sewing machine worth saving and rebuilt ?

[patria]

Greetings from Indonesia, have been lurking for couple of months now, so very much infos to soak up here, what a great forum 

Sometimes ago i inherited these sewing machines from my father, i reckoned most of them are from the 80s when our family got contracts for making tents, bags, and other carry goods. Now he retired from all that kind of leather / canvas stuffs and decided to focus on making t-shirts. 

I've been a fan for leathergoods myself since like forever, but never had a chance to learn seriously about the manufacturing process. But now i have quit my job and i think im ready to dive headfirst on this matter.

Most of his old machines stored in a warehouse on our backyard, it was farcry to be called a proper place for these machines. When i dug up the warehouse the initial conditions of these machines were bad cosmetically, some parts are missing also. Based on information i gathered from this forum i decided to select some that i think will be suitable for my work ahead. I plan to do a leather bags and accesories using leather and canvas plied onto 5 milimeters thick on crosses and binding.

So far i have cleaned, rebuilt and restored 7 machines to a good condition. However these 7 machines have no parts missing when found, so the restoring process dont take much of an effort by our family sewing machine mechanic. While 1 unit Juki LK 1850 bartacking machine is still undergoing some thorough cleaning and servicing.

the machines restored are Seiko STH 8BL, Juki DSC 245, Toyota LS2 AD 331L, Seiko CW8B, Juki LH 515, Brother DB2 B797, Mitsubishi LS2 1130

I've read many good review on the seikos and jukis particular model, but i have difficulties finding informations and review on the toyota, brother, and the mitsubishi

I know from this forum also that the brother is double feed, but that is all i know for now other than it sews great on my leather, based on test prior to this post

if anyone can chime in on their thoughts and experiences will be most appreciated

 

I also found piles of post bed sewing machines, Juki PLH 981, PFAFF 9593, golden wheel CS 810, and other taiwanese / chinese made machines that had unfamiliar brand like I Siang and Kings by the label, it was also debossed a 810 model (the juki's clone?)

 

What do you guys think, which machines worth restoring ? I leaned towards the PFAFF at first, but many parts are missing and judging by the paint and corrosions i think it will be long and hard process to emulate. The Juki PLH 981 is complete, but wont turn and stuck, the better condition is the golden wheel cs810 but being taiwanese brand and chinese made machine held me back a little bit, does anyone have any experiences and more infos with the golden wheel brand?

in the outer part of the warehouse i also found Seiko LSC 8BV cylinder bed, but it is missing the back foot presser and a hook cover, if anyone can point me where to buy those parts online ? genuine or a good quality aftermarket parts will do, i have tried to contact the dealers and distributors in Indonesia but unfortunately they dont carry Seiko brand anymore since the 90s

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Edited February 4, 2017 by patria

[Constabulary]

ha ha - Old cast iron... a barn full of it.... Seems I have to book a trip to Indonesia

I basically have restored / overhauled ALL my machinesby my self - some needed more TLC and some less.

So my  answer is: I would at least try it.

And if you can´t restore all machines then maybe they are worth selling some of their spare parts to gain $$ for restoring other machines.

Well, since you have a lot of different types and brands of machines you should do it one by one... generally you will not have many problems finding parts for Singer clones, Seiko, Juki and Mitsubishi machines I think. For the other brands you have to find out if they are probably clones of other brands meaning if other brands had the same machine but with a different name - or the like.

If I had the machines I would start with Seiko followed by Juki / Mitsubishi and then maybe Pfaff since Pfaff parts are often quite expensive. Later on I´d focus on the other brands.

 

Edited February 4, 2017 by Constabulary

[dikman]

Welcome, Patria, looks like you've got some interesting times ahead of you, that's quite a collection you've got!!

That warehouse sounds more like Aladdin's Cave (a treasure trove!).

[Ferg]

Patria,

I have a Seiko CW 8B. I think mine has been through considerably less than yours.

I have promised myself that if I ever come across a MotherLoad as you have, I may have to trade my wife of 40 years for another outbuilding to put them in.  LOL

Fixing those machines isn't work, it is FUN!

 

Ferg

Edited February 5, 2017 by Ferg

[patria]

halo,, thank you so much for the responds guys, really appreciate it

@constabulary

i will try to have the PFAFF 9593 got out of the room today while i gather information on where to buy parts for it. Unfortunately we Indonesians have a very limited access on such estabilished brands let alone PFAFF or Adler, Even Seiko has lost its sole distributor here. i tried to call friends and family regarding PFAFF, seiko, Adler, Union Special for information on specs or parts, they even surprised how my dad got it on the first place. Here in Indonesia chinese brands like Typical, Shunfa, Simaru, Jack is the major player. And i learned from my uncle that because of the attractive prices, many factories here buy them in significant numbers for 1 or 2 contracts. After it got troubled mechanically they will sell all of it cheaply or just pile them anywhere. Ongoing to the next contract they will buy another machine to do the job expecting flawless 24-7 performance from a new machines.

