Vinito

Thanks Wiz. I'll keep that in mind. So far the machine appears to be picking up the thread and stitching consistently albeit not well. Consistently bad. Once I get the bobbin tension sorted out I'll have the chance to take a look at the timing of things to determine if anything needs tweaking. The paddle spring appears to be OK. It all being foreign to me I can't be positive about that, but nothing appears to be "off" regarding that at least. p.s. I'm too impatient. I went ahead and ordered the Towa shuttle, plus ordered a few different needles and some larger thread (for some reason??). The machine had a needle installed which seems to work, but it's pretty dang large for the #69 thread I'm piddling with. Yesterday a package of ordered needles arrived but they were too short. That's what you get for relying on listing info rather than looking up the real information I guess. In the manual, it says I need system 332 needles. I just today discovered that needle size and needle system are two different things. But I think I have the correct fitting needles on the way in a few different sizes and tip types. At $3 a pop (for 10) it's worth splurging to have some different things to try. I feel like I could write a scientific paper on all this discovery and experimentation. Whew!

Thanks for the reply. Truly appreciate it. I did download and read the manual, and thread path is run as per manual with exception of 1) not going through lube tray and 2) I have rigged up a hoop on the spool post and set the thread (larger cone type) behind machine. I kind of tucked it away for the photo. The spool needs a better setup eventually, but just trying to get it to work for now so I can determine whether or not to continue. I still suspect the shuttle because after my first attempt to thread it, pulling thread through caused it to bunch up and eventually break. This was just hand-pulling thread through the shuttle tensioner. This is also why I ended up polishing the edges in the first place, which stopped the ripping but still didn't work well (at least I don't think so). Thanks for the Towa recommendation. I think it won't hurt to try one anyway, so I'll call our local shop tomorrow to see if they have anything first. If not I'll order one. I found a few sources for some, but it's not clear to me whether they are reliable sources or not. One is some Amish thing apparently, one is TeamWork Sales out of LA but it looks like they pretty much carry the chinese stuff I think (I could be wrong). Central Michigan carries Towa but about double the price. CSMP seems good but is across the pond, and surely that isn't necessary is it? One place listed genuine Adler 30-1 parts, but alas, and of course, shuttle hook is not in stock. I guess in the meantime, I can continue to futz around with the shuttle I've got and see if I can make it feed a little smoother. The metal (of the shuttle, not the spring) appears to be pretty hardened, but carbide should still machine it so maybe I can re-machine the pocket and just shave the inside corners so they aren't so rounded and make the spring fit better. I know that's not yer typical path to repair, but I'm a machinist so it's my first thought. At any rate, I'll either nudge it closer to functional or destroy it completely. Either way I might lern sumthin'. I'm making a long story again, ain't I? Anyways thanks for the recommendation.

