Ferdinand 900b info, opinions, and reviews wanted

[honkytinker]

I'm looking for advice on a sewing machine purchase.  Recently a Ferdinand 900b came up for sale in my area.  The price is a little steep for me at $2800 and in comparison to some new options available from Cowboy for less money, I may go that route instead.  I do find the jump feed mechanism interesting, though, and considering I would skip some shipping costs I'd like to know if the Ferdinand is worth the investment if I can get the seller to come down in price a bit.  Is the machine too difficult to service at this point in regards to parts availability, info, etc.?  How prone to adjustment is it?  Is it as versatile as, say, a Cowboy 3500?  I'm finding the information available on these machines to be a little bit sparse.

Any opinions, comparisons, or additional information is greatly appreciated.

[MADMAX22]

For that price getting a new machine that you know the past of is a plus, having a true compound feed machine, readily available support, readily available parts, currently in production, parts available from multiple resellers, yeah I would personally get a new machine. 

If it was something like an older machine that was worth restoring say like a needle and awl machine, or a nice old singer harness machine I would probably think differently just because I like the old iron machines and like to see them get a breath of new life. 

That said the only experience I have with the Bulls are threads here on the forum. 

[Yetibelle]

That is a lot of money.  I don't think they even sell for that new? 

 

[Wizcrafts]

On 2/19/2017 at 1:03 PM, honkytinker said:

I'm looking for advice on a sewing machine purchase.  Recently a Ferdinand 900b came up for sale in my area.  The price is a little steep for me at $2800 and in comparison to some new options available from Cowboy for less money, I may go that route instead.  I do find the jump feed mechanism interesting, though, and considering I would skip some shipping costs I'd like to know if the Ferdinand is worth the investment if I can get the seller to come down in price a bit.  Is the machine too difficult to service at this point in regards to parts availability, info, etc.?  How prone to adjustment is it?  Is it as versatile as, say, a Cowboy 3500?  I'm finding the information available on these machines to be a little bit sparse.

Any opinions, comparisons, or additional information is greatly appreciated.

Ferdinand went out of business a few years ago. All their remaining parts were sold to an industrial sewing machine company in Chicago who know nothing about leather sewing machines. Your chances of finding any parts specific to that machine are somewhere between null and void. Ditto for servicing. But, if the machine is pristine and fully equipped with parts and accessories, that's about the right price in current depreciated Canadian dollars. A new Cowboy CB3500 would cost about the same money in $ CDN.

[honkytinker]

Thanks all,

I'm certainly leaning towards a new setup, however the owner has assured me the machine has seen light use in its lifetime.  I guess if it was clear that the feed mechanism was worth the risk of not having parts easily available I might lean toward the Ferdinand.  Has anyone sewn on a Bull?  Yes, a 3500 is likely where I'll put my money at this point. 

 

On a side note, my work space will be portable some of the time in a 1997 flat nose Bluebird school bus that I'm converting.  I'm interested in non-electrical power.  I've seen the barney knob setup discussed on these forums, which seems ok, but I would be more interested in a foot powered setup, perhaps a jury rigged stationary bicycle?  Anybody have any leads?  I don't think it would take so much effort to hook up a Cowboy machine in this manner while having a servo motor on standby.  Of course, a Pearson #6 is the most ideal setup if anyone has one of these kicking around...  I just love sewing on a Pearson anyhow.

[honkytinker]

16 hours ago, Wizcrafts said:

Ferdinand went out of business a few years ago. All their remaining parts were sold to an industrial sewing machine company in Chicago who know nothing about leather sewing machines. Your chances of finding any parts specific to that machine are somewhere between null and void. Ditto for servicing. But, if the machine is pristine and fully equipped with parts and accessories, that's about the right price in current depreciated Canadian dollars. A new Cowboy CB3500 would cost about the same money in $ CDN.

And of course the parts and info for Cowboys should be available indefinitely.

