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Some of y’all may have already heard about this, but for those who haven’t here ya go. Cowboy is finally shaking things up in the patcher department. No info on the cost, and not available till 2025. That’s per Cowboy rep in China. She did tell me they’re shooting for. 1/2 the price of Claes. Only makes sense, who’s gonna pay full price for a clone claes, just get a claes. YouTube video shows it running very smooth and quiet . Very quiet. I’m liking it.

Hello everybody! So I recently bought a (slightly beat up) Claes 8345/14. I am having trouble finding the DEFINITIVE needle type (looked on the forums but the discussions vary so much and slide topics quite a bit). So I am curious WHAT IS ACTUALLY a system 81 needle. If anyone could provide either a groz-beckert link for the propper one or a SY code. I am going a bit mad, i`ve spend quite a bit of time trying to research what is the correct alternative and i keep finding conflicting information. Also, if anyone has a manual for the 45(not the 46), it would be greatly appreciated! Good day!

Found this for an incredible CAD$800, came with 4 spare shuttles. Seems to be in good condition, looking forward to playing around with it. The only thing I see that is missing is one of the little thumb tabs to rotate the foot. Maintenance-wise, I think it just needs a good oiling. Shoepatcher, any hot tips?

Hi guys, I found a Claes Patent Elastic (Elastique)sewing machine. This machine is also been marketed as a Bradbury, Dürkopp, Singer 29, Claes & Flentje, Emile James (The Politype), et cetera. It's fully functional except for 2 essential parts.: The mechanical 'holder' for the Bobbin case (Teil 1) The Bobbin case. (Teil 2) Is there anybody out there willing to sell me these parts? I sincerely hope so! Thanks, Marc

Hi. My Claes 30 made a clunk then broke a needle while sewing the other night. Come to find out it was the shuttle cam follower that sheered off. Unfortunately while I was trouble shooting the root cause, I removed the bobbin shuttle and lost the hook timing position. Is anyone familiar with the procedure to reinstall correctly? Silverd

I' considering the purchaseof a claes or singer 29k type Patcher to help me sew handbags. Have a singer 201k M2 and a techsew 5100 already. One place I read suggested that Patchers can't or don't sew straight very well and leave presser foot marks. Can anyone comment re this? Don

Looking for opinions regarding a new patch machine. Our shop uses Singer 29U171A and Adler 30-1 . Motorized and sewing as constantly as we can keep them in shape. Have rebuilt and replaced most parts several times and will do so for as long as we can. Just looking for information regarding new patch machines in case we need to grab one quickly as a backup. The only one that claims made in Taiwan so far it the Econosew. I believe, and correct me please if I'm wrong, Cowboy, Consew, Techsew, Saito, Japsew, Sewline, Ankai are all Chinese made? Is that necessarily bad and is one brand above the others? If anyone wants to sell a Pfaff 8346, we'll give that a go also. Thank you in advance for any advice offered. Very best regards, Sam

This machine has a metal plate fastened to the front with the name Pilgrim Shoe and Machine Co and the model number 200-3. Pilgrim told us recently it is a Claes 8345-30 large bobbin machine manufactured by Textima. They also told us it was marketed in the United States with the Textima, Claes or Tuffy label. There must be something to that because I notice several of the larger equipment suppliers like Landis and Shoe Systems Plus show the same parts numbers for Textima, Claes and Tuffy. In any case, the machine was purchased by my company in used but excellent condition 30 years ago. It was used perhaps one day a month for 20 years to patch leather safety garments and attach aluminized Kevlar sleeves to molten metal protective mittens and Gloves, it sewed with Kevlar thread beautifully. Thirteen years ago the business and machine were sold. I doubt the machine was even used after that, because the woman who had operated it had retired and no one else had any knowledge of how to operate it. There was no operators manual or literature. Three years ago the buyer moved out of the building we had leased to them and left the machine behind saying it was broken and that part was no longer available, apparently someone inexperienced had tried to operate it. We sold the building and the machine three years after that.. I wanted the machine at that time; I had always admired it, but didn't act on it. It's a beautiful, well made and attractive machine.......like a piece of art, something old-timers like me (and others no doubt) appreciate. I still ride a 1990 Harley-Davidson with 240,000 miles on it that I bought new. Well, a few months ago the attraction became too great, and I purchased the machine back. Unfortunately the lady who had operated the machine all of those years, along with her husband, died in a motorcycle accident, may they rest in peace. So here's the situation: first, my only experience sewing was in high school cuffing trousers, second, I don't know a thing about industrial sewing machines and third, I intend to refurbish this machine. To that end I've spent hours doing research on this fine website. I've taken scores of pictures, I've pulled it completely apart, taking pictures along the way and I've cleaned it totally. The teeth on the rack and the shuttle driver look perfect, the end play in the main long shaft between the pulley wheel and the feed cam is .004", and after I figured out how to thread and adjust the machine, it seemed to sew well............that remains to be seen though. I don't see anything broken except for a small spring in the large cylinder that holds the needle bar and feed mechanism. That piece is on order. By the way, in doing research, I had occasion to send a few emails to Europe, but needed to do them in German. I stumbled on to Google Translate. For those of you who haven't used it, it's miraculous, I've bookmarked it. You type a message in to it in any language you choose (English in my case) and it gives you a translation in any language you choose. Also, if you can copy and paste text into it and tell it what language you're putting in and what language you want out (again English in my case), you'll get it. Hope it helps someone looking for parts or trying to translate an old operator or repair manual. What I would like to ask good people is: 1) what suggestions do you have to do the restoration properly? 2) should the machine be re-painted or left as is? 3) would anyone have any literature of any type for this machine? Thank you, thank you very much.