Brother and Mitsubishi still has considerable market here, but they dont do very much help on the older models,

@ dikman

due to my limitation on sewing machine, i only can recognize very few of them, most notably i will look for the shaft that indicates it has a walking foot mechanism 

i think i see 2 flat bed walking foot marked mitsubishi in here, but not sure of the model, the smell of the place and having to dig deep to get the machine up held me back, my guess are towards they were mitsubishi DY350 and mitsubishi LY2 3300 

plethora of overdecks, grommet machines, cutting machines for fabric, and whatever it is i dont know about, there is juki with large arm (bobbin) on the back, but the model badge is gone, so no clue on the number, On the left side i think it was a seiko double needle, looks cool but some parts are missing

couple of overlock machines i think lying on the way, flat bed walking foot shunfa on the right, pile of post beds at the back (you can see the PFAFF 9593 from this view), on the left under the table i found 2 brother bartack machines that looked too much of a work to bring them operational again.

@ ferg

hi ferg,, actually we have 3 seiko cw8b lying around on the outer parts of the warehouse that work smoothly  i just took one that i think has less scratches and dents

 

i found this recently, Union Special single needle chainsticth machine that i interested for the sake of the badge alone, here in Indonesia Union Special is rare as hens tooth according to some dealers i talked on the phone earlier. It seems all parts is complete and will work just fine, but i never reckon any bag will benefit from a chaintich machine? or somebody can shed some more lights on it?

 

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2017 by patria

[Constabulary]

HOLY SMOKES -  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  What a pile of machines Do you wanna restore them all?

 

[patria]

@Constabulary

Of course not sir, right now i still try to figure out my needs and wants

But my preferences now are towards cylinder beds, flat bed walking foot, post beds, and bartack machines 

[gottaknow]

That Juki Lk 1850 is a workhorse. I still keep one ready to go as a backup. That Union Special 56300 is a great machine. There are several model variants using the same casting. It has the best oiling system I've ever seen. Parts are available here in the States. I also spotted a feed off the arm chainstich. Can't tell the make, though it resembles the Singer. You have several overlock machines as well. Looks like you have a "bone yard" of about anything you need. Welcome to the forum!

Regards, Eric 

[patria]

@gottaknow

Thanks for the warm welcome

Yes..! Thats the word i am looking for, feed off the arm chainstitch.

Pardon for my lack of knowledge in sewing machine sir, here in Indonesia people have name for themself as "mesin lilit" , roughly translated as "go round machine" i guess

Some machines got even weirder names like cylinder bed often called "mesin cangklong" or "pipe machine" the word pipe came from the arm that resembles vintage pipe smoking device

The feed off the arm are jukis and jacks btw 

Edited February 5, 2017 by patria

[dikman]

Good grief!!!! Just how many machines do you have in there?

[patria]

@dikman

I asked every family member regarding of the count, apparently they also has lost track on the number of the machines stored there, and honestly my curiousity about sewing machines just started couple of months ago. I used to have no interests on what my father was doing or made using what, how, and why. 

[patria]

Dug deeper earlier this morning, tried to sort old servos, and found this on the deepest rack 

 

Edited February 8, 2017 by patria

[gottaknow]

Wow. I haven't seen a US 160-20 for 30 years.  Most were branded under the Lewis name, though made by Union Special. It's actually a single thread blindstitch machine. My memories are not fond ones. Keep that puppy.

Regards, Eric

[patria]

@gottaknow

pretty cool machine i think, unfortunately i cant think of application on my project ahead that will utilize this lewis machine

 

so i decided to give this seiko lsc 8bv a second chance

got it cleaned, oiled, timing adjusted, foot reinstalled, but still missing the hook cover

I will try to remake the hook cover on the nearby metal workshop next week

 

Dug more last week, i found these interesting - rare machines / or at least to me and other indonesian 

Merrow serger 70-abb

 

Right wing, top right corner i believe its adler chainstitch bobbinless machine, too lazy to crawl up there just to find out more 

Maybe next week i'll take i down for better view

 

Juki dlu 490, definetly not a regular walking foot, what is this "variable top feed" kind of thing? 

There are 3 or 4 of this machines laying around, wondering what kind of specialized application it could do, this one doesn't look appealing though. i think i saw this machine in better condition somewhere near the entance door

 

Union special 37500, blindstitch feed of the arm?

 

As a bonus, i  also found these 2 arbor presses at some corner on the left wing, written "fehlmann ag made in switzerland"

Looks good with no major dents, no plays whatsoever on the ram

I will try to modify these presses to become embossing machine with heat panel in it

Edited February 17, 2017 by patria

[patria]

setting up the seiko lsc 8bv today, currently stand on a used Juki feed off the arm table and generic servo motor

 

also found and setting up this Juki 1388 that will likely adequate to sew lining fabric for bag project i am making

 

a little zigzag sewing machine Brother TZ1 B652, my wife will use for her patchworks cushion / pillow project

i think its more like a domestic sewing machine rather than an industrial purposes?

 

both the juki and brother came equipped with small DC motor, but it has enough punching power on leather / fabric we are planning to do

 

Edited February 27, 2017 by patria