Off Grid Machine

[Colt W Knight]

Dont forget our treadle sewing machine roots. I find that singer industrial sewing treadles can often be retrofit with a singer domestic band wheel yielding higher torque and slower speeds. The White Sit Straight (wide body) treadle is also suitable for standard Singer Industrial size machine and comes with the domestic band wheel. I have Singer 31-15, 42-5, 78-1 and 21W180 all running well under treadle power.

Are those big enought to sew holster welts?

[Ken Nelson]

Landis 1, is also a pedal machine and pretty reasonably priced if you find one that is not wore out. I have had a couple of Luberto Classics that worked good with a hand crank wheel or motor either one. without a motor dragging on it, it was really easy to turn and did a beautiful job of sewing. HTH Ken

[joecool911]

I am getting some good options here. Thanks!

Getting a sense of how hard the hand crank machines would be to operate is difficult without seeing one and operating one in person. I like the idea of a wheel that lends to adding a motor too.

Sounds like a servo motor would not draw all that much power. If I'm doing my old electronic math correctly about 700 watts. Not bad for the time you are actually sewing. Using a stand alone solar system and batteries might not be that extensive. We are considering moving to a property that is off grid. 3 mile driveway from county road.

[Uwe]

Oh dear, I didn't even realize I needed a pedal-driven Landis 1 or 3. This seems like a great option for a machine if you're gonna sew very thick leather without electricity, and they're reasonably priced to boot: This fellow has (or had) a Landis 1 for sale in Oregon ($900) I need a bigger basement.

Edited September 30, 2015 by Uwe

[tnhomestead]

I went with a Tippmann Boss just because I got a good deal on it, still havent used it -- need a needle, bobbin winder and thread. That said a lot of the local plain folks here by me either use treadle machines(just saw a nice Adler) or they use a driveshaft system and power from a gas or diesel motor.

We will be completely off grid when the new house is done.But only have about 1800 watts of panels to start with. Would probably have stayed on the grid, but the 6k to get electricity was too steep for me! Rather sink that ibnto the solar, and get some tax credits back.

I will say the converted machines do take some power to run, visited a local harness maker and when he started sewing you could hear the gas motor slow down for a second or 2!

[Itch]

I have a bunch of Amish friends that do not use electricity and they sew on 441 machines. They use a set of peddles and one fella that I know has a manual 3 speed car transmission hooked to the sewing machine. During the summer I have seen them take a blade from an old box fan and attach it to the flywheel to move air across them as well.

[oltoot]

The Landis 1 was a workhorse in it's day but that day has passed, the 3 is a needle and awl machine and a lot more modern but as the fellow said, the Amish are experienced in off grid sewing

[DrmCa]

Power rating of a 550 Wt servo motor means how much it consumes at full speed.

If you are stitching around 1 sps, it consumes close to nothing. And how long do you stitch for when working on leather? Few seconds here, few seconds there.

I would not be worried about that, your fridge and freezer draw much more power than a sewing machine.

Edited September 30, 2015 by DrmCa

[joecool911]

Sounds good! What kind of machine uses a servo motor like that and would be good for thin to thick leather? Might sew some wallet thickness projects in addition to holsters.

If the leather business is anything like other kinds of businesses, products more in the $30-$50 range might sell better and crank out fast. Cheap to ship too.

Edited October 2, 2015 by joecool911

[Colt W Knight]

Sounds good! What kind of machine uses a servo motor like that and would be good for thin to thick leather? Might sew some wallet thickness projects in addition to holsters.

If the leather business is anything like other kinds of businesses, products more in the $30-$50 range might sell better and crank out fast. Cheap to ship too.

A machine that is good for thick material like holsters is probably not going to work real well on wallet.