A Sewing Machine For The Workshop

Singer made a heavy duty machine that was designed for canvas and leather, with a foot that rotates so you can aim the needle anyway you want. We bought one for $75. It is foot powered, but many of them were motorized. It is a very basic machine; no zigzag, etc..

Pete Stanaitis

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Too_Many_Tools wrote:

Harbor Freight has a couple of nice machines. I have the single needle and it does a good job for my occassional use. Made the lifting slings for my new Smithy 1220 on it.

Jim Chandler

You in a city with much schmatta trade? If you go to an industrial sewing machine place they'll fix you up with a used machine like a Juki that will run forever. (those machines actually have an oil pan). They often do this for young 'uns setting up as fashion designers.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Yup.... called a model 29.... Ken

Isn't the HF item a Chinese clone of that?

Look at the machines for sailmaking sold at

Yep, my landlord has a bunch of industrial machines used to make motorcycle bags.

Doubt he has a machine that is less than 50 years old.

Also, if you are in an area that has some sailmakers, talk to them.

Lew

Or a good ConSew.

Reliable Tool gets em in from time to time also.

Gunner

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. Lazarus Long

We call them boot patchers. We have acouple of them here tho never used one in earnest. The one to go for is the Singer k45 Real heavy motor driven one. Will sew 5 thicknesses of seat belt webbing. When hang gliding took off? back in the 1970's ( mostly downwards of course!!) I made lots of seated harnesses for this sport. Tested them myself first. Also made up shortened lifting strops from broken ones. The light industrial Singers are used by furniture upholsters Also Have acouple of 1860's model 12? is it Singers. Iknow, im a sucker for old machinery. Collect anything thats old and restorable. As an applied art smith, hammers are my real interest. Especially those made before 1860 when Bessemer introduced the blown steel process. These pre 1860 hammers were always from wrought iron with crucible steel ends fire welded on. te oldest I think I have is a roman one but cant be sure of its age The design is right so is the form. Heres hoping.!! Ted Dorset UK.

My 1950's anker sewed through 7 layers of marine vinyl and then about a 1/8 inch pvc extrusion. (camper awning cover). Then the wife used it to work on her quilt. Great machine, big, black and chrome!!! I also have a Singer Red Head treadle, with a leather belt foot power drive. Check with any good old sewing machine and vacuum repair place. They can tell you the best machines, or try an industrial machine repair center. Then watch Craigslist or the classifieds... I found my Anker in a thrift shop... 15 bucks.

bob in phx Side story on the Anker. I found the Anker in the "as is" section of the local Mormon run thrift shop. I figured I had better plug it in and see if the motor was good. Well I plugged it in and it started to run, but without me touching the foot peddle. So I un-plugged it and gave a close look at the peddle. I noticed a couple of the rivets on the bottom were worn off. I also hear the remains of the rivets inside the peddle, where they should not be. So I decided to see if there was an speed up if I pushed on the peddle. So I plugged it in again and put my hand on the peddle. Bang, 110 volts were shooting up my arm. So again, I am in the middle of a very religious run store.... What came out of my mouth as I got my hand off the peddle????? You guessed it, profanity. And at the top of my lungs!!! I must have had 20 people, employees too, looking at me.. I sheepishly explained that I had just gotten a pretty good electrical shock... They bought it and I bought the machine!!!!

On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 04:21:18 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Lew Hodgett quickly quoth:

He'll need to talk to them in the winter, when they're not busy. They'd charge an extra fee right now just to look. ;)

I picked up my used Consew 210 for $395. It's an oil-sump machine and came with table, motor, clutch, extra clutch disk, bobbins, spools of thread, extra needles, extra feet, and a stainless binding feed.

It's used to go through 2 layers of 680 denier nylon sheeting, a layer of 1/8" or 1/4" foam, 2 layers of spray glue, and 2 layers of folded binding. It'll do this all day long. (though I can't ;)

- Metaphors Be With You -

Here are some portable walking-foots

Wayne

Basic, but indestructible and still easy to get parts for. Sews thin stuff, thick stuff and pretty much everything you actually _need_ to sew.

1980s Pfaff 1221 / 1222 Does everything. has a walking foot so it will sew slippery kite fabric too. Much sought after.

Industrial. Too big, too awkward to store, too expensive. Often highly specialised too, such as having flat bed rather than a sleeve arm, so they aren't useful for small work. Very few of us need a real industiral. Mine's a Brother, but I don't use it much.

If it's a speciliased industrial, such as having a full walking foot, leather or upholstery sewing adaptions, then the price can get very high indeed.

Don't underestimate the significance of thread and needles, more than machines, For leather in particular, you need the right needle to sew well.

If you are doing heavier stuff with multiple layers, a walking foot machine is a real nice thing to have, It pushes the material along on both sides, rather than just one.

I have sewn with Singer machines and Juki's. The Juki requires far less in maintenance, as there are fewer adjustable linkages to get out of order.

You can get lucky, and find a decent useable machine for under $400, but a more realistic price for one with a table and a couple accessories is probably around $1K, or a bit more.

Stuff like piping feet are nice to have, too, if you want to make really Pro looking bags or covers.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Juki, Con-sew, Thompson, Singer, etc. have good industrial machines.

The domestic Singer machines, such as the Model 15, 66, 201, etc., are

If you look on eBay (and who doesn't?) beware of unscrupulous sellers who call any old solid iron sewing machine "industrial" -- when they are domestic machines. Tough, versatile, strong, but not industrial. Their motors are not built for 8 hours of flat-out sewing.

For occasional use, a Singer 15 or 201 would probably do you just fine, but don't overpay for it. If you need a really heavy-duty machine, then look at the real industrial models, including the Singer 31.

I had a similar need. I found an old Anker sewing machine -- apparently made in East Germany out of old tank parts. It's rugged, reliable, and serviceable -- it has beautifully made parts. It also has a delicate touch if needed (mine came with a double needle and cams for embroidery stitches). I paid $ 5 at a hamfest. It's a portable in the same sense of the word with 1970's "portable" color TV's. There's a handle on the carrying case. Supplies are readily available.

Surplus > On occasion I find myself needing to create items for the home

This overcomes some of the problems with motors not strong enough to penetrate several layers. In this case, you are sitting on the motor. ;-)

I have a Pfaff 130 that handles canvas, and leather rangeing from garment to light belt weight with no problem. I often make fetish, or goth gear so having a reliable machine that can do leather, PVC, etc. without gasping is a real godsend. I'm not sure you will find anything new without paying the big bucks.

NightMist

See if you can find a Singer 20U somewhere -- it's originally a tailor's machine, but pretty heavy duty -- all iron and steel, all gear driven. It will do straight and zigzag. I made all the canvas work and much of the interior upholstery for my sailboat with one, and have used it for drapes, leather, and misc. sewing ever since. It didn't have any problems sewing through multiple layers of heavy canvas, even on the corner patches and reinforcements.

Regards,

Bob

Try to find a used Pfaff Hobbymatic. From around 1980. It is a work horse. (Make sure it is the cast metal, not the plastic body.) The rest, as pointed out already, is the proper selection of threads and needles.