leatherdog

any ideas as to what the skiver blade rpm should be?

Jeannie there is one other detail. some skivers have a built in clutch. so, instead of using a sewing machine motor, they use a motor that runs constantly, and has a belt that goes over to the feed drive pulley. there is where the clutch will be found. but, i think a lot of the consew skivers don't have that. it comes down to two choices then - either two motors, or a built in clutch. LD

repainting a pfaff - in my book, that is a bad idea. or, at least, if were going to buy one, i'd be wary of one that has been repainted. with the original paint, the story of the machine is told through the paint. for instance, the machine you show in the photo has low miles. very low miles. if it were painted, that fact would be obscured. a repainted machine - i would assume the worst.

Jeannie you will have to add a second motor to run the blade separately. it won't have to be huge. 1/4 hp, maybe 1/8. bolt it under the table. then use the servo motor to run the feed. the reason these skivers don't come with two motors - cost. LD

i have both the service manual and the parts list - see attached pfaff 335 old casting parts.pdf pfaff 335 parts.pdf the service manual is too large to attach. if you send me a message with your email address enclosed, i can send the service manual peter

Pfaff 545 H3. Walking foot. This is the classic leather working machine. Easy to use, easy to keep running. Lasts for years and years. With clutch motor. $1200. Located in San Francisco area. photos to follow.

Pfaff 141, with table stand and clutch motor. The 141 is a needle feed machine, with a roller foot instead of a sewing foot. This machine is for fancy decorative stitching, like you see on cowboy boots. $800. Located in San Francisco area. Local pickup, i'd rather not get involved in shipping. Also available, Pfaff 545. See other ad.

is the needle in the center of the needle plate hole? if yes, then move the hook ever so slightly to the right. if not, then align the needle bar.

i couldn't see the video, but the handle....most likely it has shaped foam rubber type product inside. kind of a dense foam thing, light weight. probably about 5 inches long, whatever width, that is, less wide than the leather, and with a curved profile. what you see on the outside is describing what is on the inside. makes sense? you won't find this kind of product laying around, so you will have to improvise. good old backyard technology to be put into action............

noted. thanks for the effort....... i'll dig into that . thank you......

gee, would it be possible to get copies of those? even though the 64 is different from the 370, there would be a lot in common. gotta make do with what i can get my hands on, as they say. ??

i see. is it the service manual or the user's manual?

Tor the 169 - yes, low miles. but, that's a lot of work to trade machines across a continent and an ocean. plus all the boxing up, and wouldn't there be electricity issues? you are on 50 cycles, we are on 60. ? anyway, the 345 i'd like to have would not be set up for binding. just handling the leather. the omac. the red light is on-off. no heat. it has a foot bar to press to make the thing go. it is a strap edge folder. you can see the opening, and it is adjustable, opens equally from the center. it is on a threaded shaft, with different threads on each side, so when you turn the black knob at the lower left, the gap either opens or closes a bit. the silver knob above it moves the folders forward or back, in or away from the roller, depending on leather thickness, preferences. you can see it is set up for center fold. there is another finger thing, with the black knob, sitting off to the side, it can be put in the chute, with the other one, and you can fold to whatever width of fold you want. makes sense? it takes stiff leather with a skived edge, or soft leather with an insert. something to fold against. great idea, we just don't use it. when we got it, it had a 50 cyl ac motor. made a nice burning smell till it died. i had it rewound to 60 cyl. very happy now.

PcCowboy gee, that would be great. i just sent you an email....... Peter

planing, i used to take the pad to a wood guy. block planer. but, he decided no more. you can do a crude job with a router, knocking down the high spots, which will be around the edges, the corners. the board does not have to be totally flat. but, at the beginning, the wood under it should be totally flat, and stay that way. if you let the plastic pad get too much like a bowl, it will bend the dies. all this is not the end of the world, but flat is best. the machine i use is a custom thing a machinist made for me. fly cutter on an electric motor, on a swinging arm. you won't find one like it anywhere. you can also use a belt sander, but taking a lot of plastic down with that is ugly and messy. oh, and cut evenly all over the pad. not just in your favorite spot, right in the middle. plastic in cars. well, you can stay with the cars pre mid 60s. lots of nice things there.

we use red pads. you can inquire at any of the leather machinery dealers. they are a common item, everyone's price is about the same. but i don't know the details. we've used gray, white, but mostly red. the big deal is keeping the pad planed flat. make sure the wood block it sits on is flat. you can use double side tape to hold it in place, or just let it sit there, and move around. it won't matter. . pads - i bet you can get them in italy, france, germany. one inch thick, won't allow for much planing. nice to start out thicker. but if you aren't cutting all day everyday, it should last quite a while. sandt - they had them here, hydraulic, in the 70s. also pedersen, from denmark. i've had those. qutie nice. right now, the common machine is italian. different brands, but i think they are all the same auto upholstery - that interests me. different details of work from what i do now. how to get the door panels off, do the seats, all those details. i met some guy who did hot rods, and had some good success at the roadster shows. interesting world, but i can just imagine making a mistake on someone else's car. your binder plate - why not get the hong kong guys to make it a bit wider. as for opening it up, grinding, not filing. i bet i could put a gray 545 on craigslist, and sell it for over $1000. the challenge is finding one to buy. there is still a small leather industry here, but not 10% of what it used to be. lots of boat cover, awning, upholstery people. have fun Peter

Tor here's a few photos. you can see the 205 64 behind the 167 373. note the dust and brush of rust. also is a photo of the extra machines. in the photo there are three 545s, one of them has a a spaghetti folder. also a 145, which we use for binding nyon tape. a 138 in the back. you can see the two adlers, and in front, a pfaff 141. needle feed with roller foot. the cowboy boot guys really like these things. none of these are used much, if at all. the 205, 169 and 141 have never been used by us. and, just for fun a photo of another machine. i bet there aren't many around. you can probably see what it does. only the truly immersed leather nut will know the name of this machine.

