Wellington

Thank you again, Cowboybob. I was going by the prices I found on ebay, but if I need more parts for the Adler, I'll be sure to get hold of you. I found some Chinese feet for the Adler, but they were too tight to fit, and I had to drill them out a hair on the drill press, and the steel was HARD. Thank you Shoepatcher, for the explanation on the feed mechanism. I was not familiar with "skiff feed." Would that be like this first illustration? as opposed to this "compound" walking foot: My Adler 67-GK373 works like the second picture shown, which is what I'm accustomed to, and would prefer in a 545... I really appreciate all your help, folks. Thank you. This is the best site I've found on the Internet for industrial sewing machine information.

Thanks, Constabulary, good points. Unfortunately, the machine is about 5-6 hours away, and I mainly want it for upholstery rather than leather...I really like my Adler 67-GK373 but parts can be hard to source and are probably 10X the price of parts for a Pfaff 145 or 545 (if you can find Adler parts at all). This price differential has never made much sense to me, since (as I understand it) my Adler is like a twin of the 145 but that seems to be the case...I think I could buy a new hook and a pile of presser feet for a 145 or 545 for what I paid for one presser for the Adler...

Thank you, CowboyBob. I had a feeling it was too good to be true. Trying to find a nice 545 for a decent price is no small feat!

To (maybe) clarify and simplify my question, I was under the impression that all Pfaff 545 machines, and all Pfaff 145 machines -- like my Adler 67-GK373 or any true compound-feed "walking foot" machine -- worked the same way. But the "P" in the 545 model number -- or lack of a "P" -- suggests to me that maybe different versions of the 545 work differently. Is that the case, and if so, how do they work differently? (And sorry if my earlier post was too wordy and/or unclear.)

Hello, all, I've been looking for a Pfaff 545 for a while, and I recently found one but had a question about the different specs denoted by the letters in the model number. Most of the machines I've seen have "CLPMN" on the brass tag, but the one I found recently lacks the "P" and instead the brass tag is stamped: 545-H4-6/01 CLMN 10 I have a document on the Pfaff letter codes and it says that the "P" means "four-motion drop feed on top-feed machines." Can anyone clarify for me how the "CLMN" version differs from the "CLPMN" version? Also, can anyone tell me what the "10" means after the "CLMN"? I currently have an Adler 67-373GK machine, which I believe is pretty close to a Pfaff 145, if that helps in explaining how this machine might compare to mine. Thank you in advance for any help. Jeff

Thanks guys, looks like the closest Tandy is about 200 miles, I'll see what else is in the area. Appreciate your help.

Thank you Alpha2 and Chuck, again, for your replies. The back piece with the belt slots seems fairly sturdy for the time being, but I agree, I might want to replace it. Would this piece of veg tanned leather (3.2-3.6 mm) work? https://www.ebay.com/itm/153633181450?var=453663099840 And would these kind of copper rivets and burrs work? https://www.ebay.com/itm/271200449183 As I said, I'm not a leatherworker, but I inherited some leatherworking tools from my Dad, and I do woodworking and metalworking, so I'm fairly handy... I know I may be "gilding the lily" here, and I know I'm ruining any "collector value" for my P7 holster, but the gun is a "shooter" and the holster is a "user" ...and P7 holsters aren't easy to come by anymore (I have an IWB model on order from Milt Sparks, but that's gonna take 7 months for them to even begin making it...and I want an OWB holster now...) Thanks again for all your help.

Thanks for your reply, Chuck123Wapiti, maybe I will try dye and stain. The top layer on the back part (the panel with the slots for a belt to go through) is cracked and seems almost like a plastic, seems to want to come off in big flakes like paint chips...or maybe it's chrome-tanned and the surface layer is cooked/melted? Does that happen with chrome tanning (like "patent leather" shoes where they almost look like they're made of plastic?) I would like to do something to that back part of the holster, where the belt slots are, to make it last longer. Is there anything I could treat the leather with, that would "consolidate" it more to give it more wear/fatigue resistance? Or will neatsfoot oil be sufficient? Thanks again, W

