New to sewing leather

[Gypsyjane127]

Hello all. This is my first post here but I've been doing a lot of reading. The information here is wonderful! I'm hoping you can help me. I've been sewing bags for quite a few years now and I recently started adding vinyl, faux leather, and soft leather to my bags. Unfortunately,  my current machine has trouble through the multiple layers of fabric, fleece, and leather especially in the seam areas. So, I'm in the market for a walking foot machine. The problem is that I cannot have an industrial set up in my apartment but I can have a semi industrial or portable walking foot machine. I see a lot of these types of machines on ebay but since I'm an absolute newbie to walking foot machines I'm afraid I'll make a bad decision and end up with somthing that doesn't meet my needs. 

Any advice in choosing? I do need something that sews a beautiful topstitch and can go through layers of vinyl bag handles. Recommendations? Thanks for your help!

[Wizcrafts]

How thick are the combined materials, what size thread do you want to use and do you need a cylinder arm or will a flat bed machine do? The answers will help us point you to an appropriate machine that can handle the job.

 

[Gypsyjane127]

Thank you! I can get by with just a flat bed. I'm used to the two I currently have. As for thickness, I would say 3/8-5/8" would be the max thickness. The bag in my avatar was made with cork, two layers of cotton fabric, two layers of mid weight interfacing,  and two layers of thermolam plus. I cut the fleece away from the seams but my current  machine had a very hard time going through all those layers. In fairness, I didn't buy her to use on so many layers. Does this help?

[Uwe]

To my knowledge, the only portable flatbed machines that come even close to what you're trying to do are the sailrite ultrafeed class of machines (http://www.sailrite.com/), made by various manufacturers in the $400-$800 price range. Whether or not any of them can actually sew 5/8" with good results, I'm not certain. I actually have two of these types of machines (clones, not sailrite) that I haven't even tried out yet. Perhaps I'll give them a whirl tomorrow and see what they can do. I'm not actually planning on using them, they came in a package deal along with another machine I bought for keeps. They'll be up for sale as soon as I can make sure they actually work.

Edited May 8, 2016 by Uwe

[Gypsyjane127]

I saw a TuffSew on ebay and looked at their website. It's not a name I'm familiar with but it "looked" good to my semi educated eyes. I might be stretching it at 5/8". I do Iike a high lifting foot so I don't have to stuff the bag under causing fabric shifting. I talked to a sail rite dealer in MD a few yards ago and he told me that only a sail rite dealer can work on the machine. My local machine mechanic told me that same thing yesterday.

[banjo48]

I've got one of these "clones"  mine came from the Impex factory in china I think, it is no comparison to my "real" walking foot Seiko STH-8BLD-3 !

But after a bit of tuning by me it does now stitch ok, would I buy another, no, you get what you pay for in this game.

As for only being serviced by a Sailrite dealer, well it's  a sewing machine, can't see why any service person could not do it but hey, maybe they just don't like working on cheap Asian imports ?

Mine had a strange "knock" when doing a Zig-zag stitch, so I investigated and found a casting was catching, a quick Dremel and it was ok.

I use mine on the road when traveling in our RV so it suits that purpose fine, but for a work horse I'd go for a second hand Consew 206RB or the Seiko equivalent like mine, (I've fitted a cheap servo motor on my seiko and now it is far more manageable weight wise, but no good for portability)  hence why I hang onto the Impex.

I live in Oz by the way.

[Uwe]

Those portable Sailrite class machines apparently have a foot lift of 3/8" and they're designed to sew up to 1/4" according to the spec sheets. So they may not be super good candidates for your intended work, but they'd be a big step up from your home machine (and if you find yourself on a boat in the middle of the atlantic with a ripped sail, they're absolutely perfect.)  Even full size industrial walking foot machines will start to moan and complain with material thickness approaching 1/2".

Edited May 8, 2016 by Uwe

[Tejas]

The link below on Tuffsew is from Sailrite's sewing forum.

Tuffsew Post

Edited May 8, 2016 by Tejas

[Gypsyjane127]

19 hours ago, Uwe said:

Those portable Sailrite class machines apparently have a foot lift of 3/8" and they're designed to sew up to 1/4" according to the spec sheets. So they may not be super good candidates for your intended work, but they'd be a big step up from your home machine (and if you find yourself on a boat in the middle of the atlantic with a ripped sail, they're absolutely perfect.)  Even full size industrial walking foot machines will start to moan and complain with material thickness approaching 1/2".

LOL! We have a small pontoon so I don't have to worry about sailing. I may need to work on the Bimini cover at some point though. Thanks for your advice.

[Gypsyjane127]

Thanks, Tejas! You may have saved me from a very bad investment.

[Uwe]

I know little about the TuffSew brand and they may actually be of poor quality. At the same time I'm suspicious of a discussion forum on the Sailrite company website where somebody just happens to ask about the quality of a direct competitor brand. It's like logging into a die-hard Chevrolet forum and asking about the latest Ford truck. Nothing good will be said.

[Art]

Jane,

Now putting aside a mountain of animosity between Jerry and I, it looks like he might have his act together now, and has recovered from some health problems that really got him down in the past.  He has a portable machine he calls the  335 B BT Transportable which looks like son of Pfaff 335 and if it comes from where I think it does, will be a very good machine.  I like his transportable/luggable setup for this machine if you have a limited space.  Good strong motors too, shouldn't need the speed reducer.

Art

[Uwe]

Hey, that looks oddly familiar!

 

Edited May 9, 2016 by Uwe

[Tejas]

21 hours ago, Uwe said:

I know little about the TuffSew brand and they may actually be of poor quality. At the same time I'm suspicious of a discussion forum on the Sailrite company website where somebody just happens to ask about the quality of a direct competitor brand.

I agree in principal, but I've followed the Sailrite forum for a long time. There are many branded machines similar to Sailrite machines from the same factory at lower prices, but do not seem to have as bad a reputation -- Barracuda for example. Try the following in google and result is not as pejorative as for TuffSew:

barracuda site:forum.sailrite.com

 

Try others, I haven't.

I buy supplies from Sailrite, but not sewing machines. Given the right situation, I might.

 

 

[Uwe]

I got my FamilySew clone of the Sailrite to work and it's okay, but compared to a Juki class machine it just seems crude, weak, and noisy. I think I'm going to make a NYC-apartment-sized portable tabletop setup for my Juki class machines, similar to this concept mock-up pictured below. Weight will be a few pounds higher (just invite that friendly bodybuilding neighbor over for a protein shake), cost will be similar to a new high-end Sailrite, but machine and stitch quality will be significantly better. You'd loose the knee-lift, but then the Sailrite type machines don't have that, either. 

 

[SARK9]

I remember this one, which in its black carrying case, certainly has to be the *anti-featherweight*.

 

-DC

 

 

http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/18245-rare-portable-full-industrial-juki-lu-562-with-dayton-gearmotor/#comment-118457

 

[Uwe]

That Juki-In-A-Box is indeed a nice and compact setup! I hadn't seen that one before. 

[Coeta]

Uwe...what motor is set up with this Juki? This looks like a very nice compact portable system.

[Uwe]

The motor in the mock-up picture is actually a stepper motor that I had used in another project. I used it for the mock-up because it's similar in size and weight to modular servo motor setups like the Consew CMS1000, which I had used on the Adler 69 setup shown earlier in the thread.

Here's the project I used the stepper motor in: