Coluber42

Thanks for the info... I'm currently going back and forth between either an old Singer or a new Techsew with the oscillating binder, since binding edges is a big part of what I need it to do. Needless to say, that makes it a pretty huge price difference. I suppose my real question is, what are the real advantages of a new machine over an old one? As far as I can tell, in terms of features it's reverse, oscillating binder (which adds substantially to the price if I decide to go for it), and self-oiling. The other potential disadvantage of an older machine is that it's more likely to need repair or replacement parts. It doesn't seem like it should be difficult to find them for a Singer 153w, and it doesn't seem hard to find bobbins, needles, attachments, etc, for one either. Am I missing anything?

Okay, I don't actually sew leather very often, but I'm looking for a (preferably used/cheap) cylinder arm machine and this forum keeps popping up with good info when I google various models. I need it to make padded instrument cases, which are made of nylon with closed-cell foam padding, and I need to be able to bind the edges with it as well as assemble the padded cases. The most important considerations are that the needle needs to come as close to the end of the cylinder as possible; I need to be able to use a binder attachment; and the minimum needle size can't be much bigger than 16. I don't need reverse. The nylon I use isn't especially heavy or difficult to sew through, but it's not particularly fragile either. I've called a few sewing machine dealers, but all they want to tell me is why I need to buy a new machine from them, and not a used one (even if they deal in used ones). The reasons they give me are not especially convincing ("You'll have an older piece of equipment" or "You'll have to oil it manually"). I could maybe cough up for a new machine, but I need a better reason than that. I'm not a sewing machine mechanic, but I'm generally mechanically inclined/interested and I don't mind taking on a bit of a project in order to save some money. But on the other hand, I don't really want to take on a project that's going to take six months of trial and error and scrounging for spare parts before I (hopefully) have a working machine, and I figure there's no way to know how much of a project something's going to end up being if it doesn't already run. So do y'all have any recommendations, either for dealers, models, things to avoid, etc? Sorry if you get tons of questions just like this... TIA!