Darren Brosowski

When having problems with a machine I suggest leaving an offering for the sewing machine fairies and walking away. Not sure if the offering to the fairies works or if consuming the piece of cake and 6 pack just relaxes you to the point where you figure out that the operator was just over stressed and trying too hard.

In the 50's, 60's and 70's Singer dealers were encouraged to take trades of old machines. Unfortunately the instruction was to smash them up! A few years back I heard of over 100 machines - mostly singers - from a closed down factory that were supposedly in storage in another old building. I raced down there that day but they had been scrapped a few months before. Most were boring straight sewers but there were quite a few Conelli and Singer 114 free motion embroidery machines that would have been quite valuable.

A lot changed over that 60 years. In some years Kilbowie made nearly a million machines 1910 was 1,079,624 serial numbers Obviously they did not make that many every year and it was about the factory capacity.

http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/great-diehl-of-invention.html

That is a common and easily understood misconception. Singer was well behind most manufacturers when it came to production as they did not use the "arsenal" system where parts where interchangeable. Every machine was hand fitted, disassembled, body painted and then had the fitted parts put back into the body. Most of their opposition was using "Go/No Go" gauges so that they could fit any part to any body. Where Singer creamed the opposition was in marketing and they pretty much invented Hire Purchase to sell their machines. They had a brilliant Engineer by the name of Phillip Diehl who was the man behind the IF - later known as the Model 15 - who had to fight the board of directors to introduce modern practices. If they had not followed his advice they would never have been able to manufacture machines in the volumes required. A bit more about him here; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Diehl_%28inventor%29 "I think one of the reasons Singer is seen as the 'wellspring' is that they perfected the mass production earlier, and produced a reliable, and affordable machine that you could buy on 'tick'. Ok, it would still cost you at least 6 months wages, but less than a number of other machines out there."

Sorry, I generally give a worst case scenario as things are rarely that bad. If the problem is minor then you are going to be happy but if it is major you were prepared for it. Ship it off to someone like Bob Kovar and get an opinion based on the machine itself as we can only speculate.

This is a very, very complex subject and would take a huge amount of research. Unfortunately in many cases the information no longer exists. A good example is the Singer 15 domestic machine where Japanese machines are usually described as a clone the 15 BUT while they are very similar on the outside to the Singer and many internal parts are the same the Japanese took the best of European designs and then added their own features to come up with machines better than what Singer ever built. The Seiko TE is not a clone of the Singer 17 as Seiko built this for Singer in the 1960's. When Singer went belly up the only thing that changed was the badge. There are hundreds of examples and every one is different!!!

At least it isn't on fire............yet.......

This is the sort of story that everyone new to an industrial machine needs to read!!!!! There is so much to learn and I often compare it to learning to drive and maintain a car.

Unfortunately a lot of what China builds is price driven by us - the consumers. The top end product is pretty good and will get better over the next few years. The CB4500 is not yet as good as a Juki 441 but at 1/3rd the price it is 10 times the value. Almost every product fault I have seen in a Chinese sewing machine has been due to poor initial adjustment and lack of oil in critical parts. I have been guilty of this myself with a machine where I missed the fact that the two grub screws that hold the top bushes in place were not tightened during assembly. The customer moved the machine from workshop to another and when he put the (tight) balance wheel back on the bushes moved - shit happens - but it is something I now check on every one of these machines. When it comes to a whole range of consumer products I disagree with how most companies have responded. An example is a quality boot manufacturer in my home town who initially tried to compete with China and then decided to just make the product over there. If I was the marketing manager - and yes I have studied marketing as part of a business degree course - I would have kept making the product here and raised the quality. There is no point fighting to the bottom where there is no profit. Make the best, raise the price and be loud and proud about it. People quickly get sick of cheap rubbish and will go back to a product that they know will last. Obviously there is a huge difference between a $200 pair of boots and a $2000 sewing machine when it comes to putting out the hard earned dollar

Needs to be the right treadle for the machine! The 45k treadle is huge but compared to a 7 it is a toy.

A Chinese 29k hand wheel - if it has the pulley groove - will fit and save the drama of reinventing the wheel. If no pulley groove then it can be machined.

