Adjusting foot height to material?

[Sham]

What is the proper way to adjust foot height to material thickness? Do you make it just a little less that the material, or leave it just above the feed dog teeth? Or something else?

[Wizcrafts]

4 hours ago, Sham said:

What is the proper way to adjust foot height to material thickness?

What make and model sewing machine are you asking about? What type of foot or feet does it have?

[Sham]

@Wizcrafts any machine really, but 45k25 specifically, I usually adjust my 31-15 do a piece of paper can d add life through when the teeth are at their highest. But I only see thin leather on that

[Constabulary]

Question is why do you want to adjust the foot height? I never do that on drop feed machines. I once set my foot bar top the max. foot lift and then I´m done. I only adjust the foot pressure. But maybe I do not understand your problem with the foot height.

Maybe you mix up something. You can adjust the walking foot height on triple feed (aka walking foot) machines related to the material thickness. But on plain drop feed machine (like 45K25 and 31-15) there usually is no need to do that.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Constabulary

[Sham]

@Constabulary on a non walking foot, like 45k25, 31-20…you would sew a thin piece of shoe leather and two pieces of veg tan belt leather with the same foot clearance?

I guess you couldn’t do that on a 31-20, but the concept is same

[DonInReno]

Your question catches many of us off guard, because we don’t normally change the presser foot height, but we do vary the pressure.

I can’t think of anything it would hurt, but that is a lot of adjusting for those of us who sew a wide variety of items.

[Sham]

@DonInReno wow! I just assumed that should be done, damn! .. that’s crazy, I’ve been doing it for years. And was thinking the design of the machine was really not conducive to that!

ok, well enough of that then, pressure adjustment only now, what do you think is a good height? Just so the teeth aren’t touching?

[Wizcrafts]

1 minute ago, Sham said:

what do you think is a good height? Just so the teeth aren’t touching?

I normally set the presser foot so it actually makes contact with the raised feed dog, whether the dog has teeth, or is smooth on top. This is on machines that have a moving feed dog. Not all machines have one. For those machines I set the presser foot so it goes all the way down to the throat plate.

You have a roller foot machine, and are sewing leather, right? You need the roller to make firm contact with the top of the work, no matter how thick or thin it may be. If the roller is marking the top grain objectionably, reduce the foot pressure. If the reduced pressure causes the leather to lift with the ascending loaded needle, increase the needle size by +1 size. E.G, go from a #22 to a #23 needle if the leather lifts and you get skipped or loose stitches.

[Sham]

@Wizcrafts wow, my mind is blown,  I just had a few missed stitches when I changed direction, went through an existing hole and when the bobbin was running out. I also was sewing thin leather, with a little gap between dog and foot. 
im actually using the foot more than the wheel. But this is an eye opener!