RockyAussie

Thanks for the thought Darren. Are these the feet you sell for stitching around boots and such? In an application where the job is quite stiff I expect these would be handy but the problem I'm having is where the softer leather deflects down the hole at the end of the stitch when the dog foot drops down. I have a couple of more pictures that should show what I am saying more clearly I hope. Be that these look quite bad I have to say after getting the machine all set up and readjusted I have not had one missed stitch or even a knot pull to the top or bottom so far. I might get to like this machine yet. For now until the new dog feet and stuff arrive I have ground and polished the edge of the roller guide to help it not scrape against the edge so badly when the dog foot comes up. I expect to finish this batch of 60 tomorrow and with a bit of luck I will have what I need before the next 200 they want. First picture shows how the job sits when needle enters. Second shows how a 2.5mm piece goes down under the needle plate at the end of the stitch when the dog foot goes down Third picture shows what it does if you are not holding the job in place. As I said like a drunken rocking horse. Cheers Brian

Thanks Uwe, You can post it to me now.

Uwe, That looks a lot better than what I have got at present and I have a lot more of these jobs to do yet. How can I buy them? PM me if you prefer. Note I used your timing dial in the first picture. Still have a bit of a problem getting enough length in the backstitching and I wonder if the front plate behind the stitch regulator was flat instead of angled wider at the top would the problem be solved. Thanks and regards Brian

Recently in a post on these sewing machines Solar LeatherMachines, kindly put up a link to their webpage where you could find an English version manual of these sewing machines. http://www.solar-leather.com/supporthelp/ I have been considering making up a narrow dog foot and throat plate to do the finer leather jobs. I tried the narrow slotted plate without feed dog and found several problems, one being that the stitch length dropped back considerably which was not such a big problem but the reverse suddenly went to making no sense at all. I went looking all over the place to find a solution before going to the trouble to make them when I came across this interesting bit on the last page (page 21) in the Instructions Manual & Illustrated Parts Catalogue #7441-09-0092 Narrow feed dog: work together with 7441-01-0064, for sewing very small borders on hard material, like suit case, furniture, instrumental cases, chairs etc. 7441-01-0064 Narrow throat plate: work together with 7441-09-0092, for sewing very small borders on hard material, like suit case, furniture, instrumental cases, chairs etc. I have not been able to find any pictures or diagrams of these parts and was hoping someone here may have a set they could post a picture of or have some information about. Because of the large drop of the dog foot in between stitches I have found that when stitching close to the edge that the job sinks down into the hole and ends up going along like a drunken rocking horse making it quite difficult to keep all lined up nicely. When the edge guide is up close the job wants to come back up and lift the guide which then wrecks the edge coating as well. I have an urgent order to get out this coming week for some personal alarm pouches for one of our correctional centres and this problem showed up whilst I got into stitching them up so I have taken a few pictures to help see the problem with the standard feet I am using. It looks like I will have to sand back and re edge now.The thickness combined is a bit over 4mm or around 10oz and the thread is 20m or 138 if you like and needle is Schmetz size 23 794LR. I hope that someone here can shed a little light on this and also I would like to ask who else would like a narrow feed dog and throat plate set. Regards Brian

Cant say I know any way to burnish them with any success I have only done edge paint for the past 25 or so years. You can do a folded edge on the watch bands but I found a fairly high casualty rate due to the very fine edge skive needed. I would recomend a very firm veg roo if roo is your preference. It is difficult to sand soft lining with the hard and soft nature of croc. Glazed croc is a bit easier than the matt finish.

Congratulations on the machine buys and don't worry too much about the clutch motors they are not as bad as some make out. I have some with clutch motors and some without and though I do prefer the variostop motors and stepper motor ones I could not be bothered to change the clutch motors ones just for the difference. Look forward to seeing some of your product efforts and stay true to being an Type-A perfectionist. Regards Brian

Thank you so much dikman, I feel a lot more confident to have a go at adjusting it now. I will do so this weekend and let you know how it goes. The handbook is the same as the one I have and will retry with those instructions first. I really can't thank you enough for all this and I hope to be able to return the effort in kind sometime. I do apologise for temporarily hi-jacking your post Carrie.

