Buying first leather sewing machine

[Mocivnik]

7 hours ago, dikman said:

If you're making clothes, making/repairing rugs, sails, tarpaulins etc then a flatbed on a large table will make it much easier to handle the material. For what we do a cylinder arm has a bit more flexibility, but it's not essential.Many on here are happily using a flatbed for their work. My suggestion is to read as much on here as you can, looking at which machines members are using and what works for them. You will see that the same brands/models often tend to get mentioned. Make a list of what will suit you and then start looking to see what's available.Sometimes it can take a while until the right machine appears (unless you're very lucky, occasionally we've all had that happen ).

Nope, not anything as such. Knife sheats mostly and things such as pouches/bags etc. That's what I'd like to do in future.
Yup, that's what I'm planning to do, but before all, I need to know first, what I need. Like the type of feed and decide whether should I use flatbed or cylinder one..

[gigi]

7 minutes ago, Mocivnik said:

whether should I use flatbed or cylinder one..

You can use a flatbed attachment on a cylinder arm machine. It is easy to attach and you have both options in one machine. 

Edited August 28, 2017 by gigi

[mikesc]

Something else to think about..given that the items that you want to produce are small size..you can look at older machines ( both cylinder arm and flat bed ) that do not have reverse ( easy to turn around small items, rather than putting the machine into reverse to lock off stitches as most of us do with larger items )..older machines without reverse are cheaper, sometimes by a lot .

Edited August 28, 2017 by mikesc

[Mocivnik]

On 8/28/2017 at 0:07 PM, gigi said:

You can use a flatbed attachment on a cylinder arm machine. It is easy to attach and you have both options in one machine. 

Yup, that's what I was hoping for.

On 8/28/2017 at 1:02 PM, mikesc said:

Something else to think about..given that the items that you want to produce are small size..you can look at older machines ( both cylinder arm and flat bed ) that do not have reverse ( easy to turn around small items, rather than putting the machine into reverse to lock off stitches as most of us do with larger items )..older machines without reverse are cheaper, sometimes by a lot .

Hmm..I hope I can find any. And yes, it's true. I don't need a new one

 

ps: for everyone, that ever used the leather sewing machine, driven by foot: how difficult is to operate with that kind of machine?

[DrmCa]

Seeing how in Slovenia there is a shortage of used industrial machines, you might be better off sewing sheaths by hand for the time being.

Those household machines in your pictures will do you no good, they will break thread, break needles, even break take up levers pulling thread through heavy leather if you tried.

If you are handy with a grinding wheel, you can make awls and pricking irons from old chisels and files to get you going.

[mikesc]

ps: for everyone, that ever used the leather sewing machine, driven by foot: how difficult is to operate with that kind of machine?

It is actually quite easy, if you do not put your two feet on the pedal "side by side" ( which is what most people think that you should do ), what works far better is to put one foot with it's toe area resting on the part of the treadle nearest to you, and the other foot with it's toe are resting towards the back of the treadle ( not directly in front of each other as if you were walking on a tightrope, but around 15cm / 6 inches apart laterally , but with one foot further forward on the treadle than the other ) ..Then you press on the treadle with your feet alternately, as if you were rocking it around it's pivotal axis..This is much easier, and gives better control than if you put your feet next to each other..It is also less tiring.
When you start treadling you need to just pull the machine's pulley that is driven by the belt slightly to wards you so that the machine sets off turning in the correct direction ..the pulley turns towards you*..even if you have machine that can do reverse..the "reverse" direction is taken care of by the movement of the feed dogs changing..**A machine won't make stitches if the pulley is turning away from you.

*If you were looking at the driven pulley "end on" ( from the right hand side of the machine ) it must turn anti-clockwise..or "widdershins" ( Scots word derived from old "High German" ) ..if it turns "clockwise", your stitches, and possibly your machine will be banjaxed ( Irish word, meaning broken, destroyed, knackered etc ) ..in French déglingue ( day-glan-gay )..

**There are some rare exceptions to this, not machines that you are likely to come across

Edited August 31, 2017 by mikesc

[Mocivnik]

I just got an offer for Brother DB2-B705-503. I can get it for 300$ (250€), is it worth?

It's an old machine, fully working. Will it sew 2-3 layers of veg tan 6/7 (or 2.5mm) thickness?

[Constabulary]

Price is probably not too bad but depends on condition.Seems the DB-2 is a plain drop feed (feeding with feed dog only) machine made for sewing fabric and maybe lightweight garment leather. But I´d rather look for a triple feed sewing machine like Adler 67 / 167, Pfaff 145 / 545, Singer 111 Dürkopp 239 or similar.

[DrmCa]

If you'd add a roller foot to that Brother (which looks exactly like my Juki DDL-553) it may stitch light leather, but I'd recommend saving money for a walking foot like Constabulary said.

But stitching is not the problem - it is how the machine handles change in thickness and turns. Textile machines stitch differently when used with leather, it's unpredictable if the machine will or will not stitch.