AlZilla

I don't know if I'm seeing it right or if it's some kind of optical delusion, but the stitches on the bottoms of your circles look much longer than the lead in stitches at the top. None of the stitches really look taut to me, anyway. In these pictures at least, it doesn't look so much random as it seems to happen when the circle gets really tight. The holes look a little big, too. Are you using the right size needle? No answers, just an observation. Definitely looking forward to the solution.

Moved this to the sub-forum where they talk about chaps. Let's see if you can get some help.

I don't know what that's called exactly but it's not what people mean when they say "Clutch Motor". It accomplishes something similar I've got a couple of those and some clutch motors. A clutch motor has something akin to an automobile clutch built right into the end of the unit. Here's Alexander Dyer talking about clutch motors:

Turn Closed Captions on, go to settings and tell it to "Auto Translate" to whatever language you wish.

I didn't try it powered but I did hold a flat blade screw driver next to it and then slide it under. It doesn't show any wobble, at least at hand spinning speeds. A runout gauge is not in my bag of tricks. I might have to go tear it apart before the replacement arrives. I really don't want to run it anyway. No need of doing more damage. And I'm pretty curious.

That's kind of what I suspected. I wonder if some of the other parameters aren't arbitrary, too. Example, lowest startup speed. One motor will drop down to 100 rpms, while another stops at 200. If you go to ebay and search for servos, lots of the listings will have pics that include a QR code on the motor and/or box. Scan it with your call phone camera and they ALL drop to the same spec sheet.

About 8 minutes into this video, the guy has replaced the front bearing and is resetting the encoder. I wonder if one of those little plastic parts cracked/moved/whatever. The electronics of it still work. Now I really want to take it apart.

That multi-punch tool you show is meant to stop on the lower anvil. I could see the soft veg tan keeping the cutter from cutting cleanly. Wear and tear on the cutter is just part of using the tool. That tapering effect you get is really the nature of the tool, probably exaggerated by the very small size. I've often wondered if anyone makes a straight sided punch.

No, definitely not a belt. It makes a small winding/grinding sound with no belt. A belt makes it worse and more tension increases the noise. To @chuck123wapati's point about the fan, even if it isn't a bad fan, I'm going to dig up a small 5 VDC computer fan, point it into the motor housing and plug it in to the LED socket on the control box. One thing consistently said about these things is that they make heat at low speeds, exacerbated by the fact that the fan is running slowly. That should be easily solved.

I looked at her entire site and that never happens. Amazing work.

Hmm... I'm anxious to take it apart. The pulley doesn't wobble. I'm surprised nobody has taken one apart but I can't find anything online. Yet. A week or two, I guess.

I have an inexpensive, generic servo motor that got damaged in transit. The seller credited it back and told me to keep it. Once the replacement gets here, I'll get it off the machine and take it apart. The motor works but rattles and thumps. The tighter the belt, the louder. I'm thinking a damaged front bearing (the damage was a very hard shot to the pulley area that drove it through the styrofoam and cardboard). Also, how interchangeable are the control boxes? The wiring and pinouts of every one I've had my hands on is the same. I'm thinking maybe a higher rated box, say 750 watts, might be ok running a 550 watt motor?

For me, my big machine stitches the same in both directions. My 111Ws don't have reverse so either I do the turn around trick or leave long tails that I backstitch or tie off by hand. It all works.

I like that sewn on setup more than the snap. I haven't sat down with this project yet.

Run some stitches without thread in scrap or cardboard, too. It's an exact template of your current stitch length setup.

Yep, Goldshot Ron has it. Rookie 441 operator here and I've struggled with those backstitches, too. I've started figuring where 3rd stitch will end (4th hole), hover my needle exactly there and backstitch 3 stitches (drop the needle 3 times). Then, with the needle buried, drop the lever to forward and go. Seems to make a consistent decent stitch. I trim my tails with a pair of nail clippers. If there's any doubt, I use a pin or needle to drop just a little super glue in the hole where the cut tail pops through.

@Dawn Fiorelli You're not going to get any action this way. You should post a proper For Sale ad in The Marketplace. We will require a price, among other things, please review the rules posted at the top of that forum. You could post a question in the Leather Sewing Machine forum with pictures, if you'd like some help establishing a fair asking price.

Maybe motorizing the patcher will be all you need. If not, buy whichever machine will replace the most work for you. Sewing machines are a deep, expensive rabbit hole.

Of course, I had to run the numbers. A 30MM motor pulley, (2) 2:6 reducers and a 3.5" hand wheel gives a 1:31.5 reduction. 100 RPM becomes 3.2 at the hand wheel. 20 seconds per stitch!

Exactly, for a production machine that has to work when needed, that's the wrong choice. As a very cool old machine, it's exactly the right machine. I'd love to have it but I wouldn't be anywhere near $1200. Less than half that, to me. Others will differ. There just aren't that many people who collect large chunks of cast iron.

Welcome aboard. I'd love to do some upholstery and car seats, if I could discipline myself to focus. Even in my rural part of the world, the few who do it, make good money. What do you use for sewing machines? There are many sewing machine addicts here ... Please post some of your repair work over in "Show Off", when you can. I don't think we get much of that here.

Just replacing that reinforcement on the inside would let you restore the shape of the button hole. Maybe even carry it around to the front as a decorative element. Just ruminating, really. That repair is out of my meager skill set.

If you wanted a certain minimum speed, couldn't you just start the gradation at that point? Then have a smoother ride up to max?

Soon as I read "... reached up ..." parts of my anatomy sucked up into my abdomen. My beard is long enough that I tuck it in my shirt if I'm using a dremel or other spinny thing in my hands.

Will you ship worldwide? Or just US? We have members everywhere.