The Infamous $100 Leather Sewing Machine: Unboxing and Setup 

Barely getting into leather crafting and this comment pushed me in the right direction! Thank you!

People that do hand embroidery, top stitching with multiple threads use bees wax to keep the threads from twisting.

My old Adler 30-1 has a beeswax cup to wax thread as it fed through.

Its called a saddle stitch.... just because its for saddles............ tutorials all over youtube. watch more than one, as it seems everyone has there own tricks to get it done.

i have an old singer treadle sewing machine. the shuttle bobbin. i have it set up to sew 8oz veg tan on foot power. does great on it, not that hard of the leg/foot either

That's very cool! You are blessed to have a gifted seamstress for a mother

I live 9 minutes away from Portsmouth! Neat

Every once in while there is a moving comment to read. I am glad you took the time to write that about your mother. I would have loved to have purchased a suit or coat that was made specifically for me. Very cool!

>>- 💝--> MOM

Thank you for telling us your family history !

As a teen I worked for a company that rented out inflatables and then staffed the events to supervise the children. I have an unreasonable hatred for inflatables after a couple summers of rolling up a 800lb haunted house that was soaked in another few hundred pounds of rain after spending 5 hours wrangling kids

@@Grom-rl8bm I hope you were well compensated

@@Grom-rl8bm Lol I've been slinging the vinyl for five years. Its a hell of a grind, and i don't blame any ones hatred. I absolutely love the shit though lol.

I've had mine for a while and I agree. A drill is much better as a bobbin winder. Lowering the thread with the wive that came with mine works perfectly. I did not polish the teeth of the walking foot. It gives me a better grab on the leather. It's just something I work with in the end when finishing up.

It looks like it's worth getting.

Why not use a drill and drive belt to drive the hand wheel ?

@@TheRealBrownShady That will depend on the needle and project. Out of the box and for a wide range of common uses I use a #69 bonded nylon thread.

using a drill to wind the bobbin defeats the whole purpose, you might as well just spend a couple hundred bucks more and get an electric consew

I have one of these for many years and I completely agree with all you said in your comment.

I was just gonna say the same thing.

Wow! That's good to know. Thanks.

Very interesting video. I’m a long time tailor and have always wondered about the types of machines that sew leather as cobblers use. Pretty good for the price. 👍

I8

@@dennissmith8385 ???????

Look up the defintion for cosmoline. It's like earwax. Sort of.

@@patriciajrs46 best description ever....

Depends on the supplier.@@patriciajrs46

Came here to say the same

@@maryannadkins-bahena1178 "heads up guys, the boss is speaking." Makes so much more sense now, thanks for clarifying.

As a cobbler, I was just about to say this :)

That narrow bottom is a huge advantage for making small narrow bags, and I built a removable platform to make the base much bigger for most jobs. After minor adjustments, proper thread and needles, and a simple wooden base with removable platform, this machine will do just about anything I want in leather. I never used a machine before but it is very easy and fun.

my godparents had a machine on a pedestal just as you describe ,as you quite rightly mention was to allow for larger work to be swung around the machine.

yep... u got it...

Are you saying it needs to be mounted vertically...

I agree Leslie.

Agreed. If you’ve not seen it yet, Tim Hunkin’s Secret Life of Machines series is now on RU-vid - including the Sewing Machine episode.

That basically goes for any sewing machine that is well enough made that it can get way out of adjustment, which is basically every quality industrial machine. I had a 2000 dollar sail making machine and it worked flawlessly out of the box. It was supposed to also sew items around the house. I made adjustments and it took me 2 years and learning sewing machine repair to eventually get it working again. My advice there is if the machine ever works, standardize bobbin tension, then you can easily return to correct tension if you need to start from the beginning. But there are so many things that have to work in concert that if you start chasing them you can never tell which is messed up since they all need to be right to work. This kind of issue is why there are sewing machine repair people, or used to be. Not rocket science, but can still be difficult. One problem with the Sailrite was it had a mark on the needle bar that is the set position for bar height, but it was 1/2" off. One has to go through hell before one will decide the whole thing is out of whack by 1/2". I figured that was the one thing I could rely on. :)

@@masterpiecetools131 Agreed. I have 4 industrial sewing machines and the ability to service them is essential. The CLSP is a bit of a different story. It’s not entirely finished when you get it. The finishing on metal surfaces is rough and a good amount of fettling is necessary to make these usable.