Hello, all, I recently bought a pistol holster that is probably close to 40 years old, and I want to use it, and would like to "restore" it to make it look better cosmetically and also ensure its durability. I'm not really a leatherworker, so I don't know what type of leather was used in it or much else, except that it was probably made in Germany in the 1980s. Here are links to some pictures (pics are fairly large so I didn't want to gum up the forum by uploading them here): https://i.ibb.co/HKzTKSs/p7-holster-1.jpg https://i.ibb.co/JckNsBV/p7-holster-2.jpg https://i.ibb.co/P1jMcDc/p7-holster-5.jpg Would like to make the worn areas black and shiny/weatherproof again, if possible. Would also like to "reconsolidate" the leather where it's starting to "dog ear" near where the trigger guard of a P7 pistol would hit it upon insertion into the holster. But since I'm not a leatherworker, and don't really have use for a lot of leatherworking chemicals/finishes, I would like to minimize the number of materials I need to buy. Can anyone advise me? From reading online, I had sort of mapped out this plan of attack: 1. Clean the holster well with saddle soap and let it dry well. 2. Use Fiebing's black leather "stain" on the areas where the black finish has worn off, and let that dry well. (In reading online, I get the impression that "stain" would be better than "dye" for filling, leveling and leaving a smooth surface for subsequent coating with acrylic finish...is that about right?) 3. Finish with Fiebing's (black) Acrylic Resolene Protective Acrylic Finish for Leather, maybe 2 coats, and let that dry well. 4. Cover everything with a coat of carnauba wax to help rain/sweat roll off. Does that sound reasonable? Are there materials that would be better to use for this job? I'd really appreciate any and all advice anyone could offer. Best regards, and thank you in advance for any help (or at least for reading my long post!) W. P.S. I wasn't sure whether to post this here in the conversation sub-forum or the "finishes/chemicals" subforum, so if I've put it in the wrong place, I apologize.

I just saw one of these Consew 18 machines in a flea market/antique mall for, I believe, $125. It appears to be in good shape and it looks like that price includes a table and motor, etc. I already have a good Adler 67-GK373 for upholstery and leather work, but holy cow, I have trouble passing up what appears to be a perfectly good walking foot machine for $125 with table and motor. Is there anything I need to be aware of with these machines that can bite me in the butt if I'm not careful to look it over? The low price has me a little hinky. I know enough about sewing machines to be dangerous, am but by no means an expert. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Thanks for your reply, Battlemunky. I will for sure look for Little King Goods' video on Youtube. I appreciate your help.

Hello, all, I would like to make a one-off wallet out of Horween shell cordovan. In the past, I've purchased wallets made from water buffalo hide, but the last one only lasted me 14 years, whereas I have shell cordovan shoes that have been resoled almost that many times! Although I have been reading this forum occasionally for a few years (largely for sewing machine information -- I bought an Adler 67 GK373 walking foot machine a few years back; thank you for the great info, Uwe!), I have not done all that much leatherwork other than repairing boots with a jerk needle (and the Adler is used mainly for upholstery). All that said, I was considering trying to make a shell cordovan wallet like this one: https://ashlandleather.com/collections/johnny-the-fox/products/w-fox-cordo-black100 since I believe I can make it for less $ than they're selling them for, and it would be a good learning experience, I hope. But I have a few questions for folks who know much more about this than me: 1. Use cutting dies, or cut pieces by hand? I see that I can buy a set of dies for cutting the pieces for a wallet for $50 to $75 on AliExpress. Is it worth buying these dies for cutting shell cordovan, or could I use a sharp knife like an Xacto knife or something like that? Again, this will be mainly a one-off project (unless it turns into a disaster) so I'm not sure whether buying the dies will be worthwhile...but if cutting the pieces by hand will be extremely difficult, then maybe it will. 2. Sew by hand or machine? Although I have an Adler 67, I'm thinking I should stitch this by hand since the shell cordovan is so expensive and since I've never really sewn much leather. Do you think I can get a decent stitch by hand with a bit of practice? 3. Stitching material -- nylon or polyester? For my upholstery work, I've been using mostly polyester thread in Tex 69 size. What would be appropriate size/material for stitching a wallet? Would nylon be preferred over polyester, since I believe it's stronger and UV resistance isn't that much of a concern in a wallet? 4. Are there any special concerns related to using shell cordovan that I should be aware of? I was thinking of buying a piece of Horween shell cordovan for about $150 for something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Shell-Cordovan-From-Horween-USA-Black-5-check-pictures/133550647976 Thank you for reading my long-winded post, thank you in advance for any advice, and Happy New Year to all! W.

After messing something up with my Adler 67 GK373, I took it to a sewing machine mechanic here, and discovered something that I thought I would add to this thread for the future use of the forum: Most of the bobbins I'm finding online that supposedly fit this machine, also are claimed to fit the Pfaff 130. I have a 130, so I have been successfully using those bobbins in my 67 GK373, but my sewing machine mechanic sold me some bobbins that are slightly larger (longer in the axial direction) and they also work. I like the idea of using the largest bobbin that I can possibly fit into this machine, so I jumped at the chance to get some. I'm pretty sure these bobbins are sold for use in the Juki LH-515 and LH-1152 and LU-562 and the Consew 225 & 226, and I found some here for about 50¢ apiece: https://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-METAL-BOBBINS-FOR-JUKI-LH-515-LH-1152-LU-562-CONSEW-225-226/153596849446 The key specification for finding them online seems to be that they are 22mm diameter x 10mm high x 6mm bore, even though they don't seem to be marketed to owners of the Adler 67 GK373...

