Used Chandler 67 Gk373

[Kaje]

I found a used Chandler 67 GK373 on craigslist for $600 and I was wondering if this would be worth my time without having to sink a lot of extra money into it. It looks like it has a clutch motor so I would probably want to put a servo motor on it which is an extra $150. I mostly sew wallets but I may get into belts and bags once I get a machine, will this be adequate for the task? Thanks for any help.

[Uwe]

I'd say it's a great machine for wallets, okay for bags (a cylinder arm might be better suited), and not ideal for belts (soft dress belts are okay, but hard veg tan leather belts may be problematic).

The Chandler/Adler 67 is a very nice machine and parts/accessories/manuals are readily available. I'm very happy with mine (until I come across a minty Adler 267, haha.)

The price seems right and it looks to be in reasonably nice condition. You'd probably pay considerably more if the machine actually said "Adler" on the front (it should say Adler on the back name plate). It's the same thing under the hood - they were made by Adler and then imported and re-badged by Chandler, thus forever lowering resale value and creating relative bargains for folks who are not obsessed with name badges.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Uwe

[CowboyBob]

You have to be careful some of these have a cloth timing belt that has been discontinued,it can be replaced with the newer rubber style BUT it'll cost close around

$200.00 for the new belt pulleys & belt,labor is expensive too since the top shaft needs to be pulled out.

[Constabulary]

Agree - check the timing belt - if it is an old looking brownish belt and it has a lot of small cracks or even chipped spots or missing teeth then be careful.

The problem of these Adlers is that the shaft bearing is very very small (compared with a Singer 111 f.i.) and you will have serious problems squeezing the timing belt through the gap between shaft and housing when you have removed the bearing. And removing that freakin bearing is the 1st challenge. It is doable you can damage the timing if you are not careful.

I did thats once on an Adler 167 and since then I leave my fingers of any Adler machine with questionable timing belts.

Here is a picture of how it looks when the bearing is removed (it was a pain)

[Kaje]

Thanks for the advice, is the timing belt the belt on the right side of the machine? Can I run it with 207 thread?

[Constabulary]

when you slide away the lid on the top right side you can see the timing belt. Some machines can handle 207 but most likely it can`t. I would not count on it.

[Kaje]

Would a cowboy 3200 be a better choice at over twice the cost? A lot of my wallets are under 1/4" thick.

[Uwe]

The Cowboy 3200 may be fine for what you want to do. If anything, it may not like to sew with fine thread and small needles. It should be great for bags and belts. Get a flatbed attachment to do wallets. There's a new 3200 for sale near Cleveland in our for sale forum. Of course Cowboy Bob will be happy to set you up with a new one in Toledo.

[Kaje]

I found a local dealer that sells Juki, Consew, and Chandler machines. Other than being a flatbed machine would a chandler 406rb be able to do most everything other than gussets? I'd like my first machine to be as versatile as possible.

http://www.industrialsew-tech.com/

Edited September 15, 2015 by Kaje

[Uwe]

The Chandler 406rb1 and the Consew 206rb5 appear to be identical except for label sticker and price, according to CowboyBob's website pages. Both have surprisingly wide range for material/needle/thread handling specs and that makes them versatile in that sense. Many machines have a much narrower design specification range. CowboyBob carries both machines and may be able to shed some light on the difference beyond labels and suitability for your particular purpose.

Generally I'd say a cylinder arm machine is inherently more versatile than a flat bed because it's easy to turn a cylinder arm machine into a flatbed, but turning a flatbed into a cylinder arm is going to involve a plasma cutter.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Uwe

[Kaje]

What about the Consew 226? Is a used one worth $700?

http://dayton.craigslist.org/for/5196812308.html