Ferdinand Sewing Machine

[taltexan]

Tell me about this machine, age, are they good machines and are parts still available if needed?  

[Wizcrafts]

Ferdco went out of business several years ago. All of their assets have been sold. The company that bought most of them has been unresponsive to inquiries about Ferdinand machines or parts. Any common parts (bobbins and needles) you need would probably be available on the aftermarket, most likely based on the commonly cloned Juki TSC-441. Ferdinand specific parts would probably be made of unobtanium.

You would be smart to fully test this machine, or watch the current owner sew on it. If it sews without skipping stitches, great! If not, tread carefully.

[taltexan]

Thank you for the reply...... I believe I will let this sleeping dog lie and keep looking. 

[T Moore Medicine Hat Saddlery]

I'd be careful. I had one that even though they worked on it 3 different times never got it to sew and told me they couldn' fix it and they didn' t replace it. That machine is floating arround somewhere and I know you sure don' want that one. I traded it to a guy that said he could fix it easy but I found out he got frustrated and got rid of it  so be careful. It could be that machine 

[Ken Nelson]

Is this the same machine as the older grey one was?  I had one of the grey ones a couple of years ago.  I found out with much research that Seiko built the machine.  Campbell Bosworth in Texas got me the parts I needed.   Tony Luberto sold me a mechanics video on it and it was the best money I spent on the machine.   I finally got the machine sewing and it pulled a nice stitch.  I let the video go with the machine and need to get another video.  If I had the video, I would buy another  900B for my own use. HTH

[Singermania]

These machines are not Juki 441 clones but more closely related to the Seiko CB-8b, which were a fantastic machine, however I have had a few of these machines in the workshop and found them to be fairly problematical.   Even out here in Australia they were common as they were about just before the Cowboy and other 441 machines gathered in numbers.  You might find parts hard or expensive.  If it was me I would not buy one, but buy a used Adler 205-370 or Juki 441 style clone.