SolarLeatherMachines

First, Call a Dealer. No one knows these machines like the guys who put them together. I build 500 a year. Second, Ensure that there is no gap between the hand wheel and the bushing on the mainshaft. Any slight gap can cause a shift of the mainshaft in the lateral direction, which can sound like a click or thump. Further, the hook assembly is free floating. Sometimes when it's oscillating back and forth, you'll hear it click when it change direction. This is normal, there is supposed to be a free play in the hook assembly to allow the thread to pass. See if that helps, I am a Cowboy Dealer. 817-422-9151

I'm deep in the Renaissance world around here. I have several customers that sew Ren stuff, like armor, scabbards & sheaths. Asgardian Armory, HP Leathercraft, among others. You're gonna need at least the 3200. If you have the wherewithal, I would suggest the 4500. It's a little more than you might need, but doing leather helms and torso armor would benefit from the deep cylinder arm.

SUPER nice machine, and that's a heck of a deal. I'm tempted to get it myself!

Stands: Most of the Cowboy machines can be upgraded to the optional pedestal stand, without much issue. Feet & Accessories are widely available both from dealers and online sites like ebay. The 227r and similar machines have been around for MANY years, so just about every type of attachment is available or can be ordered custom.

Btw, the festival was the Texas Renaissance Festival. It's a huge festival with an enormous focus on leather goods. Some friends of ours own a shop down there, and did about $20,000 in 2 days. It's good business for leatherworkers, and if there's a lot of competition for holsters or horse tack in your area, you might check to see if there are any fairs near you.

We're back now. Trying to work through the 100+ phone calls on voice mail. The comments about shipping above are accurate. Shipping costs are very different depending on whether you live in a swamp, or in Alaska, or if you're going to a commercial location in a major metropolitan city(which is much cheaper). It's less about weight and more about how far out in the boonies you are. That's why Solar Leather Machines doesn't quote flat rate: for every 1 guy that gets a great deal, 4 people get hosed. We'd rather take the time and find out the RIGHT answer.

Sewing wet leather isn't good for the leather or the machine. Especially if the leather has been chrome tanned. Chrome tanned leather has been tanned using chromium salts. If you add water to the equation, and you have dissimilar metals in contact with the leather, ie, chrome plated needle plates and carbon steel feet, you can actually set up the conditions for a battery. Over time, the plain steel feet will corrode(rust) and cause staining issues on the leather. This is one of the reasons we use stainless steel feet on the Cowboy machines. I've seen cases where the wet leather caused corrosion to occur in the hook assembly, and the entire hook & race had to be replaced. (the leather was soaking wet!) Always, always dry your machine off after sewing wet leather.

The 3200 does not use the same hook as the 4500. They look very similar in appearance, but the 3200 hook is slightly smaller than the 4500 hook. Need a micrometer to check it. The 3200 also uses different bobbins, too. The 7x4dia-27 size needle used for size 415 thread has a very large diameter and will tend to brush the hook during use. This is NOT a good thing since it can lead to a hard crash with the hook when the leather deflects the needle. Basically, it's just too much needle in too tight an area.

I think both Bob & I will offer to accept payment through Paypal. Paypal will offer you financing for the machines. Pretty reasonable: 0% for 6 months, and then goes to 8-15% afterwards. A lot of my customers buy new Cowboy machines using this method.

A long time. At least 5 years since I first used it.

Just had to buy some more boards. 1" thick polyethylene was about $475 for a full 8x4 sheet, including cutting fee. Works out to about 10 cents per sqin, or about $14.60 per sqft. For the dimensions I use, I was able to get 8 or so out of the sheet. If your dimensions are odd, the individual prices can go way up. Some of those older, bigger german machines have big boards and that equates to about $100+ for the material.

This is going to crack you up: One of the best sources of foam padding is Uline. Back when I was making a lot of padded items, I tried their packaging foam. It comes in different sizes and thickness, is water proof, just the right amount of cushion, easily sewn through, and above all, inexpensive. Swear to god. I used the 1/4" and 1/8" stuff. Go Here: https://www.uline.com/BL_855/Uline-Foam-Rolls

Ugh. Bacteria growth is a real problem. Always use closed cell foam if you can. These guys sell and ship at reasonable prices. http://www.thefoamfactory.com/closedcellfoam/closedcellfoam.html Alexander

Hi guys, Clicker cutting boards come in different types, but they're generally plastic or hard rubber. Hard Butyl rubber tends to last longer, but the dies don't cut quite as well, and the boards are harder to plane smooth again. Plastic boards, IMHO, are better because they're relatively cheap and can easily be planed smooth again. HDPE, Polyethylene, HDPS, and other cutting board surfaces all work well. Don't bother trying to buy something labeled "clicker boards". Just go to a plastics company and buy a 4ft x 4ft x 1" sheet and ask them to cut it down for you. They'll charge a small fee for cutting it, but you'll have 2 boards, which means you can continue working while your other one is getting planed smooth. Try not to plane the board to less than 1/2". Some of the older clickers don't have a rubber bump stop at the bottom, and there's a chance you'll damage the machine if you bottom the head. I start thinking about getting a new one once they're around 3/4" thick. After that, they become work bench board, or if they're clean enough, I'll use them for my BBQ smoker stuff. Alexander

Gah! These things are a PITA! I stopped selling them because they are SO finicky, and NOBODY was happy with them. If you know what you're doing, you can get them to dance around your kitchen and can do a great job, but they're very hard to learn. NOT a beginner machine.

Great looking tray. Nice Laser job! Oh, for the love of god, Don't. I must have 5 guys a week come into my shop with "minimalist wallets" and "valet trays". They're the hot new thing. And each of them are on kickstarter, gofundme, etsy, and all the other sites. STIFF competition right now. What would I suggest? Beard Comb Wallets. Seriously. selling like crazy, people can't make em fast enough. Get some stainless steel combs lasered and make some "authentic" leather covers for them. All. Day. Long.

Thanks for all the positive comments, guys. Getting all the ducks in a row to offer this as an ongoing product was difficult. I'll have this up on the website before 6/15. Alexander Thank you.

Uwe, Great video. I'm impressed.

The English manuals are in downloadable format here: http://www.solar-leather.com/supporthelp/

Cowboy USA is in Lima, Ohio. Toledo Sewing is a dealer and is in Toledo (Obviously). I'm a dealer as well, and we're in Dallas.

Guessing here, but I suspect that your machine has a very tight stitch. Sometimes, when the thread is under high tension, the thread fiber stretches longer than the wax can accommodate. And sometimes it necks down, which also leads to shedding the outside coating. You can sometimes see this happen around tight bends, where the thread tension gets very high. Check your machine to see if there are any sharp edges that the thread contacts. A 90 deg edge on stainless steel needs to be buffed down. You can also try reducing your stick tension, but most people don't want to consider doing that.

I'm the closest one to you. We're in Dallas, TX. www.solar-leather.com

Super cool stand. But I can't see China doing a whole lot of that. Not many people here in the states are going to spend the money for that. The stand is probably as much or more than the head.

Well, at least this guy writes english slightly better than the Chinese Spammers.

Try heating the punch.