MattiJoy2

gosh I really enjoyed your story, thank you for sharing. It's comforting to know we have you to share advice and knowledge. I am really grateful.

It fell. It is a vintage cylinder arm Adler with a large bobbin. I pushed on the machine to see if it is loose from the crack and nothing. It is for sale for $500. My boyfriend is a welder by trade and can fix it. Is is possible it can be working properly again? The owner of the shop said it is mechanically ok but the crack is 2/3 around the entire perimiter of the upper body against the stem of the machine.It is stiff and has no movement. What should I look for in evaluating it or should I not bother

went to my walking foot repair man today to pick up my machine. Almost top shelf was a vintage very large Durkopp Adler cylinder arm. He said it was a very good machine and had a huge bobbin. It had a crack around the upper right top half circling nearly around the whole thing. I climbed up to push on it and it was stiff and didn't move or wobble. I asked him what happened and he said it fell. He would give it to me for $500. I told him my boyfriend has 40 years experience welding {that's his profession}, and could repair it and he said the mechanisms work perfect and it should be fine. It looks like it has been painted but not sure. I am unable to really see the total damage and need to take it off the shelf to inspect further. What do you think. Is it possible it could work and fall from my guess around 15 feet. Should I consider buying it and what should I look for. I'm new to this repair man and haven't built trust or a relationship with him yet. The crack is not the cylinder arm it is on the top next to the stem, if that helps.

thank you all for your advice I really appreciate it. I guess I will get a cylinder arm and learn to sew by hand for holsters.

I need a machine that can sew leather for purses, holsters and bags of all kinds but will also be capable of sewing car upholstery in vinyl and leather for my hot rod boyfriend. I would prefer 1 machine that can be versitile. I was considering a Juki cylinder arm because my boyfriend is a welder and a fabricator and can make a table to convert it to a flatbed machine. Will that be sufficient or do I need a 2 machines. A flatbed and a cylinder arm. I want to do as little freehand sewing as possible. Also is Pfaff better than Juki?