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yuman

Will I Regret Not Having A Walkiung Foot If I Buy The Consew 223R

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Hello everyone,I am looking at a consew 223r as a first machine. It is a needle feed not walking foot. I sew bags large and small, do lined dress belts, and sometimes wallets 3oz to 9 oz leather.. I could go for a 153w103 and forgo reverse and get walking foot. I was interested in stirrup plate for gussets on bags.. Will these machines accept those? The machine prices are 500 and 350 respectively. I have read most of the posts and am still unclear of the compared advantages of needle compound feed vs. walking foot for my particular projects. Your advise will be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Yuman

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Hello everyone,I am looking at a consew 223r as a first machine. It is a needle feed not walking foot. I sew bags large and small, do lined dress belts, and sometimes wallets 3oz to 9 oz leather.. I could go for a 153w103 and forgo reverse and get walking foot. I was interested in stirrup plate for gussets on bags.. Will these machines accept those? The machine prices are 500 and 350 respectively. I have read most of the posts and am still unclear of the compared advantages of needle compound feed vs. walking foot for my particular projects. Your advise will be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Yuman

Needle feed works best on cloth, which that Adler is designed to sew. However, if you buy a roller or Teflon replacement foot (if you can find one for that machine), it will also feed light leather. You are pretty much limited to #69 thread, with a #18/110 leather point needle. It might be able to sew with #92.

Without a roller foot your machine may not allow you to sew leather properly. Adler feet and parts are pricy and available from certain dealers who sell or repair Adler machines.

The Singer 153w103 will feed leather, up to 5/16". It will handle up to #138 thread. Bobbins are standard industrial size and are cheap. The 153 uses standard parts available everywhere sewing machine parts are sold. It uses series 135x16 leather point needles, which are available in all sizes, up to #25 (not for that machine!). You can use a #22 leather point point needle and Weaver lubricated thread and it will do everything you described.

You didn't mention if the machines are mounted on tables, with 110 volt single phase clutch motors. You will need a motor and table. For leather, you need at least a 1/3 HP 1725 RPM motor. It will probably have too large of a pulley when you buy it, but smaller pulleys are available on eBay and from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines.

If you find you can't control the clutch motor, you can buy a servo motor with built in gear reduction and a 2" pulley, from Toledo Ind Sew Mach.

Neither machine can sew harnesses or holsters (other than pancake style), because of their smallish thread size capacities, small bobbins, short-ish needles and light pressure and thread tension springs. Serious leather stitchers use a very long needle that allows a long stroke, for sewing over 1/2" of material. They are built to handle heavy thread and penetrate dense, thick leather, at very slow speeds.

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Hello everyone,I am looking at a consew 223r as a first machine. It is a needle feed not walking foot. I sew bags large and small, do lined dress belts, and sometimes wallets 3oz to 9 oz leather.. I could go for a 153w103 and forgo reverse and get walking foot. I was interested in stirrup plate for gussets on bags.. Will these machines accept those? The machine prices are 500 and 350 respectively. I have read most of the posts and am still unclear of the compared advantages of needle compound feed vs. walking foot for my particular projects. Your advise will be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Yuman

Would it be possible for you to take some of the leather that you normally sew and try out the machines? If both machines are in good condition, I might go with the 153, but that is probably due to the fact that I own one and my personal bias is showing. Plus, you could use the extra money for a gear reduction servo motor. One thing to check on the 153 is the stitch length regulator. Changing the stitch length is accomplished by turning a knob in the center of the hand wheel. A spindle moves the mechanism to change the stitch. Sometimes this doesn't work or the stitch may be locked at a certain length, especially if the machine was used in a factory. You can still change the stitch length by two screws which are easily accessible under the access plate on top of the machine near the hand wheel.

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Thank you Guys, I am really glad you are out there. I have a line on two used machines, both in very good condition both consew. They are from a recently working and now defunct leather shop. First a consew 277r second a newer consew 287r. Both are somewhat higher priced. As I wrote earlier I do bags and belt and wallets cylinder arm essential. Consew 277 has a smaller and more slim arm. The difference is about one inch around on cylinder 277 being smaller. The shop person says the 277 can sew up to 207 thread and the 287 even larger. Both he said will sew 69. Standard flat tables and I will have to swap out motors for a servo and speed reducer. What do you guys think of these models and their compared usefullness for my projects? Your advise is and will be valued. Thank you, Yuman

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