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shantiandd

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Posts posted by shantiandd

  1. Posted · Report reply

    On 2/4/2019 at 11:07 AM, RockyAussie said:

    You can wrap a teflon strip around the foot and that can help but I prefer to use a roller because I do a lot off glazed crocodile and that you really don't want to scratch.

    Here are a couple of links that show what difference a roller can make -

     

     

     Will try and see how it goes!

    I definitely need to have the roller for the rounded corner! :). You just helped me with another struggle.

    Thank you

  4. Posted · Edited by shantiandd · Report reply

    1 hour ago, kgg said:

    It is good to be little cautious and maybe with a touch of paranoia thrown in when making a large investment of money into a machine or machines. Don't forget to bring some of the material and thread in the sizes you want to work with along with you to those dealers. By doing that there will be a fair comparison between machines. Some machines don't work as well with a particular material thickness / toughness, type or thread size then others do.

    kgg

     
    3

    Yes! that is right. Thank you for bringing it up. Will pack those things into my suitcase right now!

  5. Posted · Edited by shantiandd · Report reply

    12 hours ago, kgg said:

    Very nice job of showing its abilities. Did you decide on a sewing machine?

    kgg

    Hi

    Nope..I haven't decided yet, but the decision will be made in the next week. I am going to travel outside my city next week and meet some dealers in person. 

    They will present the machines and then I could make a decision. :) I am quite cautious...

     

  7. Posted · Report reply

    5 hours ago, arz said:

    Glad to help and thank you for the kind words! Good luck on choosing a machine. Whatever you buy, please let us know how it works out for you. It's always nice to see how an performs for someone!

    2

    Not a problem. I don't know well enough to give a comprehensive review but will do a simple video to show how well the machine functions. :-)

    I also have an edge skiving machine and an electric creaser on the way. Will share some thoughts on those machines as well. 

     

  8. Posted · Edited by shantiandd · Report reply

    2 hours ago, dikman said:

    I think 1 or 2 would be the best options (do you really need a pneumatic lift?), while a computer unit might be good in a factory environment for home use it will be great - until something goes wrong! You could be without a machine for a while and it could cost $$$ to repair. For what most of us do a simple mechanical machine makes more sense.

    You are right! If I decide to get an alder 669, I won't add the computer feature. It is not necessary and also too delicate to have. 

  9. Posted · Report reply

    8 hours ago, Lobo said:

    43 years in the leather business, of which I spent nearly 30 years hand-stitching. I started with a very basic machine, which I soon learned would not hold up to production work for my products. I then purchased another machine, which did a pretty good job, but was under strain at times with heavier work. I ended up purchasing a couple of very heavy duty machines of the type commonly used by saddle makers.

    Best advice I can offer is to purchase more machine than you think you will need. That way you will never strain the machine in use, each task will be handled with less time and effort, and you will probably never wear your machine out in use.

    2

    Good point! Thank you for the advice!  Will take it into my consideration. :)

  10. Posted · Report reply

    17 hours ago, arz said:

     

    If you get the ECO, I would make sure you buy it with a Servo motor. It is a very good motor and will help greatly. I think for your use the ECO with servo would be a good machine.

    The price for me in the EU, for the basic 669 ECO with servo motor, and edge guide and LED light is about $4700 (4050 Euro), including VAT.

     

    Hi Adam,

    Wonderful! Those are great to know! :)

    I have reached out to a couple different dealers.

    Here,

    1.669 Eco with a China-made servo motor and LED light costs about 29000 RMB/4200 USD. 

    2.669 Eco with a pneumatic food lift + servo motor +LED  costs about 31000RMB/4500 USD

    3.669 Eco with a computer features plus all above is about 37000RMB/5300USD

    4.669 GOLDLINE computer feature + auto system is about 43000 RMB/ 6200USD

    669Goldline is certainly out of my options. If going for the alder 669, I am leaning toward 1st and 2nd options, which will allow me to save some to invest in the next machine.  Right now, It is still a struggle for me to decide which machine I should go for. Personally, I consider myself to hold a high standard on the preciseness of the works. I have seen the stitches line alder 669 could do, even and beautiful, but maybe it only depends on who is using it. haha

    I will visit several sewing machines factories outside my city next week. If they allow me to try some of the machines, that will help me to make the final decision. :) Thank you for helping! and BTW, I had the chance to check out the works! You guys make beautiful projects.

     

     

     

  13. Posted · Edited by shantiandd · Report reply

    8 hours ago, kgg said:

     

    4. Demand that the machine be sewn off and that sample to be included with the machine. This will help with not just getting a machine fresh out of the factory but a machine that someone had to set up, thread and sew on.

    kgg

     

    1

    Hi Kgg,

    WOW，I’ve never thought of those! thank you for the advice!

