Opinions: Smooth Needle Plate,feed Dog Walking Feet

[llucas]

I am refurbishing an Adler 205-374 to sew prefinished leather and veg tan. The harness makers setup on the machine has the standard needle plate with notches; serrated feed dog and little feet on the harness makers walking feet. It leaves the back side of the prefinished leather pretty rough and I am not fond of the front stitch with its deep groove. Question: what did you use as a replacement for the needle plate, feed dog and walking feet to get good results for sewing prefinished leather or veg tan used for holsters, gun belts, etc? I need something that will play nicer with the leather and not leave marks.

[Uwe]

For needle plates this HighTex Throat/Needle Plate page pretty much shows the available options for a Durkopp Adler 205-370 class machine. Hightex is the same as CowBoy, so vendors like Toledo Bob or other banner vendors should be able to get them for you. Some throat plates with the thin slot turn the machine into a needle feed machine (feed dog is removed), which may be just fine for what you're trying to do.

For presser feet, a lot of folks on here simply take an existing toothed foot and grind/file off the teeth and then polish it up good to make it as smooth as a baby's bottom.

Edited November 27, 2015 by Uwe

[Uwe]

The promotional brochure for the Durkopp Adler 205 series shows the original smooth parts on page six, in case you want to look up and price some OEM part numbers.

[llucas]

Uwe, thanks again for good information. Very helpful.

[llucas]

I did contact toledo Bob as you suggested. He referred me to Weaver for presser feet. For what it is worth. I am almost through gathering preliminary information on this subject. The smooth needle plate and feed dog you have on eBay seems to be the smoothest option for prefinished leather. Decisions, decisions.

[Uwe]

I don't want to make your decision any harder, but your issue prompted me to make yet another alternative, a needle feed throat plate. Sometimes the bottom feed dog mechanism is causing more trouble than helping. Some folks use the 205 as a needle feed machine for certain tasks by "turning off" (i.e. removing) the feed dog. This throat plate enables needle feed mode and provides a small flat work surface which is handy for belts, wallets, and other flat work pieces. You remove the feed dog entirely and the material is moved only by the needle and inner presser foot by dragging it across the very smooth surface. It doesn't entirely eliminate marks, but it's a big improvement for certain tasks on my machine. If you need to get hat SUV up the mountain without leaving ANY tire tracks, you need to hire fifty barefoot sherpas to carry it up there.

This may be a good option if you have just one or two layers to deal with.

Here are two screenshots from my CAD program and a quick snapshot of my prototype:

Edited December 7, 2015 by Uwe

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

I know nobody cares, but I wanted you to know anyway that the Hightex parts pages linked here that include the Adler 366 needle plate is not the same as the 266 needle plate. Adler 266 part number 0066-201590 they have listed as a 366/266 needle plate, I stock and sell both, they are different physical needle plates and are not comparable..

Edited December 7, 2015 by Gregg From Keystone Sewing

[Kohlrausch]

your issue prompted me to make yet another alternative, a needle feed throat plate.

Uwe, you are one bad boy.

Greets

Ralf C.

[llucas]

The flat needle plate is an interesting option. As someone new to sewing with a machine and very inexperienced, my question would be could the needle alone easily move 1/4" of leather to keep the stitches even and would that much leather put too much lateral strain on the needle? Most of the product I make is at least 1/4" thick. A few years from now when I have a little experience these questions will not arise. It may not be an issue, but I am very much a novice with sewing machines.

Edited December 8, 2015 by llucas

[OLDNSLOW]

I am having the same question, I just got my machine running as well and don't like the marks that are being left on the leather by the walking foot. I read on another thread on this website that the person had ground down the serrations and then polished so that the marks were then minimalized. Is that about the only option or is there another option out there.

Thanks

[Uwe]

In general, to minimize marks on your leather, you want the surfaces touching the leather be as smooth as possible with no sharp edges, have the surfaces be as big as possible to distribute the pressure over a larger area, and have the pressing force be as low as possible while still holding on to the leather and letting the machine make good stitches. No matter what kind of sewing machine you have, it'll take some experimenting with various feet, needle/throat plates and pressure settings. Report back if you find a combination that works well!

[OLDNSLOW]

well being a newby to the machine and sewing in general I guess I now need to figure out how to adjust that pressure.

[Uwe]

Most of these industrial sewing machine have some kind of thumb screw at the top that allows you to adjust how hard the presser feet push down. Many people never adjust that foot pressure because it

works fine as it is for most tasks and some don't l know they even can adjust the foot pressure. The owner's manual for your machine probably talks about it. On the Adler 205, it's the screw that I'm removing at the beginning and then tighten again at the end of this video:

[OLDNSLOW]

Thanks for the info I will look to see if I can find a utube video on it, again much thanks for the info.