Cheap Chinese sewing machine question

[Wdiaz03]

Thank you all for the great replies, I ended up buying it from ebay for #114 and it arrived quickly. First thing was taking the machine apart and scrubbing it with mineral spirit. Then it was on to grind the rough spots, and bending and aligning stuff. sanding sliding surfaces and applying grease. and oil. End result is that it runs pretty smooth. i only have the nylon fishing line looking string it comes with and have tried it on leather and rubber. seems to work.  Want to align round ring on top of the head some more since foot is higher on one side than the other, this causes different size stitches when rotating the foot. other than that I'm ready to venture on my first project. a pocket holster that prints like a wallet. Have the pattern cut.

Unfortunately I don't have a Facebook account and i'm hesitant to create one, but that seems like a nice source of wisdom, I mostly watched youtube videos and that got me going. Also I'm new to leather or sewing in general over the years a have salvaged leader form discarded furniture knowing i would eventually would try to sew it. I ordered some scrap of thick leather from ebay as i don't know where to get it. Ideally one could dumpster dive at a local leather goods factory. but do those exist anymore

I've attached a sample of rubber and leather tests on he rubber I changed stich length while stitching just to see.

Thanks again.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Wdiaz03

[Wizcrafts]

4 hours ago, Wdiaz03 said:

i only have the nylon fishing line looking string it comes with and have tried it on leather and rubber. seems to work. 

You can buy #69 (aka: T70) bonded nylon or bonded polyester thread all over the place. Load some bobbins with it then thread it along the top. I don't know what needle "system" it uses, but the needle's "size" should be 18/110 for #69 bonded thread. Here is a thread and needle chart/specs sheet to help you match thread and needle sizes (diameters).

[Wdiaz03]

3 hours ago, Wizcrafts said:

You can buy #69 (aka: T70) bonded nylon or bonded polyester thread all over the place. Load some bobbins with it then thread it along the top. I don't know what needle "system" it uses, but the needle's "size" should be 18/110 for #69 bonded thread. Here is a thread and needle chart/specs sheet to help you match thread and needle sizes (diameters).

Thank you, good info, This machine uses 15x1 which I think is the same as me old singer slant-o-matic 401A that I picked up at a goodwill for $25 years ago. But I have not tried it. I did order 10 needles packs of 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 from aliexpress and those were $0.25 a pack. I will order T60 T90 and T135 from amazon soon. that should get me going. The only issue is the thick leather. I ordered a bag if scrap from ebay for $17 which seems expensive, don't know. As i said before the thinner stuff I find easily as people discard furniture and I take chucks of leather from those. any ideas on sourcing scraps of leather would be helpful. It seems that what I got from ebai neesds to be stained but that seems like another can of worms.

Quick question regarding locking the ends of a stitch, do i start 2 stitches away from the corner, stitch 2 stitches to the corner, then reverse over those and continue on? 

 Thanks,  

Edited February 24, 2021 by Wdiaz03

[Nailbanger]

Save some money and just buy Armitages new book and awl and some needles and Tiger thread. You will be better off, especially on small stuff

[chrisash]

The basic fact is that semi pro leatherworkers or those with money to spend on their hobby will always buy the best they can afford, whilst the basic person dabbling in leatherwork on limited finances to spend on a hobby or maybe not able to hand sew anymore just wants a low cost investment that does a job. I guess nobody expects the Chinese Patcher to give results equal to a $1500-2000 machine, but some people can only afford Tandy stamps or cheap leather  yet are happy with their choice

[JollyDodgerCanvas]

I bought this machine years ago and use it for what it's intended for, repair. I spent a lot of time cleaning it up and polishing everything I could and it runs well, eventually mounted it to a table and attached a 550W motor to it. I only use it on occasion and it's great for those very hard to get at places which none of my other machines will sew. Is it for production of fine leather goods? No, but for repair work it's amazing. I looked at the old 29K's and could not find one any where near me so I took a chance and bought the Chinese patcher and am happy with it for the limited work it does. I generally run V92 top and bottom with 135x17 needles. I have run V69 for actually applying patches to a hat and jacket, works fine. Perhaps I was lucky with mine but if you play around enough with it you can get it to sew reasonably well. Not as nice as my other industrial machines, but unique in it's capability so I have left it set up.

[Frodo]

my cp running and sewing

 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qe10cwu2LLc

Edited February 3, 2022 by Frodo

[Frodo]

HUH...Can not edit.   I bought a CP, and that machine and i went round and round,   Finally, I figured it out

If you are not mechanically inclined, Do not buy one. If you are handy with a wrench then the machine IS A GOOD sewing machine. Just stop and think. It was designed to patch a shoe, that means it was designed to sew a stitch line about an inch or two long. it is not a sewing machine. It CAN BE, but you are going to have to put the effert into the machine to reach that goal.  First off.  tear it down a get rid of all burs and rough spots in the metal. Then, you have to learn and understand how the machine operates . you will have to learn about tension . This is what i mean.   I was 2 pcs of 6oz chrome tan, the tension was set about midway on one of the tension adjusters.  Then I decided to sew 2 pcs of 9oz veg tan. and all hell broke loose. I had a rats nest on the bottom  I finally figured out that I did not have enough tension.  To get the correct tension I used TWO tension adjusters. I say this to show you that the tension adjustment is a huge factor.  

secondly.  I can not control a decent stitch line when hand cranking. I can however make a pretty handsome stitch line after I added a servo.you need to power it.

the cheapest way I have found to attach a pulley to the machine.  Use a light fixture offset cross bar. See image  and a 6''' chicago v belt pulley.  attach crossbar to the hand crank wheel bolt.  attach the pulley to the cross bar by drilling 2 holes

 

[Spyros]

It looks pretty accurate here (go to 8:40)

 

[Squid61]

It's amazing how persistent this question is!  I guess if the question is asked and answered enough one might eventually get an answer that enables a purchase.