Compact Machine?

[Suicide]

I forgot to list the US measurements. It occupies a floor and wall space of about 26.5 x 41 inches. The rotating locking casters could extend out, adding a few more inches to the floor space. The pedestal floor base itself is 20 x 27 inches.

Thanks alot! Anyway sounds much less scary than I thought before.

[Andrew Chee]

Thanks alot! Anyway sounds much less scary than I thought before.

The thing about flatbed industrial sewing machines is that they really aren't "that" big. They're certainly bigger than home machines but the sewing machine heads themselves aren't really that big. It's the stupid sewing machine tables themselves. They're basically all standardized to about 4 feet long by about 2 feet wide. I don't know if you can even find anything smaller. On a Cobra or Artisan Toro, they have specialized tables because they are cylinder bed machines which makes them a bit smaller footprint wise even though the machines themselves are bigger.

I suppose that industrial sewing machines and stuff are designed with standardized factories in mind and not small timers like us with limited workshop space. I recently bought a skiver from cobra steve. The machine itself was actually rather compact (maybe 20" long) but it came on a standardized sewing machine table that was 4ft. long. I ended up sawing the table down, removing the K legs, and mounting it on a bench I had against the wall. Saved a lot of space.

But I digress. I noticed that you mentioned that you sewed belts, and bags up to about 8oz weight total. Honestly if you don't go heavier than that and you don't go heavier than say a 138 thread (which would probably look very nice in a bag), you can probably get away with something like a Sailrite LS1 if you add one of those powerplus wheels and smooth presser feet. You can probably find those machines on Craigslist for a pretty decent price (I almost bought one recently for like $350). Something like a Consew 205 or 206 size machine would be much better but then you're talking about more money and larger footprint (because of the stupid table). Hard to find something perfect I guess.

8oz total is not terribly thick and would be a bit of overkill to buy a Cowboy 4500 or Cobra class 4 for something like that. Especially if you plan on sewing even thinner stuff with smaller thread. Anything under a 138 thread isn't really in the comfort zone of these big machines. I have an Artisan Toro 3000 (same as a Cowboy 3000 or a Cobra class 3) and it takes a lot of adjustment to get it to use smaller threads and thinner leathers. I ended up getting a smaller machine to sew lighter stuff. On the other hand, if you think that you might want to sew heavier stuff like holsters in the future which would require at least a 207 thread, then something like one of these heavier machines would be necessary.

Anyways, these have been my experience. I originally purchased the heavier Toro 3000 thinking that it should be able to sew from thick to (somewhat) light. And while that is technically true, I've since learned that it is not really practical. There's really no one machine that can do everything. I have two machines now and I'm pretty happy with both of them. I've found that a lot of folks on this forum do a lot of saddle and holster work and are therefore justifiably drawn to heavier weight machines and recommend them. They're great machines but may or may not be right for you depending on what you work on.

Andrew

Edited January 26, 2012 by Andrew Chee

[Suicide]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Andrew!

Anyways, these have been my experience. I originally purchased the heavier Toro 3000 thinking that it should be able to sew from thick to (somewhat) light. And while that is technically true, I've since learned that it is not really practical. There's really no one machine that can do everything. I have two machines now and I'm pretty happy with both of them.

This is what I was afraid of

BTW I gave a try Singer 144 at local antique (sick! ) shop and found it would be hard to go with bags (mainly gussets) on this type of machine. So I most likely will look at postbed or cylinder but not a flatbed. But having 2 machines for such a small projects what I plan to do would be kind of overkill.

[Andrew Chee]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Andrew!

This is what I was afraid of

BTW I gave a try Singer 144 at local antique (sick! ) shop and found it would be hard to go with bags (mainly gussets) on this type of machine. So I most likely will look at postbed or cylinder but not a flatbed. But having 2 machines for such a small projects what I plan to do would be kind of overkill.

Not sure what your budget is but check out something like the Techsew 2700. Not sure what exact machine that it's a clone of but It's a cylinder bed machine designed for light to medium leather that might fit your needs.

Andrew

[Suicide]

Not sure what your budget is but check out something like the Techsew 2700. Not sure what exact machine that it's a clone of but It's a cylinder bed machine designed for light to medium leather that might fit your needs.

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Thanks again, I'll chekc it out.

[Chavez]

Hi Suicide,

Have you bought a machine yet?

I'm looking at the Boss at the moment. The size seems great, but not sure if it has to be fixed to a bench. I would prefer a "portable" solution, e.g. attach the machine to a cutting-board base so I can remove it from my table when not using it... But is it going to be stable enough?

[Suicide]

Hi Chavez,

Unfortunately haven't yet. But based on my investigations even for Boss cutting board isn't enough as a base. All the fixing options I have seen till now were any sorts of tables/benches but not just a boards.

I also don't like much the stitch it is making on the wrong side of an item. Front side stitch is pretty ok though. I also couldn't find any meaningful solution to get stitch laid into a grooves having that grooves on the both side of the piece. It apeared there is of course no problems with the front side, but again with the back side there is 50x50 that the stitch lies into premade groove.

So currently I actually brush up my handstitching skills