Agreed, not a true compound walking foot where the foot would be split into two parts, one of which would always be in contact with the workpiece.

😂

Exposed studs are awesome for hanging things from too. Basement workshops are awesome in the summer too.

I always admire a guy that can get 10 lbs. Of stuff in a 5 lbs. Box!👍🏻

Thanks for the info! Lots to do for sure.

Thanks CCO!

Thank you

Thanks for watching.

Thanks Dave.

I picked up the singer model for 100 Canadian, in perfect working order all the parts including the stand. Not sure you can get deals like that any more. Restored with a cheap motor they go for 2 grand from distributors, but shoe repair shops were going out of business every week 10 years ago, and there were tons of real machines on ebay. You could also occasionally get the model this chinese machine is ripping off. But they tended to be around 300. But I would look on ebay or craigs before pulling the trigger on this thing. I have a cobra also the long arm, I think it is a 3. The existence of those machines, and they are light compared to needle awl machines, shows why people are hoping for too much out of this thing.

@@masterpiecetools131 I was wondering if the main arm and other mechanical components were vintage resold with new pivots and other parts prone to failure. I am actually very intrigued as I want to start making custom tool belts and accsseroies with leather and polyester so I am in the research phase.

@@masterpiecetools131 what are we looking for with these other models you're talking about, names? Singer 29k SV8 Cobbler Patching??

What kind of leather thicknesses can this $100 model handle? I'm worried it won't be useable for belts.

I was thinking the same. Small but very clever use of space!

Is that what you call it? 🙂 my shop is the same- some days i think man a warehouse with individual sections for each category of work would be heaven.

Also with that arm hanging in the wind, if its dropped in shipment, it keeps a shock absorber in place. Gotta prevent that metal from smacking.

This also is done so any excess oil coming out of the sewing machine is absorbed in the fabric swatch and not on the bed after being serviced/lubricated for the first time.

@@kazzooka I think these are usually included as a test piece for setting tension and also to demonstrate the machine was working normally at the time of shipment.

:) What sort of motor did you use?

O.o ! Can you share details on how you motorized it? I've been eyeing sewing machine motor and pedal sets, but another youtuber found the speed to be too much. I suspect the pedal wasn't adjusted right, but maybe you have a solution

You got it! Aqualung!

@@TheArtofCraftsmanship "Ya poor ol' salt, you see it's only me..." 😎

Lol just spent an hour sewing one side of a pouch

Could i order one to your house for you to mod it and ship it to me hahaha

@@tristanhinkley1023 lol...I won't go into how long it took me to drill a 22mm hole through a steel block for the bearings. I should make a video of it really.

Thank you for letting us know about the issues you had.

No doubt!, I was thinking 'what a nightmare machine, spend more for something that works, and has a foot pedal!'

We will, thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching Rewind!

P.s. I forgot to add; I learned a great simple shop/craft/sewing tip along time ago that is a great preventive of rust and helps any material your working with to slide or move on metal surfaces; i use turtle wax rubbing compound on all my tool table tops, sewing machine foot and plate; scissor, knife and axe blades (non food of course).

I saw that your not to use waxed thread ,will gum up

Glad I am not the only one! It's rather meditative

Agreed

Not a bad was to spend $95... either way.

I was thinking about doing something similar with mine... Damn you! Now I need to figure out how 🤔 Thanks!

Get it!!! File every surface the thread comes in contact with and keep it lubricated and you'll be happy! Enjoy! I love mine!!!

@PSYCHO MIKO You are spot on about using monofilament. One of the major reasons for thread breakage is that the 'rough' cotton threads can drag through the material and break. Monofilament just slides through the material.

