RockyAussie

Very nice tidy work there @SteveOz and good to see you made it here at last

I have done a few with my little diode laser and they work pretty good. Mostly can only use black with a diode as the clear does not work at all.

It May be just the picture but it looks like the small pulley mounted where it is would not allow a belt to miss the motor above it on the way up to the machine head.

This could also be just a badly wound bobbin. If your thread path from the spool is not a smooth run then the intermittent tightness can make the bobbin wind on with tight spots on and off. When the tight part holds up the thread as it feeds off of the bobbin it will pull the thread down as you have shown. It can also be if you have left any tail thread hanging out of the bobbin. Test with the bobbin in the machine a slowly pull out the thread and feel for any catching as it goes.

A REDHEAD !!! Ohhhh Frodo .....R.I.P. friend. Maybe could you quickly do the whole floor black????

Try this....lightly pull the threads taught when you have the thread return lever all the way up then hold them down on the machine and do not pull them. This allows enough thread slack for the needle to form the loop for the hook to catch the same as every other stitch the machine does.

Generally I put some marks on at various points that have to meet up as I get to them. As I am going along the edge I make little adjustments in how I pull or push the leather in order to get these to line up. The gusset stretching too long is often a problem and it can be helped a little by slightly lifting the presser feet every few stitches which allows the leather to relax back and not grow so much in length. DONT lift the feet high enough to release the tension discs if you can avoid it as that can affect the thread balance etc.

Only thing I can suggest from here assuming that you have moved the bell backward the correct distance is that you have not given it enough of a sharpen yet.

I can not be sure as the video does not show from the best angle to see the gap between the bell edge and the presser foot but I am thinking that your bell edge is too close to the presser foot edge. This video of mine should help to show that distance I think -

It is possible that you have your walking feet set up to have a fairly high lift already. That will work well enough most of the time unless you are doing thinner work. You get a better looking stitch generally if the feet are not running too high above the job and the smoothness of the machine will be better and less inclined to miss stitch as well. The knob on top is great because when you come up to a thick piece like the join in a top line of a bag you can simply give the knob a quick turn to give you a higher foot lift until you are clear of the thick part. In the Cowboy range in Australia that machine is called a CB6900 and in the States I think it is a CB 1341. On most machines to get a higher or lower foot lift requires using spanners at the back of the machine. You can see me using one of these machines in this video but alas I did not think to show the knob adjustment in use. I will try and do a video showing it sometime. -

Looks pretty good to me Roger. That looks like a little shifter you have stuck in with a Surge I think? I am working on a 3D mold for a Wave+ and a Surge at the moment. I am up near Rockhampton if your ever around this way.

This depends on the importance of the finished article and how it will be seen by others. When it is fairly high end I mark a point in the corners before i start stitching so that it gives me some warning to adjust the stitch length before i get to the corner hole. If it is of critical importance I work out the distance of the start and stop holes and work out the gap for each stitch to be even before I start. I actually do a print out to show the print spacing and then get some leather scrap of the same thickness as the job to be done and do a few stitches to compare my sewing against the printed. This will get me a perfect stitch spacing from start to finish without any adjustments. This crocodile covered memorial book is an example of one I have done this way recently.

I would not wish that for anyone but I am sure you will get yours happily running in not a long while. You can tell when the bearings are gone you can press the bell up and down and that is pretty rare.

This waver is more than likely a very small chip out of the bell edge. Turn it around slowly by hand and you should be able to see it. Sharpen then dress inside the bell then with a medium temper leather SLOWLY let it feed through for a few inches. This can help to remove and little fine bits of feather edge off of the bell edge. A couple of pictures showing your foot to feed roller positioning may help. AS for the speed ... the faster the bell goes and the slower the feed goes within reason will give you the best results. All of my skivers have either a clutch that allows me to feed in slow or a separate motor that does the same. My first old Fortuna had no clutch and and was a nightmare to get running well so I gave it away to some poor fella. Work on separating the bell feed to get it running continuously at about 1200 to 1300 rpm.

A new bell is around 45mm wide and anything less than around 30mm is getting near to worn out. The sharpening stone needs to not get to worn out either as it will make a shorter and steeper skive angle. Check if you have an adjustment bolt to shorten the length of the arm that the sharpening stone is attached to. it would look like in this pic if you have it - If yours has it you can undo it with a 12mm spanner and move it back to get a wider angle. I would not use the metal feed wheel unless doing heavy leathers, if you ever inadvertently let it touch the bell it will not be good. A medium grit feed stone should be best for most applications. I know this video is long and boring but unlike a lot of other stuff on the tube its not full of shit so just double check some of the info on it.