    I will do some search today within my city.

    Yes, I definitely plan to visit the dealers, but the dealers spoke vaguely when I ask them for the address. Only one of them gave me a clear company address. Instead of visiting the dealers, should I just go to some leather sewing factories?

    8 hours ago, arz said:

    The 669 is an entirely different machine! It can easily sew 8mm of vegtan using 138 (M20) thread. So yes the 669 can handle vegtan. If you need to sew more than 10-11mm you would probably need a larger machine.

    -Adam

    2

    Hi Adam,

    Great information to know! As long as the machine accept 8mm Veg tan leather in thickness, I think I will be good to go.  Also, hand sewing is an option if the thickness goes above 8mm.  But I am not sure if a Pfaff 335 could handle easily 8mm thick leather layers, the dealer is quite vague when I asked.

    I have another question for you.. haha sorry for too many questions.

    Do you have any idea what a pneumatic foot system is? (I don’t know if I translate it correctly) One of the Adler dealers told me that if I allow them to replace this system with something regular, the price for an Adler 669 could reduce about 10000RMB/1500USD, which is a significant drop. If you have information on this, that will be fantastic!

    2 hours ago, R8R said:

    I have a Adler 669 on order, it was about the same price as the Juki 246. I will be posting a full review here on LW once it arrives. It has a similar capacity to the 2810 but with a small diameter cylinder arm, which should make it perfect for my needs.

     

    1

    Hi there,

     

    OH, YEeeeS! I am so excited about the Alder 669 review because there is nowhere else to find such review.  Is it going to happen any time soon? Haha, maybe I should wait for your review instead of rushing to buy a machine. :)))

    I am also afraid to order something that ends up giving me a lot of headaches, especially considering that I have no experience on such machine.  I have been saving for the past year. I am willing to be broken for this machine, but it is very important to know if it is really worth that much.

  14. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, chrisash said:

    Do you really need a Cylinder machine is the first question, whilst they can be versatile for some uses, they have no real advantage if you are only sewing flat items

    Wiz has a great post here on  what to look for Adler are great machines but so are the lower cost ones, just look at the 100 year old machines owned by experts on this forum, the job is quite basic for leatherwork a simple lockstitch, so it may be worth looking around to see what else fits your requirements and that may include two machines one for thin and one for thick as there is no machine that handles both sizes well, also consider support

     

     

    Hi there,

     

    Thank you for sharing the post!

    Yes, some of the bag designs do require a cylinder machine to do the job.

    Umm, I understood your point. It is too much to ask one machine to do all the jobs. I am also thinking to invest more machines in the future (when the affordability is not a problem.)

    But for now, I want to start with a machine that could be more flexible to work with.

    If purchasing two different machines, do you have any suggested model I should look into?

    Holly 

    2 hours ago, kgg said:

    You have selected some nice machines to choose from. The questions I have would be dealer support / warranty,  cost of accessories like binder attachments / feet / etc and the cost of repair / maintenance parts after warranty. Here Alder and Pfaff are expensive to purchase / maintain with little support where as Juki are more common with access to a lot more after market parts / accessories.

    If money was no object I still would have a hard time justifying the purchase of the Alder no matter how good. I would be asking is the Alder anywhere from twice or ten times as good as the other machines. Hell if you bought the Juki made in China you could replace it every year for the next 9 years with warranty. That is assuming it is a Juki not a Juki clone.

    I would suggest going to a Juki dealer with a sample of material and compare the quality of the Juki machines from Japan and China as they seem to be moving more of their construction of machines to China. When I was looking to purchase a new machine some of the Juki clone machines sounded like a bucket of bolts banging around in comparison to the real Juki.

    kgg 

    Hello Kgg,

     

    Thank you for answering,

    Yes, you made great points!

    In my country, Juki, Alder and Pfaff are the most common industrial sewing machine brands here, comparing to Cowboy/Seiko etc.

     

    Those three brands, they all have their sell agents/ branches here. (Juki is more popular and common than the other two. )

    The basic accessories are not very expensive as long as they are not imported. Also, some models’ accessories are easier to find than the others.

     

    The warranty part is a problem….

    I couldn’t find a dealer on my city :(..  Those dealers all told me that if the machine has any problems, they could provide tech support through video or phone call…or sending some parts to me to repair.

    If I am willing to pay for the cost of traveling, they can send someone to help me fix the machine….. So..basically, if the machines present a huge issue, I am on my own.  :(( The downside of living in a small town.

     

    And yes I am also questioning if an Adler 669 is really worth to buy taking the fact that the price is 4 to 10 times more expensive than the others. I haven’t had the chance to use any of those machines, so it is so difficult to compare. 

