Dougster

Ouch. Didn't know it was going to be so pricey. A month at our local space is fifty bucks...

Do they have any maker spaces near you? I don't know Brooklyn, but a quick search pulled up Gowanus Studio. Is that anywhere close? http://gowanusstudio.org/

I've bought both thread and bobbins from Toledo Industrial. I think Wawak is also a good place for thread...

What size thread are you using? Did you leave several inches of thread hang out of the bobbin when you put it in? When you rotate the machine through its cycle, does that tail of thread get pulled up to the top and can you then pull on it with your fingers? When you try to sew, do you place the material under the presser foot and hold the threads for the first few stitches?

I'm no expert yet, but that doesn't look like a 206rb, rb1 or rb2. The one I have has a chrome lever sticking out of the front of the machine that you lift up to put the machine into reverse. The one in your pictures looks like it has the lever that you push down. My machine also has the bobbin on the left side of the needle, in a vertical position, instead of the horizontal position on the right of the needle in those pictures...

One of our local stores is closing. Apparently it's because the lease is up. They're moving everything to the other store in town...

Ah, no, I missed that. Rats... Next time! Really looking forward to it. And I'll be ready to buy more too. Since this was my first time, I really had the reins pulled in...

Sorry, a ruler? Did I miss something? I'm still new around these parts...

Yeah, I loved the one he called the "skittles fish," a bright yellow colored stingray... LOL!

Yep, I gave Barry $110 for two awl blades and two handles. I was thinking hard about that six pound maul of his too... I loved Josh Fields' knives and Ron's groovers. And Clay Miller had some nice stuff including a swivel knife that almost came home with me. And Bob Beard...wow, just wow. The place I really could have lost all my money though was at the Van Amburg booth. Turns out they supplied the wildebeast that my wife's boots were made from...

I saw Cobra Steve at the Prescott show this weekend. He had some beautiful looking equipment there...

We drove up to Prescott Saturday to go to the leatherworkers show. Glad we went! Met a lot of cool people, saw a lot of great tools, drooled over a bunch of leather. Wife and I got away from the show for under $150. It would have been so easy to blow every penny in the savings account! LOL Highly recommended...

LOL, now I feel silly for whining about fifty bucks! I went ahead and ordered the parts from College Sewing...

I don't know about that particular dealer, but I do appreciate what people have been saying here on the forum. That is, you can buy a machine from a lot of dealers, and it will probably be alright, but if you buy from one of the established businesses that knows about leather work, they will set up the machine and make sure it works well before sending it to you, and if there's a problem after you get it, they will help you out. As with so many things, the cost of the tool itself will be way less than the cost of the labor/time/effort you spend on it. The other thing I'd suggest is to check out your local sewing community and see if there is a reputable repair person/mechanic in the area. Someone like that can help you out before and after a sale...

I'm loving this thing! You're right about expensive parts...the stitch length screw and locking lever were trashed, so I looked into getting new parts. $57! I can see why someone might have been using a pair of vise-grips on it. Sigh...