Techsew Ron

The Pfaff 345 was sold. The Adler 167 is good for belts, wallets, notebook covers, leather garments, upholstery etc... anything up to about 3/8" thick. For holsters and sheaths you generally need a machine like the Techsew 3650 or Techsew 4100 which have much thicker sewing capacities. Ron

The machine will be fine for belts, holsters and sheaths but keep in mind you'll get some marking on the bottom of your leather. If this is an issue you may want to look into getting a 441 clone. Ron

Love the nice, clean stitching in the second photo. Ron

Wow...this is quite something!!! Incredible work and great pictures too I might add. Ron

Hi Ashley, A Juki 441 or 441 clone machine will sew leather starting at around 6oz all the way up to approximately 22mm. For lighter weight leather you'll probably want to use your 29k. It's good to have a machine for lighter leather and one for heavier leather. Good luck in your search! Ron

Good job fixing that issue you were having with your motors. You need to hire the forum member who wrote that modification guide! Ron

correct. any servo motor will fit as long as it has the 3-bolt hole pattern (most motors do).

Nice looking website, very clean design and organized well into categories. Ron

congrats Tom. One of our customers was recently featured on Discovery Channel's show "Hogs Gone Wild". Nice exposure for our machines. http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/hogs-gone-wild/bios/meet-l3-outdoors.html

Came here to second this. You may be able to get by with a portable walking foot machine but for just a little bit more than a sailrite you'll have a machine that will last you years and be able to sew a much wider range of items should you decide to expand your product line a bit (which is very likely). Try to find yourself a flatbed walking foot machine, you should find one for around $900-$1000 and most dealers can ship to Australia (at least I know we can) for very reasonable rates. Ron

135x5 or DPx5 is a fairly common needle system that any sewing machine dealer will carry. Ron

dealers who sell 441 clones will make a number of modifications to set the machine up to sew leather. Ron

I wouldn't quite say it could sew up to 1/2". Probably around 3/8". Solid machine though, good for belts wallets chaps and other general leather work. Ron

From the pictures you can't really tell because you cannot see the presser foot very clearly. This is just a very well known model that's been used in the manufacturing industry for the last few decades. If you'll visit the following link which is a guide to leather sewing machines, you can find photos of what a walking foot machine looks like: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=25239 Ron

The description states "This machine is suitable for general garments, lightweight leather, canvas, vinyl." So if you're sewing garment leather or even chaps, this machine would be fine. If you're looking to sew thicker leather, you'll need a walking foot machine. Thanks, Ron

Great job on your first website. I remember building our first company website in html back in 2000 and we've gone through many transformations and updates since then. Someone mentioned that you should look into a different gallery option and I'd have to agree. In order to view one of your products a customer has to click on the gallery link, open another browser tab, then click again to enlarge an image. I think this should be simplified, customers love looking at photos but don't love having to click around too much. You should put some thumbnail photos on the belts page for example and clicking should enlarge the photo or pop up a gallery that one could scroll through. If you're willing to learn a little bit of code, Lightbox is a simple and very popular gallery. http://leandrovieira.com/projects/jquery/lightbox/ I recommend you put a phone number on your main page as well. Keep up the good work! Ron

Eric, I like the simple, clean design. Easy to browse products, add to a cart, calculate shipping. Pages seem to load pretty slowly though. Your main page is great, nicely displayed large photos. Good work! Ron

Did you end up finding a name? Someone in this thread came up with "Capable Leather Products". I think that's a great name. Or something like "Ability Leatherworks". Ron

Facebook is an extremely important tool for marketing your business. Everyone should use it no matter how small or large your business. Here's how to get started: 1) Create a business page 2) Fill out your business information, including business name, website, company history, hours of operation, products/services offered etc.. 3) Update your page regularly with promotions, photos, advice or anything you think your customers or potential customers may find interesting. The most important thing about marketing your business on Facebook is keeping your page up to date and posting regularly. If you want customers to interact with you, you need to engage them and encourage them to visit your page, leave comments etc... Post photos of your recent work. Post some nice reviews that you got about a certain product. Link to an interesting video you saw on youtube recently (keep it relevant!). Offer your customers a discount coupon. Most importantly, encourage people to share your page with their friends, who might share it with their friends, and their friends, and their friends. For some examples you can visit our Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/techsew Good luck! Ron

Same machine, it is suitable for sewing garments and some light weight garment leather but really no thicker than that. Sorry for the confusion. Ron

Great machine but it is designed for sewing garments, not leather. Ron

You do not need a 441 clone for belts, wallets, chaps etc... A good used flatbed walking foot machine will do these jobs. We have many available and the same goes for other dealers on here. Look to spend around $800 to $1000 plus shipping. Feel free to post any additional questions. Thanks, Ron

what was the issue you were having with your machine? lots of friendly people around here that could help you.

do you have a warranty? whoever you bought it from should probably just replace it for you, you may have gotten a dud.

You'll definitely need a 441 clone for what you're sewing. When changing thickness you just need to balance your upper and lower tension. Ron