Hello all,
I've spent about 20 hours reading through the various machine posts, and then going out and watching the videos linked, and basically just educating myself on industrial sewing machines. So, first off, thank you all for the wealth of information already provided!
I have a small outdoor business in Seattle WA that focuses on new product designs, or improvements to old proven designs. We do a lot of custom work but it is almost always with the intent that if the product works out that it be manufactured at scale by an outsourced production facility. As an outdoor company most of our materials are waxed canvas, leather, and web straps.. usually in some combination of the 3. We have never (so far) sewn anything out of upholstery leather.. it's all oil tanned or veg tan. Waxed canvas tends to the heavier side as well. We make primarily rugged outdoor goods. So far our leatherwork was done with hand stitching (not ideal but it is never for production so taking 10x longer on 1 prototype isn't a deal breaker) and our canvas sewing was outsourced to a local seamstress. This outsourced slows down the prototyping and we lose something in the translation so we want to bring it all in house and get a machine that can "do it all" (quoted because I know that doesn't really exist).
I'm 95% certain the consew 206rb-5 + servo + speed reducer would do 99% of what we need right now. I've priced that out to be about $1900 delivered. I've seen the videos about other professional small scale shops using the Techsew 2750 (w servo and speed reducer) cylinder arm with great results. I also believe that the Cowboy CB341 is comparable to the 2750, if not a bit superior as it ships with the servo motor and a captured ball bearing speed reducer (vs an open greased version on the 2750). The 2750 is about $3k to me shipped as spec'd, where the cb341 is considerably cheaper at about $2400 delivered.
Obviously the two main differences are the cylinder arms on the second two and the overall cost. I like the idea of a cylinder arm with a flat bed attachment, but I don't actually -need- the cylinder arm for current designs. However, being a prototyping shop, who knows what the future might bring.
What I'd like to ask the forum is if there is anything else between the 3 models that I'm missing that might be important? Am I likely to regret not spending the extra $500 and getting a cb341 cylindar arm over the Consew.. or should I just bite the bullet and get the 2750 and be done with it forever? I like the bigger thread possibilities of the latter 2 for our leather work, but again, we're not production so anything with really large threads (like an ask mask or knife sheath or something) could still be hand-stitched for prototyping.
Thank you all for your guidance.
