RockyAussie

That will explain why I have been able to use either size in mine... it does not have an ejector spring in it. I had not seen an ejector spring in the Juki or Cowboy parts lists so I just didn't know they should have one. I guess I never get up any sort of serious speed with mine so as long as it keeps on stitching good for now I will keep it in mind if I ever need to get it up a bit faster. Thanks Wiz

There are a few very knowledgeable sewing machine people on this site and experience has shown that they tend to give their advise back more so, when the questions are asked in the Leather Sewing machines section. I would repost it there and see how you go. I have a 441 clone but it can take either long or short bobbins. Brian

IF you happen to lift the foot and the tension discs release (early?) it can happen that the thread tension return spring can come into play and pull the thread up. Personally I have found no problems with keeping the tension tight while lifting the foot and turning. In the past I did. Brian

This sounds like a promising potential solution. If you are lifting the foot when turning the corner I would be tempted to also check that the rod that opens the tension discs is operating as you would like. I have often shortened mine (on other machines) to give me more room not to loose tension when I am lifting the foot. I reckon my foot just cant always lift the foot just that little safe bit to turn so I'm just going to cheat a little bit. Brian

The edge coat method would alleviate quite a few of the folding issues I'd say but to do well will take longer. As long as they are happy to pay ...$$. and the bigger the challenge, the better your skills will be the reward at the end. Hey...did I say that...? I do wonder just how many of us do charge enough for this type of work??? Sometimes I charge thousands and not really want the work and they just keep happily coming on back and sometimes to the bone $ and they still want to bargain for less... Still I keep learning.

That's not so bad.....a little bit of strategic padding and stiffener before lining and I'd say you'd have it about right. Brian

Yes nubuck is veg tanned and I don't remember seeing any chrome tanned nubuck. I prefer the nubuck in that application but it can be a bit harder to get a small logo impression with out a laser application in my own experience.The nubuck holds in place nicer and breathes better against the skin. Brian

Just my 2c ... If you have already a CB4500 I would think about a smaller size diameter cylinder arm than the CB227r. Getting around tight gussets and such can be a big advantage.Even stitching a wallet as above all the way around can be quite a challenge on a large dia machine. Brian

Thanks for the links @Leatherbaron. I normally pay around $100au for one of the sets. Regards Brian

Just curious ....have you checked out the Chek Hong tannery. We get a lot of skins sent to us from over there but I have never been there myself. Another really good tannery is Heng Long Leather and we get some skins sent from there as well. Both do a beautiful job of tanning Croc and delve into product making as well I believe. Regards Brian

Now that I can see as a way of making the moola and having some fun as well myself. Heaps of green wood on my place to hack up as well.

Would love to be able to help on that ....quite like it myself. If I find it I will let you know. I would have thought Ohio Travel would have had something close. Oh and thanks for the pics on the snaps.... just shows ya where there's the will there is always a way.

Looks pretty good... Well done!

Come on now ....you know I'd look so good on you ....

Tale of a tail ..... Looks very well done. Would like to see the clip better. With the edge coat it can stick to itself in hot weather if left in prolonged contact. I found it best to give a good wax polish when finished after a days drying time. Brian

Hey Alex, What I did for a Frobana sole stitcher I had, was to tap in a post for a simple pair of singer tension discs into the top of the machine. I then ran the big spool down onto the floor behind the machine to one side a bit. This worked very well and gave me better control of the tension particularly on nylon type threads. Beats the hell out of rewinding the threads at least. Brian That is a very nice looking 2c worth I have got to say.

I am wanting to understand why it is you want the glue to stick only temporarily? There are quite a few glues that can be used for different purposes but I have never wanted to use a temporary one in my wallet making section. Brian

If your looking at doing holsters and horse tack I reckon you will need at least the 3500 but a 4500 would better still as as far as I know the main difference is that the 4500 can lift higher than the 3500. I have to say you would be able to get down to the 6oz ok with it alright but a narrow feed dog and throat plate can get you right down to 4oz garmet as well if you want. I am not sure how you will go getting the narrow plates and dog and I would look into that first. Here is a couple of pictures of mine might help. Here is a link I posted a while ago on this point ...might be worth a read. Brian

WOW.... now that's looking a whole lot better to me...congratulations. P.S. keep an eye out on @motocouture work. If my rememberer is working right she is from over that side of OZ as well...originally. Cheers Brian

Well done and it may be a good time to look that guilty one in the eye and tell him its time we made a doggy bag whilst stropping your knife of course .........

It looks like a difficult leather to work with. The brown one to me shows signs of overskiving and I would say if you can try the saffiano without any skive and as well change to a point neddle and not a leatherpoint as that will stop the plasticy finish from opening out as much. Also you would need to tighten your top tension maybe 2 or 3 turns and your bobbin tension maybe a 1/2 turn as well. Once stitched....warm up with a heat gun up and down the seam until the leather is quite warm and towards hot then press around to get the shaping sitting as you want. I suggest to practice with some scrap first and try and work out how far you can cut back on your seam allowance and tap down. The back seam in a court shoe has only 2mm or less and is then pressed flat after stitching. A good shoe does still show next to no stitching at this seam. Experiment and have fun learning. Brian

Beautiful. Now is a good time to play around with flexible stiffeners and padding s I'd say.

IT looks like there is some sort of drive and may be a reduction motor on it. Probably a bargain. Take the belt off and try the handwheel again and if it then turns freely I'd say its likely a good buy. Fantastic if you want to sew patches on or get down into tight areas. Brian

Always hard to find a picture that shows what you want when you want it. I found a couple that should do alright I think. In the first picture I am doing a join on a bangle and it shows what I mean a bit in that you glue down at the thread seam and and away from the seam about 3/16" or so. If you glue all the way out on the 3/8 the edge will normally show up. With practice you learn to push the fold back toward the seam and not to pull it wide apart as that makes the stitching show up a lot. I was doing a run of pictures here on how to make these bangles and forgot to take some pictures when I finished them so.... next run maybe. There are a few bags we made in the following picture that show the seams as they should look when finished. Regards Brian

As I said... I don't think this machine is what you want for the job but what I have is a BUSM thermo cementing and folding machine a little like the machine in this video link below. I would use a separate glueing and folding operation for strip work using as Sonnydaze said in his link above and for the glueing I have a machine as in this link which Campbell Randall should be able to help you with as well http://www.omacsrl.com/products/preparation/gluing-machines/gluing-machine-992/ I use the 60mm width ones but you may want wider. Doing the 2 steps separately would be easier and faster if using contact cement. Regards Brian