Dave84

Thank you Wiz, I will be looking into the first two. The Juki has been recommended to me several times as well. On another note, would you happen to know or point me to a source to replace the needle bar on my Adler 167-373? I cannot find anything nor is the manual clear on what the order of operations are.

Thanks KGG. To see if I understand, the Adler 167 I have is an upholstery grade which I believe does have 1/2" of lift, but isn't strong enough to handle denser seams. The next step up into walking foot industrial machines is a significant jump to $3000-$10000. Does Juki make a medium duty leather sewing machine that can handle heavier garments? Aven, Thanks for the reply. I hand skive veg tan for bags and belts but will definitely research the videos. I'm currently using .08 chrome tan for the jackets and hand skiving I've not had success with.

Hi all, I'm updating this thread and would like your help. My Adler has been working just fine on denim, other heavy fabrics and light leather and will keep it for those projects. Now, after doing several jackets, some perfect, larger percentage still having an issue of wandering needle from deflection at thicker seams causing wavey lines at these joints, although tamed immensely over the years, I'm done with my system of avoiding as best as possible all above. One comment on another thread mentioned hitting the limit of this Adler 167-373. These seams can get to a 1/2" unskived on .08mm-1mm leather so what machine would be the next step up for jacket making, bags, wallets? I'd like to stay with a name brand for easy parts, service and Youtube tutorials. Thanks

Hi KGG, I'm updating this thread and would like your help. My Adler has been working just fine on denim, other heavy fabrics and light leather and will keep it for those projects. Now, after doing several jackets, some perfect, larger percentage still having this issue although tamed immensely over the years, I'm done with my system of avoiding as best as possible all above. One comment mentioned hitting the limit of this Adler 167-373, so what machine would be the next step up for jacket making, bags, wallets? I'd like to stay with a name brand for easy parts and service. Thanks!

Thanks Michiel. I did think MAYBE the bar is bent, but would you know how the frame could get messed up? I've had this Adler for several years and this issue just started happening. I have had a few times over the years where needles brake hitting the lower feed dog when I try to stitch too much leather freely, not glued or taped, have learned that lessen. But a couple weeks ago I had to rotate the bar to get the needle to line up with the hole, it got that bad. Where can you recommend to start replacing or tuning?

Anyone have any insight as to why I had to rotate the needle bar? I'm noticing thread snapping more often, no doubt due to the thread being dragged across sharper angles of metal.

Hi All, Having an odd issue I cant find much info about, besides the concentric location, of the needle bar on my Adler 167-373. I just had to rotate it 90 degrees so know the thread guide hole is facing away from me instead of to the left, the needle was hitting the side of the feed dog, snapping needles. It seemed to just happen out of nowhere, but now its a pain to thread. Thoughts? need a new needle bar? 2023-01-24_09-37-41 by Dave Hamilton, on Flickr Next, I'm sampling some wallets machine stitched but I always have this issue, so I thought I'd ask. The bobbin side of the stitch always comes out super flat and the holes look more shredded. Using a diamond tip needle with poly thread. How can I make the bobbin side look as clean as the top? I do wonder though am I looking for perfection? I see some machine stitched items out there where both sides look clean. I've double checked that the loop is centered and it is, the bottom image shows the blow out/tear out. Refer to above pic as that's the current setup, a zipper foot with the feet smoothed out on a grinder, bottom feed dog never gets changed. Inside of wallets, faces up while stitching: 2023-01-24_09-37-33 by Dave Hamilton, on Flickr Outer shell faces down, bobbin thread side: 2023-01-24_09-37-25 by Dave Hamilton, on Flickr One last thing, looking at a Consew 277-R3 that looks good for $1500. Should I just buy it as I plan on getting a cylinder arm in the future? I'm impulsive lol

Dude got back to me and said it is older and best offer would be accepted. That's always risky

No it is a skiver. That's the motor tag? Gotcha, will update in when I speak to the guy tomorrow hopefully.

Hey Everyone, I found a guy selling a Lewsiton Shoe Machinery CO Leather skiving machine from 1977. Info on tag reads: Ch [6] HP [1/4] Date [1977] Ser. NO [660102] I can't find much info, but before I purchase at $855, can anyone give me insight into the company and machine? Is it worth it? I'm skiving down 5/6 Oz Horween for handstitched bags. -Dave

Yes, it is partial resting, continues to pull the lesser section causing some weirdness in the stitch line, but the thick part stays in place at the presser feet. Any solution on fixing that? Thanks, I'll start looking at it. Razor blades I have plenty of! Using garment leather seems to be extra tricky. Might just shift some of these extra folded parts around to balance out too much thicknesses.

I'll definitely try moving up on needle size. Your second paragraph is spot on! There isn't much room for the feet to move at all. I have a similar situation on denim, when there's a thicker part of folded over material then jumping to a thin, 2 layer section, make sense? Never could really find an answer as to why that is, plenty of foot travel. I've been looking into skiving a little, but dont know much about it. The amount I would need it doesnt justify a hefty pricetag though is my first thought. Any good hand tools out there you could recommend chrisash?

Thanks kgg for your input. I know the Adler can handle leather, been using it for a while, but these areas of more density than I usually stitch together is frustrating. I'll call Bob at Toledo and try some thicker needles but am concerned about the punctured hole size, even with a tex 105 thread. I may ultimately rethink my lining structure instead for now.

Just uploaded again. Material thickness I'd say is 3/8" to 1/2", folded over buffalo hide of 1mm if I remember correctly. My machine is an Adler 167 walking foot, tex 80, 135x16tri 125/20 needle. It's the seam just below the belt loop if the image is not straight but 90 degrees. It didn't rotate on my phone lol.

Hi Guys, I've been battling this demon for a while now. I make motorcycle jackets and rock n roll vests, areas of multiple layers of leather when folded over for the finish topstitch, cause the needle to ricochet while penetrating to the left, causing the needle to hit the bottom plate and break. The needle will go through the first few layers then ricochet, i think from too dense of material. But how do top companies like Schott and Vanson have such a nicely finished product? Using 125/20 Organ leather needles with Tex 80 Polycore thread. I hammer these dense areas with a ball pen to flatten as best as possible. I can mostly get through these thick areas by hand cranking only, testing to see if the needle bends to the left, lifting up the top dog and wiggling everything over so the needle goes through the bottom plate hole. It's such a pain and doesn't always give a straight stitch, sometimes from the ricochet it has a wonky line of stitch. In the attached pic, heres an example of these dense areas. to the right of the belt loop, you can see the wonkiness of the stitch! Thanks for anyones imput.