dikman

I thought I'd restore my Pfaff 335 to a binder, but where can I get the tape? The only place I've found so far is a local leather supply shop but they want $1.70 per metre for 1" synthetic tape and they only sell by the metre, not bulk. Where do others get their tape from in Oz?

Douglas, it might help if you can describe exactly what the problem is that you're having? What makes you think that something is wrong?

1500 watt??? If someone told you that's what you need I'd be very cautious about taking advice from them again! As Mike said 500 - 750 watt should be fine and are readily available via ebay AND within Australia, so no need to order from overseas.

Ahh, I was just trying to be polite. Perhaps you might want to delete my posts about too, wiz, as they no longer make any sense.

Jonmark, your post is, dare I say it, out of line. This part of the forum deals with industrial machines, your site deals with domestic machines.

I would say that the machine Harry is using is the same one, but it does have an oscillating feed dog. If you watch the cutout to the right of the needle you can see the round bit (screw?) moving up, down, back and forth. IF you go to look at it and feel it is suitable make sure it has the oscillating feed dog. There's no doubt it will do what you want but as Brian said the potential limiting factor may ultimately be clearance under the feet. I have an old casting 335 and have actually increased the working clearance under the feet BUT mine has a manual thread tension release, because what happens is that as the foot lifts higher it operates the tension release at the top of each stroke IF you have the normal automatic pin release. So don't let anyone tell you it's a simple matter to increase the clearance.

I'd contact the seller and ask for the operating instructions. If they say they can't get them then tell them you want a refund, under ebay policy, as it's no use if you can't programme it and under Australian Consumer Law it's therefore not of merchantable quality. It shouldn't be sold without the instructions. Trying to figure it out without some sort of instructions isn't going to be easy as you have no idea what parameters it has available.

I can't find any further information on it - manual, specs, reviews etc - which is a bit surprising. There is a model with a binder attached, which makes me wonder if this is simply another 335-type clone, plus 8mm foot lift is the same as a 335. They refer to needle-feed, not compound feed, and my guess is the feed dog is back and forth only. Sorry, toxo, but I agree with RockyAussie, it appears to be the same as the others and if so not really suited to what you want.

Man, that's a lot of work!! That carving is really nice, as is the colour finish on top.

It also depends whether you want to cut a groove or just indent one into the leather? The one the op linked to only indents.

Need more rum/brandy/scotch etc........

I agree, the needle that you're using is more suited to #69/M40 thread.

At a cursory glance those two machines look identical, specs appear to be the same. Sometimes, when a dealer is selling two brands that appear identical and recommends one over another it may simply be because they have a higher profit margin on that item. I guess the best thing is to go and look and try them both. I'll bet they perform the same.

Tugadude, I like that, it's a clever design.

My first thought was that it's head unit only, as there's no mention in his description about motor, table or speeds etc. From my previous research, when looking for a 441, Typical appear to be a pretty good brand.

I was thinking the same thing.

Funny how that happens. When I thought I could import a 441 clone for a very good price I got all excited! I soon realised that it wasn't going to happen and the price kept going up. By that stage I had determined that I was going to get one anyhow and spent significantly more than I ever intended. I still haven't used it for much! Mike, I was given a bottle of Laphroig 1/4 Cask, I'd say it belongs over on the right of that chart. It took a bit of getting used to but now I treasure what's left (I'm not sure I can afford another bottle of it!!)

Veronica, can you post some photos of it? It will help people to try and work out what other machines are similar and hopefully locate a suitable manual. A quick search turned up this - https://www.allbrands.com/products/14450-yamata-fy5618-compound-walking-foot-and-needle-fee Uses standard 135/17 needles and is a Mitsubishi according to the ad.

It's a Pfaff 335 clone, so the points made by RockyAussie re- the Pfaff 335 will apply to this one.

Which is probably why no-one has done it before. Beats me how you're finding the time to do this, Brian.

Yep, rubber and skin, super glue works exceptionally well on them.

Fair enough, I wasn't thinking about having to navigate London traffic! Keep looking......

$280 delivered - and it comes from the US! Not bad, I guess, but I'm happy with my $99 one, does the job and I'm $180 richer.

Mike, while I have no doubt you know what you're talking about re-paypal, to say that they always favour the buyer isn't quite correct. My experience, with a $500+ item, was not good, it took me three months and I only got a refund when I finally involved the Australian financial authorities (and even then they still insisted that they were in the right to refuse me!). I know of others with similar experiences. Back on topic, toxo, if you're at all mechanically inclined then do the servicing yourself. Manuals are generally available for most machines, plus you have this forum as a resource, and in general these machines are not that complicated once you get into them. Save yourself some money. Servomotors - you don't have to buy the most expensive one, many of the "cheaper" ones are quite satisfactory. If it has a binder then there's not much you can do about the cost of standard feet etc, other than search ebay/aliexpress. Collecting, just be grateful you're in England, where everyone lives close by (relatively speaking), here in Oz long distances are par for the course.

That's a bummer, made worse because it's essentially a one-off hand-made item. I've never had anything go missing - yet - but it's always a concern when I post anything, hoping it gets there.