Sewing machine for horse blankets?

[weedsportpete]

ah.. there's more than one kind of sewing machine.. thanks

[Hakim]

Typical of the can-do crowd of country folks here, I admire your spunky attitude in setting out to make do with a rigged up standard sewing machine.

Yes, you MAY be able to "make it work." For a time, and in a limited way. But, trying to do LEATHER on a standard machine is not likely to get results you deem acceptable.

Upholstery, canvas, tenting and similar materials sometimes will go through a modified standard sewing machine designed for cloth. You might even get it to work on "fabric leather."

But the items contemplated to fix here, such as bridles, belting, horse blankets and similar materials, simply will not work in a standard machine made for cloth. Even if it works at first, you will drive yourself crazy with breakdowns and repairs, which will plague any old machine overdriven in such a manner.

There are good reasons why all of the types of special-use machines are made. If all it required was to rig up a new pully belt, those factories who spends thousands per machine would be glad to learn of it. Or, the repair people skilled at working and fixing machines could get top rates for old equipment, by making just these kinds of modifications. But they don't.

If you are going to do anything beyond small and easy jobs, you will need an industrial machine that is designed for such applications.

You may also recall that the original poster even contemplated going into the repair and manufacture of these items as a sideline business (a good idea, I think actually). All of these criteria and requirements led me to the suggestion that I made, that he look for a used industrial machine, designed for this kind of work.

By all means go ahead and rig up something; see if you can get it to work for you. But it is wrong to assume that the average person with a few tools is going to obtain statisfactory results doing any significant volume of sewing with heavy fabrics and saddle leather, by making a few easy modfications to an old $20 used sewing machine.

[TimSullivan]

My wife has done a lot of leather work on an old Sears machine. I just spent fifteen minutes trying to find it in the loft of the barn to get the model number. It is somewhere in the pile of boxes there.

I know it is from the sixties and was the top of the line at the time. It has all steel gears and handles strap leather just fine. The sharp heavy duty needles are important my wife tells me.

She has a new machine that has all the bells and whistles but if it is leather to be done then we will be digging that old machine out of the barn.

[weedsportpete]

OK we got an old Singer industrial model. We got it at a sewing machine & vacuum cleaner shop. He said it was from the 1960s and was called a 'clothing machine'?? It has either a model number or serial number on it that says 188KI.

Any way, it worked fine in the shop, sounded very rugged and looked a little beat, but ran fine. It came with a table, with foot peddle and knee switch, a stand that mounts on the table for more thread reels. It had a reverse lever that you have to hold down.

We had to disassemble it to get it into the truck, which brings up my first question:

Is it normal to have the belt made of leather and be held together by a thick metal wire twisted together - he said you get new belts that are too long, you cut it to length and use an awl to punch holes in the leather near the ends and put the wire through it and crimp the wire. This looks and sounds kinda hoakie to me (apologies to Va Tech alumni). Is this normal?

Then we get it home and set it up, putting the belt back over the pully on the motor and the wheel on the right and as soon as I start it it slips off the outer wheel and slips down onto an inner wheel. I'm pretty sure it belongs on the outer wheel because the belt comes out of the holes in the table perfectly straight (lined up with the pully underneath). Maybe its not tight enough? Its a minor pain to put the belt back on because I have to pull the machine off the pegs in the table and lay it on its side in order to release enough tension on the belt to move it back on the wheel. Is there another way? Can I take off the plate on the end of the wheel?

Has anyone seen this kind of sewing machine?

Thanks..

He will warranty it for 6 months, and come out to re-align it when needed for $65. He did order a new belt and will get that and give it to us in a week.. I'm thinking I should just get him out to the house and put it on himself and make sure its all working before he leaves.

[weedsportpete]

I'll try some attachments.

[weedsportpete]

Model number/serial number.. maybe..

[weedsportpete]

this is fuzzy but it kind of gives you an idea about the belt held together with a piece of wire.

[weedsportpete]

Here's the motor.. or is that engine?

[weedsportpete]

Last one

[GaryM]

Can't answer for that particular machine, but many industrial drive belts are spliced with wire.