singer 401a

[chuck123wapati]

I have a really nice singer 401 a I know it wont do thick leathers but am wondering if anyone can give me an idea how thick of stuff it will do. Its in perfect shape and I don't want to ruin it on something to thick for it to handle. Any advice is greatly welcomed as I was thinking about a daypack made with leather and oilcloth.

[Wizcrafts]

Slant-O-Matics, like your 401 aren't meant to penetrate leather. The angle of the needle causes it to deflect off the strong top grain of anything other than soft chrome tanned leather. The needle could splinter into dozens of pieces when it deflects.

Before I ever had an industrial sewing machine I tried a Slant-O-Matic at a Tandy Leather shop (private sale). I made a leather vest from a Tandy pattern pack and wanted a machine to sew it together along the various seams. I brought in some pieces of the leather they had sold me a month earlier and put a couple pieces together and tried sewing them on a slant needle. The needle deflected and broke into dozens of tiny pieces, some of which hit me. Never again!

The needle must hit the leather dead on inline. It takes a lot of torque to penetrate real leather, especially hard stuff. You aren't going to get this power in a domestic sewing machine unless it is only a few ounces of combined seams that are soft to medium temper.