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Whilst this unique sewing machine is no longer in my ownership, I sold it to a budding shoe maker in 2020, I thought it might be good for posterity if I uploaded photo's of the item, the "clarified" Owners Manual I uploaded as PDF's and gave readers some background on this machine. I answered a "local ad" in a paper for a "patching sewing machine" being sold by a local cobbler who was retiring, that turned out to be a Singer 29K on OE treadle base and I bought that and enjoyed the years I had using it before I then sold it also in 2020. The cobbler asked if I would be interested in a "side sole stitcher" that he had been unable to use for some years, the long and the short of it was he gave me the "Frobana" for free! I remember the effort it took getting it home in our Citroen 2CV! The reason why the cobbler had stopped using it was years before when his "shop" was inspected by the local building inspector he condemned the machine as "far too dangerous to use", he didn't appreciate the open drive belts and jury-rigged motor! It sat in the corner unloved. What I didn't appreciate then was just how rare one of these machines was fitted to their OE pedestal base, I joked after moving it into my workshop that the metal was so thick and so unnecessarily heavy that, given the likely manufacturing date was in 1950's Germany, they must have had so much scrap metal hanging about in destroyed tank's, etc that they didn't care on the weight! I never got around to re-fixing the electric motor and instead, courtesy of that pedestal base, we found we could easily use it by hand with the side wheel. We never used it for shoe-making, no, our business was bespoke "Adult Toys" and the way this machine could easily sew together two pieces of heavy hide we used it's very limited "throat" to stitch alone the edges of the blanks . . . we even did an alternative range where, of the two blanks, one side was heavy veg-tanned hide and the other rubber sheeting from old conveyor belts. I constructed and added a plywood table and jig to the face of the sewing head to make accurate sewing easier. When it came time to move on from the Light Industrial unit we used this machine, as well as other heavy kit, needed to be sold. It was only then when I researched the "Frobana" on-line that I realised what a rare example I had been using, by then it had become very hard to buy the unique needles. One example I found on YouTube was a guy in Poland who had jury rigged his sewing head to a metal frame with a giant electric motor underneath . . it had belts thrashing away everywhere and I wondered what that "local building inspector" would say about that example! I only ever saw old photo's of maybe three other "sewing heads" mounted correctly on their "pedestal base", most examples the head was sat on a purpose made wooden box to use by hand. (*) One very useful, indeed highly valuable asset, that came with the machine was an original, though very used, Owners Manual. This was so vital in setting the sewing head up so, before it went, I scanned it for posterity. Naturally the file then became lost in the depths of my multiple HDD's and it was only at the end of 2022 that I found the file and used my knowledge of image editing to "clean up" the digital pages so that the instructions could be read. My thanks here to Northmount (MOD) for uploading those pages and, I hope, adding that link here. Thus anyone who buys one of these rarities can now figure out how they work! I do believe I can honestly say that, if you were making "hand made" shoes, this side sole stitcher would be the Master! Owners Manual https://leatherworker.net/forum/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=192129

I'm not sure if there is a category somewhere that you can mention items for sale, apologies if this should be somewhere else. Likewise with almost all forum members being in North America my item for sale may not be suitable? I've owned a GENUINE Frobana "bent needle stitcher", or to give it it's other typical title, "Side Sole Stitcher" on it's highly useful pedestal base since about 1994. I've never used it for shoe-making rather used it's ability to stitch two pieces of very heavy material together by sewing down the sides, eg : heavy straps or belts. It was originally fitted with it's motor but the retiring cobbler I bought it from had to remove that and the belts as the "Health and Safety Inspector" - probably a "jobs worth" as we call them - was concerned the operator would get chewed up by them as they had no guards. The cobbler was happy continuing the use the machine by hand-crank and this is where it's genuine base makes that much, much easier. Later on I sources a heavy 230 volt single phase motor with stepping pulleys and independent clutch and was only going to add this into the base . . . but we all have projects we never got around to finishing, don't we? Time has caught up with me and now I get to retire too so I've been selling off that machinery that I reckon I'll not ever use again. Just sold my Singer 136w104 Post stitcher on a lovely genuine Singer cast iron base but retro-fitted with modern motor. I have my Frobana listed on eBay (UK) if anyone is interested? Item number : 274486486197 I am able to securely pack these items and strap to a pallet so, just maybe, long distance carriage is feasible? Twelve larger pix on eBay but a smaller posted here . . any questions send away! Roger

