Adler 205-374

[shoepatcher]

llucas,

When you call Weaver Leather, ask to speak to Allen Burkholder. He is the expert on the 205. Has worked on them for over 20 years.

glenn

[llucas]

llucas,

When you call Weaver Leather, ask to speak to Allen Burkholder. He is the expert on the 205. Has worked on them for over 20 years.

glenn

Glenn, thanks for the contact. Great help on this forum.

[llucas]

Uwe, would the left side presser feet and smooth needle plate/smooth feed dog you are selling on eBay be more suitable for finished leather than the harness makers set-up I am using now? The refurbishing of the Adler 205-374 is coming along nicely, but I am finding the harness makers needle plate, grooved feed dog and walking feet leave pretty severe marks and impressions. I have adjusted the presser feet knob on the top until it is almost all the way extended, but the harness makers upper walking foot and the lower harness makers double feet leave deep marks. Indeed, you can see on the bottom serrations and an impression where the feed dog drops below the surface of the plate. It definitely does not look good. I use both pre-finished leather and veg-tan for my holsters and belts. I can make the current set-up work with veg-tan, but it badly mars the pre-finished leather. If you wish to communicate privately my email is: drllucas@aol.com

Edited November 24, 2015 by llucas

[Uwe]

I don't know exactly what kind of harness feet you are using now so it's hard to judge. A close-up picture of your harness feet would be useful.

In general, all the harness feet I've used had tiny footprints (compared to standard feet) which is much more likely to leave impressions on leather (just like high heels on a wood floor.) It's mostly about pounds per square inch, and a tiny footprint is definitely is not your friend if your goal is not to leave an impression. My harness feet had about one-tenth the footprint of regular presser foot and therefore about ten times the pressure per square inch compared to a regular presser foot.

Unless you're actually making a horse harness from tough bridle leather or really need to get super close to a buckle or sew along a sliver of an edge, a bigger/wider presser foot combined with a smooth throat plate and feed dog might be a better choice. But you won't know for sure until you try it out. The KH-205M throat plate and feed dog are the smoothest setup I've seen for the Adler 205-370 by a good margin. My standard throat plate has fairly strong serrations and fairly sharp edges (and a few battle scars from the previous owner.) The KH-205M throat plate and feed dog setup is not exactly cheap, but it's really well made and you can return it if it doesn't offer a significantly improvement over your current setup. The KP205LN/RN (or even the standard double-toe) presser feet have big and smooth feet bottoms (compared to harness feet) which again is good for minimizing pressure per square inch and potential markings.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Uwe

[llucas]

Thanks for the info, Uwe. The plate, feed dog and walking feet on this machine are pretty rough. Here are a few photos.

Edited November 24, 2015 by llucas

[llucas]

Here is the beastie. Believe it or not, this is AFTER I cleaned it up, lol:

Edited November 24, 2015 by llucas

[llucas]

Here is what it is doing now that I have it working. This is on prefinished 8 oz double layer. The adjustment on the presser feet using the top knob is almost all the way out. Still unsatisfactory. on the back side where the machine is reversed you can see it scrapes the leader pretty badly -- and this is after I filed the sharp edges off the needle plate and feed dog. Pretty rough. Sorry the photos are so blurry. I did this with the iPhone on zoom. Couldn't get my hands still enough.

This is what it does to veg tan:

By the way, the frayed stitch in the veg tan photo is from a problem I am trying to solve wherein the thread frays a little after it reaches the guide hole on the needle rod shaft and as it passes through the needle eye. Perplexing.

Edited November 24, 2015 by llucas

[llucas]

Christmas gift-buying cash flow now in the past, I finally decided and ordered a few parts from Allen at Weaver (new throat plate that is flatter than stock, smooth feed dog,timing device, oil tubing and wicks and more nylon thread). Still more to research and buy later: servo motor, speed reducing pulley, smooth large toe double presser foot, smooth center presser foot, no mar outside presser foot for stitching the edge of belts, etc. One step at a time a few parts at a time -- fixed income is a bear. The machine should be acceptably functional by next week. Thanks for all the help on this forum. I will post photos of the project and how it sews as it develops.

[llucas]

More challenges (also given in another post): the new throat plate and feed dog from Weaver were installed and the feed dog moved back in the sewing cycle below the throat plate instead of 1mm above it, marring the leather on the back side. Allen at Weaver Leather diagnosed the problem immediately. The feed dog carrier had almost a millimeter of wear on the surface that is lifted by the cam. This was the reason the feed dog could not be lifted the required 1mm above the throat plate when traveling back in preparation for the next stitch and was the source of the damage on the back side of the leather pictured above. The cam shaft and feed dog carrier are on their way to Allen at Weaver Leather where the feed dog carrier will be repaired and ground to match the cam. Hopefully, problem solved. Allen at Weaver Leather has amazing knowledge about the Adler 205 series and terrific repair resources.

[llucas]

I received a call from Allen at Weaver Leather this morning. He was able to repair the feed dog carrier and the cam is fine! The repair only cost 6% of what a new feed dog carrier costs! Hopefully in a few days I will be making good stitches with no damage to the back side of the leather from dragging against the throat plate on the back stroke.

Edited January 26, 2016 by llucas