Not A Leather Sewing Machine

[Anne Bonnys Locker]

So, a woman walked in the shop today with a 99k that she had mentioned some months back and I had given some advice on how to get going again. She had tried what I suggested but the stop motion screw was jammed tight - as it had been left by the clown who "serviced" it some years back. The offending piece of machinery was left with me and after a few drops of oil, a couple of taps with a mallet and some heaving with the multi grips the stop motion screw came off. This should have been the end of the problem but when I reinserted the washer correctly, screwed it together and ran the machine I found that the stop motion screw would come loose every now and then. Closer inspection showed some chips in the thread and all was well after replacing it with one off an older machine I had laying around.

Now it ran properly but the bottom end sounded like a cement mixer full of scrap iron. The rocker shaft had about 1/2mm (20thou) play in it and all three of the main connections were very loose. Another half hour had it all adjusted up beautifully and sounding superb (well, as superb as a 99 or 66 will ever sound). After remounting the motor correctly, cleaning out the shuttle area and checking every other connection out I am confident that this machine will happily run for another 50 years, although if was properly cleaned, oiled and maintained it could easily go for centuries.

What does this have to do with leather sewing machines? Regardless of how complex your machine they all have the same needs. If you are not cleaning, oiling and checking for loose connections on a regular basis then regardless of how much money you have spent then your lack of care will reduce the life of the machine and increase the frequency that you have to pay someone else to replace expensive parts that have prematurely worn out.

[TwinOaks]

Good post, Darren.

[bullrope braider]

very good point, thanks