dikman

Constabulary, that makes sense and explains the dirty great vertical spring on the front. As far as I could tell everything appears to be there, although I couldn't get to the shuttle area to check that. Given its obvious age I think he's asking too much but I'm pretty sure he won't budge on the price (which might be just as well as then I can convince myself I don't need it ). Might be worth another look, though, particularly in the shuttle area. I think he's had it sitting there for quite a while and personally I think he'll have trouble selling it (at least here in SA). A saddler won't be interested because of the work necessary to get it working properly and the lack of parts, the only person likely to be interested is someone like me (and I haven't yet come across anyone else locally who is interested in restoring these old machines).

It's hard to find info on these machines, the only source appears to be leatherworker.net!!! I've found reference to the speed reducer, which explains the gear by the handwheel (although as you say bits are obviously missing) but I don't quite understand the "middle" foot - is it a walking foot type machine??? Is it any good for holsters? One thing I do know, it looks heavy!!!!!!

Whilst browsing a junk shop I saw this monster siting on the ground. From what I've discovered so far it appears to be a class 20 something. Can anyone identify it exactly and tell me what it was designed for? It appears to turn over ok and the rust looks like surface rust. It looks like it's designed to sew through almost anything!!! The guy wants $400 for it, but I suspect parts are likely to be non-existent, including shuttles.

There are a couple of different sizes they make in these Chinese patchers; but the most commonly sold model appears to be the smaller one (mine is definitely the small one). I'm limited to #68 thread and it uses standard domestic needles. I believe some have used #138 but I reckon you'll be struggling to get any bigger thread through it. As for holsters, just how big is this machine? There's no way mine could sew holsters.

If you search on ebay for "45mm pulley" they're around $3-4.

I was wondering the same thing, katit.

Needle positioners and speed reducers generally don't go together. There is at least one servo that was mentioned in a thread somewhere that would work (to a point).

That was cast from scrap brass that I've collected, although I have a fair amount of used brass cartridges that I'm thinking about melting down. The first one is steel, and although I can forge the stuff I can't melt and cast it.

I learned to drive a clutch car, and drove clutch trucks and clutch motorbikes - but I still couldn't handle a sewing machine clutch motor!!!

No 2. The brass at the front gives it quite a bit of weight. I had experimented with melting brass a couple of years ago, it melted fine but my casting was borderline disaster, I ended up with a thick disc and a lovely run across the ground! I figured this disc would do for the front but turning it down revealed a lot of small air bubble inclusions (you might see a few on the front). I also found a big one inside when I drilled and tapped it for the rod. Oh well, still good enough for this job. Like the other I Loctited it to the rod. The first handle was a piece of aged Blackwood, unfortunately a chunk split off partway through turning. This one is a piece of aged Apple tree, interesting stuff as it's actually reasonably hard wood. I applied three coats of my home-made Walnut stain, which came out better than I expected, and finished off with beeswax applied while it was spinning in the lathe. Not very shiny but quite grippy. Now I need to make a much bigger one but I need to give more thought to the melting process.

Ok, fitted a chrome dome nut and now it's finished. I started on the second one, using the turnings from the first one. When I started turning it, however, I started finding fissures where the plastic hadn't fused together during the melting process. Fortunately the solution was fairly simple, I used a Dremel pin-point gas torch to carefully melt the fissures and feed in small pieces of cut plastic, using a screwdriver to move the molten blobs around. A word of warning, this stuff catches fire if it gets too hot!! This one will end up smaller than I intended but I'll turn a taper on it and make a wooden handle.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I'm downunder (Australia), we have a large hardware chain here that lists dome nuts, but they only say they're 10mm and don't give the pitch size! I'll have to buy a pack and hope they're the right pitch, otherwise I'm back to making something. I've been chopping up milk cartons into little pieces ready for the next one. Might make this a bigger diameter but tapered like heydox's, and probably turn a wooden handle rather than leather (a stacked leather handle is a lot of work!!). Another one I might try is a rawhide one, a chap on youtube made a mallet using those big rawhide dog bones to get the rawhide. Sounds like another challenge.

7 hour drive? Just a trip down the road. A chap in my shooting club drove much further just to buy a machine.