Hi folks. I picked up an Adler 30-1 patcher kind of by accident this past week (long story). I really like the thing, mostly from a perspective of ingenious mechanical widget more than its utility because I'm a total noob at leather working. But it might come in handy anyway... that is IF I can get it working better. The problem I need help with is that the thing didn't come with a bobbin or shuttle (or is it a "shuttle hook""? I'll call it a shuttle for now). I didn't expect much but I took a shot at purchasing a cheap shuttle off Amazon and it already arrived to try out. It's pretty much a clone of a long-arm Singer 29K machine with the small bobbins and parts reportedly interchange, which appears to be true from what I can tell. The thing seems to drop into position and fit fine and goes through the motions OK. The problem (tell me if you've heard this before) is with the thread path and tensioner. The fit & finish of the shuttle is better than some I've seen come out of China, but it's still not great. At any rate, the thread doesn't pull through the thing very smoothly at all, and I can't seem to adjust tension on the machine no matter what I try. The top tension is pretty dang tight and the stitch is still pretty much a straight line underneath and all the looping comes from above, i.e. bottom tension is too tight no matter what I've tried so far. On the shuttle, I have taken the tension spring off and smoothed out the edges a bit with a hone and 1200 grit sandpaper which made it a bit smoother on the corners. But I suspect it's not really the surface finish of the parts that the problem is coming from. I'm not sure how these things are actually supposed to be made when made well, but the channel where the spring fits into it has some pretty radiused inside corners rather than sharp inside corners, and this seems to be keeping the spring from simply setting flat in place but rather settles in along its edges into the radiused corners instead, which leaves a slight gap between the flat part of the spring and the channel where it fits onto the shuttle. Is this making any sense? Anyway, I wonder if I can find an actual good quality shuttle to use in this machine or are those things rare to find? It's one of the small bobbin/shuttle versions rather than the large ones. Just an observation from an outsider, but it sure seems like the bobbin in any machine gets the short end of the stick when it comes to tension. The upper thread has all sorts of elaborate routing and tensioners to mamage the thread while the bobbin gets not much more than a pinched slot for the thread to go through. Anyways... It's sure a worse problem on my machine than it should be and I'd like to see it work right if it's possible. Any help steering me toward a NOS bobbin/shuttle setup or a good quality new part would be appreciated. It would be fantastic if a forum reader had an extra one to just sell to me. Prolly wishful thinking there, but a guy can dream. I don't mind spending more if I can get a good one, but I'm not versed on good sources for parts for these things and I'd prefer not to wait a month for it to arrive if possible. Thanks for any help. I'll attach a picture of the machine below. If any further explanation or pictures are needed, I'll abide. But I'm pretty sure I just need to start with a good working shuttle.

Thanks for the welcome replies. Ken, I'm in the Kansas side of Kansas City. Cool that you're building saddles. Tugadude, you are correct as I am a tool & die guy. Well more accurately a maintenance machinist these days, but the history is there. I've done a fair amount of woodworking and carpentry along with the metal stuff, but leather is new to me except for the tiny bit I did when I was a scout. Ahh, the good old days. But I'm looking forward to trying this thing out because I've sure spent a lifetime learning how to use my hands to build things since I was young and I'm hoping that I take the occasional dip into some of the more artistic and complex layers of leatherwork in the future. It just looks interesting, appealing and relaxing... well OK I guess the relaxing part might be a factor of how well it's going on a particular day and who is watching over the shoulder, but still... Got the Adler tucked into the shop today. Just a few minor things to gather before giving it a go. During the big postage wait I'll have time to take a few things apart for a bit of cleaning and lube. I'm pretty sure this machine warrants a restoration. That would be some fun in itself, plus that's more in my wheelhouse anyway. But afterward it will be even more pleasurable to sit in front of while using it. I guess if I restore it, I should steady be taking pictures as I go and make a restoration thread here.

Wow, that Cobra looks to be yet another 85- 90% clone of the Singer as well. I hope that means the design is timeless and bulletproof, thus worth copying. Thanks for the offer of help.

