kgg

The question you need to answer is what you want to sew. With such old machines certain parts can be difficult or impossible to get. The clutch motor presently on the machine should be replaced with a servo motor to get your sewing speed to a comfortable level which will cost about an additional $200. Learning to use a clutch motor can have a very steep learning curve, sort of like learning how to drive a car with a stick shift. Since your bio you mentioned wallets a flatbed machine would be a better choice then a cylinder arm. When you add in the cost of new servo motor cost would be about $1400. A new flatbed clone of the Juki DNU-1541S a Cowboy CB-1541S will cost $1600 plus shipping. Personally I would go with a new machine particularly if this is your first machine. kgg

Keep in mind no one machine will do everything. That is why a lot of use have more then one class of machine. If you are going to specialize in that type of work by the proper machine as indicated by @Wizcrafts and @mbnaegle. If you want to do flat work (wallets, belts) buy a flatbed, if you are going to do circular items get a cylinder arm machine. As a note you can sorta kinda turn a cylinder arm machine into flatbed by installing a flatbed table top attachment. If you want to use thread above V207 get a class 441 cylinder arm machine (manual or motorized). Buy Once, Cry Once kgg

Agree. One of the members on the forum has a brushless servo motor that has a fin system moulded right into the small pulley. I am assuming that was done to try and help keep the housing cooler. Lets face it brushless servo motors are designed to last too as long as the warranty period and utilize a design to save on manufacturing costs. I doubt any brushless servo motor will ever come close to lasting as long as the big old heavy clutch motors that weight about 40 lbs. with real metal housings verses about 18 lbs of plastic and aluminum. Sort of like a Zippo lighter lasting a life time verses a BIC lasting a week or two. kgg

My experience with a cheap digital brushless servo motor that came with my TSC 441, 16" cylinder arm clone has a speed range of 500 - 5000 rpm on it's 800 watt, 9 coil and with no reducer pulley on the machine: Calculated: 1. Top speed of the hand-wheel pulley should come in at 156 rpm using: i) a 160 mm hand-wheel pulley size, ii) a 50 mm motor pulley iii) with the motor speed set to the minimum speed of 500 rpm's. This particular servo motor is a 800 watt brushless 9 coil servo motor with a speed range of 500 to 5000 rpm's. Measured: i) The hand-wheel pulley measured out to be 159mm. ii) The small pulley at the motor measured out at 49mm. Measured results: i) with 500 rpm's showing on the controller screen ii) with the foot pedal fully depressed the rpm's with my digital tachometer showed 154.5 rpm's with no material under the needle iii) with the foot pedal feathered to get the minimum hand-wheel pulley speed the digital tachometer showed a low rpm reading of 61 rpm's with no material under the needle. From that I can assume a no load ramp up speed of 61 rpm's. I'm assuming the 50 rpm speed they are quoting is done in a similar manner. With everything being equal a 12 coil should get rid of the heat better then a 9 coil operating under the same load conditions. kgg

Incorrect: 0.6mm thread is just slightly smaller then V346 ( T350). Reference Chart use ( https://www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html ). To handle thread above V207 you need a Juki TSC-441 or clone similar to the CB4500 or a one armed bandit like the Cowboy Outlaw, Tippmann Boss or the Weaver Cub. kgg

In addition to the other comments you never mentioned what size of thread being used with what size of needle in how thick of leather. kgg

The two pieces which are "L" shaped can slide independently in the two tracks, one track in the front and one in the rear. They are locked down by tightening the two purple knobs in each track. When I'm not using the binding attachment I move the guide on the right side of the needle to whatever distance I need and lock it in the track. The guide for the right hand side of the needle has a cutout to prevent the tightening bolt for the needle from hitting it. Then I move the other guide on the left right side to the proper distance to guide the belt. I can remember seeing a binding tape setup where the binding attachment was mounted vertically rather then you standard horizontal just above and in front of the needle with the binding tape / webbing being feed down from the top of the machine. kgg

Why not use a simple double edge guide that would be attached to the bed that way it creates a track that you would feed the webbing into???? I did a small table top attachment for my 441 clone that I think the same principal maybe would work for your needs. You can see the two edge guides to the left of the binder attachment in the photo. kgg

I am wondering what you mean by " up to max thickness "????? In my opinion Patchers are not meant for boot soles. The max sewing thickness of that machine is less then a 1/2" at 12mm (15/32"). I assume you meant Claes 8346-30. Here is a good manual that you can download ( https://www.manualslib.com/manual/3027579/Claes-8346.html?page=3#manual) kgg

You just got to weight the risks. When I'm using a bench grinder, drill press, angle grinder or my metal lathe I use a full face shield. I have had to many bits and pieces of metal hit my face and throat. That said I have never had the unpleasant experience of having an accident related to sewing and I have had many a needle break. That said the old leather worker guy in the next community did put a couple of stitches in his finger while using his needle and awl machine. He made the mistake of letting the customer, a doctor, watch while he repaired some of his horse related items. He got chatting and naturally distracted by the conversation and .... Two stitches latter he had his finger sewn to the leather.

@Northmount @DieselTech @RWentz OP hasn't been back since asking. kgg

Maybe they will drop their price if you say "I can import one myself for $XXX." There is quite a bit of difference dollar wise (1916-1124= $794) but as @Cumberland Highpower has noted for the first time / novice buyer having no support could be a bad gamble. I think you will be very disappointed with the ability / performance of the 335. I would steer clear. To bad Jin doesn't do cylinder arms. Jin is the Juki line of "budget" machines. kgg

The typical price for a Juki LS-341 clone from China including table, brushless servo motor and delivered to the US off Alibaba is about $1400 to $1500 USD. Whereas a comparable clone machine would cost about $2600 -$2700 USD. The downside is probably the lack of support / etc. The upside is the $1200 USD in savings. kgg

I totally agree. However, it is a good discussion about what is used / needed by the average leather hobbyist or small commercial user which is often completely different then what would be needed in a large manufacturing environment. My opinion is the hobbyist sews for pleasure while the commercial user sews for profit. I am still a bit confused about whether this new motor has a build in gear reduction which would be just another take on what Landis had done back in 1998 by putting a 52 to 1 helper geared motor on the Singer 29-71 patcher. I figure if they were doing it today they would have used a brushless servo motor with a gear box attached. I did a video of the one I owned and the geared helper motor can be seen at 4:18 in the video ( https://odysee.com/@SingerSewing:0/singer:a ). kgg

How true. If a machine was ever built someone on the forum probably has it. kgg