leather sewing machine info request

[loricariiidae]

Hi so I’m looking into buying a leather sewing machine to reduce how long it takes me to make my products. 

There are a couple of options near by that I am interested in but would love some info from you guys. 

I’m mainly concerned with flat bed vs post/cylinder arm. Are you able to construct bags with weird shapes with a flat bed? I have thought over my current project and can’t think of anything that I can’t do with a flat bed as long as I construct it in the correct order. 

I’m looking at the singer 29k58 £410 leather and canvas patcher with post arm and bench

and 

singer industrial 132b6 with walking foot, motor and bench  £600

 

I’m leaning towards the 132b6 because from videos online it looks very heavy duty going through many layers of leather. But it has a flat bed.

As I make small novelty, shaped bags this concerns me a little but i can’t actually think of anything that I wouldn’t be able to do. 

 

Any advice on leather sewing machines etc would be appreciated, I’ve never used one and don’t really know what to look for.

 

[kgg]

1 hour ago, loricariiidae said:

Hi so I’m looking into buying a leather sewing machine to reduce how long it takes me to make my products. 

I think a cylinder arm sewing machine similar to a Juki LS-341 or the newer LS-1341 or a clone machine with a flatbed attachment would probably be your best option. The flatbed attachment will give you more versatility.

However this will depend on what size thread you want to use and most importantly the thickness of your projects including your seams. To get a better response let us know.

1 hour ago, loricariiidae said:

I’m looking at the singer 29k58 £410 leather and canvas patcher with post arm and bench

These machines are made for repairing items thus the name patcher. Tese are typical operated by hand or treadle. The Singer 29K58 is a short arm with a small bobbin machine. Parts may become difficult to find. You would be better off looking for the Singer 29K71, 72 or 73.

1 hour ago, loricariiidae said:

singer industrial 132b6 with walking foot, motor and bench  £600

Does this have a clutch motor or a servo motor? The clutch motors can be hard to master particularly for a beginner while the servo motors the learning curve is short, few hours versus days. 

kgg

[Northmount]

@loricariiidae Since your post is about leather sewing machines, I moved it to Leather Sewing Machines.

[Wizcrafts]

2 hours ago, loricariiidae said:

Hi so I’m looking into buying a leather sewing machine to reduce how long it takes me to make my products. 

There are a couple of options near by that I am interested in but would love some info from you guys. 

I’m mainly concerned with flat bed vs post/cylinder arm. Are you able to construct bags with weird shapes with a flat bed? I have thought over my current project and can’t think of anything that I can’t do with a flat bed as long as I construct it in the correct order. 

Flat bed machines are best suited to combining items that are flat, not curved. Bags are curved when assembled. You can probably sew all of the pieces together upside down on a flat bed machine. But, the final stages of construction of the rounded top will be easier on a cylinder arm machine. Many cylinder arm machines have either a factory option or aftermarket option of a flat table top attachment that bolts onto the table or pedestal the head is mounted on. Such a setup gives you the best of both Worlds. You sew with the table attachment for the flat pieces, then remove the table and sew over and around the arm for the curves. This gives you a perfectly finished stitch appearance on the outside. If you sew the same outside band on a flatbed, it may have to be done from the inside. The bobbin side will not look anywhere near as nice as the top side stitches. If you can visit a sewing machine store and bring some soft bag leather, they can sew it and show you how different the back side will look from the front.

[loricariiidae]

4 hours ago, kgg said:

I think a cylinder arm sewing machine similar to a Juki LS-341 or the newer LS-1341 or a clone machine with a flatbed attachment would probably be your best option. The flatbed attachment will give you more versatility.

However this will depend on what size thread you want to use and most importantly the thickness of your projects including your seams. To get a better response let us know.

These machines are made for repairing items thus the name patcher. Tese are typical operated by hand or treadle. The Singer 29K58 is a short arm with a small bobbin machine. Parts may become difficult to find. You would be better off looking for the Singer 29K71, 72 or 73.

Does this have a clutch motor or a servo motor? The clutch motors can be hard to master particularly for a beginner while the servo motors the learning curve is short, few hours versus days. 

kgg

Thank you, my projects have been pretty thin thus far but when getting a sewing machine I’d ideally like to be able to sew up to 10mm or as much as possible. 

 

I agree a cylinder with flatbed will give the most variety but I can’t think of a situation other than wanting to see details onto the leather once the bag is constructed that I’d need the cylinder bed. Are there any regular bag construction methods that require cylinder? 

