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My funds and storage space are both very limited right now so it would probably be just a small amount to start with.  I'm hoping to get into a house with a shop to work out of sometime in the next year.  When that happens I will be in a better place to stock up, but until then I have to pretty much order for each job.  I just took a job for a custom made seat for an older Harley.  The guy the seat is for is rather short and wants as little foam as I can put on it and still make the bike ridable.  I was thinking about using an inch and a half of extra firm foam toped with an inch of firm memory foam.

The guys I've seen using the memory foam put it in as an insert or overlay over existing foam.  I think they cut it out much like you would with the gel.  The people I have talked to like the memory foam much better than gel inserts because it doesn't retain heat and cold like gel does.  There is a guy that comes to Sturgis every year that does the memory foam.  I have sat on his seats and they are the most comfortable I have ever sat on but he wouldn't tell me where he was getting his foam.

Several years ago I worked on what I called the "Wingback from hell".  it had around 80 tufted buttons and most of a box of 1000 decorative nails.  Literally every exposed edge of the chair was covered with nails. 

I ended up making a jig out of a piece of hard thick leather.  I simply used a side cutters to clip about 1/2 inch deep cuts the right distance apart on a straight edge of the leather.  I could put about 6 or 8 nails in the end of the cuts and the stiff leather would hold them until I could nail them in place.  Once the nails were driven in as deep as I could I would pull the leather out and finish driving them.  I was just a cheap way to get the nails in straight and seemed to work pretty well


I think I posted pictures of this but it was several years ago but I couldn't seem to find the pictures that I had taken of the jig.  If I can find the pictures I will try to post them.

I moved a couple of years ago to get closer to family.  I have another full time job but I am trying to pick up some upholstery work on the side.  I am working out of the basement of my small apartment so I am kind of limited to the size of items I can do so I have been doing a lot of motor cycle seats.  I have been getting a lot of requests for memory foam seats but right now none of my suppliers carry high density extra firm memory foam that would be appropriate for custom bike seats.  Does anyone have any ideas where I can get this kind of foam?

Yea the only one I saw on ebay the guy was asking $1495 for just the machine head and it didn't look like it was in as good of shape as this one. I also noticed that it had been there a while and is not sold.  It is in really good shape and I think it probably works but I have no use for it and nether does he so it will probably go back to ebay.  It is in the original cabinet I think that has been converted to a clutch motor operated by the old tredal pedal.  It also has a lot of attachments that I have no idea what they are for and it has the original owners manual. 

I was more just curious if anyone here had ever run across a machine like this.  If I had some time I would love to play with it and see how it works but it is a long way from where I live and it was buried in a corner of his taxadermy shop when I looked at it. 

A friend of mine bought this machine being told it was a leather sewing machine.  He asked me to show him how to use it and after looking at it I think it is some sort of garment makers machine.  It has two of everything in it.  two bobins, two needles ect...  the only discription I could find said it was for making hems on clothing.  Obviously this is not a leather or an upholstery machine and not what he was looking for.  He would like to sell it.

Question is does anyone know anything about this thing, Is there a market for it and what is it worth?

7 or 8 years ago I did some restoration work on 71 MG and needed to match the embosed basketweave vinyl.  SMS was the only place I could find it and they embosed the pleats in it for me.  Big draw back was the price (I think they know they are the only ones with this stuff) I think by the time I got it here it was over $125/ yard.   The embosing and the pattern were spot on though.  Result Happy customer and good pay check.
this is the only experience I've had with them and I'm not even sure how I got ahold of them.
Steve

I am from a small farm and ranch type community and these older Super Duty Trucks with the 7.3L diesel engines are like gold around here and people pay me big bucks to repair these seats all the time. 

Usually if the foam is in bad shape there will probably be some spring work to be done as well.  I believe most of those seats have a grid of wires hung on the back by coil springs and ancored in the front.  I usually have a few old sets around that I can repair the old one but I know some of the automotive upholstery supply houses carry these springs and wire sets.  once the foundation is fixed I cut the bad foam out and glue new in leaving it a little big and shaving it down with an air disc sander. once shaped I go over the whole bolster with 1/4 inch cloth back sew foam to tie it al together and smooth it out.  after that it is just a mater of replacing the bad panels in the cover.  If it is over 10 years old you will probably not be able to get oem cloth for it.  I usually inform the customer of this and find the closest substitute I can find.  if it is leather I usually replace the bad with matching vinyl.  I can usually do one of these repairs in 2 to 3 hours.  If you are not familer with the job it will probably take longer but it's not hard to do if you take your time.

it's been quite a while since I've been on the forum but I seem to have gotten myself into a jam with a Chevy Nova (I think it is a 70 or 71) 2 dr with a split bench seat. 

There is a crome "top hat" looking fastner over the bolt or end pin that the seat pivots on on the outside of each side of the seat.  It seems to have one of the one way split washer fastners in it but I can't seem to get them off.  I'm not sure I can replace these caps so I don't want to ruin them getting them off if I can help it.
Has anyone run into these, if so,  how do I get them off.

Thanx Steve

last summer I did a diamond tufted seat for a 1911 Model t Speedster.  Seat looked great when I finished it.   Now the vinyl covered button heads are all poping off.  The customer is being really good about the problem but I want to make it right so I am re doing the seat but I'm not sure what to do about the buttons so it doesn't happen again.  I used the small button molds (22's I think) to match the original upholstery that was on the seat and I pressed them as hard as I could and pulled on them to make sure they were secured but they are still coming apart.

Has anyone had this problem and if so how did you fix the problem.  I'm thinking about just ordering ready made buttons from my supplier but I'm afraid they will do the same thing.

Thanx

Steve

I bought an adler that looks about the same as this one (not sure of the model off the top of my head) a couple of years ago.  The lady I bought it from bought it new in 1984 and sewed one pick up seat and a leather duster for her son.  The machine was vertually new when I picked it up.  I love the machine.  leaps and bounds better than my old Pfaff 545. 

I buy all my vinyl from National fabric co. out of Kansas City.  They handle enduratex, Bolta and some others.  I've always had very good luck with the quality and the prices are reasonable.  If you buy more than 5 yards at a time  most is under $10 a yard.  sometimes they send out flyers with close outs with $5/yard fabrics and vinyls.  Phone number 1-800-821-7542.

good luck
Steve

I have an extra sewing machine in my shop that someone has asked me about selling.  It is a Pfaff 545 H4 with a table and an extra motor.  It does work but should probably be serviced as it has not been looked at for several years.  I bought it with a package deal when I bought the business so I really don't know what it is worth. 

Does anyone here know what would be a fair asking price for the machine?

Thanx guys
I got the seat apart and repaired.  now working on the headliner.  What the hell was GM thinking when they built these pickups.  There is a full wiring harness glued to the top of the headliner with no disconect points.  I finally ended up pealing the whole harnes off before I could even try to get it out of the vehicle which was a job all by itself.  My kid is in the back scraping foam as I type this.  Thank god for teenage slave labor lol.  next try to get the damn thing back in and hope we didn't break any wiring getting it out.

I haven't been on the sight for a long time but I got myself into a bit of a bind.
I have a bad seem on the sholder of the driver seat on an 05 GMC Crew cab pick up with bucket seats and I can't figure out how to get the arm rest off so I can remove the cover.  any help would be appreciated.