Unfortunately it is always possible that a screw or two will slip loose in shipping. Apart from Locktite on every screw none of us dealers can do anything to prevent it. I just shipped a machine 4000km by road from one side of Australia to the other. It worked perfectly here but played up on arrival. A local mechanic went over the machine and a bunch of things had rattled loose on the trip but he sorted it all out and the customer is now happy.

You mean HHW - His Hot Wife LOL

Firstly I want to make it clear that I am enjoying this debate and no nastiness is intended!!!!! I hope you understand that I love old machines and it is a huge part of my business. It is difficult to compare apples to apples and I used the Pearson as an example as it is equivalent to the CB4500 which seems to be the most popular machine on this forum. Personally I love the 45k25 and I know master saddlers who still use them for the majority of their work despite owning more modern machines. Is the GA5 as well built as well as the 45k? Possibly. Are the materials and heat treatment as good? No, No, No and No!! Will they improve? Yes. Japan built many of the Singer machines from the 1960's and even improved on them but the difference is that they were doing it to Singer specifications so had a great starting point. China is starting from a lower point and in many - not all - cases is reverse engineering machines. The great news is that many Chinese parts fit the Singer 45k so there will be a supply of wear parts for decades to come!! I disagree with you on pricing. As a comparison you only need look at domestic Singer machines where they pretty much invented Hire Purchase so people could afford them. Today a domestic machine is extremely cheap if we compare base models. The same comparative pricing goes for industrial machines.

Almost as rare as rocking horse poop!!!!!

Cool - better than sox and jox for Christmas!

0000 steal wool and kerosene. Normally paint only comes off if there is rust underneath and that is unavoidable. The pictures may not be showing everything but mostly what I see there is oil staining.

I have a deal with the local scrap merchant - he takes away my old motors and gives me any industrial machines that come his way. While most of what he gets are thrown back in the scrap pile I do get the odd gem.

Ouch, That would suggest that something is out of round. If it is just the rotating block then it should not be too expensive to replace but if the whole head is out of alignment then you have a more expensive problem. OTOH it could be a bent needle bar. Check that the four bolts that hold the head in place are tight before you do anything. If the screws are tight then I would suggest finding a mechanic who knows 29k's intimately and preferably with experience on the Asian machines. Bob Kovar may be your new best friend.

Sorry, I may have been a bit grumpy when I wrote that post An eBay search for 97X3 will bring up the needles that are almost the right size. Disclaimer - I am the supplier. The ones that appear to be identical to the 97X3 I cannot give out the number for commercial reasons as I am trying to arrange a supplier. They are not currently available in the West as far as I can determine so obviously I want to be the first.

OKAY, let me throw a spanner in the works. Just to be a pain some Chinese manufacturers use a different system. For example; They call a 7X3 (794) Nm250 needle a 7X250. BUT!!!!!! There is also an oddball needle for a special machine that they call a 7X250 (76) as it is 76mm long. Also the GA5 needle can be labelled as a 45X250 as it is originally the 45k needle. The 97X3 (97-10) needle is made in China under a different numbering system entirely!!

There are two different Chinese needle classes that can also work but neither is available in leather point. One is exactly the same dimensions. I posted the details here once before but a representative of a company that only deals in old super heavy machines told me I didn't know what I was talking about so I won't bother again. There is also another needle which is about 2mm shorter and is made for a shoe machine.

Maintenance is a different issue altogether and I have seen ADLER machines that stop working after a year because the owner did not bother to remove the needle plate and clean out the crap. Price/quality are no insurance against stupidity.

Yes, there are 100 year old vehicles on the road but they get 2MPG and cost a fortune to keep on the road as parts have to be custom made. Life expectancy is directly related to cost of materials and accuracy of manufacture. As I said before - Chinese heavy machines cost a months wages but a Pearson 6 when new was worth several years wages. Would you pay $100,000 for a new sewing machine? A well cared for modern Chinese machine will easily run for 20 years or more before needing major work as the leather machines we are talking about rarely run at more than a couple of hundred stitches per minute. Bearing wear is directly related to RPM and the bearing areas are huge for the loads involved. The Australian and US sewing industry folded because they tried to compete with Japan and then China while using machines that were 50 years old while the Asians poured money into modern technology. China uses ultrasonic sewing machines for synthetic materials in the underwear industry and fully automatic machines for sheets and towels. The automotive comparison is relevant as it is the equivalent of using a Model A tray back to compete with a modern diesel prime mover for interstate deliveries. The same goes for any production machinery.