Just about done. GRod, the lathe is nothing fancy, a medium size same as the Grizzly 0602. I was collecting and smelting range scrap from my pistol range and sold enough to pay for it! I also have one of those mini metal lathes off ebay for small stuff, it's not a bad unit for what it is but needed a bit of work to get it running smooth. The wood lathe is an el-cheapo $99 Chinese thing, pretty basic but adequate for turning handles and stuff. Back to the maul - I cut out lots of sort-of round bits from my scrap leather pile, punched a hole in the middle of each piece, glued them with white glue onto another rod and screwed them down tight with wood blocks on the ends. Once dry I turned it down on the wood lathe. It sort of worked but when I do another I'll have to give more thought to how I do it as I couldn't seem to get it balanced in the lathe. Came out ok for a first effort, I guess. While it was spinning I sanded it down then applied some wax and buffed it up. It actually screws onto the threaded rod so it's all pretty tight. I just need to find a suitable dome nut for the end, or maybe make something out of brass. Haven't decided yet. Next thing is to make a tapered one.

??? I find it pretty straightforward loading pics, the main thing is to make sure the files aren't too big.

Fred, I can't say as I had already experimented (somewhat unsuccessfully) with this stuff before so I had a few lumps of it to use up. 7 or 8 maybe? Once I've finished this one I'll make another, something like heydox's ('cos I like making things and these look cool!)

The story so far....the front piece of steel is loctited to the rod and the maul head, which is threaded, will screw up tight to it. The rear piece is a steel washer that just happened to fit. Both pieces have been polished, but I haven't worried about a perfect finish as it's not as if I'll be selling it (and it will probably get knocked around with use). Next job is to cut/stamp lots of bits of leather for the handle.

I had the same problem when I was tinkering with one of my machines to try and increase the clearance under the feet. As Wiz said it was necessary to loosen the clamp on the outer presser bar to adjust the foot height. It was a lot of trial and error getting that set right and balancing it with the adjustment of the linkage at the back that operates the inner foot. Just be aware that the clamp has a lot of tension on it from the rear lifting bar at the back. Look at page 10 of the manual I linked to, it should give you an idea of how to set the feet.

Wiz and Constabulary are right about the handwheel, but not for the reason Wiz mentioned. The handwheel casting on my 211 has a "protrusion" that actually slides inside the main body casting and acts as a bushing around the main shaft. Without this the main shaft can flop around a bit! Not a good thing. I had to make a reducer for mine as I couldn't use a larger pulley.

Ok, I missed the bit about the 15-91. No comparison, of course, this one is a proper industrial machine. The service manual is readily available, as are spare feet. As long as you don't want to sew holsters (!) this should be a useful machine - assuming it works ok then $300 is a great price imo. A lot of that rust will probably rub of with a bit of care.

Whichever model it is it should be more than adequate for those jobs.

A difficult decision. As long as it's working then it could be an interesting restoration/cleanup job for only $300. You can buy a cheaper servo to replace the motor, you don't have to necessarily buy the best. If you don't want to start accumulating machines () and only want to get maybe one more then it would be better to pass and work out exactly what you want and look for that.

Thanks heydox, looks great! I've turned mine down to just over 2 3/4" long x 2 1/4" diameter. I might keep this one parallel sided but I can see me making another one (or two?) after this is finished, probably like yours. I'm turning a piece of steel plate down for the end piece which should give a bit of weight forward. GRod, you can make it from a mold but it's just a little trickier to get the final smooth finish, I've found a lathe makes it much easier and shaping this stuff is fun, it turns beautifully! There's a youtube video of someone using a wood lathe to make theirs. The good thing about this is that all the turnings/shavings can be re-used for the next project.

My servos have ordinary rocker switches on the front panels, they work fine and I can't see the need for anything different.

Thanks Bill. This is obviously too big to use as-is but I'm unsure how much to remove. The explanation for having a taper makes sense, I just have to work out whether it will suit me. I'm guessing the head at about 2" diameter and the length about 2 1/2"? I'll use threaded rod through the head and turn a metal end piece to give some weight (and bling ) and use stacked leather to make the handle.