  15. Posted · Edited by shantiandd · Report reply

    4 hours ago, arz said:

    Hello! We recently bought a used Adler 69 after hand sewing for many years. We make similar items.

    The Adler 669 is on a class of it's own compared to the Juki 346 or Pfaff 335. As far as I know, there is not another machine like it. Is it worth the extra money? Only you can tell. If I had the money I would order one today :)  However, from a business viewpoint, I could buy 2 good machines for the price of 1 Adler 669. Hard decision.

    Some of the advantages of the Adler 669:
    1. Very large bobbin
    2. 20mm Foot lift height (compared to about 12-16mm on the Pfaff 335 or Juki 246)
    3. Full motion, adjustable feed dog. The feed dog moves up and down and not just side to side. This will help feed material over thick seams etc. The Juki 246 does have full motion feed also I believe.
    4. Possible to change over to binding if you want. Not sure how quick this is though.
    5. Long stitch length 9mm (compared to 5-6mm on others).
    6. Very good at climbing over large seams etc.
    7. Narrow arm, but can still use m15 thread. Very nice when making small bags etc.

    That is just a few of the quick things I can think of. I am far from an expert. I am sure others here can give you much more info.

    Looks like you will get a very nice machine no matter which you buy!

    -Adam
     

    One other thing: The Juki 1341/1342 are very very nice also. If the larger diameter arm is not a problem for you...

    Hello Adam,

     

    Thank you for sharing the thoughts!

    Yes, I think we make similar items and I also read your post on the sewing machines  :-)!

     

    The dealer said something similar. He suggested me to purchase a Pfaff 335 with another flat walking foot sewing machine instead of buying an Adler 669.

    That does sound super appealing and pulling me away from an Adler 669.

     

    Also, thank you for listing those points! They are very helpful. I think your 3rd and 7th points are very important to me.

     

    For Juki 246, the dealer told me that the machine works well with leather thickness under 5mm.  Juki 1341 could take a little bit more on the thickness. Unfortunately, I don’t like its larger diameter arm :(. It adds some limitation on the designs.

     

    Do you know if Adler 669 work well with thick vegetable tanned leather?

    Holly

  16. Posted · Report reply

    Hello everyone.

    First of all, English is not my native language. I apologize for any spelling and grammar mistakes on this post. : ) 

    To give some background, I am from China, and currently planning to start my own studio selling leathergoods I design.

    I make mostly, leather bags/totes/wallets.... I also combine different materials with leather, such as heavy canvas. I use both vegetable tanned leather and chrome tanned leather. The thickness I work with is generally under 6mm. (mostly 4mm-2 layer of 4-5oz leather). Occasionally, I may go up to 8mm.  

    Sewing by hands takes too much time, so I finally decide to invest on my first leather sewing machine!  I have never used a cylinder-bed industrial sewing machine before, so this will be my first industrial sewing machine.

     

    I have asked several people. They all recommended Adler and Juki to me, so I had my eyes on Adler 669 and Juki 246/1341. 

    I also have talked with some local dealer.  The prices are:

    - Adler 669 Eco- Around 37000 RMB/5300 USD.  

    - Japan made Juki 246/1341 around 17500 RMB/2500 USD  

    - China made Juki 246/1341 around 4000 RMB/600USD 

    - China made  PFAFF 335 Around 10000RMB / 1500USD.  (The dealer said Pfaff has their own factory in China, which is why the price is low. )

    They all come as brand new machines. The prices are quite different...

     

    I am taking this leathercraft career very seriously. So if the machine is really really worth to buy. I could afford to purchase an Adler 669. (I was almost about to settle with this one after hearing and reading all the good things on the machine. ) 

    However, the dealer told me that there is not much difference between a PAFFA 335 and Alder 669. The reason why Alder gets so much fame is due to the fact that a lot of luxury brands are using this type of machine. (I am a little bit skeptical on this.)

    If that is true, I definitely will go for a Paffa 335 instead. 

     

    You guys are more knowledgeable than me.  I really need some honest opinions on deciding the machine. (For example, Macbook is a lot more expensive than other computers, but after I use it, I don't ever want to switch to another laptop. I don't know if the differences in the sewing machine world could be that significant though.)

    Thank you for reading!

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Are you referring to Clayton's shell sold by Booth and Co? Horween shells are a lot more expensive than that.

    I notice from your site that you are only using Horween. If you are open to using other leathers, I am in the late stages of a deal with a small tannery in Italy to sell their shell cordovan in the US and Canada. It comes in Black, Forest Green, Navy Blue, Light Brown, and Burgundy. I need to see what the shipping costs work out to, but I expect each shell to retail around $150.

    Hi，

    Please let me know when you are going to sell them. very interested in buying some.

    I am living in Rochester NY. I am dying to get some shell cordovan from Horween.

    I have contacted them couple times with no respond.

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