Ferdco Pro 2000

[JerseyFirefighter]

On 3/27/2016 at 9:56 PM, soccerdad said:

So, is there nobody out there with a newish (last 2 or 3 years) Ferdco pro 2000 machine? Anyone with a newish Ferdco care to weigh in?

I've had my pro 2000 from Keystone for a few months now. I'd be happy to provide any photos or videos. I have zero experience with the cobra's or cowboy's so I could not provide an accurate comparison. It sews well when dialed in for the thickness I am using, however I am still a novice in general with sewing so it would be disingenuous to give a much more in depth review and critique. Let me know if you guys want any other info.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2016 by JerseyFirefighter

[brmax]

Thanks Tor,  A great effort for sure! some of these links we just cannot link. Its possible they are directed to so many phone interchanges looking for a penny or whatever.

Just a minute ago I used Eds main link leaving everything after .com and it showed a couple photos of the new machine but no accessory pics.

I do appreciate they great job some of the dealers here put forth in the base products, as pre check setup and tuning and then afterwards the "normal" in my book tech discussion.

Clearly getting these parts photos can be the newest for dealership strategy best left to us, happy trails.

Going to keep looking around at the choices here and will post up when a good photo or part illustration is found.

good day there

Floyd

 

edit:  Rob, sounds great any pics are good, thanks! 

Edited March 29, 2016 by brmax
posted like at the same time i guess

[mikesc]

link to page
http://youtu.be/f-14mGByIzE

 

Edited March 29, 2016 by mikesc
link test

[mikesc]

Trox..I got your links to work..had to "allow scripting" from leatherworker.net and put the HTML tags on the links by hand..the link buttons seem to be buggy, the URL field in the form which opens up when the link button is used is not accepting input, it sits there stubbornly showing "example.com" and refusing any text input, but the text field does accept input..but the "embed" feature works..I could have embedded the video, but did not, instead linked to it.. HTH

[soccerdad]

Jersey,

Thanks for posting about your new Ferdco. I'm sure others are right that Hoffman Bros. are a good company and will keep the machine solid ... it's just nice to hear from a user of a new machine. 

Cheers, 

Dale 

[brmax]

I am thinking its as the others in the new design style of a walker. It might have been said before but I'm asking, was the 900 bull the last model before this model, and wasn't it a jump foot as some called it. curious! and appreciate any answer

Floyd

[Art]

Floyd,

The 900 B (or Bull) was a jump foot with the foot running off groves in the balance wheel.  I think the head was a big Seiko.

Art

[Trox]

Mikesc, do you think this will fix it's self when the site here is finished updated. I do not have such possibility to alow scripting on the Samsung tablet I'm using for the moment (only Java script and that's on for all sites).

JerseyFirefighter, thanks for posting a pic of your machine. What accessories  came with your machine? Does it have the lower needle guide pictured in my post above. That will replace the feed dog when special needle plates are used. Thanks

Floyd, if you search or go to Ferdco dot com, you will find the old Ferdco site, who now has been taken over by the Hoffman Bros. The content of the site (pictures, products and description) is the same as before. It's must be more than ten years old. I do not remember when I saw it the first time, buts a long time ago when the Ferdco company was up and running. You can read about the old Bull machines there. Ferdco used a Juki 441 head (called it the Juki  Pro 2000 93 to 95) Like Art said, after that they used machine castings from Taiwan.  

Today, all the 441 clones  who are made have the same spec like the super bull, 1 to 1 1/16" foot lift (dependent of presser foot and plate used)

The original Ferdco accessories looked much better than the ones on the marked today. Their machines was more expensive, since they once used better parts. In the beginning they used many original Juki parts and small volum custom made parts. Today, I cannot see anything else than standard Chinese clone machine parts.  By all means, there are different quality parts out there today, have a look at Tobago dot com (Chinese auction site in Chinese) There you can buy a hole range of different quality sewing machine part. I found 441 feed dogs as low as under 10 USD . what I'm trying to say is, if these new Ferdco was anything else than an standard 441 clone; they would have been more expensive.

Tor

 

[JerseyFirefighter]

Here's an album of a few shots I took. Let me know if you want to see anything specifically. 

 

http://imgur.com/a/aSMO8

[Uwe]

Thanks for posting those detailed pictures! It's nice to see things up close (your white thread is caught in that lower tension spring, by the way) 

The "Made in the U.S.A. with pride" sticker seems a little optimistic and probably refers to just a handful of parts on that machine.

Just going by the pictures, I would bet a small amount of money that these machines start life in the same factory where the Cowboy machines are made, and with a few a added custom parts and labels it becomes a Ferdco. I would be rather surprised if there were any Juki parts on that machine. If they started with a Juki, the Ferdco would cost over $6K.

Now all we need is a few close-ups of that patented lower needle guide under the slotted throat plate. From the patent drawings, it very much looks like it could be made from modified standard feed dog, ground down and polished to stay below the slotted throat plate as it moves. 

Edited March 30, 2016 by Uwe