dikman

Thanks Wiz. Frodo, they're referred to as Chinese shoe patchers and there have been a few posts on here about them, plus a lot of youtube vids (I have one myself). For the price, and what they are, they can be a useful little machine, good for sewing patches on jackets, repairing bags and shoes etc. They're not designed to do long stitch runs and have an aggressive foot, which can be smoothed a bit but is needed to grip and move the material. They have small bobbins and will handle up to #138 thread, but obviously won't hold much - #69 is a better option. The finish on these things is pretty rough and you can spend quite a bit of time smoothing and lubricating one to make it operate better, but they are designed to be simple, easy to use, portable and cheap to buy. As such they are an interesting little machine. I suggest you check out youtube.

Regarding the closed centre toe, it's possible to open it up by using a Dremel with a cut-off disc and just cut a slot in front of the hole. I did that on one of my Singer feet.

Cowboy Leather Machines, who I bought it from, don't have a website yet, Jess said they're still working on it. They're only on facebook. She and her husband bought the business from Steve, who has been a contributor on here for some time. I'd say if you took the badge off yours would look identical to the Cowboy. I've been used to buying stuff overseas where it basically just comes through the mail system with minimal issues, this has been an eyeopener about what happens when it's something that requires customs, shipping, freight forwarding, port handling etc. Fortunately, Wiz, I doubt if I'll need much technical support as they're still learning the ropes themselves. Besides, I expect the machine will be pretty well set up from the start and I have the huge wealth of information here to consult should I need it. It comes with left and right feet, double toe foot, holster and stirrup plates, smooth feed dog plus the stock blanket feet (which I can always re-shape on a grinder if needed). I can easily make a roller guide. I have a spool of #277 to practice with (it was given to me and is of indeterminate age) and Jess said she will include some leather needles to suit that thread. I now need to work out the sizing system this machine uses to buy some more needles and new thread. I have no idea if I'll actually need #346 or if #277 will be adequate for my needs. Other than having to make another set of holsters and gunbelt I actually have no idea what I'm going to use this machine for! Once I understood a bit about leather sewing machines I just knew I wanted a heavy duty machine. I just had to have one......

To finish off my input to this thread, I've just bought a Cowboy 4500!! I managed to get the China price down to around $2700. I spoke to Jess at Cowboy Leather Machines in Queensland, who have just taken over the Cowboy line there, and had a nice discussion with her. She made me an offer that I won't mention here but it was very fair and meant it wouldn't be worth the hassle of going through the import bit. She also sells larger thread (#277 and #346 - in black and white - and needles) so once I figure out what I need I'll put in an order.. I could have cut the price down by about $500 if I bought the cheapest machine and didn't use a broker, but if anything went wrong I could easily blow that saving. Not worth the risk imo. Bottom line is that for Australia, at least, it isn't viable to import an individual sewing machine from China. While the unit price might be good the various charges and taxes soon add up to mean any potential savings are minimal.

Looks great! The machine doesn't show any obvious signs of wear on the paint so I wonder just how much it was used? The needle holes definitely look on the large side, but it's sewing! It's alive!! Just think how easy it will be to make holsters now.

You've probably used it all fixing things.

It's "au contraire", to be precise and yes, your are right, of course, but I think it's safe to say that most on here who use industrial sewing machines soon learn how to judge bobbin tension and also, in most cases, tend to leave the bobbin alone and tweak the upper tension when adjustment is needed. Except in dire cases. This is precisely what I just did with my Chinese patcher. I could not get it to sew consistently and eventually backed the bobbin tension right off and use the upper feed to balance the stitching. That finally worked.

Spoken like a true Aussie - not much you can't fix with a pair of pliers and fencing wire!

An interesting exercise but I agree with Constabulary on this one. We have to be careful not to over-think things sometimes.

Groan!

Sorry, MikeRock, but that won't work as their are several variables to take into account - size of apple/orange, type of apple/orange, moisture content, type/size of candy bar etc.

I'd suggest browsing youtube as there will be lots of videos on there. Watch as much as you can to start getting a feeling for sewing leather and to understand the adjustments that will be necessary depending on the thickness, and type, of the material and thread being used. Bear in mind that this is an upholstery-class machine (which means it is quite versatile) but it isn't intended for holsters. It will not have enough clearance under the feet and is limited to #138 thread, which is a bit light for holsters.

