dikman

Very nice work, Danny, clean and elegant. The carving is very well done, for someone who claims to be not artistic you've done an excellent job (just wish I was as good).

kgg offered some good advice. Start simple, get the best value servo you can (doesn't matter if it's 550w or 750w, either will work) and go from their. If you have some mechanical skills, which I suspect you have, then you should be able to fit a servo yourself, it's not difficult. Get some help to remove the clutch motor, though - unless you lift weights.

The price seems pretty good? A 550w will be more than enough for your machine. Those Kraft servos are what I would term generic, as in the only difference between them and other brands will be mostly cosmetic. The Hightex appears to be much the same as the first one you asked about.

Vevor obviously don't make everything they sell but the quality of the goods they sell appears to be very good. I bought a Vevor air compressor and I'm impressed with the build quality. A chap I know bought the same compressor and a heavy duty demolition hammer and he is very impressed with the quality of both. Probably a safe bet if you're not sure who to buy from.

Regarding top speed, servos have various parameters that can be set in the control box. One of them will be setting top speed. When sewing leather most will set this lower, as high top speed is generally not a consideration, but if you feel you need a higher speed at some time you can set this parameter higher and then drop it back after. With a reducer fitted it still won't be super-fast but may be sufficient for your needs. If you only have one machine then setting it up will always be a compromise. I have fitted my motors from underneath, once you have the clutch motor removed it's pretty easy. BUT be careful removing the clutch motor, they are very heavy! Stick with a reducer, like kgg linked to, it will be the simplest option. Forget about building your own reducer and/or replacing the handwheel for now, I only mentioned that to show what options are available, they're not for the beginner. If you're getting the tech to do it then fitting a servo and that reducer should be a pretty easy job.

Sewing it would be better than T nuts, I reckon.

Tarnishing won't make any difference. If you feel it's too thin double it up, if you put something each side (leather, cloth whatever) to protect it then it should last a very long time.

My turn! Yet another option, Ana, is to swap the handwheel for a large pulley, along with a small pulley on the motor. This works the same as adding a speed reducer but is not for everyone as it will probably mean lengthening the belt slot on the table. The one kgg linked to is the same type as the one I found on Aliexpress, it pays to search on there as prices can vary quite a bit. Incidentally, I bought my first three servos (Lishui Skyrit) from them, they were cheaper than ebay back then.

My guess would be tee nuts sandwiched between the outer layer and liner. I just pulled apart an old Hunter western holster and that is how the pouch was held to the skirt.

There's a rule of thumb I discovered a long time ago - the nastier the stuff is (to you) the better it works!!!!! Toluene and Xylene are both very good thinners - but you don't want to make a habit of breathing them in.

There are basically two designs of speed reducer available, a box type that bolts in place of the motor and the motor is then bolted to the bottom of the reducer, all you need extra is probably a couple of belts, and the type with a large and small pulley stack that is mounted on a support arm. This is screwed underneath the table and in line with the pulleys/handwheel. I don't know what is available in Europe. Quite a few on here have made their own using pulleys, axles and pillow block bearings. Lots of info on here if you want to spend the time searching. If you type in sewing machine speed reducer into google you'll be overwhelmed with information! I also found a stacked pulley type on Aliexpress that was considerably cheaper than what they're selling for here (which wouldn't be hard, Australia is not a cheap place to buy things!!). I forgot, youtube is a good source of information on how to install/setup these sorts of things too.

I'm with kgg regarding the needle positioner, I'm not a fan. I primarily sew leather and prefer a slow speed, with a speed reducer I can easily control where the needle stops. I bought a positioner with one of my servos because it seemed like a good idea, but I just didn't like it, plus it won't work with my servos once a speed reducer is installed. Having said that some people love them. And yes, there's no reason you can't handwheel around corners, tight spots etc. Regarding the (high) price for this servo, the advertising is promoting it as designed for the larger heavy duty machines, which they obviously think allows a premium price, but the reality is that performance-wise it probably won't be any better than many of the generic servos for your needs. At Australian $576 would I buy one? Nope.

I don't recall reading anything more about it since the other posting was made. It seems a bit expensive to me for what it is, but I'm not familiar with ebay pricing of servo motors in Europe. The vast majority of servo motors on ebay are pretty generic, with the main difference usually being the control panel and how to use it. Any of the generic servos, whether 550w or 750w, should be more than adequate for your machine. Some of our European members may be able to offer advice on what to buy/where to buy and speed reducers over there. Exactly where are you? It's a good idea to put your location under your name as it helps people provide more localised information.

Servo motors are a straight swap, they use the same locating bolt holes as the existing motor. You'll most likely need a different length belt. Mount the control box underneath the table (that's the usual location), connect the linkage to the foot pedal and plug in the cables. Then just adjust the parameters in the control box to suit your needs. You could try it as is first and if it's not slow enough then fit a speed reducer, but personally I would just fit one right from the start, particularly if you're going to sew leather (I have some sort of reducer on each of my machines). It might seem a bit daunting at first but fitting a servo isn't rocket science.

From memory I think I clamped a piece of broom-handle horizontally in a vice and formed the leather over that when gluing together.

I reckon you're pretty safe. I've watched a lot of videos on leatherworking, particularly holsters, and never seen one glued curved, they're always done flat. In fact this site, so far, is the only place I've seen the method discussed. I've only done one holster this way and it turned out fine, although I cut the liner a bit oversize to allow for any mis-alignment while gluing up and then trimmed to size after.

The carvings are very well done (and fitting).

Partially curve the holster first and then curve the liner before gluing, as opposed to gluing them together flat. It can be little bit fiddly but it reduces any bunching significantly.

Steve, when it comes to leatherwork this is THE place to get answers to any questions you may have. The knowledge base on here is quite remarkable.

I wonder if shifting the motor to the top of the table is a marketing ploy, just to make them different? The idea works, as I have done it on a couple of machines (and fitted a speed reducer on top as well!) but in this case there's no room for a reducer on top. Plus, as kgg pointed out, the speed control mounted on the bottom could be susceptible to being kicked/knocked. Personally, I prefer the more "conventional" system, it also makes it easier for tinkering with.

As Fred said, olive oil and beeswax is a simple all natural wax. Mineral oil, even pharmaceutical-grade, is a petroleum product, which some people don't like using on leather. Ballistol is essentially mineral oil with a couple of other bits added in minor amounts, mainly for fragrance. For using on steel obviously using a mineral oil wouldn't matter. Mixing paraffin wax with beeswax and oil (baby oil should be cheaper than Ballistol and essentially the same thing) to soften it would give a harder wearing wax. Lots and lots of possibilities.

It certainly looks ok, let us know how it works in practice.

As kgg said the model they're selling now has the motor mounted on the top of the table and fitting a speed reducer is going to take a fair bit of work!

Just curious why you've started another thread about the same subject some of us have already answered?

Just get the 441, Cowboy or Cobra, either will be fine for what you want to sew. Two of the members on here make a modified needle plate/feed dog replacement which significantly increases the versatility of the machine if you want to sew lighter material (within reason, of course). It's a worthwhile addition.