Did you know that the easiest way to prevent stitcher needles breaking is nothing to do with the stitching machine?  It’s to do with your finisher, or, more precisely, the groover on your finisher.  An incorrectly set groover can cause serious havoc with your stitching.  If the groover is not set exactly as per your stitcher then you might find yourself stitching through the thicker part of the sole and wallop!  Broken needle, or worse still, a machine that needs completely re-setting.

At Standard Engineering we always recommend that the HSS groover supplied on their 700 range of finishers be set exactly to the stitcher being used.  We are often called out to Goodyear Outsole stitchers where the repairer has kindly allowed a friend to use the machine and he has either put no groove in it, or grooved on his own finisher with a groover not set to the stitcher!  Ouch!

If this means your mate who borrows your Outsoler grooves his soles on your finisher, with your properly set-up grooving tool, surely this is a small price to pay to ensure your stitcher continues to work well?  Anyway, tell him to pop to Standard and buy his own stitcher!

We also strongly suggest that if you have a Blake as well as an Outsoler you invest in a second groover tool and set each one specifically to each stitcher.  It may seem a bit of a “belt and braces” exercise, but better than forgetting to change the groove depth and being without a stitcher for a week?