Technical The upholstery thread to end all threads

Don't know if this was meant for me or not, but I used 1/4" foam for my door panels. I didn't want the pleats to look too poofy...

 

I like it just fine. I bought some inexpensive vinyl and started practicing right away. It seems to be a somewhat standard machine that is widely used, and there is a lot of stuff on YouTube about threading it, adjusting tension, oiling, etc, etc.

MY only advice on tension is not to over tighten the top thread tension adjuster. You don't want to see a lot of threads coming through the knurled adjusting nut. A few is fine, but if you have 5-6 threads showing, it's a bit too much.

There is a couple of videos on YouTube from a place that does repair and setup of those machines. It has been very helpful and I'll see if I can find a link and post them up.

Found them:

 

Hey appreciate that.... ill be watching em!!
R/
Boxcar

 

Speed reducer? We put a crank pulley off a 283 on the machine head so we could slow it down to a crawl. Our machine is a singer and has a last patent date of 1929. It's got a walking foot and my father made several different feet for it. It's supposed to be an old glove machine. We bought it at a farm auction for a dollar.

 

I went with the small motor pulley instead of the full jack shaft type of reducer. I can run the machine really slow, but it will still go pretty fast when the hit the pedal. I also have the motor set at the slowest speed, and it'll still sew plenty fast. The small pulley was a quick install, and very budget friendly.

I also adjusted the throttle linkage to the motor to give it a little slack in the pedal. It seemed a little easier to me to control the startup speed. The pedal was too touchy for me with no slack.

I haven't touched the machine for a bit. I'm going to hit some junkyards very soon and see if I can find a bench seat to experiment with. I need to find something (hopefully) around the same size as my '40 Ford. I'm thinking maybe an S10 or a Ranger seat might be close...

 

We haven't upholstered anything in a few years. In fact, I just had my 32 upholstered by a local guy and he did a nice job so if I can have him do it in the future if I don't have time to do it myself.

 

@Mo rust great idea on the sbc pulley and going to try that on a consew that’s deadly fast. The 3w interior looks great.

I bought a servo motor for my singer 29k4 . The install was easy and just a few mods plus it works pretty good .

 

I thought mine was old but yours really does look like an antique. One step above an old spinning wheel.

 

@Mo rust lol yeah it’s from 1914 but sews great and built to sew leather like tool bags,shoes and holsters

 

So, after the tornado and the forces house renovation…..we finally got to try out the new sewing machine. We did a go cart seat for my nephew.

All I can say is that it was a lot harder than it looked. We learned a lot and we are going to start playing a round with it now that we have a lot more time. It looks like butt, we know. It was an afternoon project with no prior skill or training. But, with that said, I think if we start upholstering stuff around the shop for practice, we will eventually get the hang of it.

We didn’t have any welting, so this one just gets whatever I had laying around.

 

If it were easy, *everyone* would create bitchin' T&R interiors.

 

This is true.

 

I bet my first try would look way worse! Looks pretty good!

 

We learned a lot.

 

Looks pretty darn good for a first try I'd say. Here's a tip my upholsterer aunt gave me (after I had finished a seat) for making sure your upper and lower pleats line up: sew the upper and lower pleated panels as one larger panel then cut them apart. That way all the pleats are the same width top and bottom and match.

 

That's a good idea. Live and learn. He will just have to live with it.....

 

Online auction in Tacoma, WA. has this sewing machine still at a low bid.
Juki LH-512 Lockstitch Industrial Sewing Machine

 

I have a Singer 111W155 that works really well. It does not have a reverse. That I can live with, but I would like to put a servo motor on it. I have put a smaller pulley on the motor and it has helped, but I would like to slow it a bit more for better control. I have looked at servo motors and am now completely confused. Looking on flea buy the prices and specs are all over the map. Does anybody have any recommendations on brand, watts, rpm, etc.? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I have the same machine although I purchased it with the servo motor and controller modifications previously installed. My setup works great. I am away until after the holidays. If no one has chimed in with recommedations upon my return, I will provide pics and info for you. As mentioned, my machine works great except for what I believe is the bobbin/needle timing. I have to look into this one day. If you don't already have the manual there is a US Naval manual for adjustments and maintenance available as well as quite a few videos online.

