neelsaddlery

From the perspective of a dealer, I would say that you would be getting a decent price here, as long as the dealer is willing to go over the machine and replace any worn parts, etc. However, if he is just selling the machine as he gets it, and not bothering to do any reconditioning, then it might be a better idea to look elsewhere. These old 111 and 225 machines go pretty cheap at auction, and even cheaper when plants close and they are bought out. I have had offers to buy complete units out of plant closings for as little as $100.00-$150.00 each, with stand, motor, table, and machine head. Auction prices for these machines (for sale to end users) would be anywhere from $200.00-$300.00. I see them go in excellent condition in an average year at the Weaver auction. I see them go for much less in off years at the Weaver auction. Just my 2 cents worth.

Are you sewing a single layer of the 3-4 ounce leather, or two layers? What size of thread do you plan to use? Most home sewing machines really can't handle anything larger than 69, or 92 at the absolute largest. As Steve said, when you take a machine that was designed predominantly for the garment trade and use it for sewing leather, it is only a matter of time till something pops. It could be that this machine could work well for you if you only plan on using it very sparingly, with light thread, and only plan on sewing one layer of 3-4 ounce. If however, you have need for a larger thread, start using the machine more than 3-4 times a month, and use it to sew heavier than one layer of 3-4 ounce, then most likely something will go out. We get calls constantly from folks on Ebay that have bought old home sewing machines and find out later that they can't handle the thickness of the material or the size of thread that the operator needs. Sometimes people pay $300.00-$400.00 for these home machines. In the end, they might have been better off to save the money and get a full blown industrial machine. This of course, is just my two cents worth. If you plan to use the machine sparingly, then it may work out well for you.

If you plan to use this machine to sew a zipper to 3-4 ounce leather, it will be working it to death. You should look at at an industrial machine. This is a home machine. Lots of folks on Ebay sell home machines and clain that they can do an industrial machine's job.

How closely do the stitches match in forward and reverse? What is your stitch length set at? Try setting it to zero and see if the needle bar is stationary in forward and reverse. I had this issue with a drop feed machine one time and it was because of an issue with the reverse not matiching the forward stitch. Also, check bobbin case positioning finger for correct alignment. If this finger is not set right, then it makes it hard for machine to pull knots into the material. This is not an easy problem to diagnose, but I do agree there is something not right here. I do not think it has anything to do with timing or thread tension however. If it were timing or thread tension, it would do it sewing forward as well in reverse. Hope this is of some help to you.

I have always used a size 92 thread for the decorative inlays on chap work. I use a heavier thread (like 207-277) for the yoke and belt portions of the chaps.

I would not use the machine for anything much heavier than a couple of pieces of 8 ounce, and I would not use anything larger than a size 138 thread with the machine. The 797 is a good choice for lightweight leather items such as chaps and so forth. Any heavier leather items such as horse tack and so forth should be reserved for heavier machines.

This machine is in fact a copy of the Highlead GC-0618. This machine is not manufactured in a Highlead factory. It is made by Feiyue at their factories in Taizhou, China. Sometimes you will also see an "S" designation after the model numbers of machines. This also will indicate the presence of a safety clutch. There are a few companies in China that make the 0618 models. There are not tons of them, but I would estimate at least 3-4 different companies make knockoffs of the Highlead 0618 series. I can't tell you for sure if the 0618 machines that Feiyue makes are good or bad, but I do know that their drop feed machines as well as the 0318 walking foot machines they sell were not too good the last time I ordered from them, which was a few years back. Their quality could have gotten better, as it has been a while since I ordered any of these machines from them.

I am pretty sure that on a cording foot, the sizes that they use for it is the total size of the groove on the foot, and does not have anything to do with the size of the cording. In other words, you will need to wrap the cording in your material that you intend to cover it with, and then take a measurement of it. This will be size of cording foot you need. The reason for this is because the thickness of material that cording can be covered with varies widely. Therefore, they go by the acutal diameter of the covered cord when selecting an appropriate foot. If the feet are not too much money, maybe you can buy one size, and then the next size bigger just to be safe. Most cording feet for drop feed machines should be under $10.00. Walking foot cording feet should be no more than $30.00.

