What ZIGZAG machine would compliment my Consew 206RB-2 for leather?

[trash treasure]

Totally agree with the the Singer 107W / 143W recommendation - Very reliable and easy to maintain, in my experience.

We've used them for years, with V69 bonded thread, for sail and canvas work, and they'll sew through a surprising thickness - Good, tough machines.

[DonInReno]

My take on the sailrite clones is pretty neutral.  I have one and think for a new machine not used for production, at less than half the price of an industrial it is a great bang for the buck.  Need a compact machine for a small apartment - it’s perfect. Need a portable machine or something easy to learn on and it always fills the bill. You will break it if you’re sewing the heaviest things that will fit under the presser foot or if you enjoy hot rodding and regularly breaking needles.  Sailrite has upgraded parts that tend to break first and there is a long history backing up the reliability so it’s not really a mystery.

More or less by accident I turned over an old Singer and a Japanese singer clone “dressmaker” and was surprised by how similar the parts looked.  In fact I’m convinced at least some parts would interchange.  Of course these don’t have the walking foot parts, but the lineage of the Thompson and later sailrite machines is firmly rooted in the old all metal domestic machines.  This is such a time tested design Ive never known anyone to wear out one of these iron bed domestics.  

The walking foot and aggressive feed dog does feed canvas quite well.  The factory speed reducer and optional monster wheel does a good job of slowing it down and the smallish motor is probably just right since it works, but is less likely to damage parts than a stronger servo.

I keep it as my go to for anyone wanting to learn how to sew.  It’s just easy to use and not as intimidating to a newbie as something bigger.  

[Gymnast]

I hope for understanding by reviving this 1 year old thread. I got a few questions to the answers.

@myjtp asks for a zigzag that compliments a Consew 206rb. This machine should handle a V138 and perhaps a V207 thread size. However when I look at most of the suggested zigzag machines, they seem to max at a thread size of V92? So these zigzag machines do not compliment the Consew 206rb reagarding thread size. Do you agree?

Except for the Sailrite Ultrafeed types, the machines use drop feed and no walking foot. I suppose this can cause problems with tracktion, if you got some larger size fabrics to be sewn.

I have used some domestic zigzag machines - Bernina 910 and Singer 237 and I observed a big difference for heavier materials. Due to traction problems the fabric can have a tendency to cause pressure on the needle forward or backwards when the feed dog is below the needle plate. At the Berlina 910, the hook goes behind the needle, and therefore this machine becomes very senitive to this needle deflection. It can cause the hook to hit the needle, hit the thread or skip a stitch. For the Singer 237, the hook pass the needle to the side, and therefore it handles these problems much better. Or this is what I think is relevant - do you think the same?

Unfortunately I noticed, that for most of the industrial zigzag machines named here, that do not have walking foot, they have the hook pass the needle behind as my Bernina 910. The Sailrite Ultrafeed type machines have a similar hook as the Singer 237.

Perhaps someone rememeber, that I actually succeeded in making my Singer 237 sew with a Serafil 20 thread (V138). But it may not last long for heavy work like that. I think I may have used it with this kind of work for 20 hours.

@Constabulary You name the Singer 457. I noticed a domestic type machine Singer 457 and an industrial type Singer 457g. I like you to clarify.