The thread thickness I use correctly is .8-1mm thick for hand sewing. 

 

Yes the patcher machine was treadle, I would probably be ok with that but don’t know as I haven’t used powered or treadle sewing machine for leather before. 

 

I’m not sure about clutch motor or server motor but I can ask the seller. 

Thanks for your reply! 

3 hours ago, Northmount said:

@loricariiidae Since your post is about leather sewing machines, I moved it to Leather Sewing Machines.

Thanks, sorry I’m new and couldn’t find the correct thread 

[loricariiidae]

3 hours ago, Wizcrafts said:

Flat bed machines are best suited to combining items that are flat, not curved. Bags are curved when assembled. You can probably sew all of the pieces together upside down on a flat bed machine. But, the final stages of construction of the rounded top will be easier on a cylinder arm machine. Many cylinder arm machines have either a factory option or aftermarket option of a flat table top attachment that bolts onto the table or pedestal the head is mounted on. Such a setup gives you the best of both Worlds. You sew with the table attachment for the flat pieces, then remove the table and sew over and around the arm for the curves. This gives you a perfectly finished stitch appearance on the outside. If you sew the same outside band on a flatbed, it may have to be done from the inside. The bobbin side will not look anywhere near as nice as the top side stitches. If you can visit a sewing machine store and bring some soft bag leather, they can sew it and show you how different the back side will look from the front.

Thanks for the reply, this is what I was thinking. 

I usually just sew with seams inside so this would all be able to be done on flat bed but i think for versatility I might keep looking for a cylinder bed machine. especially considering the price. 

thanks again 

[loricariiidae]

4 hours ago, kgg said:

Does this have a clutch motor or a servo motor? The clutch motors can be hard to master particularly for a beginner while the servo motors the learning curve is short, few hours versus days. 

this is the link to the machine 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285128462690?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=HwDiRYT5SlS&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=6NP462mrTZG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[Northmount]

1 hour ago, loricariiidae said:

this is the link to the machine 

Clutch motor.  Motor runs constantly.  You have to feather the clutch like a car with a standard transmission to get it started.  Only with a clutch motor, you have to feather the clutch all the time if your are trying to go slow around corners, etc.

1 hour ago, loricariiidae said:

Thanks, sorry I’m new and couldn’t find the correct thread 

Go to the home page and there is a full list of all the forums along with descriptions, numbers of posts, and how many are unread (by you).

 

[Beanwood]

I wouldn't go for that one personally.

That £500 doesn't include a table or motor (Extra £100!) and then the motor may wel be 3-phase which you're unlikely to want.

It states made in Scotland and Germany as a selling point - yet clearly shows 'Made in Japan' on the pictures (Which may well be a good thing but just shows a complete lack of care when prepping the ad)

It's also looking very tired.

 

 

[loricariiidae]

4 hours ago, Beanwood said:

I wouldn't go for that one personally.

That £500 doesn't include a table or motor (Extra £100!) and then the motor may wel be 3-phase which you're unlikely to want.

It states made in Scotland and Germany as a selling point - yet clearly shows 'Made in Japan' on the pictures (Which may well be a good thing but just shows a complete lack of care when prepping the ad)

It's also looking very tired.

 

 

Hi, yeah I was looking at how to power or swap out the three phase motor this morning and have decided this probably isn’t for me. Thanks for the input! 

[Tequila]

I got this advice when I was looking for my first machine and it’s proven to be oh so true, you can turn a cylinder machine into a flatbed, but you can’t turn a flatbed into a cylinder.  For leather the cylinder works great, but when I have the odd upholstery work I add the table attachment.  

[loricariiidae]

5 hours ago, loricariiidae said:

Hi, yeah I was looking at how to power or swap out the three phase motor this morning and have decided this probably isn’t for me. Thanks for the input! 

I’ve messaged the seller and it’s currently fitted with a single phase mains motor but could come with the 3 phase instead if preferred by the way. 

3 hours ago, Tequila said:

I got this advice when I was looking for my first machine and it’s proven to be oh so true, you can turn a cylinder machine into a flatbed, but you can’t turn a flatbed into a cylinder.  For leather the cylinder works great, but when I have the odd upholstery work I add the table attachment.  

Yeah, just struggling to find a cylinder machine nearby ): probably should wait it out but I think I’m going to go and try out this machine because the videos of it working are just so good!