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Hello everyone... Since I first posted on this forum about my having reverse engineered the internal drive/timing belt for the Singer 95-1 machine, I have been working on upgrading the first leather belts using the same alternating hole jig that made making the belts possible. The belts essentially made it possible to "rebirth" an otherwise obsolete but venerable sewing machine of which I have now learned there a LOT of them still sitting on shelves or on their tables just waiting for their owners to learn about the belts I make for them. As of now, I get anywhere from 2-3 Ebay sales per month...many have come from Puerto Rico and in the last 2 years, I have sold about 70 belts. Even though I have always tested every belt on my 1919 95-1 before I send them out to buyers, there have been some failures of the belts over extended use. I do continue to test every belt in this manner. The failures of the first belts was primarily due to the fact I was making them with cowhide which was stretching even though I was reinforcing them with sewing across the glue bond and on the edges. The belts were running off the sprocket pulleys. It later occurred to me after examining more of the original belts that they appeared to me made of horsehide, not cowhide. Horsehide is nowhere as stretchy as cowhide, but it is still not impervious to oil...something I wanted to have as a feature of the replacement belts. Furthermore, I had not yet fully learned how Singer engineered & designed the machine to run with this internal belt and that there is no way to adjust the tension on the internal belt. The gear driven 95-10 made the 95-1 obsolete, but I still can't figure out why the 95-1 was ever introduced...same for the 96-1. If anyone knows the definitive answer to this "mystery", I'd sure like to hear it. I've never seen a 96-1, but if you look up the parts manuals for both machines, you will see the belts of the PDF parts files. I've never seen a 96-1. I had been rolling my cowhide leather belts onto the lower pulley w/o removing it...all were tight enough to run the machine for my test, but some did not endure. Therefore, I reasoned out that in fact, the lower pulley and sewing hook would have to be removed to install a replacement belt made of a non-stretch material. Furthermore, I set out on a sort of a "quest" to find a synthetic material certainly tougher than horsehide which would not stretch and also be impervious to oil plus the internal heat generated by a seamstress sewing daily as was the case in the 1920's factories. After all, the 95-1 is rated at over 3500 SPM I believe I have finally achieved my goal after the many misses and near hits I've had as I have been experimenting with various types and thicknesses of materials...not to mention the adhesives to well-set the bond. The belts I make now are made of a rubberized gasket-type material that bonds excellently (with the adhesive I'm using) and tracks perfectly on the upper and lower sprockets. I test the belts at full speed for 5 minutes using a 1725 RPM clutch motor, the same rating of the early Singer transmitter motors that were matched with the 95-1. I sew with my 95-1 every once in a while and it puts down a perfect, tight stitch with its original Simanco hook and feed dog. Truly a great, classic vintage Singer sewing machine. If anyone has ever seen a 96-1 or 96-1, please let me know. If you want to see my Ebay listing for the replacement belt and/or the Youtube video I made on how to install the belt, please be their guest...just search "Singer 95-1" on Google. Thanks for reading... Bob Marshall 919.889.7894 bobsleatherworks.com