dikman

It looks like you are going to stitch across the billets? Never a good idea as that will then be the weakest point. Love the spalted maple, it's almost as nice-looking as antler (almost, but not quite ).

That's a very neat little unit, I wonder if it could be adapted to the bigger shuttle bobbins?

Yep, never heard of it and don't see how it could work. Casing requires damping the leather and then letting it partially dry, oil doesn't dry out. Feel free to try it, however and post your results to let us know what happens.

Eucalyptus oil is very good for removing adhesive and "shouldn't" harm the leather - also good for clearing the sinus! As for the holes there are three options as I see it - sew more patches over them (!), re-use the holes for decorative stitching or do nothing. That is the downside to sewing on leather, the holes are permanent.

Wiz, why would I want to shoot you? You're far to valuable on here.

Thanks mate, I couldn't be bothered trying to translate it. Why must people post in a different language when it's obviously an English-speaking forum? Presumably the poster understands English to be able to comment in the first place?

Well, there you go. The one in the OP's photo is certainly a bit the worse for wear (hence my home-made comment).

Looks like a home-made edge burnisher to me.

I think you'll find that a 550w with a speed reducer will be more than adequate for that machine.

Ye olde wooden strap cutter is hard to beat, it's simple and works well. Don't be in a hurry to replace it.

550w will be more than adequate for that machine, but having said that often the 750w don't cost much more (and bigger is always better ).

A lovely piece of old iron! What a great Christmas present.

That workbench should work although it will take a bit of faffing around to sort out the foot pedals. Don't forget to post a couple of photos when you've finished as it may provide ideas for someone else.

Olde-style customer service is becoming increasingly rare these days. Nice to hear it when it does happen.

I doubt building a pedestal-type stand out of timber would have the rigidity needed, class 4's are big and heavy! There shouldn't be any problems making a more conventional table out of wood. More info needed on exactly what you're trying to achieve.

Looks very similar to some of the Singer 211's. Whatever it is it looks like a good solid machine but yeah, needs a bit of a cleanup!

Very nice work. You must have been just a tad annoyed at losing the other one after all that work.

Yep, whoever comes up with it and patents the idea should make a fortune!

Yep, that might work. My first machine, a Singer post-bed that I was given, came with a clutch motor and the first time I fired it up it scared the daylights out of me as I had absolutely no experience with such a thing! Yes, I learned to drive manuals but feathering this clutch was NOT working! So I went through the usual things, fitted a larger pulley in place of the handwheel, made a speed reducer and experimented with various pulley combinations but to no avail, I could not tame this beast. It wasn't 'til I fitted a servo that it became useable. Mastering a clutch motor can be done (just not by me), I wish you luck in your endeavors.

I've never come across anyone having cracking issues with vinegaroon before. The fact that only one panel shows cracks suggests that there's some issue with the leather itself?

Simple, just ignore it and learn which parts of the machine need oiling and do it manually with a fine oiler. I had an auto oiler machine for a little while and just oiled it manually. Basically, just oil any parts that move against each other with a drop or two every so often, it's no big deal and that is how most on here look after their machines.

They're a decent machine and as has been said throw out the clutch motor and fit a servo. College Sewing would be a convenient place to buy one but for the most part they are pretty generic things these days and readily available on ebay; a 550w will work fine, a 750w will be better. It will mount in place of the clutch motor (they all have standard spacing for the mounting bolts) the only thing you may have to do is replace the drive belt. If you can work on cars then you shouldn't have any problems fitting a servo. Toxo suggested replacing the handwheel with a larger pulley to further reduce the speed, normally this is a great way to do it instead of fitting a pulley speed reducer BUT can't be done easily on the 211 models because the shaft end bearing is actually part of the handwheel and not mounted in the head casing as is normally done. Try just the servo first and if still too fast look at fitting a speed reducer. If you are that way inclined you can make your own, search on here there's been lots posted about them. And unless you're a safety freak don't worry about re-fitting the belt covers, I don't know too many who bother with them, you would have to be pretty stupid to get tangled up in the drive belt.

(Relatively) slow speed sewing, that's why many (most?) of us manually oil their machine regardless of having an auto oiler.

I too pondered this subject some time ago, but then it occurred to me that if it was easy to solve someone smarter than me would have already done it.