Consew skiving machine has 3 small chips missing from blade

[JeannieH]

Hi. I just purchased a consew dcs s4. The store said it was new...charged me 1095 for it. I drove three hours to pick up from sewing machine.com in Atlanta ga. So I noticed that the table it was on wasn’t new and it was a singer table. Had a worn look to it but I dont care about the table. When I got home I didn’t have time to do anything. The next day my husband and I decide to give it a look over and see how to use it. Long story short...I know it’s a learning phase for this machine..but the leather doesn’t move smoothly at all and kept bunching. I decided to look under the machine. I saw a small chip on the cutting side of the blade..further inspection I found two more! So I’m thinking there is no way this is a new machine and I don’t think sharpening the blade will fix these nicks. So I would have to buy another blade then drive three hours one way to have the same company put a new blade in a machine I have had for 3 days! Will sharpening take the nicks out? Am I overreacting to want to return the machine? I was financing it with 12 months no interest....

[RockyAussie]

Those nicks should sharpen out alright.Just off the top of my head the bell starts at about 2" wide and I normally replace mine when they get down to about 1" or a bit more. I would like to see a few more pictures all the same of the sharpening stone, where you have your foot set to in relation to the blade and the angle of the stone in relation to the bell blade and so on.

[JeannieH]

Ok. I’m going to go and take more pictures. I am going to call the place still and express how I feel I’m paying a new price for a used machine! Maybe they will knock off some off the price. If they don’t I will insinuate I will be returning it ..hope that works out lol.

[RockyAussie]

7 minutes ago, JeannieH said:

Ok. I’m going to go and take more pictures. I am going to call the place still and express how I feel I’m paying a new price for a used machine! Maybe they will knock off some off the price. If they don’t I will insinuate I will be returning it ..hope that works out lol.

Alright ...but a wrong set up and sometimes some leather types as well will cause this and you may want them for help at some future time. I would give us a chance to see the other pictures first myself. Brian

Did you get a dressing stone stick with it?

Edited February 12, 2018 by RockyAussie
I forgot to ask something

[JeannieH]

Ok. Yes I got the dressing stone stick but I didn’t get the deburring stone..or the 25mm foot..or the hinge screws and washer for installing the guide...things a new machine should have right lol!

[RockyAussie]

AQ few further back pics would be good ...but it does not apear to be all that new so far. The bell is a little too close to the foot. Once you sharpen out those nicks it will be about right though. The feed stone is sitting down too low and should be very nearly touching the bell inside.One turning knob on the left at the front will alow angle changes and on the left side there is an adjustment set up to allow you to move the stone upward. There are a few you tubes out there on how to do these adjustments and I would check them out first. I will look some up and give you some links tomorrow. My dinners ready NOW i'm told.

[JeannieH]

I emailed them to see if they would adjust the pricing to match the condition. We will see. Ok I will send pics further away. Yes I’ve watched videos before I even turned it on. I will try sharpening when my kids wake up. I will be using it on leather 2-6 ounze. Enjoy your dinner and I will make adjustments like you mentioned. Thanks for helping me!

[CowboyBob]

On the last pic it looks like it is just some metal burrs from sharpening that could be taken off by running your stick on it.

[JeannieH]

Problem is I don’t have the stick to do that! They will let me bring it back but are trying to persuade me to let them send me the missing pieces and a new blade. I rather return it and get a new one when they get them in. I see that replacing a blade is not an easy job.

[JeannieH]

What are some other affordable skiving machines in the price range as the consew? That offers financing? If this consew isn’t a good machine I rather return it and find something else. 

[Ferg]

You got stiffed. Get your money back and go somewhere else to get a machine. What you gave for it is not a new price. Think $1495.00

That said: You will have trouble skiving 2oz. leather, especially without an Ultra Sharp Bell Knife. The knife on your machine has been through the mill plus some other things I noticed. This machine has had a troubled life. I wouldn't touch that with a twenty foot pole. 

Ferg

[JeannieH]

Well said Ferg! They are going to replace this one one a new one. Believe me I will be looking it over extremely well! I know what to look at and I won’t walk out with another crappy machine! They are also throwing in 100 store credit so I will leave it until I’m ready to buy a postbed.

[RockyAussie]

10 hours ago, JeannieH said:

Problem is I don’t have the stick to do that! They will let me bring it back but are trying to persuade me to let them send me the missing pieces and a new blade. I rather return it and get a new one when they get them in. I see that replacing a blade is not an easy job.

I doubt whether the bell needs replacing. These chips outs are not all that uncommon. There is a line just before the edge on the bell that makes me thing that the bell was too close to the foot as that happens like that and is murder on the bell if it is too close. I would like to see a picture of the sharpening stone as If it is well used the size will be small and the sharpening is less broad across the bell. If it becomes too angled the feeding becomes more difficult. IMHO whether a machine is new or not if it is not set up right it is not the machines fault. For now here is 1 link that I found that may help-  Its not brilliant but is a fair enough to start off with.

