AlZilla

You're in it, the Leather Sewing Machine sub forum. I'm seeing quite a few responses to your post.

@Beverly.deloach, I split you out into a new topic instead of tagging onto an old thread. Tweaked the title. Maybe we can get you some help. Welcome aboard!

Sad news indeed. I never had a dealings with him but it's obvious he was a true asset to the Leathercraft community. Condolences to his family and colleagues.

Yeah, this is the challenge. That 18-2 isn't one of the common machines that everyone's seen a hundred times. I'm hoping someone will check in who's done that job. Maybe @Wizcrafts knows something?

Ok, hopefully Guest Rob finds this post. I flipped it to the sewing machine sub forum where it should get some action. Later today I'll have time to come tell you a little unless someone else gets to it first. Let me strongly encourage you to join the forum as a regular member so you can get notices of things like this reply. Basically, you have a solid machine, assuming it's working well. The W series serial numbers are all 1940's production.

I do not have an answer. It looks like something happened to your upper tension as you navigated the turn. Looking at the top picture, did you sew clockwise or counterclockwise? If you lifted the presser foot when you turned, it might have been able to pull some slack since the tension discs would have released. That wouldn't explain the varying stitch length unless the needle was all the way out of the leather.

Very generous of you to share the print files. Almost sure to be of use to someone. Thank you!

I've been interested in these motors for a couple of years but this is the first actual report of one in the wild. Thanks for posting!

You need to have some patience. Nobody works here, it's just a collection of Leatherworking enthusiasts who check in when they have time. They answer these things out of a love of the craft and a desire to help. It's worth a lot more than you'll pay for it.

Well, you can still post to it, but I'd recommend starting a new thread with what you know and what you'd like to know. Pictures always draw attention. It might be interesting to have a thread dedicated to your grandfather.

I have no authoritative answer on the question of lubricants. But I can say that lots and lots of people use kerosene for an initial clean down on sewing machines, followed by sewing machine oil. In the olden days of yore, people would put a quart of diesel fuel in their crankcase and run it a while before changing their oil. I, too, am deeply envious of such a find. Congratulations.

Nice. That's a company you keep doing business with.

That looks like a serious upgrade to me. Nice job!

My kydex holsters are certainly stiff. It comes in sheets in various thickness. My thinking was a piece running the entire length from the very bottom (inside) and up an inch or two - to steal Digits term, a reinforcement, glued to the inside of the bag. But I think Digit is on to something with taking that bottom seam apart. If there is as liner, you could do a reinforcement hidden between the liner and shell. Totally hidden, very professional.

Is it that there's a setting for startup speed and 500 is the lowest? I *think* my Eagle 550's have a setting that let me adjust minimum speed. Mine start at 200.

I'm wondering if it can be accessed deep enough inside to reinforce it with something like kydex?

Speed reducing that 66 was my first thought but I wanted to see what others offered. Here's a pic of a speed reducer for an industrial. A little big but it illustrates the concept. You can also homebrew a unit with a couple of pillow blocks, 2 pulleys and some bar stock. Reducing the speed also increases the torque. I've got an industrial that I can run as low as 11 stitches per minute. Way too slow but very controllable as it increases in speed. If that 66 can be controlled enough to work for you, it lets you work while you decide on and fund a genuine glove machine. You could go here https://www.blocklayer.com/pulley-belteng and play with the potential speed reduction. I guessed at a 1/2" motor pulley, driving a 4" pulley that in turn drives a 1" pulley and then a hypothetical 3" hand wheel pulley. Driving the motor at 300 rpms gets 13 stitches per minute. Obviously, you can change any of that. It's the 3rd calculator down on the page. If you do something like this, I'd make sure the foot controller is 100%. Those things can cause a lot of problems.

You'll get plenty of good feedback here. For the moment, let me direct you to an epic thread on this very subject that should get you started:

@Ghoust6 I slid you over to the sewing machine sub forum. We'll probably get more attention here.

I've reported you to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sewing Motors.

If the stitch holes are part of the die then I'd say the holes don't follow well. You might alleviate some of it by tying the ends off and burying the knot between the layers instead of double stitching. Just leave long tails and do a square knot that you pull tight.

I've been eyeing up various wing tip work boots from Shoebank.com (which won't load for me at the moment), which is the outlet site for Allen Edmonds shoes. At best they'd be a couple hundred bucks and up to several hundred. But, it's an itch that I'll scratch one day.

The basics never go out of style. When I was getting started with industrials I took the advice to "hold back hard" to heart and I was splitting the thread on the hook of my 111w. I think that advice was meant for bigger machines. Caused me a lot of frustration until I figured it out. Just gentle pressure.

Good call. I have some experience of grants. My motto, "If you take their money, you give them control". This applies to anyone who wants to contribute to your cause and for all values of "they, their and them".

Building on Chuck's theme, here's an archive dot org link for a basic Leathercraft book. I glanced quickly at it and it seems to cover the basics. https://ia903202.us.archive.org/29/items/basic-leathercrafting/Basic Leathercrafting.pdf