Yetibelle Report post Posted April 17, 2017 It's always fun to learn new things. Apparently the US Government created its own standard for sizing thread (who knew - ok probably everyone but me). There is a pallet of thread cones on the auction site so I had to look it up. If you ever see a pound of thread with odd numbers and letters, it probably Government issue. I attached the conversion chart. --plus if anyone wants 400 pounds of thread (in orange), I suspect its a good deal? http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=12053791&convertTo=USD 5-Thread-Size-Comparison-Chart-2-4-10.pdf Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gottaknow Report post Posted April 17, 2017 I worked for a contract sewing factory for many years. We did a lot of contract sewing for the DOD including military uniforms, tactical gear, and a 5 year contract for the official Internment Burial Flag. We made 60,000 5'x9' flags per year. The government standardized many technical aspects of the textile business. Everything that goes into it has a military spec., right down to how the fabric is woven, to how it's packaged, even the pallets used for shipping have to meet a certain standard. It was a real learning experience. One of their first big undertakings was establishing stitch type designations. A lockstitch is Federal Stitch Type 301. If you said well a lockstitch is the same no matter what, it gets confusing because a zig-zag is also a lockstitch, but it gets the designation of FST 304, then it tells you exactly what machine you'll need. Same with a chainstitch machine. The single thread chainstitch is FST 101. A two thread chainstitch is FST 401. Zippers, elastic, thread, buttons, snaps, and all sewing notions have a military spec designation. As you can imagine, it gets very confusing. It does however prevent a lot of mistakes. Regards, Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ferg Report post Posted April 17, 2017 Eric, When I got out of the Navy I worked for a remanufacturing company for electronic radio equipment for the government. We ran out of little "disc" capacitors one time. I checked the specs and went to my electronics supplier. The non-government capacitor was .0001 mfd. different than government issue which wouldn't be available to us for possibly several months due to manufacturing difficulties. The government would not allow us to use what was available locally in the thousands, simply because it wasn't exactly the same. Capacitors used in electronic equipment in those days could be within 100%. Oh Yeah, I could buy them for a tenth what this company was paying for them. BTW: Semi Trucks hauled radio gear into the Airplane Hangar we occupied, 50,000 pieces at a time. Most had a single power resistor burned out. They would only allow us to repair a certain number of them each day. Ferg Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gottaknow Report post Posted April 17, 2017 2 minutes ago, Ferg said: Eric, When I got out of the Navy I worked for a remanufacturing company for electronic radio equipment for the government. We ran out of little "disc" capacitors one time. I checked the specs and went to my electronics supplier. The non-government capacitor was .0001 mfd. different than government issue which wouldn't be available to us for possibly several months due to manufacturing difficulties. The government would not allow us to use what was available locally in the thousands, simply because it wasn't exactly the same. Capacitors used in electronic equipment in those days could be within 100%. Oh Yeah, I could buy them for a tenth what this company was paying for them. BTW: Semi Trucks hauled radio gear into the Airplane Hangar we occupied, 50,000 pieces at a time. Most had a single power resistor burned out. They would only allow us to repair a certain number of them each day. Ferg Yeah Ferg, they are super picky about the stuff they spec. Forget about even trying to get anything changed. Obviously the suppliers of the military spec stuff know they have you over a barrel as far as price goes. It could get very frustrating. Some of the textile stuff would be impossible to trace once in the product. Not that we ever substituted anything.........heh. Regards, Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gregg From Keystone Sewing Report post Posted April 17, 2017 (edited) This is an excerpt from A & E technical bulletin, this is what I use to size poly and nylon. Bonus points if you know all the comparison types. Edited April 18, 2017 by Gregg From Keystone Sewing Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gottaknow Report post Posted April 18, 2017 Great chart Gregg. A&E thread is really decent thread as well. Regards, Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
