New Member, First Post inquiring about a Singer 531-8bl

[Woodbender]

On this machine, reverse is the 'up' position of the stich length lever. Mine is spring loaded, so the lever goes back down, into forward, by itself if you just let go. Hard to believe  how smooth she is with obviously a LOT of use - must take a million miles of thread to wear the paint off of the table. Another question - Is this a clone of the consew 206rb-1 or a different variant of the 206?

[kgg]

37 minutes ago, Woodbender said:

Another question - Is this a clone of the consew 206rb-1 or a different variant of the 206?

This a Seiko design. They were market in North America by Consew as the 206RB and the Singer 531 same machine just a different badges. 

kgg

[Uwe]

Yep, I’m also putting my money on your Singer 531-8BL being a relabeled Seiko STH-8BL. The later models had a rotary stitch length dial with a separate reverse lever. This machine should do reverse, just like all the others with this type of combination stitch-length-and-reverse lever. It’s very likely a Seiko Design manufactured by Seiko in Japan and sold with various badges around the world. Consew was the marketing brand that Seiko used to distribute their machines in the USA.

Here’s a picture of the original Seiko STH-8BL:

Edited December 6, 2023 by Uwe

[Woodbender]

Yup, sure does look like the two machines are identical except for the label.

[msampson]

Hey, not meaning to high-jack this thread, but looking at buying this exact same model. Just wondering how thick/what weight of leather you would be able to sew with this?