Jeff96

The layers are taped together with basting tape, so it all goes through as a single piece

I emailed to request a quote, but I think they'll blow the budget out of the water. I understand you get what you pay for, but I don't want to work all my time off to pay for a machine

I don't think I've seen a walking foot at a professional sail loft. We didn't have one at Sobstad Sailmakers and I didn't have one, and I made some pretty big sails. A feed roller is much more desirable for sails

I messaged the guy with the Pfaff. They're a great machine at a fire sale price. I'll keep an eye out for a 3 step machine to complement it.

Yes, I'm pretty sure the Pfaff is going to come back to me. Neither it or the LSZ-1 will do the 3 step zigzag however. In most sails, 3 step zigzag doesn't have to go into the heavier stuff, so if I have another machine for thicker materials, the 3 step machine doesn't have to be "Adler quality" The Family Sew has done surprisingly well and it will still be useful. I just looked at the documentation for the LSZ-1, and I can see that there's some tuning I can do to get it back to its old self.

Background: I know that this is a leather worker's forum, but many of my google searches lead here, so I joined to ask some questions. I used to own a sailmaking business. Sold it, went back to school, work for the public sector now and I have less stress and more time for sailing. I used a Global 567 for triple step seaming as well as zigzag and straight stitch. I also had a Pfaff 138, which I used regularly so that I didn't have to reconfigure the Global as much. I also had a Singer 20U because I picked it up cheap, and used occasionally. I sold these machines with the business over 15 years ago. A few years ago, I bought a Sailrite clone; Family Sew like this one; https://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/family-sew-fs288-sewing-machine.php for doing sail repairs on the side and some light canvas work. I'm enjoying doing these jobs on the side for friends and would like to have a side business. I'm finding the Family Sew is not up to the job. Things will go well until I get into the corner reinforcement patch, then it starts skipping stitches, and I spend more time readjusting the machine than actually fixing the sail. I know that the machine has never been properly set up, but I suspect it will never be the right machine for the job. I know that an Adler or Bernina would be the best choice, but I can't justify the cost for what I'm going to be doing. So down the Alibaba rabbit hole I went. I'm well aware of the pitfalls of dealing with buying overseas, but I'm seeing the same machine at local shops for about double the price. I'm okay with spending time to learn about and properly tune the machine. When communicating with these companies, I find the contact people don't seem to know much about the machines, or perhaps it's the language barrier. In any event, I've identified two possible models Zoyer 3150e and the Zoyer 5300bh. Of course these models are replicated by other companies. I've created a spreadsheet showing my research so far... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iuI8Dgx0jspAH9ky9b1lT5DJLbgRsISj6McUH7-Dbeg/edit?usp=sharing What I'm looking for: A 3 step zigzag machine for seams and patching sails. Able to sew into thick reinforcement patches without skipping. Normally using V92 thread. Minimum stitch width of 8mm. Ideally able to switch to normal zigzag and straight stitch. (The Zoyer machines seem to advertise many different stitch types for their machines, but I suspect that's from a preinstalled cam at the factory) Spend $1000ish Canadian. If I can't get a machine that can switch stitch types, I can get my old Pfaff 138 back at a cheap price, though I don't know what it's been through over the past decade. Questions: 1. The 5300 appears to be a clone of a Toyota D530. Can anyone point me to documentation on this machine? 2. Is the 3150 a clone of a known brand of machine? I'm hoping to find more documentation to see if these machines are suitable for the job. pictures of the two machines are below... 3. Is there other models I should be looking at given the preferences above? Are they realistic given the budget?