Alik

Have an old Singer 16-188 walking foot with a Westinghouse 900625 clutch motor. The clutch wasn't grabbing right, so I looked and notice the pads were not completely parallel and adjusted it an also tightened the belt. But I did it by eyeball. I guess I could use a caliper to double check the parallel, unless someone can tell me a better method. My question is is there a method for making sure the axles of the two disks are perfectly centered with each other?

I scored an old walking foot Singer 16-188 for next to nothing and it works fine, but I believe clutch needs some correcting. At first it would shake whole table every time you engaged and would not grab at first and then at full speed. It improved a LOT after I cleaned the clutch plate and pad and made sure they were actually parallel. I still think the pad may need to be replaced, though. But can't find the right size and thinking of just making one. So I have several questions: 1) The current pad is leather, but I see all the replacement ones are cork. Do I have to stick with leather? Is one better then the other? 2) The current pad is leather and is soaked with oil. Is that just accumulated over time from drips or is it actually supposed to be oiled? 3) To make my own is there any reason I can just use any think vegitan or oiled leather? (is one preferred to the other?) If I use cork, can I just use thin cork pad I buy at local hardware store? is it special?