CowboyBob

It's a great first machine to have,pretty easy to run & I know all the parts,needles & etc are easy to get.

They were made to sew 1/4" thick & were more for repair the a finish good.The reason is to foot pulls the leather & to do so it has teeth that will leave marks on the topside of whatever your sewing.If you smooth the teeth down than it won't pull the leather evenly.Max thread size I recommend is #92.

Andrew,Are you sure the needle is as close to the hook as you can get? Does this machine skip in thicker material much? We do have a feed dog w/a smaller hole if you need one.

When you put the new belt on the pulleys you need to make sure the take up lever is all the way to the top & then just to the left of the clutch there's a collar with an arrow that lines up with another arrow on a piece of tin,so you line up these 2 arrows & takeup @ the top & slide belt on & it should sew,except in your case you'll have to retime since you moved some things.

The presuure adjustment is a slotted pin(it looks like a screw) that holds the clutch spring on ,there's a set screw that runs against the belt so you loosen it & turn the slotted pin to adjust it.The part I'm talking about is @ the 5:00 position on the pic on the vid above.

Gerry ,I wouldn't worry about that clutch not kicking when needed.You probably have the screws in the right position now since it's feeding correctly.If you want to see it trip put a wide tip screwdriver in between the 2-little pins (one has a cotter pin in Erics video) & the other one & turn it counterclockwise & it'll kickout.

Your right it looks like a bag closer ,something like model #80200

Yes,it is very common for this to happen so much so that when I service a machine of this type that's the first thing I do is take the tension apart & clean & check the discs for grooves & replace if needed.It probably should be done maybe once a month.Some threads will produce more lint than others

You can try loosening the wing nut on the back & slide it down so the feet aren't lifting so high.You can also loosen the foot pressure moore too & if it gets too loose the machine will start skipping stitches.

I would use a #16 it'll look better.

It might sew up to 1/4" thick of leather using #69 thread

Here's a manual http://parts.singerco.com/IPinstManuals/132B26.pdf

No,always wrap around the lower tension 1&1/2x if you don't you will(probably) get eratic tension.The way the lower one works is it acts like a brake & the thread needs to be around it like I said so the thread is gripped by the pulley so it can spin.The lower pulley (aka tension) also needs to spin to work if it's overtighted & doesn't spin it will give eratic temsion too.So that is why you mainly need to always adjust the top one as or when needed.It doesn't hurt once in a while to take the lower one apart & put oil on the shaft so it can spin.The old 7 class Singers use this same type of tension & I've seen quite a few of then with wornout holes in the pulley.Of course some of these could be 40-70 yrs old but I think alittle oil might of prevented it.

WE've painted 1000's of machines over the yrs & we found out paint remover will not remove Singers paint off the machine,the best thing to do is just sand it,we use a belt sand on the bed & lightly hand sand the rest to smooth it up put on a couple coats of primer sand lightly again & paint.Don't forget after you sand to was the machine down good with someting like alcohol or wax remover of some kind because of all the oils so the primer adher properly.

You can either email or call your order & state what point & size you want then.

Yes,they all take the same.

The LL should be a twist point that makes a zig-zag look to the stitch,we have the DIA point 7x4#24&25 in stock in Organ,we also have the #25 in Tri point.

We have a 1.5 amp motor that we sell to people for doing this,does your machine have the motor boss on the side of it?

If it has a large bobbin it's a model#255RB

There should be 2 screws that go into the fylwheel & there should be at least one slot in the shaft for a screw to fit into,so if you loosen the screws hold the machine somewhere from turning & try to spin the wheel so the other screw will go into the slot it should get it back in time.

All the 441 clone type of machine take the 7x3 (which is a round point) and then there's the 7x4 leather point the comes in a nw(narrow wedge point) it doesn't look that good,a LR twist point that gives it a zig-zag look,a diamond point that work s ok & the best needle to use if you want a tight looking stitch is the Schmetz 794S point that looks like a spade point & makes a slice in the leather parallel with the line of stitching (we sell more S-points than the others)

NO,No,No it is just an old home machine it would be better for sewing shirts,dresses & draperies.

Yes,you should be able to sew thin & soft leathers to 1/4" or so on this machine,it would help to get a Teflon foot that helps the leather slide through easier.

3/16" is to much try 3/32"

You might want to check the screws in the handwheel to make sure it's in the groove of the top shaft or you could even try moving & put the other screw in the groove .