that's a pretty high price for pfaff binder parts. interesting that upholstery machines are cheap. a used 545, clutch motor, would go for 800 to $1200. of the ones i sold, i got 500 for one head, wish i hadn't sold that one so cheap. the rest of them, table stand and motor, went for 800 to 1200, and the white ones went for more. the white one with needle position i got 1800. funny thing, i prefer the older ones. but people like new. sometimes new is not better. looking at your photos, i see the folded edge binding. we could never do that with our leather. too stretchy. in fact, we don't use it at all in a binder. would drive us insane. or more insane. as for feet, we use the same foot all day, every day, even with zippers. noted the trade idea. shipping would be the end of that idea. just boxing up the head is a challenge. i think we are in the stone age out here. nothing modern. but, we get the job done. the biggest challenge is marketing, and making an actual profit.

tor parts for pfaff - i have a nice collection. we used to have to maintain quite a few in daily production, and when we needed a spring or screw, we'd buy 5 or 10. haven't had to replace a hook for quite a few years. feet, still have a lot left over. the part that wears out the most, or that i've replaced quite a few of, is the small shaft on top - 91 011 727 05 and the bushings 91 010 360 05. the bushings are about $25, and the shaft, $3. which makes me suspicious. good german steel does not cost $3. so, i assume it is a 21st century global product, and worth the $3. time will tell. no big deal, easy to replace. in the meantime, the machine is nice and tight. i calculated that this set of parts usually lasts 20,000 to 40,000 hours. 10 - 20 years. not bad. noted your comments on the dc motors. we never liked them, i'm not sure why. it may be everyone was used to clutch motors. also, with soft leather, it is easier to navigate than with thick veg. replacing clutch motors with new ones has turned out to be tricky. low quality is readily available. i recently had the bearings replaced in a 30 year old (taiwan) motor. better than what is available today. parts cost - recently i needed a bobbin case for the 335. and, if i recall correctly, the bobbin basket. we were using bobbin cases from japanese straight stitch machines. cost about $3, available everywhere. but they wouldn't fit the new basket. had to buy a new bobbin case, has an italian name, can't remember, and the cost was $65. genuine pfaff cost something like $100. but, it all works well. attachments - i looked at the hong kong site. interseting, that industry used to be here in the states. most of those guys are gone. all hand fabricated, bent metal. the attachments that came with the 169 373 are solid milled, made in usa, and that made the machine, to me, very desireable. now, if only the machine were a pfaff instead of adler. my life would be more simple. peter

right, a long way from oslo. the 169-373, yes, binding feed dog. we might use it some day. the binding attachments - we have 2 - don't match the width of our strap cutter. we have a strap cutting machine that is very hard to modify. but, we might solve that some day. 345 - it would be nice to have one with the same feed dog action as the 545. the 205-64 - i'm going to make it more civilized, easier to use, and then maybe sell it. the ones with the triple feed would be a lot more useful. i'm not really in machine buying mode. mostly not selling, not buying. usually, i only buy pfaffs. i understand them. but, if an interesting machine shows up at the right price, that is another story. noted the air lift - that is a good idea. while we use clutch motors only on the 1245 and 545, i can see the needle position motor would be a good idea for the 205 64.

Tor - i'm in san francisco bay area. the machines - i used to have a factory, 40 employees, including 20 sewing machine operators, making leather bags. we used pfaffs only, except the machines for sewing lining, which any straight stitch machine is ok. now, it is just a few of us, but i still have the machines mentioned above, plus a couple straight stitch jukis and a pfaff 138 zig zag. alot of the machines are backups, or have specialized attachments. i sold a bunch of newer 1245s, the white ones. and some gray 1245s, and a couple 545s. selling gray pfaffs - i don't like doing that. i used to find them, low cost, or they used to find me. now, it takes money to get one. no easy deals. the adler 169 373, i got that because it has a nice binder on it. set up for binding stiff veg bags. but we have never used it. the 205-64 kind of came to me, low cost. but, we never used that either. you mentioned the 205 370 - sounds like a walking foot machine. i'd rather have that than the 205-64, which seems good only for flat work.

thanks, Tor. the link that you show is helpful. i also have a 169-373 that works, but i have never used it, and i found the manual and parts list there. i don't know anything about the adlers. pfaffs are my main thing. i've got a few 545s, a 1245, a 145, a 335 and a 141 with a roller foot. i'd like to have a high post machine, and a 345 but we'll have to do ok without them. Peter

i took the feed dog out again, totally cleaned it and the slot, and put it back, tightening it very tight. so, it may be that i didn't have the screw tight enough. so far, ok. interesting thing about this machine - i've had it 10 years, never used it. decided recently to get it going. sewing with it is kind of like driving a truck. i'm used to the pfaff 545, which compared to the 205-64 is like a sports car. so, we'll see how it goes. for stylistic reasons, i want to use a heavy thread. right now, using 207. but i'm thinking of even heavier. tor - you mentioned the service manual. i found on the internet a crude document, it was poorly translated and covered a couple different adlers. maybe just a few pages. is there another one out there? thanks

ref the feed dog, it has a slot, that allows the foot to be set higher or lower. when i set it to the right height, that is, just a bit above the needle plate, the pressure of the foot pushes it back down. when you mentioned loctite, i was thinking of loctite on the threads of the screw. did you mean instead the contact surface between the screw and the feed dog slot?

you definitely need a skiving machine. get one with the fan suction cabinet. hand skiving soft leather........i can't imagine.