Pfaff 545-H4-6/01 in excellent condition. $900 This is a triple feed medium weight leather sewing machine. This machine was built in Western Germany. It's capable of sewing up to size 138 threads, and through 3/8" of leather. The machine has been cleaned, adjusted and serviced. It works perfectly. maximum stitch is approximately 8mm, minimum stitch is less than 1mm. Reverse stitch matches the forward stitch. Internals are clean and oiled. Shipping across the USA is available upon request. The machine can be inspected and tested at: Solar Leather Machines 2837 Galleria Drive Arlington Tx 76011 817-422-9151

Rare Fortschritt Leather Skiving Machine - Fortuna Type $1000 This is a very rare german made leather skiving machine. It cuts a wide range of skives because it has a long curved presser foot that can be adjusted a number of ways to get different angles and widths. The machine is in excellent working shape, see a sample skive photo below. There is cosmetic wear as this is an old machine. If you want a machine with great bones and a great history, this is what you are looking for. I purchased this a couple years ago from a leatherworker in Nyack, NY. He owned it since the mid 70s but it has not been used since 1995ish. Prior to him owning the machine, this skiver was used to manufacture NYC firemen's helmets in a manhattan factory. The machine is mounted on a converted wooden sewing machine table and is run with a clutch motor and leather and rubber belts. This is comparable to fortuna machines and parts such as Bell knife, sharpening stone, rollers, presser feet should be interchangeable with parts easily found on ebay if necessary down the road. Everything on it right now still appears to have plenty of life left. I will also include a heavy metal roller tool for compressing turned/glued edges. Local pickup only in Ridgewood, NJ. You may inspect items prior to purchase. Payment Methods - cash / money order / bank check only Thanks very much! The website is not letting me upload photos, so if you are interested, PM me and I'll send you a Craigslist link to photos.

I recently acquired a number of sewing machines and skivers from an old man who used to work for Coach. Among them, the one that I was most seeking, is a Durkopp Adler 269-373, probably roughly 20 years old. I am having trouble finding a manual for this machine online, has anyone found any resources for such a thing? Also, can anyone help me to know the difference between this machine and, say, an Adler 69? I'm just curious what the benefits might be. Lastly, I am also looking for some accessories for the machine, seam and edge guides etc. Any help or assistance that one can give me would be greatly appreciated. It seems to well maintained with the exception that it is missing the cover on the outside of the machine near the needle arm. I'm guessing it isn't entirely necessary to operate the machine.

Hello to you all. I'm new here and I'm happy to meet all of you.My "story" begins about a year ago when I have found an old russian copy of a Singer 15K in my grandma's basement.I knew nothing about sewing machines at the time.The machine was dirty with most of its components frozen.But with a lot of googleing and CLA and patience it's working fine again.After the initial sewing frenzy I've remembered my pasion for leather sewing from university times.So I've decided to find and buy a leather sewing machine that won't kill my pocket.Long story short a couple of weeks ago I've bought this barn find which was almost dead.Full of rust and mud and goat hair(?) and with missing parts but quite cheap.So bring it home,took it apart,clean it and put it back toghether.I did my best to adjust it based on preavious "experience",but the fact that the tension spring is missing and maybe some other parts from the front plate,makes all my efforts useless.I don't even know what sort of tension spring should I look for.It's a regular one like those used on house sewing machines? So now I need more than guessing or luck.I need some solid advices or maybe an user manual which I admit it's almost impossible to find.Maybe someone have a Singer 34ksv manual they seems to be identical.I think that Adler has made something that looks like it but I'm not sure.It also have a special bobbin in dimensions-7,5mm hight,21mm outer diameter,6mm inner diameter.Are this kind of bobbins and bobbin cases still made?Where can I buy it from?I'll try to attach few pictures. Thank you all and wish you a happy,good new year. http://youtu.be/yewxJVP3wjE