Across the bay from you, on the Eastern Shore...middle of nowhere. How 'bout you?

Thank you, sir!

Thanks, FredK. No, I don't want a flap. I want to be able to grab the finger loops readily and quickly with my right hand, and since the handles are bent upwards rather than downwards (like a pistol), I guess the wider part of the holster would be on the right in your pic, rather than on the left...assuming the holster would be worn on the right hip. Now that I think about it, it should work fine if the fold is toward the back and the seam is toward the front (with holster worn on right hip) -- I could cut a piece of polyethylene or something, and fit it into the folded (aft) side to reduce wear and allow the shears to be holstered faster. I have a long flexible Forschner fillet knife whose sheath is made this way, and it works fine... Thanks again for all your help and thought. W. P.S. One last question: Am I correct to assume that my shears should not be stored in the leather sheath, lest they rust due to any residual salts in the leather, and/or the moisture-attracting nature of leather?

Thank you, FredK, that's what I was thinking, too. I guess the seam would need to be on the left in your picture, and the fold on the right, unless there's a way to form a fold with an angular bend in it...(I would prefer to put the fold on the left in your picture, because it seems as though it would be easier to holster/unholster the shears that way, but I don't know whether it's possible to form a bend into a fold...seems like it would cause puckers/wrinkles...) Thank you again.

Thank you for the replies. I was thinking of making something like this (except with a bend and/or angled "mouth" in it to match the bend in the shear handles): and possibly forming it around a 1" or 2" long hollow cone of sheet metal at the bottom (instead of the four rivets) as a stab guard in case I fell down or whatever. So I guess 2mm (5 oz?) veg tan leather would be the way to go...? I appreciate your help. W.

Hello, all, I did a cursory search and didn't find much, but I apologize in advance if this has been hashed over already. I want to make a leather belt holster for a pair of 10" Gingher shears like these: Since I have nowhere locally to buy leather, I will need to order it before handling it. Can anyone suggest what weight and type (veg tan, chrome tan) leather I should use for this? Also, should I wet the leather with water to bulk/soften it when I sew it with my Adler 67-GK373? (I've never sewn leather before.) I was thinking of using #138 polyester thread. Thanks in advance for any help.

Just to update the thread from my last post: I guess this machine has a slightly different upper tension setup than I'm accustomed to with home sewing machines. I believe Adler designed it so that upper tension wouldn't relax when the presser lifted to climb over big upholstery seams. Bottom line seems to be "you can't loosen it beyond what you can do by lifting the presser by hand or knee, and pushing on the lever just below and to the right of the tension disks, and PULLING." That, and/or pulling thread just below the takeup lever to get enough slack to cut off workpiece. In getting this new machine dialled in to use various threads from 69 to 138 (haven't tried 207 yet), I guess I'm also learning that adjusting bobbin spring tension is just standard operating procedure for these kinds of machines – something I'm not accustomed to with my 201 or 130. With a lot of fiddling and learning along the way, I'm now getting good stitches and learning to live with dragging work out with my feet...so I'm pleased with machine. Reverse stitches don't match forward, especially on long stitches, but I can live with that, too. If backstitch needs to be same length, I can just turn the workpiece or back up a couple of stitches and go over again. Bought a couple of new feet for it, and really looking forward to putting it to work. Sorry for the dumb newbie questions ... I'm sure I'll have more!