Thanks dikman, It looks a little easier than what I got. When I bought it The seller could not work out how to change the options on site here. He sent me this attachment a week or 2 later along with explaining that the machine is presently set at running from 3-15 but will run from 3-55. I rang him and said I'm nor sure what to do and was assured that I am very capable and he knows I can work it out. Well I guess I may be alright with mechanical things but with electrical things I am one big nervous Nelly and to be honest too chicken to try playing with it for fear of ending up with a non working machine altogether. This is why I am now contemplating going to a whole new motor set up that I may understand better or at least someone else I know who may be able to help me with it. Does this look easy to you may I ask?Attachment pdf below, Regards Brian Cowboy Servo Motor Programming Instructions.....pdf

Could you tell me are you able to adjust the speed settings on these without being a company tech. What I mean by that is that I have a similar one on this Cowboy which allows me to do various adjustments up to 15 but that is still way too slow and I can not work out how to make it go up to 50 or 100 or whatever.Brian

The leather work looks good but I think the loops on the end of your metal may need to be turned upward to stop them digging in to the lid. Or cut and glue on some knob ends maybe. Stickin mosquitoes are a B..ch here to. Brian

You are reducing both top tensions? It is common to run a next size thread smaller in the bobbin than the top or the same size but I don't think I've heard of running a thicker on the bottom before. Consistency is at least a good sign.You may need to tighten the bobbin spring on the lighter threads a bit. Brian

May have some of this depending what your wanting.Where in Australia are you? I'm in Rockhampton area. Brian

Looks tooo good to rest a can on to me. No wonder your a 4 star now

That is a very NICE start Regards Brian

Its alright YinTx I found it. I'd say it looks a bit tight but best put some weight in and try before stitchin up. Just a thought I think you should put either some leather covers over the end of those clips or as I have done slice a bit of soft tube like as used in fish tank bubblers and slide that over the end. Will reduce the marks left on the veg when you take them off.

What is wrong with the strap lengths? Are they too long, too short or what? If too long maybe a leather tube over the bar might work. Its looking real nice to me at any rate.Brian

Maybe the problem is after uncorking the wine you gotta finish that before the stitching??? I use the crepe rubber blocks used for cleaning up the sandpaper. Where's the latest pics? I guess that thumb is starting to look like a watering can Brian

Hi jimi , I would think that you should be able to get 1 from the dealers there but have you given thought to welding or brazing a flat onto the other end of the narrow one. I assume that is the one you must have. Just found this link that may help. http://www.fortuna-gmbh.de/en/ Regards Brain

@RolandranchThe jewellers rouge will do but I find the brown Tripoli faster and less messy. Do not use both polishes on the same buffing wheel. @tomsmith85717 the grit used is 120 I think but I do smooth it out by grinding down with some old sandpaper as well. New paper tends to bite in and curl the edge to much and takes longer to polish the knife back smooth. Couple of pics below show the sharpness needed in one of the common tasks I use this knife for. Last pic shows after counting the fingers and at the end of the day doing a little product testing. Serious ... well someone's gotta do it.

I prefer to polish with Tripoli polishing compound as it is a little more aggressive. I do that about 1 to every 10 or 15 sharpens. Many here won't agree with my methods but it takes me 1 to 2 minutes to sharpen a blade with the belt sander shown (holding the blade away from direction of travel) and 30 sec to polish off. The 100 odd butts shown here would require 2 sharpens to get through them all as they are fairly firm hide. They have to be straightened before running through the belt cutting machine. Regards Brian

Should do the job alright. Have fun with the sharpening

@motocoutureYour welcome. Its not often you get to cut one of these up and compare techniques.

I had a customer this week not wanting this purple croc bag any longer and instead wants me to cut it up and make up a few other pieces instead. As the handle is a little similar to what you are wanting to do I thought I'd take a few pics as I go. My own method is not quite the same but in most respects it is. You will notice in the pics that the cord is not attached to the outer and that is something I found to be important as if it is, the handle does not flow and move very well. I do mine by putting a thin interfacing layer around the cord glued only on the interfacing where it touches onto itself when wrapped around. The glue in the outer layer then can contact the interfacing without affecting how the cord moves within it. I just find that a bit easier to do. Often I don't bother to skive and fold the edges in and prefer to make the join to be stitched about 3/8" wide in order to sew easily on the sewing machine. Once it is stitched I just slice of the excess up close to the stitching and then edge.Last picture shows an example of that method. Hope that this helps a bit.

It is best if the zippered pocket hangs free not glued to anything. Most linings also are better if not fully attached and if glued at the edges only. Show us the bag design if you want a better recommendation. Many of the bags I make have some form or other of interfacing but most are crocodile. Check my web page for some other examples.

I am sad to hear that, and I have to say if you really believe that then that is most likely the truth.