AlZilla

It looks like the metal straps are what carry the weight. You could just construct a new basket out of whatever material you wished. I like it because it'll block light. The down side is it'll make it harder to rack it off, if you use a plastic siphon hose. I like conical fermenters for small scale stuff.

If it's a 144 you may get a little insight here: https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/model-list/classes-100-199.html

Cowboy Bob told us that on these machines, the timing is correct when the needle is at dead bottom and the point of the hook is on the imaginary line between the center of the bobbin and the needle plate screw closest to the operator. I looked at mine and that's exactly what I have. Much easier than trying to squint down into the abyss. The needle to hook distance still needs to be right.

Looks like you've got the corners down. I wonder why the stitch length is varying and the occasional skip. Probably the hook, needle, needle bar height and timing need to be fine tuned. Are you letting the machine feed the material without tugging on it? That can mess with the feed and thus the stitch length.

Well, you've got multiples of the same pictures, it would help if you cleaned that up while the edit window is open. This post is quite a bear on mobile. Then a list of what parts you're looking for would help. I'm sure there's a parts diagram somewhere you could work from. Australia is really going to complicate it, but who knows ... ?

You just took care it. Thanks for listing it here.

I looked around a bit and "Boston" seems to be the shape of the shield. I saw "Metro", "LA", "New York".

I did not know about starting with "image". I always just go to https://images.google.com/ Learned a new trick. Easier to just start with "image".

Very impressive work. What a great thing to have in your shop!

I'll suggest calling Toledo Industrial at 866-362-7397. I needed some peculiar bed hinges for a machine out of production since 1948. They were in stock for $2.50 each. $9.00 got me 2 hinges and the 4 screws.

Looks like not much action on this question. I'm not qualified to answer it but I'll suggest maybe canvas. If you've got a craft store near by, it might be worth stopping by. Joann's is no more, but something on that scale. Quiltingboard.com is a pretty friendly place, at least the sewing machine subforum, maybe someone there could help out. On second thought, maybe you could find some of those inexpensive shopping bags everyone seems to love so much and harvest what you need from them ...? EDIT: Well, you said it was plastic like, feed bags are some kind of woven plastic. And since we're now fabric shopping at Tractor Supply, how about a tarp? They come in a small selection of colors, maybe one of those would suit your needs. Or, maybe a garden center would have an anti weed tarp?

Well, KGG pointed out that your needle is in backwards. It's a wonder it stitched at all! You're definitely inside the 5 yard line but those last couple yards can be a grind. Spin the needle around and see how it goes. It's got to help. And It seems that the needle isn't well centered in the hole, so you'll want to address that at some point.

@kgg, well spotted! I wonder if turning the needle will better center it in the hole? I recently was playing with a domestic machine, having a problem shredding the top thread. Turned out the needle was off center and backwards, shredding the non groove side against the needle plate.

When you turn the work, first bury the needle and raise it up a quarter inch. Raise the presser foot and turn the material. This allows the hook to catch the bobbin thread and prevent skipped stitches. Same thing with turning a corner. To begin a stitch line, start about 3 stitches down the line and sew back to where you wanted to start. Turn around and go in the direction you wanted to in the first place. At the end, you can just turn around and sew back 3 stitches. If you begin at the start, sew 3 ahead, then turn around and sew back to the beginning and THEN turn around yet again, sewing in the "right" direction, you have gone over the first 3 stitches 3 times! Way too many stitches in leather. Practice, practice, practice ...

Funny enough, I'll refer you back to my old post when I was where you are. KGG and Wizcrafts were kind enough to explain thread locking without reverse to me:

Cool. You may have some learning curve with starting and stopping but the stuff in the middle looks great. I'll look for a post about locking your stitch without reverse. I had a long learning curve getting proficient with mine. Somewhere I read to hold back hard on the tails when starting and that was wrong. Just hold the threads and hold an ounce or two of pressure for the 1st 2 or 3 stitches. Good job getting it worked out!

It looks like you have the check spring wrong and the 3-hole flag at the top wrong. On my machine, the 3 holes are horizontal and the thread goes down through the first hole, up into the second and back down through the 3rd. Then into the tension unit and on to the check spring, where you need to pull up on it until it "pops" and goes behind the little ear. The tension unit looks pretty tightly screwed down, but the looping says it's too loose. I'd make those couple of changes an see what happens.

If you want that spit-slicked look without the spit, go to your local homebrew shop and grab a package of Amylase Enzyme. Dissolve a little in some water and use it to slick your edges. Amylase is the enzyme in saliva that breaks down starch. I like that a lot. Nice job.

Does that clutch only engage in 1 position? If not, you could just be locked in the wrong place.

If what @CowboyBob told us about the 111W machines holds true, at this point of the needle stroke (all the way down) the point of the hook should be on an imaginary line between the center of the bobbin and the needle plate screw closest to the operator. This one is late or early, depending. In case the viewer can't tell, the point of this hook is right next to the bobbin latch on the opposite side.

Some nicely creative stuff going on there. Welcome aboard!

Looking back through this thread, I don't see where you checked the hook timing. Did I miss that part? It seems to have started with the walking foot problem and progressed to not catching the bobbin thread.

This post and the few that follow talk about timing a 545. Maybe it'll be helpful to you:

Yea, that's some beginners luck, alright. Congrats. (In fact, an internet stranger gifted me my first 111w153). I saw your other post about slowing down the clutch motor. Save yourself time, aggravation and money, put a $150 servo and a $125 speed reducer under one of them and get on with learning to sew leather.