The Pfaff 335 would seem an obvious choice but I would think any of the usual cylinder arm upholstery-class machines should work, depending whether you're looking at buying new or used.

I had the same problem but fitting a larger pulley didn't work. It appears some servos work with a speed reducer/positioner combo and some (probably most, I suspect, don't). A member on here posted about modifying the positioner to get it to work, he did it successfully but again it didn't work for me. Open up the positioner and inside is a disc with a magnet attached at the rim. There was a hole on the opposite side for another magnet which he attached, this turned it into a dual sensor unit. It is then necessary to access the settings in the servo and change it to a dual sensor (or whatever they call it) pickup. It worked for him but in my case while it eliminated the error message I did not have the option in the servo to change the setting to a dual sensor. I could not set it to stop either needle up or needle down, it was inconsistent so of no real value.

Their freight costs would doubtless be better as they would be importing by the pallet at a minimum and their purchase price would be lower because they would be buying multiple units. It's called economy of scale. While they can't avoid the GST and customs fees I suspect they would also get a better deal overall with the freight handling within Australia. So yes, I suspect you may be right about the pricing, Bert, although it's probably the agents setting the price rather than the seller. I've just come across some folks who are now handling Cowboy machines (in Qld) so gave them a call. A 4500 head unit is $3,000 + $170 shipping to me and that includes a pack they provide with left and right toe feet, stirrup and holster plates. I was honest and explained what I was trying to do and she said that if there was a slight difference in prices between my import cost and theirs they might be able to negotiate a bit, which was nice of them. I then had another thought and asked about a 3200 head unit - $2675 + freight. Not a huge difference between them price-wise. But will I be better off with the bigger machine in the long run?? This is still far more than I intended to spend but my wife said just do it!

Looks like I might be wrong then. The old ones were nominally rated for #69 but I found mine would run #138 ok. The only issue with mine is a relatively short stitch length which is related to the particular model I have.

I thought the "new" Pfaff's could handle up to #138 thread? The old ones can.

RS, I researched oil some time ago and the MSDS indicates that Lilly White oil is basically hydraulic oil, ISO-22. So you could use either Lilly White or buy hydraulic oil, whichever is either cheaper or more convenient.

An interesting idea chris, but unfortunately in this particular case not very practical. Constab, the DHL link is the one I used and they just said that they would contact me via email. So far they all appear to be within $100 or so of each other. I have no qualms about buying a machine from a Chinese factory but the various port, handling and customs fees all make it a less attractive option.

UPS have an online calculator and IF I got it right then it's about $400 cheaper - IF I got it right. I submitted a request to DHL, there's no way to call them so I have to wait for them to contact me. Pretty poor, I thought.

I guess it may be worth checking, but I was told that air freight will be more expensive as while the volumetric size isn't that big the weight will be a factor (80 kg). I will save the broker's fees but the customs and handling fees probably won't change much.

I just spoke to another customs broker and he gave me a breakdown on the costs involved (this time I knew the questions to ask ). It is no longer an attractive proposition. For anyone in Australia who may be thinking of doing this here is a breakdown of the figures in Australian $. Keestar 441 (head only) - $1476 Freight by sea (organised by the company) - $117 Port forwarding (organised by the company) - $287 GST (10%) - $175 Port Charges Adelaide - $500 Broker fees - $150 Customs fees - $195 Grand total - $2899! He said that the figures he quoted could be on the high side but even so the savings probably would only be around $50 or so. He also said that a Chinese company might charge what seems like a low freight price but there are usually "kickbacks" when it gets to this end to compensate them, something that the other broker also said. Looks like I'll be sticking with hand sewing the thick stuff.

I use a belt grinder to sharpen scissors. You don't have to press hard and they run cooler than a grinder wheel. It almost sounds like the steel has been hardened and not been tempered as a file will just skate over a piece of steel in that condition. It will be extremely hard but also brittle.

Well done, RS. I'd like to see what bits you got with it too, just out of curiosity.

Nothing a big hammer won't fix!