dikman

G'day Doug, you've found the best site, bar none, when it comes to leatherworking. Just be careful, if you get the sewing machine bug there's no cure.

" says the 18 is too small and will scratch". That's an odd thing to say, scratch what? I've used size 16 with #69 thread with no problems, but 21-22 is way to big. As Tom said the materials being used can also affect the choice of needle. Sounds like a private sale?

This has got me thinking that maybe I should change it back to a binding machine.

Which servo do you have? You should be able to change the parameters and reduce the top speed and the startup speed. I recently got my Pfaff 335 working again, I fitted the servo (cheap $100 unit off ebay) to the top of the table and replaced the handwheel with a large pulley, then reduced the top speed and startup speed parameters and it goes nice and slow now.

What type of holster are you going to make, (modern) pancake or Western? Based on my limited experience, and the knowledge I've gleaned on here, you might get away with the 26 for pancake holsters but for Western holsters you will need a class 4, minimum thread 277.

Stitching looks fine to me. As for the tooling not bad for a first effort. I'm just starting out at tooling and my first attempt at leaves looked like yours! There's a knack to cutting smooth lines (needs lots of practice!).

Now I know why the inner foot is such a peculiar shape! When I bought my 335 I fitted conventional feet as I didn't need a binder and I always wondered about that inner foot. Thanks for the excellent photos jimi.

Try see-sawing a length of thread through the guide and see if you can feel anything catching.

Ignore some of the waffle in the post (I tend to waffle a bit!), wiz provides some .pdf's that will be useful for adjusting the machine and on page 2 rockyaussie has a link to Uwe's excellent video for doing the adjustments. It's worth taking the time to check those adjustments.

" so the class four is by far the best sewing machine I’ve ever run, my lord this thing is built like a take but has the finesse To be smooth and easy to run ". When I bought my 4500 it sewed fine straight out of the box, whatever I could get under the feet, with #277 thread. Once I started checking it over, however, I found that the timing and feet adjustment weren't quite right and needed tweaking, and yet it still worked while out-of-spec. Impressive. And yes, built like a tank.

It's stitching, so there can't be too much wrong with it. At that price you've done extremely well.

Yes, push the stitch length lever all the way up and it reverses the stitch.

Poor little Pfaff. It sort of looks like someone was stripping it for parts.

Great buy! Now comes the fun.

Way to go, Jeannie! Looks like it's sewing well. I look forward to seeing the end product.

Jeannie, have you downloaded the manual I linked? It explains how to adjust the feet. The wingnut should be on the other end of the bolt in the first picture, it tightens a curved slotted bar.

I don't know Jeannie, but if that piece you bought fits then I'd say yes, it will fit, as that looks like a Pfaff binder plate. Does it have a part number on it? Those other two machines are clones of a Pfaff 335 and Juki 246, so I'm wondering if yours is one they designed themselves? They are supposed to be a large sewing machine manufacturer.

It doesn't appear to be a clone of either a Pfaff or the Juki DCS246, and so far I haven't found anything else that looks like it. Manual/parts list is here - https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1182718/Zoje-Zj2628.html#manual I thought the base looked a bit different, like it has a second base attached to it, and the manual shows it's an accessory base that is actually an oil reservoir as the machine is fitted with an oil pump.

Have a look at the Kwok Hing website, they're in Hong Kong so I don't know if that makes any difference to shipping. http://www.kwokhing.com/pfaff/ Not the cheapest around but excellent quality. They have the two feet that you need. Can you post a photo of the entire machine? That might help identify which clone it is.

Snakeoil, welcome to the Wonderful World of Singer Screws! It took me a while to figure out that Singer screw threads are unique.

I think we need some photos of the machine, all of this is based on a very short video of the feet?

Jimi's right about the inner foot, I should have checked before opening my big mouth, so to speak! I suspect that if you can find binder parts for a Pfaff 335 there's a good chance they might fit, although I have no idea where to get them.

Looks like clone of a Pfaff 335? If you search on that model you should find some pictures as many of them were sold as binding machines. The feet look right but the inner foot isn't lifting, so some adjustment is needed, and as jimi said it's missing the row of guide fingers that mount at the right hand end of the moving plate. Looks to me like someone removed the binding parts so they could sew normally.

Dwight, no argument from me on your reasoning, because I agree with it (which is why I had the idea of a forward cant). Unfortunately, if the powers-that-be running Single Action here in Oz determine that it breaks the rules by pointing the barrel backwards I'm not about to create any dramas for myself over what is a minor issue. Professor, as many here doubtless know Andy Anderson was an early holster maker for tv and movies. He studied the actual action of drawing and firing and developed the rearward canted holster as providing a more natural means of fast drawing a revolver. If you think about it, that works well if you draw and fire from the hip, if however you draw and raise the revolver to a straight arm forward thrusting position it's not as efficient as you are actually pulling the gun back and then have to reverse direction to raise it up. With a forward cant you're drawing it forward and up, which is more natural for a raised arm style. Anyhow, it's been an interesting discussion.

Yeah, it can be confusing. 30 degrees is the maximum cant/angle for a holster, but if it's a cross-draw when drawing you have to twist your body to ensure that the barrel doesn't point back behind the shooting line. " seems the barrel could be straight down as it "leaves leather" even with a forward cant but the cant wouldn't help much " That's the issue, any hint of a rearward facing barrel when drawing could be a problem. Just not worth the potential hassle, imo.