dikman

Same here. Searching ebay/aliexpress indicated that they all appear to be the same, and though one or two came with an "adaptor plate" it was unclear which models they would fit. I had to make adaptor plates for my Seiko and my Cowboy. No big deal. In answer to your question, I made various magnetic guides but found they were prone to moving if I wasn't careful. They would probably work fine with material but the stiffer leather can put more pressure against the guide.

I decided to make a couple of round knives from a circular saw blade that I had. The blade is at least 40 years old so I figured it should be high carbon steel. I overheated it a bit when re-hardening it as I forgot how tricky it is working with thin steel in the forge. The burning does give a nice pattern on the steel when polished! The left one has applewood for the handle, the right is Blackwood, copper pins and finished with 4 coats of burnishing oil polished on a denim buffer. The shaping of the handles is a bit rough because once they were attached to the blades the blade shape made it awkward to work them. Good enough for me to use but not to sell! Now I just have to sharpen them and make leather sheathes to hold/protect them.

Very nice, both of you! Those mini lathes are very handy for doing small work. Brass will be heavier but is nice to turn and looks very nice when polished.

It's been talked about before but it would be a huge undertaking - which is why it hasn't been done. Sorry. Only thing you can do is when you find something search on here for any relevant posts. As you read more you will slowly begin to understand a bit about different machines, but it's a big subject, Singer alone has a mind-boggling number of machines listed.

Hmm, I didn't think he could do that under State and Federal law. But yes, look elsewhere in that case, I'd be a bit wary of him.

That guy's an idiot then! And if the owner can't get his upgrade so wants to keep it what's the point of leaving it at his mate's? No, they're both idiots. I still think that 211 is a bit dear BUT it's from a dealer so should have some sort of warranty and support. At least you can try it there just be warned that clutch motors are scary things to the uninitiated! Take some scraps of your canvas with you and see how much you can get under the feet. Tilt it back on the hinges and have a look at the timing belt, make sure it's not damaged. He also has a servo for sale on his website but while it's a good one it's pretty dear.

That guy shouldn't have the ad up if he's not selling it!! The 211 166 is an upholstery class machine, 10mm under the feet and should handle #138/M20 thread and sew what you want. I had one for a while and paid a lot less than that, sold it for $250 (head only). Extra feet are easy to buy and cheap. Do you have more details on it? What does it come with etc?

Always difficult to put a price on sewing machines, depends on the condition, demand for that particular model, how many others there are out there, how badly he wants to sell it etc. If you search gumtree for 132k6 there's a few on there. All you can do is check it out, get him to demo it and feel him out pricewise. I would consider $1500 to be at the top end myself (I've seen some at $1200 in the past). Don't let him make out that having the servo is a reason for bumping the price, like I said before you can get one off ebay (Aust) for around $100 which will be more than adequate. As for leather, no worries, it will likely do most things short of holsters and harnesses!

It's been up for three weeks, I see. Being out in the sticks (), as in not near Melbourne, probably reduces his selling opportunities a bit so he might be open to offers?

If you're only looking at a max (seam) thickness of 7-8mm then any of the upholstery-class machines should do, they generally have about 10mm under the feet (some will do 12mm) and can usually manage #138/M20 thread. Singer 111/211, Juki 562/563, Consew, Seiko, Pfaff, Adler are all older machines that you might pick up at reasonable prices (well, maybe not Adler so much). Just search for "industrial sewing machines" on gumtree, where you are gives you reasonable access down to Melbourne and the suburbs so you've got a pretty good chance of finding something, just keep looking. If you see something and aren't sure just ask on here. Buying new is nice but bloody expensive here in Oz, particularly if it's only for occasional/part-time use. Bert, I reckon you're right about the glue. Edit: I just had a quick look at gumtree and saw at least 3 132k6's in Vic, one of them is at Echuca (!) but he wants $1750 for it, which I think is a bit on the high side myself. It does have a servo, but servo's are pretty cheap on ebay ($100 - $120).

Where in Oz are you? Gumtree often has a lot of industrial machines listed, not all of which are reasonably priced!! Just how thick, in mm, is the thickest seam likely to be? If the bags are heavy duty, what thickness thread are you looking at using?

Me too!

Easiest way is to post a good closeup of your thread path and someone will be able to tell you if it's right. Thicko?

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

I found this, which might help - www.manualslib.com/manual/461569/Duerkopp-Adler-69.html#manual but I can't find the German one again. I think it downloaded on my other computer so I'll have a look later.

I really don't see the point of an NPS on a heavy duty stitcher, particularly if it's likely to be used slow on leather. Just my thoughts. Road travel, sure, if you make a decent protected, heavily padded place for it but that would likely mean removing the head for travel and some of these bigger machines are HEAVY!

The feet look a bit like my Pfaff binder feet. On the controller box the bottom button looks like it has a turtle and a hare on it (?) which would suggest speed control. My guess for the others would be P to access various parameters and +/- to change the values? It'll probably be trial-and-error to find out what the settings do. If you start messing with it write down any values before changing them because some will refer to the NPS it's got fitted. Overall it doesn't look too bad, decent table and servo.

That article is written by someone who has no idea what they're talking about! What I would call mis-information.

Your last photo shows how the table was used, good stuff, I couldn't quite work it out from the first one. There's something nice about those old cast iron table supports.

The tabletop certainly has some character! Looks good to me. I'm still not convinced that the motor is original equipment or would have had a step pulley fitted, I think they just used the pulley that lined up best with how the motor fitted. Still, you've got a 155 and an interesting project with that stand.

I found a manual for that number you quoted but it's in German and so is unintelligible to me! It sort of looks like it's equivalent to a Pfaff 335 to me and can indeed be fitted with a binding attachment.

I had to look up a Vito, the van should make it easy but still take the head off, it's never a good idea to transport a sewing machine with the head on the table. When someone's getting out of the game there's always a possibility of picking up some nice "extras". I think Wiz meant getting someone (a piano mover) to move it upstairs for you? If SIL is giving you a hand, however, you shouldn't have any problems - get him to carry it upstairs!

Interesting stand, appears to be made from pressed steel and welded, whereas the old Singers were cast and bolted together. My 51W59 stand was pressed (heavy) steel but was still bolted together, not welded. I had a similar pulley stack/clutch on one of my machines but I ditched it for a servo motor. The original motor, in my case a Singer, was very old and so was all the wiring and I considered it a safety hazard! I doubt if the motor's original or that it came with a step pulley, my Singer motor didn't, you just adjusted the motor position if changing speeds. The timber top looks solid and it might be worth sanding/cleaning it.

Definitely start a new topic. Nice machine ,btw, so clean!

Unfortunately there's only one of me and I'm not exactly built like Arnie!