of SV machines listed. Fascinating. Madmax, I remain sceptical about such lists (as, I suspect, you are too). I've yet to find any such references.

I just looked up the MSDS for Lilly White oil. It consists of two mineral oils, but what is really interesting is that it's an ISO 22 oil - in other words it's hydraulic oil. Just thought you'd like to know .

If it's a 155 then it should be more than adequate for your needs, and coming with a servo is the icing on the cake.

Which model 111W is it?

I agree with TT, that offer from Uwe is too good to pass up! Even with shipping costs you'd be getting an excellent machine at a bargain price, plus you know where it's coming from.

I like the way you think, oldfarmboy. I've only just bought the lathe (a benchtop 10" x 22", same as the Grizzly G0602). It uses belts/pulleys but the slowest I can get is 125 rpm. I can't see any way of modifying the pulleys to slow it down further without a major re-build, so replacing the motor with a variable speed seems like the easiest option. The motor is only 1HP, so a 1 HP servo may be the go as coupled with the existing pulleys it should retain the torque. Something to think about, strangely enough even though I have 3 servos on my sewing machines using them didn't even occur to me until I read your post!

(Ignore the bit above, for some reason it popped up in my reply and I can't get rid of it!!). Interesting solutions motor-wise. I have a few 12v drills kicking around and they have nice motors in them but supplying power to them has stopped me from using them for anything. Because they draw lots of amps building suitable power supplies is too much trouble. Another possibility is what many do for powering metal-turning lathes - a 3-phase motor controlled by a VFD (used 3-phase motors are often pretty cheap). Some have used treadmill motors for their lathes, but one chap found that at slow speeds it started running very hot. Hmm, just got me thinking, I wonder how a sewing machine servo would work for driving a lathe?

CD, I would think it pretty unlikely that it's assembled in such a way that any springs are dependent on the cover to hold them in place. Singer seem to be better at designing things than doing something silly like that, Just get stuck into it, you know you want to!

I think you should have . Nevertheless, it's a good video of how not to sew something.

My advice to people wanting to buy a servo in the US is to do what you have decided and buy local. The price difference isn't really that great compared to ebay and you'll have peace-of-mind. In my case I found a Chinese company that actually had a warehouse here in Australia so I didn't have to have it shipped from China, just local, and the price was the same, but I had to request the smaller pulley for the motor and that had to come from China (no big deal, though, they were fine to deal with). You'll enjoy that motor, it'll be like a new sewing machine!

I think getting the servo is more important than reverse. Depending on the size of the project I've found it no big deal to turn the material to sew the first couple of stitches and then turn it back the right way.