 

Thanks

 

I've got a Consew 225 which is near identical to your Singer. After a bunch of internet forum research, I bought a Reliable Sew Quiet 6000SM servo motor. At $200 it's a bit more expensive than most of the rest of the ones out there, but so far, everything I read about it I've found to be true. It runs the machine smooth as silk and in a very easily controllable manner, unlike a clutch motor where anyone trying to learn finds there's three speeds. Stop, wide open, and ahhh shit.

Installation took about an hour as the motor bracket holes in the table are on an industrial standard pattern. Simply unbolt the clutch motor and bolt the servo in place. Most of the time involved was in removing the original motor and the switch and conduit associated with the clutch motor. There was enough adjustment on the motor bracket to allow the use of the original v belt.

The instruction booklet explains clearly how to program the motor via the key switches, and the max speed is programmable so that if you mistakenly press the pedal all the way down the machine doesn't go flying off at warp speed. Good feature for a beginner.

There's an optional needle positioner available for about $35 that allows you to set the position where the needle stops when you release the pedal. It also allows the machine to make one stitch at a time by simply doing a quick push and release of the pedal. Handy in going around tight radius corners. The positioner wiring plugs into a connector that's already on the servo motor so there's no complicated wiring to contend with.

I bought the Reliable servo about a year ago and would buy the same again based on my experience with it so far.

 

I think you did a fine job for a first try. My first one was recovering the dilapidated sun visors on my OT daily driver 92 Silverado. Did the first one 4 times before it looked decent. Figured the 2nd would be a piece of cake since I only needed to do the same as I'd done on the final iteration of the first. Typical overconfidence, and I screwed up the first try on that one as well. Did manage to get an acceptable result on the 2nd try.

In the same manner that cording would have made a big improvement in your seat, I didn't have any cording and it would have made the difference in mine on one seam from pretty good amateur job to a much more professional appearance. Local shop that posts prices online says $160 to $200 for a pair of visors, so mine look just fine when I keep that in mind and remember I've got about 10 bucks max invested in vinyl and foam, including the pieces I scrapped.

Not auto related, but since I've had my machine I've used it to rebuild the catch bag on an old leaf shredder whose bag is no longer available as a replacement part. Modified a harness for one of our dogs where it was previously impossible to adjust the harness for a good fit, and the next smaller size was too small. And recovered 4 patio chairs with Sunbrella type material that had begun to deteriorate due to sun. Spent about $110 on material for that while 4 replacement chairs would've been right at $800 and wouldn't have been a perfect match for the originals and the table they go with.

You'll find that every time you use the machine, you'll learn something that's applicable to other jobs and you'll see the progress as time goes by. People seem to have more problems with proper thread tension than any other adjustment on a machine. Just taking 2 or 3 scraps of material and running stitches while doing slight variations in the upper tension will teach you pretty quickly how to get the tension set such that the knot is in the middle of the material rather than on the top or bottom, and what to do when you get the inevitable rat's nest of thread on the underside. As a learner, the most valuable and most used tool you'll own is a seam ripper.

 

I tell people, the most difficult thing to recover on an automobile is the visors. This is how you tell if somebody knows what he is doing or if he/she is a novice. n Visors are much more difficult with binding on the edges. The newer cars don`t have the binding.

 

The upholsterer I used on my 64 Pontiac (and later my 68 Dodge wagon) never did really master sun visors. Of course, I had to teach her how to do tuck and roll, so there's that. LOL

 

I always thought that armrests were the hardest; none of the guys I've ever had do upholstery could get them right.

 

There must be special equipment to sew up sunvisors for the older vehicles,even though I have been doing upholstery for almost 40 years I can only do them that look ok but can do the later sunvisors with no binding really good.

 

Good glue and a steamer.

No special machines, just a special technique. Remind me next week. I show you how. I have a set of 37 Chevy visors done and a set for a 69 Chevelle to do. The last old set I did was for a 31 Pierce Arrow.

 

I wanna see! I wanna see!!

 

When I was in College(trade school) for upholstery 30 years ago. I worked for a guy (Chris Young) in Downtown Des Moines. He taught me how. A guy brought him a set of visors to do. He failed at doing them. The guy had a complete car done elsewhere. Soo, he sat down for a day and a half and learned how to do them correctly. Thanks Chris! His nick name was Al. That`s who he bought the shop from.

 

ditto! ditto!