Hello, all, I have a problem with the upper tension on my Adler 67-GK373, as well – specifically, far too much upper tension no matter what I do. (I figured it would be better to post to this thread rather than open a new one, simply to make it easier for others to resolve upper thread tension issues in the same machine in the future. If moderators prefer I open a new thread, please let me know...) When I'm finished sewing a seam and want to remove the workpiece, the only way I can pull out the thread is by grabbing it below the takeup lever and dragging out enough slack to pull out the workpiece and cut off the threads. The upper tension assembly on my machine has a lever that you press to release the tension to pull the workpiece out of the machine, but the lever doesn't release enough tension -- even when I raise the presser bar by hand, and hold it higher with the knee lever, and push the lever on the tension assembly, and try to pull, the thread breaks, usually at the needle. (This is with T90 thread. with a new #22 needle if memory serves... I can successfully pull 138 thread out (using a #24 needle), simply because it's stronger, but it's still HARD to pull, and probably requires 7-10 pounds of force to pull out the thread.) I tried backing off on the spring tension all the way (even taking off the nut) and that made it a bit better but not much. I disassembled all the tension disk assemblies, degreased, de-varnished, cleaned and inspected. One of the disks on the right-hand spring-loaded tensioner had a tiny, barely visible scratch that might have been made by a grain of sand on the thread. The scratch was barely visible, but you could feel it with your thumbnail, so I polished it out by wet sanding with 400 grit and crocus cloth. I took the upper tension sheetmetal "plate" assembly off and cleaned everything I could reach with brake cleaner and compressed air. (By looking at the back of the assembly, you can see how the lever releases the tension on the bottom right disc assembly.) There are no burrs or grooves that I can feel in the takeup lever or any of the tension disks, or the post on the top of the machine, around which the thread starts its path to the tension assembly. At this point, I'm stumped. Does anyone have any clues for me on what to look at? I've been around sewing machines for a few years now, though this is my first walking foot machine, so this is extremely frustrating to me...I know how to thread the machine and have all the basics covered, I believe, and I think I'm trying to pull the thread out at the right time, with the needle bar up and the takeup lever just beginning to move downward from TDC. (Please ignore the thread in my photos...I was just threading bobbin thread through the upper tension path to try pulling the thread back and forth to try to identify where the bottleneck is.) The machine seems to sew fine, but not being able to release the upper tension is driving me nuts! Thanks in advance for any hints. W. ETA: Does anyone know whether an aftermarket upper tension assembly from a Pfaff 145 will fit here? I see the ones on ebay look a lot like mine...Is there any kind of "standard" that these assemblies conform to, I hope I hope?

Here's what I came up with. I tripled the effective length of the "throttle lever" on the servo motor by attaching a ~ 10" piece of aluminum tubing to it (tubing nearly flattened with a vise at ends before drilling). By lengthening this throttle lever, and putting a smaller drive sheave on the motor, and jamming a tennis ball (to act as a compression spring) under the back of the throttle pedal, I can set the motor speed to full speed, and still feather it to go slow with my foot. And if I want "full speed," I can mash down on the pedal and get it, without changing the dial position on the motor. (The other half of the answer, I think, is refining the fine motor skills in my leg and foot. I've always preferred knee throttle levers to work around this clumsiness. I hope I don't get turned around switching back and forth between machines but really look forward to having a knee presser lifter, and will probably copy it to retro-fit a knee presser lifter to my Pfaff 130...some of them came from the factory that way, but trying to find the lever part is a losing propositon.) Don't know whether this kludge will have the torque/punch for heavy leather, but it should work for my purposes sewing light leather and heavy fabrics, I think. Thanks again for everyone's help. This is a great website...it seems that every time I have another question about my new walking foot machine, Google leads me here (for example, I just found Wizcraft's simple solution for stopping bobbins from slipping on the bobbin winder shaft...thank you Wizcrafts!). W.

Uwe, I just want to say a huge THANK YOU! for posting this excellent video. I recently purchased an old Adler 67-GK373 that seemed to be out of time, and I probably wouldn't have bought it if I had not already seen your video on how to time it. Having bought the 67, I also bought the English service manual, but your video definitely made it much easier to understand what would need to be done to re-time the machine. Before I started the re-timing process, I took out the needle that was in the machine when I bought it, and put in a new 134-35 needle – and lo and behold, the needle that was in it when I bought it was 5-8mm too long, and that's what led me to believe it was out of time. When I tried the machine with the proper-length needle, it sewed just fine! Anyway, many thanks to Uwe and to leatherworker.net for this invaluable resource. I'm learning a lot here and just wanted to thank you all for it.

Thanks again, Dikman. I might try that. I'd assumed that the pulley and handwheel were one unit that couldn't be separated. Even if that's the case, I guess I could just use the pulley itself as a handwheel, but if it's possible, I'd prefer to take out the existing pulley, replace it with a larger pulley, and then replace the original handwheel. Walking foot hot rodding!

Thanks, Dikman. Before I go and fab up a jackshaft arrangement, I'm going to try a smaller drive pulley (2.25" dia instead of 3.15" which should get me a max speed of 2000 spm at the machine head) and mount a longer lever arm on the servo motor's throttle arm (and/or maybe weld a shorter lever linkage arm to the pedal plate) and see where that gets me. May also investigate trying this fix addressing the optical sensor in (some) servo motors: Does anyone know whether my Consew Premiere 550 uses such an optical controller? Its symptoms sure seem to match those discussed in the video. Thanks again. I'll report back with my findings for the forum. W