I have a great old treadle in perfect condition and with many attachments. When I had it cleaned the repairman said if I think I attched the leather band tight enough it isn't. I can't seem to get it tight enough. What to do? any suggestions would be great. I can't wait to lose my electricity!

Why wait? Use it now. Enjoy it. I learned on one about 50 yrs. ago. Still have it, but needs repairs.

Go to the Vintage Machine section and ask Billy (Lostin51) and he will answer your question.

I really don't believe it needs to be SUPER TIGHT!

A friend told me that wetting the leather band will cause it to shrink and tighten if it is too loose. Check with someone else before doing this.

Thanks to all who gave good advice to me, Will let you know how it all works!

A properly adjusted treadle belt is just tight enough to run the machine without slipping; if its too hard to treadle, its too tight. It will need to be adjusted again later its just the nature of the leather belt.
Sharon W. who sews with 2 treadles.

On my old Singer treadle machine I put the belt into place and pulled tight, marked it with a pencil, removed it from the large wheel at the bottom and cut 1/8" out, put the belt back into place, tested it, removed the belt again, cut another 1/8" out, put it back together again and tested it. That is how I finally got mine tight enough by myself!

I use an old Singer hand-crank machine now and I love it! It's fun and makes perfect seams!

Vanessa in Oklahoma

I had put belts on several domestic treadles before I got my 31-15 industrial treadle. I would stretch them across my shoulders really tight to get the initial stretch out of them, then put them on.

When the guy brought my 31-15, he threaded it up and popped the belt up on the handwheel and proceeded to show me how well it worked. I sat down to try it and I was amazed at how easy it was! Soooooo smooth and almost effortless - how can that be, when it's so much bigger than any of my domestics?

Well, it's because I had the daggum belts too tight on every single one of them.

The industrial is the easiest one in the bunch to treadle - but it's so loose you wonder how it ever even catches the handwheel.

I wish all treadle belts were like the one on my Standard Treadle - it is a very long spring so no guessing as to whether it is adjusted right.