Sewing Machines

jhiggins

jhiggins

Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Messages
3,258
I'm thinking about buying my wife an industrial sewing machine. Since there's about 10-15 different brand names on the market now, I was wondering if anyone here had any experience in the field, and what advice can you give me? Linda is a talented seamstress, but is anxious to learn more. I want her to start making me some soft leather pouches for my folders, and possibly offer them for sale to the pulic as well. I know the brands of Singer, Pfaff, and Seiko. I know Pfaff is high-quality, but what about parts and price?

Do any of you have any advice?
 
For heavy materials check out Juki industrial sewing machines. Not cheap ($1500 and up). My impression is that they are common in the heavy fabric industries (backpack and tactical gear makers).
http://www.juki.co.jp/industrial_e/index_e.html

Note: they also make home-grade lighter weight sewing machines. Get the heavy-duty industrial ones for leather & other thick materials and/or continuous all-day usage.
 
Jeff, I worked for a leather goods manufacture for several years, we made cases like you are talking about on an old Paff, last time I stopped by he had added a new Juki and old Singer industrial machine to his line up. These guys may be helpful, I haven’t looked at their discussion board, but have gotten manuals for old equipment from them www.proleptic.net/shata.asp . One thing to consider is ability to get parts, especially for old machines, they aren’t that tough to work on and should run forever as long as you can get parts. See if you can get spare feet, the Paff had left, right, and "double" feet for sewing up next to edges on one side or the other and we had several different feet some with the checkering ground off so it wouldn’t tear up the calfskin pouches, but some materials need the grip of the checkering to feed right.

Todd
 
as a former parachute rigger in the USMC, we had a Consew 206-RB in our shops. easy to use, thread, maintain. will handle large work projects(upholstry, wallets or knife sheaths{these esp, always used my own material though} but may not work on shirt sleeves or pant legs(like sewin chevrons and blood stripes on uniforms). if you want a machine to sew though a small stack of quarters, its the Singer-21. my 2¢, hope i helped, heres a link to what ours where like when i was in. its not my auction, but hope to show ya what we used: http://cgi.ebay.com/Consew-206RB-5-...ryZ26256QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
My Dad And I used a juki for years in an upholstery shop for years and I still have it just in case. Before deciding which brand to buy check the prices of accessories this is where phaff gets real expensive. We found juki and singer parts to be interchangable. and this can save money in the future.
 
I use a high post Consew,works to medium weight leather.I modified it to run very slow.For heavier sheaths I use a Tippman Bosstitch.
Stacy
 
Ferco? Never heard of 'em. Still, if you say they are good - then they must be good, Chuck. After all, you are my leatherworking guru. :D
 
Ferdco is the home of the Ferdinand Bull and other models - they have often been rated the top of the line by leather crafters who use such "modern" equipment :D . They're Mini-Bull is a fine machine, and maybe right up your alley. They also offer a lease option and sell used equipment.

All of the brands listed above (including Artisan which Robert spelled wrong ;) ) will stand you in good stead - but be sure you get an industrial rated machine not a home sew. While many heavy duty home sew machines can and will handle fairly heavy leather, using the proper needles, they are not designed for continuous heavy work.

Considering what you are planning on using it for I'd look for a good flat bed machine with a 5/16" to 3/8" lift which will handle the lighter weight leathers, say up to two to three layers of 4/5 oz just fine. The harness type machines, usually with lifts of 7/16" or more, don't normally do as good a job with the lighter weight leathers.

Google industrial sewing machines, used heavy duty sewing machines, etc. as there are several vendors who offer excellent values on used and re-furbished machines. Also I would check on availability of parts since some of the older Singers and such from the early part of the 20th century are great machines but when parts go you can get stuck big time.

Suggestion would be to call somebody like Ferdco and/or Artisan and let them know what they would recommend for your proposed usage. Be careful - buying sewing machines can get addictive to tool knutz...........
 
Another possibility is to look at machines used by sailmakers which have all the capabilities that you outlined. When I was doing a lot of sailing back in the 80's I purchased a Brother sewing machine from these folks http://www.sailrite.com/whichmachine.htm very high quality and heavy duty. It has most things a seamstress would want but the cabability of doing it through many layers of sailcloth or canvas and leather chafing protection.

Allen
 
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