Darren Brosowski

There are a couple of hand crank machines designed for this but I do not think that anyone in the USA has them

"SV" can mean a lot or nothing. Sometimes it could be as simple as a special foot or attachment fitted at the factory for a customer and at other times the machine itself had major modifications. On both the ISMACS list and Singer Parts lists the 111w starts at the 111w100 so anything before that was most likely anything before that were pre-production models. You would have to look at serial numbers to confirm this.

Simple things to look at when test driving a machine? The obvious signs of rust and needle bar wobble have been covered. - Always work on the basis of putting a new servo motor on at some stage. If it is a black Singer motor then sooner rather than later for safety. - pull the top tension apart and look at the condition of the discs and thread surface. Often they are scored by coarse threads and a new assembly is required. - Assume that the bobbin case needs replacing. - With an open frame shuttle take off the tension spring and check for scoring and rust. Light rust can be polished out but heavy marking means a new shuttle - Tilt the machine head back and check for movement in the shuttle drive shaft. Excessive wear of the gears could lead to lots of movement. - Check the play in the two shafts (front and back) for the feed dog. Excessive movement suggests poor servicing. - Grab the balance wheel and see if there is any end-to-end movement. Once again, this tells you about service history. None of these things say "DO NOT BUY" but give you a position to negotiate a reasonable price.

The choice here is thickness of material and thread size. The 335 is probably best at a maximum of 6mm (1/4") and #138 (M20) but that is the bottom end for a 441 style machine such as a Cobra 4.

Badge engineering started about 3 days after production of sewing machines started Eric!!! Your Consew 18 is a Seiko 18 which was previously badged a Singer 18U188 until Singer went belly up. Those Morse - and hundreds of other brands - of domestic machines from the 50's and 60's were built in Japan and are some of the best domestic machines ever built.

All of the geeky stuff is great in the right place. For the speeds that people want to run a 441 they would be better off with a treadle. The motor that gives the perfect control costs nearly as much as a 441 machine head.

Sometimes there is nothing polite to say. Using an oil bath machine such as an 0618 is pure sewing machine abuse. Horse rugs are full of dust - even when they are allegedly clean - and when you mix dust with the oil in the sump it becomes a substance referred to as grinding paste. Use a flat bed, open frame shuttle machine for your horse rug repairs and buy a specialist machine for leather

Big, heavy, cuts leather like a hot knife through butter.

Or just use high end bonded polyester which feels like it is lubricated!

Call Ronnie at Techsew and talk about what you want to sew before you decide on any particular machine. As a dealer (in Australia) I know that many people think they want a particular machine but when we get down to the work that is going to pay the bills reality steps in the way of dreams.

The GA5/CB105/CB2500/Techsew3650/Singer 45k would have been my suggestion as an entry level machine. I know many saddlers who learned the trade 50 years ago on a Singer 45k on the basis that if you can sew with a 45k you can sew with any machine. Some of them still do most of their work on this style machine even when they have all sorts of other machines in the workshop. Sewing on a bottom feed machine is all about technique so if you learn to sew well on one you can use virtually any machine in the future BUT I suspect you will always keep the basic one as there are some things it will do that are a pain on the compound feed.

What you want to do is possible but pointless. A lot of time is spent talking about the breaking strain of thread but the issue that is ignored is that in most cases the thread will rip through the material you are working with. I would suggest using a high quality bonded polyester. It has a slightly lower breaking strain but a smoother, almost lubricated finish with a higher wear resistance. To test the right thread size sew 6 inches at the maximum stitch length and leave two feet of free thread. Securely tie one end around something solid, put on a pair of heavy leather gloves, then pull hard on the other end. If the thread rips through the material then it is too thick so drop a size and try again. The thread should fail just before the material does. It is easier to repair stitching than replace the ripped material.

I always tell customers to look at the thread guides as it gives a great indication of the direction you should thread the needle. The next point is to show them the hook and how it works with the needle. Between the two it explains where the scarf and the long groove in the needle should go.

My good friend - ex girlfriend - has been in the sewing industry for nearly 40 years and she started off in a factory with 100 year old machines run off a common shaft under a bench running 6 machines. Over the years she has done everything from high speed mass production through custom fetish wear, pattern making, custom clothing and one off period corsets She mostly uses high speed machines and has five different industrial machines but when she wants to do a job with absolute control she jumps on one of her treadle machines. You can spend thousands to achieve the ultimate electronic control or you can just run the machine on a treadle base and adjust the speed to the work without moving your hands. .

It is frustrating for the sewer and the tech but 98 times out of 100 the needle or threading is the issue! 1/100 is something simple and stupid The other 1/100 leaves everyone wondering WTF is going on here.

Glad you got one locally - been off line for about a week so only just saw your message. When Singer was running around trying to pretend it was a sewing machine company rather than a marketing company they did a bunch of stupid things such as creating the "New" 331 machines. All they did was take the 31 and modify the body. Shortly after that they went broke.

As we are talking about the ultimate ratio between the motor and machine shaft you also need to consider the balance wheel. Industrial machines like the 206RB usually have 2 1/2" to 3" machine pulleys but a 45k has a pulley three times or so the diameter so it runs at one third the speed for the same motor.

Basic engineering; The heavier the material and thread you want to work with - the heavier the body needs to be to give the required stiffness. The industrial sewing machine business is very conservative in terms of design. While it is possible to build a large bobbin small diameter arm machine nobody is prepared to step out from the norm.

The bid question is WHY?

Thanks Bob. We see very few Ferdco machines here and the odd one I come across is usually just a rebadged GA5. People find there way to me after they get quoted absolutely stunning prices for "genuine" spares from local dealers - $US15 per bobbin was one example. Always glad to learn something new.

I won't buy them because they are crap. If the new model is good then it will be a hit. If the machine is well built then I am going to fit a geared servo motor to the head and sell it as a lower priced option to the German machines BUT it will really need to be well built for me to take that step.

Pictures help because 80-90% of the time a new machine uses parts from something else. To make life difficult the manufacturers often give the same thing a different part number - and often charge more for the "new" part.

There are Chinese and Taiwanese patchers and while the versions from Taiwan are better they are not always that good. One of my suppliers sent me a free 29 from China and it now works ok after many modifications but would only ever suit a hobbyist, not a full time user. There is a new 29 version being developed in China and the estimated price would suggest that it is going to be better but I will not know until I get my first sample - also coming for free.

The flat bed 132k6 is better for horse rug repairs but there is no reverse. The GA5 has reverse and a flat bed can be purchased or easily made with some plywood and timber. Keep in mind that the newest 132k6 is over 50 years old and even these beautifully built machines wear out over time. New parts are available and mostly come from Seiko so they are very expensive. If buying a GA5 they normally come with a roller foot and guide which are excellent for leather work. While the roller foot is a bit course and will mark leather there is the option to upgrade to a rubber wheel or an original 45k type roller (These are options that I have but not sure about other dealers) With practice the GA5 will sew beautifully on leather but the 132k6 is always a compromise as it was only really intended to be a heavy upholstery machine. In general I suggest people invest in a new machine for leather work and find something cheaper for horse rug repairs as rugs are always full of dust that will damage a machine. Steve (Singermania) is the importer and I am his only dealer - ABLE Sewing on evilBay

For the sort of work you are talking about a CW8 of Pfaff 335 type would probably suit but it would be best to give more information here first. I can give you a direct contact at keestar or cowboy China depending on what you really need