dikman

Second photo, the sawhorse brackets.......I bought a set of those way back in the mists of time and haven't seen any since! Until now.

Nice one. Looks like you got a good one there jimi, mostly surface rust and dirt! That accessory plate looks like a neat idea, lots of holes for attaching all sorts of things.

I agree with Don, you'd be better off finding a machinery/lathe forum. From what I've read the most common solution appears to be a 3-phase motor with a VFD.

Are you talking about 12" between centres or 12" swing?

You did very well finding someone who had all the correct screws for a machine like that!

That looks to be in excellent condition!! You've done well.The only thing that I can see wrong with the table is the colour!

Welcome to the forum. I think you'll find with anything like this it's always a good idea to post a couple of photos, that way people may have a better idea of just what the machine might be.

Now that looks very classy! If you're going to tinker with making things in metal (as you have been) then even a medium sized lathe will be invaluable. A small mill is also very useful, but a milling attachment can be used on a lathe. I just bought one of those little lathes on ebay and it's quite useful for turning small items (the bigger lathe can be clumsy for small pins etc.) but it did need a bit of work to get it usable.

Got any photos? I doubt if silver soldering would be strong enough to withstand tightening up with an allen key, but if that's all you've got available I suppose it's worth a try.

Haven't got a lathe? You definitely sound like you need one! As for using a router bit to ream out the hole - (but I guess as long as it worked). These days if you do any metal work you really need a set of metric drills, taps and dies unfortunately. Even then you can still run into lesser used pitches that you don't have a tap for!

Machine stitching (at least using the usual upholstery type machines such as the Consew, Singer, Seiko, Juki etc) will never look as good on the reverse as hand stitching, regardless of the type of needle used. Leatherpoint needles will minimise it slightly. As for the motor, in all honesty the best thing to do is replace it with a servo motor, the single best thing you can do for sewing leather.

The laser project sounds interesting. More info would be nice IF you get the time.

Wiz made a good point, my bad, if you're not familiar with adjusting machines forget what I suggested. I think that manual I posted explains how to adjust the feet without touching anything else.

I would say that the condition of the screws sounds par for the course for old machines! All of mine have screws with varying degrees of butchery, plus some screws that obviously aren't original!! If it's only an issue when the feet are lifted manually by the lever then it can't be too far off, so as Wiz says raise the needle bar slightly and reset the hook-needle timing. I found this, if it's any help. pfaff_145-manual-EN.PDF

Which model do you have? From what I could find out the H4 is designed for the 190 needle, all others require a 134/135 needle.

I must admit I'm puzzled how you managed to sew canvas ok if this is the way you've always threaded the needle and bobbin.

Quite an interesting approach.

That makes sense, although it still sounds like a slightly unusual setup. I'm still curious....

One post since 2011! I'd say your chance of getting a reply is pretty slim.

You could be right as I've never tried climbing seams with mine (old model), I've only sewn flat leather. I got mine to sew 10mm (3/8") - just - by re-adjusting the feet height but I also had to disable the automatic tension release as lifting the feet higher than standard releases thread tension on the upstroke! While I proved it can be done, I put things back to standard as my other machines will handle 3/8" (plus a bit) so I don't need it to do it.

I'm curious about that too. That's rather a strange mix of parts, looks to me like they're for a domestic machine (small motor). I would have expected the speed control to be in the pedal assembly, but you obviously have a separate control box, and the power supply looks like one of those laptop "bricks".

A quick search turned up this, it tells you how to adjust the feet. CONSEW+226R-1+INSTRUCTION+MANUAL.pdf

I think 1 or 2 would be the best options (do you really need a pneumatic lift?), while a computer unit might be good in a factory environment for home use it will be great - until something goes wrong! You could be without a machine for a while and it could cost $$$ to repair. For what most of us do a simple mechanical machine makes more sense.

Good fun, isn't it? I think I would have repainted the baseplate, though, as most of the paint is missing. The head looks fine.

An interesting project, I look forward to seeing how it turns out.