Upholstery Machine Question?

[olroper99]

Howdy All!

I have a question...I got my Mach 1 a while back and like it fine...but I've been told an upholstery machine would be better for horse blankets.

I thought something like the Mach1 would work fine as some of these insulated winter blankets are very thick in spots (blanket, insulation,front and back tabs along with straps..all in one shot).

These are very squishy things to sew sometimes. Would an upholstery machine work better on this stuff? And why?

Thanks!

Russ

[CowboyBob]

Your machine just has a bottom feed that pulls the material through,an uph machine has a walking foot & needlefeed on it where the needle,center foot & feed dog all 3 go back as it's feeding ,I have sewn 2" of foam on this type of machine when I'm demostrating them & they pull it through w/o any problems.Since the needle is in the goods when feeding back it cannot slip while sewing.

[olroper99]

Thanks Bob! I'm mostly asking because the guy who I bought the Mach1 from also has an upholstery machine for sale pretty cheap.

I may just buy it then as horse blankets are a big part of my business so far.

[lazyd]

Howdy All!

I have a question...I got my Mach 1 a while back and like it fine...but I've been told an upholstery machine would be better for horse blankets.

I thought something like the Mach1 would work fine as some of these insulated winter blankets are very thick in spots (blanket, insulation,front and back tabs along with straps..all in one shot).

These are very squishy things to sew sometimes. Would an upholstery machine work better on this stuff? And why?

Thanks!

Russ

Russ, Howdy back!!! I have repaired lots of horse blankets also. I've tried my Singer boot patch machine, that didn't work , my Adler 105-64 , that was over kill, The best is my Adler 67 upholstery machine. Like Bob said it has a combination feed that works real good. I make sure the customer WASHES the blankets first. Even then one time I locked up my machine because the bobbin filled up I believe with arena sand and horse dander. I spent an hour cleaning it out. ( I don't like repairing blankets) Good Luck! Bill Lazy D Saddlery

[CowboyBob]

Ruus,

Bill brought up a good point,dirt,it is just like grinding your machine & I have some customers that won't sew blankets anymore because of it.They got tired of buying parts,it seems like no matter how much oil they put into the machine parts would wear pretty quick,even though they were washed.

Bob

[olroper99]

Thanks for the replies you guys. Good advice!

Hmmm...I'm thinkin I better buy a uph machine then.

I don't like sewing blankets either (so far) but a dollar is a dollar and there's plenty of

ripped up winter blankets out here.

Some of these are worth $250 or so...makes sense to spend a bit on them.

Maybe vacuum out around the rip before mending???

Russ

[Kevin]

Unless YOU wash the blankets yourself in an industrial machine, they are probably dirty. All a home washing machine will do is get the blanket wet, there's not enough room for it to do anything.

Is your sewing machine in the house? Where is all that dirt and dust going while you're flopping that blanket around trying to get it in position?

A customer's idea of clean and clean are two very different things. "Oh, he only had it on twice...", yeah and rolled in piss four times. And when they bring the blanket in out of the cold, it doesn't smell. Wait 'til it warms up a little bit.

At least it is possible to clean a blanket. I've never worked on nylon tack that didn't have dirt sifting out of it the whole time I was handling it.

This is just my experience,

Kevin