Is there any chance you could post a picture of the presser foot on this machine? We sell a machine called the Model 5, which if I am not mistaken, will use the same presser feet as the Adler 105-64. Our presser feet will only work on the 105 machines that were NOT walking foot machines. I think Adler had some 105 series machines that had walking feet. Ours will only work with the ones that have single presser foot assemblies.

If I am not mistaken, it is exactly that, a rebadged Adler 205-64. (or at the very least a rebadged Adler 105-64) I think Chandler bought the machines from Adler, and then had them relabeled. This machine should be good for sewing 1/2"-3/4" thick leather. Most likely is a compound feed machine, or at the very least a needle feed machine.

Does your 105 have a walking foot? That is, is the presser foot composed of a two piece assembly with inside and outside feet? Do the feet alternate up and down as the machine sews?

Jordan: One other thing. The Family style servo motors that we sold had a hole in the back of them into which you would insert a screwdriver and turn the knob to adjust the speed. There was no knob sticking out the back of the motor. A screwdriver had to be inserted into the back of the motor to turn the metal knob in the back of the motor. There is a metal knob inside of the hole, but no plastic knob fits on top of it or anything. Hope this is of some help to you.

Jordan: OK. Can you call me toll free at 1-866-507-8926 and we can take a look at it and see if we can get the problem solved. Hope to hear from you soon.

Hello: Can you tell me what the brand name of the motor is? Is it Family, TCM, or Newstar? Do you mean the knob on the back of the motor that is used to regulate the speed. Hope to hear from you soon

We have an agent in Australia that sells our Cowboy Brand machines. He sells them under the brand name of Master. The man's name is Jim Beaton. He also posts on this forum quite a bit. He has over 45 years experience in the leather industry. His customer service is the best in Australia. If you would like his contact information, please let me know and I can send it to you. Or, you can look him up on the forum by searching under Cowboy Sewing Machines. Hope this is of some help to you.

Looks good. Does the sewing head look like it needs much work? If you need parts we stock a lot of different parts for these heads.

These machines were a lot like garment class machines made by Singer, Artisan, and even us. Consew made a version of this machine with a big bobbin. It could be used for chaps and chinks, but was not a hard core machine for the leather industry. You would be better off going with a walking foot machine or compound feed machine. Hope this of some help to you.

I would have to agree, it is better that you save up tp get the right machine for the job, rather than skimp and end up buying what you should have bought in the first place.

That is exactly what i do as well.

It is not the thickness of the leather. It is the size of the thread. The Cobra Class 17 and 18, and the Artisan 618 will at most handle a size 207 thread. And even the size 207 thread is really pushing the limits of what those machines are capable of. We also sell machine like the 618 and class 17 and 18, and these machines struggle with a 207 thread. The bigger machines like the 441 and 105 and others will handle a much larger size of thread. The thickness of the material is prety thin, but the size of the thread (chunky) would mandate that a larger machine capable of handling the thick thread be used.

Yes, they are all very big machines. Some of the machines are not too bad in price. The Champion machines sell used here for as little as $500.00. But the problem is, you cannot get any parts for them anymore. If you need parts, you have to have somebody make them for you. That is part of the reason why the Champion machines sell for so cheap. They are obsolete by virtue that parts are extremely rare. The other machines such as the Randall and Campbell machines will sell for more money, but you can still find parts for most of the other ones, except for the Cyclone. But I do hear Campbell is making some parts for them now.

You will definitely need some form of heavy duty stitcher to do this type of work. The Cowboy 441 clone and the 105 are good machines, and they work quite well for this type of work. The only other option would be to find a used machine like the Singer 45K, or maybe an older used Adler or something of this nature. But, the price of the Adler and Singer machines can cost almost as much as a Cowboy machine is new.

I think it is very important to backstitch. It sounds like either of the two methods you are using will work just fine. The backstitch locks in the first few threads so they do not come loose. Yes, because the machine is a lockstitch machine the threads are locked in there pretty well to begin with, but the backstitch insures that these thread will NEVER come out.

Might be a good machine for very lightweight leather items. But I would add a roller foot or teflon foot to it to insure it feeds the leather well. Biggest thread these machines can run is a size 69 or 92. Make sure you get leather point needles for it too.