dikman

Spyros, I reckon that's pretty good for the money, and if I didn't already have a large wet-wheel grinder I'd buy one. Here's a thought, if you've got access to a lathe you could turn a wood wheel to replace one of the wheels and use it as a burnisher.

My thoughts too. It would be an interesting exercise - but only if someone gave me the motor, I wouldn't buy one just to see if it would fit!

A direct drive sounds good but a "normal" servo is perfectly adequate for my needs, simple to fit and can be fitted above or below the table. If it needs to be replaced virtually any servo can be slotted in. It also allows a speed reducer to be fitted, which will give slower speed with increased torque, something you can't do with a direct drive. My servos can also be easily swapped amongst my machines, if needed, something I couldn't do with a DD. A DD certainly looks neat but adapting one to older machines could be a bit of a pain and from my perspective not worth the trouble. It would be an interesting exercise to try setting one up but I'm happy with my setup(s) so I'm not about to try. For a garment machine they may very well be a great solution but I'm not convinced about their suitability for leatherwork. Just my thoughts on the subject.

The "generic" push-button servos work well with a small motor pulley and either a reducer or large pulley to replace the handwheel. I know you said you don't want to fit a reducer, Chris, but you may not have any choice in order to achieve what you want.

That's a LOT of stamping!!!!

Brooks, they are beautiful! In answer to the OP's question, no reason you can't use a Dremel, but make sure it's a variable speed as the fixed speed version would be too fast. I normally do my burnishing on a bench unit but I use a Dremel for small and odd-shaped areas. I made a couple of wooden attachments for this.

Bargain!!

As far as I know there is no .stl file freely available for that gear ring. The chap who made it sells the kit so is not going to give out the file.

Here's a copy of the user manual to start with - https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1005412/Singer-Class-31k.html If it works with a domestic needle then it's likely that the needle bar has been re-adjusted and will need to be reset. You need to check the adjustments and timing of the needle and hook. As JJN said if you can set it to work with 135 needles then it will make life easier as they are a very common type. And in my opinion get rid of the old motor, it belongs in a museum as given its age the wiring insulation is likely to be brittle and cracking so potentially dangerous. A servo motor will make sewing much easier. There are guys on here who sew the sort of stuff you're talking about and hopefully they will chime in.

Those J. David awls are certainly beautiful looking, and yes, I'm curious how he makes them too. Slipangle, you did a nice job on those, they look great.

AmyK, unless you're into tinkering with things changing the handwheel may not be a straightforward project. You will not find a larger replacement handwheel, what you have to get is a large pulley with the same shaft diameter as the machine and then ensure it can be locked to the shaft. I have had to drill and tap more than one pulley to lock it to a shaft. If you're not keen on messing around with the gradient strips in your servo controller I think your best bet will be to sell the servo and buy a new one (I'm not aware of any newer ones that use the optical gradient control like yours). Even if you buy one of the inexpensive generic servos on ebay it should work better than the one you've got, and if you fit a box speed reducer you'll be able to make the needle crawl. If you can handle a screwdriver and spanner you should be able to fit the reducer, or get a friend with a little mechanical ability to help.

"No play in the pedal" doesn't sound right, pedal movement should move an arm on the motor controller that will vary the speed. Can you post a couple of photos? Replacing the hand-wheel with a larger pulley works well BUT it isn't usually an easy option as it requires some mechanical nous. A box reducer, as mentioned, will be the simplest to fit as it is a fairly simple job but may require new belts.

Nice solution. I like the colour on the first holster.

The usual way to join the ends is like Wiz said, basically a metal staple. Makes it easy to re-size the belt.

What he said. Very impressive.

There have been many posts about slowing machines down. Gary is right, the usual method is to fit a servo motor and if that's not enough to add a speed reducer.

Folks on here do indeed make assorted accessories/mods for their machines but (unfortunately?) they're scattered through this sub-section. A few have made various edge guides but the most popular one appears to be the drop-down guide, which are pretty cheap on ebay.

Forester, it's not available here in Oz either but after looking at the MSDS for various floor finishes I found one here that appears to be the same (or close enough). I've also used it as a spray finish on plastic model kits and it works well! I'm sure there will be something available over there, you could also look at modelling forums to see what they use.

I take that this has only started since fitting a larger handwheel (pulley?)? When you change the ratio between the handwheel and motor pulley some needle positioners won't work properly as the electronics in the servos isn't designed to cope with the increased ratio. Mine became inconsistent when I replaced the handwheel with a larger pulley so I removed the positioner (didn't need it as the machine was now slow enough to put the needle where I wanted it).

Another possible mod to it. Use it to mark the first hole, slide it along so the circle is over the mark and mark that point on the circle with the awl. Drill a small hole and put another small pin in it, then once you've marked your first hole on the belt slide it along so the pin sits in the mark and you've got perfect spacing for the next hole. Just a thought.

Why not just loosen the lever locking screw and adjust the length of the lever until the balance is right? Or just put the weight on top of the ram?

Yep, even better!

Impressive, I admire your enthusiasm. As for the superglue, yep, sounds familiar.

Elegant and, like all good things, simple. Once I'm mobile again I'll have to make a couple.