Tips: You need to *match the correct needle size and tip to your thread size.* Check out The Thread Exchange (dot com) for quality thread & needles. I use thread sizes from Tex 70 (size 69) to Tex 210 (size 207) on this same patcher with Groz-Beckert needles (HAx1 and/or 15x1), but you can also use industrial needles by moving the needle arm up a little (mark the original position with a sharpie or scratch before you move it). I use bonded polyester thread. The key is the *proper match* of a *quality needle to quality thread size* that matches your needle/thread and material (leather, bio-plastic, canvass, etc.). >>Note: The included needles & the black fishing line thread are junk. That's why the sample sewn was not done with the fishing line thread.😉 Clean the flywheel with a bronze brush & WD40, use some 220-grit paper on the sharp milling areas on the flywheel, lightly grease the tracks in the arm, lube the bearings at the flywheel & cam, use 400-grit paper on the top & sides of the arm, smooth your needle hole going into the bobbin case (top & below - sharp edges cut tge thread) with a rubber-grit Dremel polishing bit, clean your bobbin, bobbin case and hook with 400-grit paper, *know which BOBBIN HOLES to thread thru for various thread sizes*, ensure the bobbin is set in the case & arm correctly for *timing*, and this machine will run great. It is a little time with the initial cleaning, prep & setup, but is fun & worth it. Invest the short time & you will know this machine.

​@JunkMailBoxStuff wow! This is some great information. A friend of mine found one at a market stall here in Australia. It looks pretty much unused, although a little surface rust in places. So, he gifted it to me. I was unsure I wanted or needed it. Now the more I see, the I think how handy it will be. I usually hand sew leather and also have some canvas projects coming up. Your information here will be very helpful. Thank you!

Haha cheers Mattie!

Have you had a chance to try it yet? How’d it go?

Right?! Thanks for the inspiration.

Then I watched a video about motorizing the machine. Now I can’t remember what channel it was on. It seems like to motorize it was less than $50 with Amazon parts. A sewing machine motor with foot feet, a bracket from an electrical box and a pulley. The pulley attached via the electrical bracket and the sewing machine motor already had a pulley. The one caveat was that to get the motor to turn in the right direction you had to put a twist in the belt. The belt was made from weed wicker tubing. Cut to length and melted together to form a belt. Pretty neat and it worked great.

@@brucewrandol that’s me! That videos on my channel.

@@MakeEverything lol!

@@MakeEverything Why so it is; I actually watched that video before this one.

Lol was thinking the same thing when I saw him bust out the pliers

Where do I oil it?

@@lookinuparena this is a really good video about oiling this machine. I hope it helps. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M8SI3Yui1Qk.htmlsi=MaGKkEkJz2hU8uSX

Do it!!! I love mine!

This thing is relatively compact but you'll want some sort of clamp to keep it from moving around on you if you choose to make your own base. The tripod it comes with was absolutely worthless and it does need a quick wood base with a clamp or a grip matt under it. It only has one stitch size but is very easy to learn and can stich in circles just by rotating the foot thingamabob.

If one has the ability to, i would say to make a wooden box type case, with latches at the base, that acts like an old typewriter or sewing machine box/case

Thank you Keith. That's what we're going for. Cheers!

Is it still holding up?

Where did you buy your machine?

Same here, I just wiped it down, oiled it and went to town making holsters for some Star Wars cosplayers, no issues, first 3 blaster holster paid for this machine and the materials, I love it.

Thanks for watching brother! Hope you are having a better day today.

@@TheArtofCraftsmanship Thanks, Definitely having a better time. It was just one of those days

Awesome. The old machines work really well.

that way you can go into a boot and sew circles. The original machine was made for light leather work, sewing up bags etc.

Thanks Brice. It’s a cool machine.

It really is. Thanks for watching Roy!

Roy you don't really need to know much, it is literally the only sewing machine I've ever used.

I can only wince at the thought of how much the workers were paid making it.