AlZilla

Thanks. I sure wish there was less ambiguity. Alibaba has scads of machines that *look* alike, but who knows ... ?

I give it a year and it'll be so cluttered, you'll have to walk sideways everywhere you go ... Congratulations on a great workspace.

Aren't they the exact same machine, from the exact same factory in China? More like Chevy vs Pontiac. I'm closing in on the funds to buy one, so I'm watching all these threads closely.

To me, unless it's going to be totally stripped down, disassembled and done right, it's not worth doing. For a working machine, I wouldn't go to the effort. For a collector machine, it's only original once, so again not worth the effort to me. That said, if you just enjoy the process and want to make it look great again, totally worthwhile. At that point, the hammertone paints look pretty nice. I've used them on a couple of projects. I can not recall the brand I used.

I'd say just call them. I've been there a couple of times and they treat me like a visiting prince. I bet they'd be happy to email a picture of whatever your interested in. One of the cobra hides I got has a small chunk out of it and the guy really wanted to swap it out for me. But I'm just going to cut it up for inlays so he finally relented and let me keep it.

Oh, there's no veg tan in the pics. The light color piece is a small buckskin hide, which I'd say the color is fairly yellowish in person. Having never seen a piece of Herman Oak, I can't really compare the veg tan color. I can say it was a fairly rich color.

Yeah, I made a belt with one of their blanks, a holster and a coupe of small things. It tooled and worked fine. That was a 6oz hide I grabbed last August.

I'd like to plug Glacier Wear, who sells mostly furs and hides. If you look at their website, you'll see an amazing variety of things we like. I live close enough to go there and even though they're not really a retail store, they accommodate my visit. I've had the treat of walking around their incredible warehouse and all the stuff you see on their website is right there. Giant stacks of it. Everywhere. A side note, they supplied the big bear skin coat in the movie "The Revenant" and stuff for lots of other movies. Attached are a couple of pics from my recent trip. Cobra skins, a few pieces of pig suede, a little buckskin.

They have black, blue and brown. The cobra is much more subdued than the rattlesnake. I got one of each. The scales on the black are not as contrasted as the blue. Very thin but seems to be durable. They almost feel fragile but I tried to tear a corner and it held up fine. https://www.glacierwear.com/buckskin-leather-hides-deer-buckskin/snake-leather.html I live close enough to go there. I can't even describe the giant stacks of hides, skins, you name it. Amazing place.

Interesting variation on the belt loop. I have a K-Bar that I've struggled with a sheath. Maybe that's my answer. I just today picked up a few pieces of Cobra hide to try some inlays.

Well, someone has to ask the dumb questions. What is the inlay and is there a particular name for that style of lacing? Very nice work.

I can't attach a pdf. Search online for 111w155.pdf - it's a parts list for your machine. Maybe you can noodle it out. You originally said "Basically looking for the pin that release tension discs when feed dog is raised" - I'm pretty certain that 223704. Maybe you're looking for something else. But here's a question - does the tension release when you lift the presser foot? I've found, even as a total rookie, that disassembling the whole tension unit, cleaning it and polishing everything that comes in contact with the thread has been helpful. It's straightened me out a few times.

Part of the 240446, Tension Bracket

Maybe the 223704, tension release plunger https://www.ebay.com/itm/304404498645

https://www.vintagesingerparts.com/products/new-replacement-tension-assembly-singer-part-240446 Look at the second picture in this listing. I wonder if the release rod is part of the tension assembly ... One of the experts here will have the answer.

If you have room for it, and it's not a rusted boat anchor, I can't think of any reason not to drag it home. Trade fodder, if nothing else. It seems to be a well thought of machine.

@joebetoblame if you scroll back up, click on Patrick1's highlighted name, you can send him a message from his profile page.

There's a lot to like about that one. I'd only suggest adding a stitch line right under the pic rail area and up under the trigger guard, to meet the stitches around the belt loop. I think it'd decrease the chance of it loosening up over time.

I like the belt. I made myself a single layer, did the basket weave. No real amount of stitching, just the buckle end. I have made a couple of hats that each have about a hundred miles of stitching, so I understand what you're saying. My next hat I'm going to try sewing it on one of my sewing machines I've accumulated. Another learning curve to navigate.

You don't say why you object to a compressor, so maybe this doesn't help. A friend of mine runs a couple of portable pancake compressors about 50 feet from his workbench, in a different room. They're plugged into Smart Outlets and he turns them on and off with a cell phone app. The outlets are a few dollars on amazon and the compressors are cheap and quiet.

Disclaimer: I'm a total novice with sewing machines and my comments are worth exactly what you paid for them. I haven't had one get "loopy" due to tension. But if the top thread is showing on the bottom, you could have too little top tension or too much bottom tension. And vice versa. It's all about balance. I have had a case where I couldn't quite get the top thread to stop peeking through when sewing a single layer - but sewing 2 layers, it disappeared into the fabric. I have a nearly brand new Brother domestic that was getting loopy on the bottom (with top thread). Turned out that on that modern machine, since the tension arm is mostly enclosed in the case, I wasn't quite getting the thread well into the end of the arm. It would loose the thread from the end of the tension arm (which I couldn't readily see) and caused no end of trouble. For me, anything the thread touches (top or bottom) has to be clean and maybe even polished. If you're seeing big loops, it seems like more than a simple tension issue. I'm following this one to learn and admire your determination.

I don't know how you're setting your initial bobbin tension, but ... I've been rehabbing mostly neglected domestic machines for a while. Often the bobbin area needs a lot of attention. Crud, lint, corrosion, etc. Rather than guess at bobbin tensions, I bought this crude little scale. At least it gets me in the ballpark on bottom tension. Then a good disassembly, cleaning and polishing of tension unit and thread guides and tensions haven't given me much trouble. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HKPN7I?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Pre-1900 Singer used a strictly numeric serial number. They ended around 16,800,000 in 1899. Anything without a letter, predates that. Anything starting with a letter, is 1900+. But, somewhere I read about Singers with 2 serials and which one to use. Damned if I can remember where. For 50 US dollars, I'd have broken my shoulder getting my wallet out and hoping the seller didn't sober up before I had it loaded. That is a domestic sewing machine, not intended for leather work.

Would smooth feed dogs solve your problem? I've bee drooling over the cb3500/cb4500 and I know a smooth feed dog is available.

Cowboy Bob scares me... I've started squirreling money away for a 3500 or 4500.