[SolarLeatherMachines]

31 minutes ago, honkytinker said:

Thanks all,

I'm certainly leaning towards a new setup, however the owner has assured me the machine has seen light use in its lifetime.  I guess if it was clear that the feed mechanism was worth the risk of not having parts easily available I might lean toward the Ferdinand.  Has anyone sewn on a Bull?  Yes, a 3500 is likely where I'll put my money at this point. 

 

On a side note, my work space will be portable some of the time in a 1997 flat nose Bluebird school bus that I'm converting.  I'm interested in non-electrical power.  I've seen the barney knob setup discussed on these forums, which seems ok, but I would be more interested in a foot powered setup, perhaps a jury rigged stationary bicycle?  Anybody have any leads?  I don't think it would take so much effort to hook up a Cowboy machine in this manner while having a servo motor on standby.  Of course, a Pearson #6 is the most ideal setup if anyone has one of these kicking around...  I just love sewing on a Pearson anyhow.

Couple of things here:  I've been thinking about a solar powered battery setup to go with our machines. Several customers have showings at fairs that don't allow generators and don't provide power.  The nuts and bolts are all there, just have to put it together.  The big question is how long a 4500 would run on a standard car battery.  

I've sewn on a 900b, and I think it's a very nice machine.  If it's well adjusted, you'll get years of good service from it.  The parts issue is true, however.  

Second, I happen to have a Ferdco 6/6 that I fully refurbished for the fun of it. You can crank this by hand with it's manual wheel.   It's sitting in my showroom right now, waiting for that perfect person.  

[honkytinker]

32 minutes ago, SolarLeatherMachines said:

Couple of things here:  I've been thinking about a solar powered battery setup to go with our machines. Several customers have showings at fairs that don't allow generators and don't provide power.  The nuts and bolts are all there, just have to put it together.  The big question is how long a 4500 would run on a standard car battery.  

I've sewn on a 900b, and I think it's a very nice machine.  If it's well adjusted, you'll get years of good service from it.  The parts issue is true, however.  

Second, I happen to have a Ferdco 6/6 that I fully refurbished for the fun of it. You can crank this by hand with it's manual wheel.   It's sitting in my showroom right now, waiting for that perfect person.  

I'm planning on setting up a couple hundred watts of panels on the bus as well.  Two-hundred watts on the panel should provide a bit of juice on a 500w servo motor if used sparingly, maybe 1-2 hours considering I would need a bit of power for a couple other odds and end in the bus.  I just thought it would be kinda fun to work around the electricity issue totally but in a very user friendly manner. 

Dare I ask what the Ferdco is going for?  I really like that crank setup, if one is to go with a hand crank.  Does the Ferdco eclipse the Pearson in function?  I see the bobbi setup is a little different but looks to feed in a similar way.

[SolarLeatherMachines]

I really think you should be able to get more than a couple of hours out of it, but it depends; amperage draw drops off after a certain percentage of depletion.  

We're selling it for $1500.  I've never sewn on a Pearson, so I don't know.  I'm sure one of the posters here has has been able to compare them together.  

Edited February 21, 2017 by SolarLeatherMachines

[honkytinker]

That's a fair price indeed.  What are the capabilities of the machine, thread range, foot lift etc.?  And are the parts somewhat available, seeing as you refurbished it yourself? 

[SolarLeatherMachines]

The nice thing about this machine, and I'm sure others will agree is that most of the parts can be machined on a standard mill.  I didn't pick it up to re-sell, because I don't normally handle used machines (no, really, I don't sell used machines).  I picked it up because it's an engineer's dream: it's got cams, and springs, and levers and it's like something out of a '40's textbook, and I wanted to learn about it.    The previous owner though it was completely rusted.  Turns out, he had been using heavily waxed thread, and the machine was covered in wax that looked like rust.  Once I hot dipped everything, it came out looking awesome.  

I think foot lift was about 1" and it's a true square stitcher.  If you go to my facebook page and check out the videos, I took a video about halfway through the refurb and another when it was completed and sewing.  https://www.facebook.com/SolarLeather/   Just search through the videos and you'll find them.