SInger 29K and other Walking Foot Machines Presser Foot Marks - SOLVED!!

[Michael Schwartz]

All Walking foot machine users. Like the rest of you, I was somewhat dismayed over the walking foot marks left in my projects by the machine, especially in softer leather. 

I purchased a replacement foot and, using a grinder, I ground off the teeth on the bottom of the foot. Then I took the foot to a diamond plater, who fortunately is a good friend of mine. We chose the appropriate diamond size and type and plated a layer of diamond on the bottom of the foot. The coefficient of friction seemed right so I installed the foot on my machine. As you can see from the photo, the marks from the original "toothed" foot are on the right and the left two rows are from the diamond plated foot with absolutely no changes in pressure settings, only an interchange of the feet. 

 

As you can see, the marks are significantly reduced and I feel like I can use the patcher again for my projects where the foot marks are not tolerable.

Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a diamond foot for your machine. If a replacement foot is available, I can get one and plate it for you for $25 plus the cost of the foot.

[bikermutt07]

Great thinking.

[PeteBuh]

Looks pretty good. What is diamond plating? Do you actually affix ground up diamonds to the bottom of the presser foot?

[brmax]

That's a neat idea, so about .025" thick, how is that connected epoxy. I always did like the feet to be the same length so as not to need adjusting if getting real serious changing from several others like blanket, cording, etc..

 

[alexitbe]

After removing the teeth, why not simply sandblast the base to make rough and then polish by hand to the smoothnes you wish?

[ndnchf]

I read somewhere about gluing a piece of 400 grit sandpaper to the bottom foot after grinding down the teeth.  Not as classy a solution, but it works.

[dikman]

If you grind off the feet then depending on the grit you use you can get either a smooth polished foot or a rougher finish to give a bit of grip. I find a belt grinder very useful for re-shaping feet.

[alexitbe]

7 hours ago, dikman said:

If you grind off the feet then depending on the grit you use you can get either a smooth polished foot or a rougher finish to give a bit of grip. I find a belt grinder very useful for re-shaping feet.

This sounds the most sensible and easiest thing to do.  The grinder/sander is something that almost everyone will have access to

Cheers

Alex

 

[Michael Schwartz]

The Diamond is bonded to the foot with a proprietary overplating method (It's nice to have a friend in the diamond plating business) The huge advantage of the the Diamond plating over simply sandblasting, roughing up the surface or gluing sandpaper to the foot is that the Diamond is permanently bonded to the foot and will basically last longer than the machine itself. In addition, it is easy to choose different Diamond size and grit density for different materials. Simply grinding the foot may work for a while but the leather will quickly wear down the roughness created and the feed will become inconsistent. There is also a significant danger of grinding unevenly causing the foot to feed on a bias or possibly ruining the foot altogether.   I am currently selling 21K feet as fast as I can make them. They sell for $65 each with free shipping in the continental US. Multiple feet discounts are available. Contact me if interested.

[sarahagel]

Any chance you're still selling these presser feet? 

Thanks, Sara

[ChrisMarquez]

Same question And problem here, 29k eating up, scuffing and leaving marks on goat skin leather on the turn. Interested in a solution. Thank you.