Hi folks. The other day I saw one of those chinese hand-crank patcher machines and thought to myself that I didn't have time for this stuff, but a good friend had a birthday coming up so I picked one up and gave it away. I was ambitious enough to even take it apart and clean/polish everything and set it up before gifting it, and it works like a champ now, but that's not as big a deal as it sounds because I do that kind of thing for a living anyway. The problem is, the research I did for that project kinda infected me a little of the bug, and I've had a long-time back-burner jones to craft some useful leather stuff now & then. Since I'm old, infrequent thoughts over my years still tallies up a ton of small projects. So long story longer, I started looking into it a little deeper. Figuring the old Singer 29-series machines were similar function but a step-up I was looking at those some. I'm a bit of a machine and machine history junky since it's also my livelihood, so a finer-built version of a machine similar to the one I gave away has built-in appeal simply from the fine machine craftsmanship angle, let alone the joy of using something like it to make cool stuff. So anyway, it turns out there was an auction with local pickup only going on this week and I was the only bidder on an Adler 30-1, so I ended up winning it. I decided if I didn't win it, then I was too busy to get into this anyway (which I am) but then I blew that and became a proud owner of the Adler, so now I am rationalizing getting into leatherwork. It fits right in with what I do anyway since I have been making stuff with my hands for a living for the past few decades. It's just adding a new facet to that arsenal I guess. I doubt I'll ever be very good at it, but maybe good enough. And along the way I think I can really enjoy making some pretty fun and useful and cool-looking stuff for myself and maybe others. Well below is a picture of the very machine I won. I need bobbin stuff and it looks like otherwise it's just missing a thumbscrew which I can make in a few minutes. In addition, if the machine works well, I think it will likely be worth adding one of those newfangled eBay servo motors to it since you high-tech whippersnappers keep talking them up. And yes, of course it kinda needs a table. I guess I'll probably make that too. But lack of treadle equals a bit simpler table construction, so that might not be bad. So I guess I can machine stitch now, and I have a bunch of stuff coming from Springfield Leather Co. including a few different thicknesses of VT leather to experiment with... and a few tools & potions too. I figure I can probably make quite a bit of my own tools as I go - that's my field. But we'll see how it goes first anyway. Let me know what ya think, especially if you notice things about the machine I got which I might want to know about. Also let me know if you think I got a decent deal or not on the machine at $350. And again, heloooooo!

Thanks folks. I don't have specific plans yet other than the fact that I've had a back-burner desire to make sheaths and holsters, tool holders and pouches and generic stuff like thick webbing to things. Stuff like that. I just never did it because I didn't have the stuff around to do it neither by hand nor machine, so this might be really handy. From what I can see, the thing might be missing a knob for a tension assembly, (which I can make in 15 minutes) and no bobbin or shuttle. From what I have read, these things are close clones of Singer 29 series small-bobbin machines and many mechanical parts are interchangeable and easy to find. Yeah, I'm probably paying about what the thing is worth, or maybe just a pretty good deal at best compared to getting a steal, but I'm pretty sure it's not a gouge at least. I figure I'll need to blow no more than $25 for bobbins & shuttle and I guess time will tell if the machine is in good nick or clapped out. I'm guessing from the pictures that it probably ain't too bad. If a servo motor is a bit over $100 that won't be bad. The newfangled goodness of a motor like that might be a joy to use compared to the wayback stuff - you know... back when I was a kid. I do woodworking as well as metal so I'll prolly end up building my own table I suppose. Free + labor. Labor will be a couple hundred hours (exaggerating) the way things go for me, but it might be fun anyway. So nearest I can figure is $350 for machine, $120 for motor and $25 for bobbins & shuttle, the rest is labor. I could strip it down, clean the parts and repaint for another $5, so that's a maybe. Might be OK for just under $500 total outlay in the end. The labor I chalk up to tuition since learning how the thing goes together and gets cleaned & maintained is good to know anyway and undoubtedly due to be done. Plus it's just fun to tinker. But yeah, if I had run across that Singer for $300, I would have taken that option.

... no I don't need to patch the holes in my pockets, it's just where the money is flowing through right now. I got the bright idea to buy one of those Chinese patcher machines for a friend's birthday present, but in the research process I got bit by the bug a little. I was watching eBay auctions and before I knew it, I won an auction for an Adler 30-1 !! So soon I'll be able to machine stitch, but of course that's just scratching the surface. I have a ton of stuff in my cart at Springfield Leather Co. and looking forward to that order too. I guess first thing I need is a pile of leather. ?? haha Needs bobbins & shuttle (Singer 29K, clone) and maybe a couple knobs and such, but I'm a machinist by trade so should not be a problem at all to mint it up. Hope I didn't get screwed for under $400. I can make a nice base for it, and am already considering a fancy, newfangled eBay servo motor to power it, but trying not to put the cart before the horse just yet. I have plenty of time to scramble my priorities in the future, so might as well keep things simple for the moment.