Sewing Through Leather And Plywood

[ratty]

Many thanks for all of your replies. It does look like i will be able to sew through plywood to make my door card with my singer 111g155. I have attached a couple of photos of the original door card that i wish to copy. As you can see from the photo the plywood is three ply and made from soft wood. The pocket that needs to be sewn is made from 1.5mm chrome leather and the Hidem tape around the perimeter is made from old Rexine (vinyl). I think the moral of the story is, if in doubt try it before taking other peoples opinion as gospel.

thanks again

ian

[novoclan]

Unbelievably, I just finished sewing new door panels for a 1952 MG TD. Yours seems to be a little different design, but if you want some pics how I accomplished it, I would be happy to oblige. Now, I am on to sewing the seats and it is presenting it's own challenges. We lucked out with a leather color that is perfect. So, we're switching from the old vinyl. Of course, that means lots of work.

Anyway, hit me up if you want pics.

[novoclan]

Okay, so here are a few pictures of the mg td door.

It has a different trim than ratty's, so I didn't have to sew through wood. Instead, I just wrapped and stapled.

The leather was purchased from a discount store that deals in lots from failed businesses. So, I don't know where it actually came from originally.

Spent the whole day sewing the seats and finally figured a way to get the hook timing right. Four layers of leather and cushion material on a 1911 Singer. Yipe.

[Darren Brosowski]

In theory most machines can do it

The benefit of a 132k6 or 7 class is the pure rotating mass but it is only going to be of benefit with a larger diameter needle that has minimal deflection.

In most production of car trim they used very light plywood so in most cases a 111 or 211 would do the job. It was only with heavier materials that a 132 or 144 was required.

[LumpenDoodle2]

A friend of mine bought an old Singer 45K to sew through the plywood when he was restoring his classic car. He said it sailed through it with no problems.

[TinkerTailor]

Worst case scenario, take out the thread, handwheel it to punch holes and then hand stitch.

If the holes are pre-punched you can put a harness needle in an awl handle point first, and sew with the eye. This way, you can do machine style lockstitches by hand, kinda like a speedy stitch or a home made jerk needle, with a second thread as a bottom. Faster than saddle stitch. The eye is weaker so you can't use alot of force to push it however

I may have a harness needle or two epoxied into short dowels just to do this. This tool, along with a needle threader, is the easiest way to finish that last backstitch when the thread is too short.

[ratty]

I am adapting the singer 111w155 at the moment to hopefully give it more punching power. I have replaced the clutch motor with a 1Hp servo motor and replaced the motor with a smaller 40mm diameter one. At the moment i am in the process of casting a blank to make a new larger hand wheel 7" diameter and a 6" pulley. This should give the hand-wheel increased momentum and a lower gear ratio, thus more punching power. Has any body else had any experience increasing the size of the hand-wheel/pulley on a singer? I intend to use a number 23 needle (135x 16 TRI DPx16D) with a 20tkt bonded nylon thread to sew through the plywood and leather; do you think this type of needle point is the ideal choice or would a different shape tip be better?

Any thoughts?

[TinkerTailor]

Wear safety goggles. Its hard to stitch straight with one eye.....Needle breakage should be expected with an experiment like this. Pieces can fly far and fast.

And the handwheel swap will probably improve the machine, however remember that the machine was designed to work as built. If you Tim Taylor one system, another is likely to break. The old weakest link in the chain adage.

[sandyt]

On the 211G166, the handwiel is part of the shaft. It holds the bearing in place. Don't know if thats the case with the 111. So first take a look at that before you make your casting.

Sandy.

[Wizcrafts]

I am adapting the singer 111w155 at the moment to hopefully give it more punching power. I have replaced the clutch motor with a 1Hp servo motor and replaced the motor with a smaller 40mm diameter one. At the moment i am in the process of casting a blank to make a new larger hand wheel 7" diameter and a 6" pulley. This should give the hand-wheel increased momentum and a lower gear ratio, thus more punching power. Has any body else had any experience increasing the size of the hand-wheel/pulley on a singer? I intend to use a number 23 needle (135x 16 TRI DPx16D) with a 20tkt bonded nylon thread to sew through the plywood and leather; do you think this type of needle point is the ideal choice or would a different shape tip be better?

Any thoughts?

Try a few different needle points on some scrap wood first. They might be tri-point, LR, LL, round, diamond. Use the best one for the final sewing.

Also, if you are going to tape or glue the leather to the wood first, use Titanium coated needles. They seem to penetrate glue and tape better than standard steel needles. My Titaniums are tri-point.