 

[JeannieH]

Ok I will take a look at the video! I agree with it needing to be set up correctly. They knew they weren’t giving me a new machine as I was told though. They were too apologetic in their reply. So I’m glad I spoke up about it. I have had time to look at this one and when I get the replacement home, I know how the knobs work so I will get it set up according to my leather before turning it on. I’m pretty good with mechanics. I time my consew 227r and fix issues I have with it. No choice because else I would have to drive 6 hours round trip to get it serviced! Thanks for the input everyone!

[JeannieH]

Update on the skiving machine. I went and got a real new one. Hadn’t been turned on..they just assembled it and the blade was nice and straight. Hadn’t even been turned on. Way happier and it works great. At first I was a little worried about howling it would take me to get the hang of it...because it was hard to feed the leather and it didn’t go smoothly like all the videos I see. Then it hit me..the stone is turning to the left..making me fight against it to feed to the right. So my husband switched the motor to turn the opposite direction and voila! Like butter the leather slid right on through. I have all the accessories this time as well. Now, shouldI replace the stone roller with a steel one at some point? Is this something hard to do?

[RockyAussie]

4 hours ago, JeannieH said:

Update on the skiving machine. I went and got a real new one. Hadn’t been turned on..they just assembled it and the blade was nice and straight. Hadn’t even been turned on. Way happier and it works great. At first I was a little worried about howling it would take me to get the hang of it...because it was hard to feed the leather and it didn’t go smoothly like all the videos I see. Then it hit me..the stone is turning to the left..making me fight against it to feed to the right. So my husband switched the motor to turn the opposite direction and voila! Like butter the leather slid right on through. I have all the accessories this time as well. Now, shouldI replace the stone roller with a steel one at some point? Is this something hard to do?

The steel feed wheel should only be necessary for firm to hard leathers and there are a few advantages to sticking with the stone as well unless you get a lot of feed slipping problems. A roller foot would be something to get if you have not already. If you check my you tube vids may help there.

[JeannieH]

Ok where can I find your YouTube videos? I will look for roller feet online now.

[RockyAussie]

1 hour ago, JeannieH said:

Ok where can I find your YouTube videos? I will look for roller feet online now.

Under this answer there should be a blue link that says You Tube Channel. You should only need to click on that.

[JeannieH]

There isn’t anything under your answer. If you give me the name I can search it on YouTube. I’m on my iPhone so maybe it appears on the computer. I will check.

[JeannieH]

Is there a way I could control the stone and blade separately? I wish the blade could just be turned on and I could control the speed of the stone...if that even makes sense to do that...

[RockyAussie]

9 hours ago, JeannieH said:

There isn’t anything under your answer. If you give me the name I can search it on YouTube. I’m on my iPhone so maybe it appears on the computer. I will check.

This link should take you to one that is relevant.

 

8 hours ago, JeannieH said:

Is there a way I could control the stone and blade separately? I wish the blade could just be turned on and I could control the speed of the stone...if that even makes sense to do that...

If all is working well the clutch should give you a good controllable feed through. Does your bell knife not run at a speed continuously?

[JeannieH]

There is a servo motor controlling the knife and roller.

[RockyAussie]

1 minute ago, JeannieH said:

There is a servo motor controlling the knife and roller.

So when you stop the bell knife stops as well? I had a very old Frobana that did that with a clutch motor and Note I said the word had. That is not to say that a servo motor can not do it though. The servo on my large sewing machine allows a great range of speed variation. I have heard of people splitting the drives onto 2 servo motors and in time that may be something to consider. I will say that a roller foot will give you better control as my video should show somewhat. The friction of the standard feet do hamper the smooth feed.

[JeannieH]

Ok I watched the video. I definitely will get a roller foot. Yes it stops when I stop pressing the pedal. I will give t some time and figure out how to separate the two. Right now it’s doing what I need so I won’t mess with it. Do you have videos on different techniques making leather purses on your YouTube? My problem areas are straps for some reason! 

[JeannieH]

Hate to keep bothering you guys but I’m about to lose it. I’m working on a bag I just made a pattern for. This is just a test to make sure my pattern works. I skived the gusset and the front and back piece will be sewn overlapped with the edges painted. So I keep getting skipped stitches. My machine is timed that was the first thing I checked. I changed the needle a few times..right now I have a #16 or 18 tri cut needle. I retreaded...I adjusted the feed dog..put more tension on the presser foot...I’m still getting skipped stitches. I have been taking the thread out and going back over in the same holes..still skips and once it skipped almost every stitch! I got a scrap of the same leather... no skips. I made sure not to get any glue where I would be stitching...I’m out of ideas. I will have to hand stitch the rest because I’m tired of redoing it. I have attached pics of the bag inside and out.