Frobana Outsole Stitcher

[Simes]

Ok, so what can you guys tell me about Frobana "bench mounted outsole stitchers? Any good? Am I likely to be able to get service and parts? Bench mounted sounds useful as I work in a very small space.

 

Also, I understand that they can be manual machines or electric?

 

Any comments or experience appreciated.

[petercoulson]

frobana (AFL) stitchers are ok, you can still get all the parts if you can afford them. Also the needles are very very expensive (between £5 to £8 each)

 

A very simple machine and you stitch with the shoe the right way up and it grooves as it goes along, when working well it does a great job but can be delicate. personally I wouldnt get one unless you are doing very little outsole work.

[toofatbyfar]

totally agree with peter,, we had one for years, spent a small fortune on needles, often went wrong, spent many hrs tinkering about with it,, did do a good stitch tho,, had i of known then, what i know now,, THE PIECE OF CRAP WOULD OF GONE UP THE SCRAP YARD YEARS AGO :-&

[gav]

As above , stay clear of them

[Lee]

I throw one in a wheelie bin once. then I got the internet & watched one sell on Ebay for £100

 

Lee

[ironplanet uk900]

I've had em, never liked em, but some love em..... I'd rather have a goodyear any day.

[Guest lee.]

If its bench mounted it sounds as though its a "Hand job" ( Manual machine), motor is mounted on the stand they are often fitted to .

Think in terms of "novelty value" if you are buying one @ £50 , make sure you see it working , get plenty of spares and tools , and most important of all the Handbook .

This will give you hours of fun ( if not years) trying to get it to work on a consistent regular basis ( nothing worse than doing just the one shoe ) , but when it does you should get a nice stitch .

[Simes]

Thanks for your comments

[damen.rudi]

Hello,

 

on the continent the Frobana outsole stitcher is very common although this machine isn't build new for quite a few years. I got one of the early '50 and it works more or less without problems. This machine has very few moving parts and therefor is relatively easy to maintain. On the other hand it's difficult to make fine work on shoes with small welts. Forbana itself doesn't exist anymore since the '60s I think.

Power was convinced of this machine and has rebuild it for several years.

Here on the continent we don't have many alternatives. Before we had the Danish Pedersen, a good piece of technology but quite expensive. Now that Pedersen is gone, we don't have a good alternative.

What do you use in Great Britain? And what about the price and the spare parts?

Greetings;

Rudi

[petercoulson]

Frobana is now called AFL and is still available in continental europe, in benelux I believe there are quite a few American Landis machines around. In the UK the most seen stitcher is a Goodyear, 3 models of this are around - K&B Standard and Whitfield. There are also many Victor outsole stitchers around but these are gradually being phased out due to parts and awl availability being a problem. We also have Pedersen and spares are still available for the 317 models. Aside from that it is possible to find a few Simplex machines but mainly used by hand now, there were a few Junkers machines but I havent seen one of these for a while. As for prices, the Goodyears on the modern base are not cheap and nor are the spare parts but stitchers like these tend to be a one off purchase and we dont trade too many in.

 

Ped 317

 

 

 

AFL (Frobana)

 

 

Goodyear

 

 

 

Landis

 

 

Junkers Hand Machine

 

[damen.rudi]

Hello,

 

the AFL is the old Frobana outsole stitcher rebuild by Power. They called it AFL. Power doesn't excist anymore but there are quite a few machines on the market. The Junker is based on the same principle as the Frobana but it's by hand.

The problem with the Frobana is that when I have to stitch some shoes with it I ruin the welts because the needles are too thick. There is only one needle that makes the hole and pushes the wire through it.

When you don't succeed in using the old holes you make a set of new holes next to te already perforated outsole.

This is a problem that exists only by some marks of shoes. The fabricants have scoured the welts small so that the shoe doesn't look so massive. The problems come afterwards by the shoerepairer.

I would like to buy a new machine to solve this problem because I get those shoes on a regular base in repair.