Need some serious helps on buying a leather sewing machine

[Wizcrafts]

Have you contacted Cowboysew/Hightex Sewing company yet (links to Chinese language version)? They are located in Zhejiang, China. Many of us in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia use their machines on a daily basis.

[shantiandd]

12 minutes ago, Wizcrafts said:

Cowboysew/Hightex Sewing company

WOW, Thank you for the link! I had no idea Cowboy has their sell agent here. Will definitely look into it! Do you have any recommendation on the model? （Maybe 7335 and CB6900 from what I read ）

[Wizcrafts]

21 minutes ago, shantiandd said:

WOW, Thank you for the link! I had no idea Cowboy has their sell agent here. Will definitely look into it! Do you have any recommendation on the model? （Maybe 7335 and CB6900 from what I read ）

I am confident that they have representatives and sales people capable of answering your questions. For instance, Junwu Jiang is a Cowboysew/Hightex rep on Facebook. He is multi-lingual and lives in China.

[kgg]

Like Wizcraft suggested make contact with the Cowboy/Hightex rep. If you have leather factories near you it definitely would be worth a visit. It may give you some other ideas. Keep in mind that they probably have someone on staff to make any necessary repairs and those machines are going to be used all day, every day until they can no longer be repaired. 

kgg

[R8R]

5 hours ago, shantiandd said:

I am also afraid to order something that ends up giving me a lot of headaches, especially considering that I have no experience on such machine.  

Uh....This is industrial sewing...until you've put in the time and have dealt with the learning curve, keep a bottle of aspirin handy.

[shantiandd]

1 hour ago, R8R said:

Uh....This is industrial sewing...until you've put in the time and have dealt with the learning curve, keep a bottle of aspirin handy.

Yes, I understand that. I have learnt to use a flat industrial sewing machine(not cylinder); learning is something I am excited about.  

[arz]

7 hours ago, shantiandd said:

But I am not sure if a Pfaff 335 could handle easily 8mm thick leather layers, the dealer is quite vague when I asked.

I have another question for you.. haha sorry for too many questions.

Do you have any idea what a pneumatic foot system is? (I don’t know if I translate it correctly) One of the Adler dealers told me that if I allow them to replace this system with something regular, the price for an Adler 669 could reduce about 10000RMB/1500USD, which is a significant drop. If you have information on this, that will be fantastic!

I do not think the Pfaff 335 can handle 8mm easily....You need a larger machine if you think you will be sewing 6+ mm.

The Adler 669 comes in at lest four variations:
1. ECO. No auto features. The foot is raised using a knee lever or hand.
2. CLASSIC. This has basic auto features such as back-tack etc. It also has a pneumatic foot lift. This uses a small amount of air presser from a compressor to lift the foot. These features are very nice if you are doing higher volume. 
3. GOLDLINE (I think it is called this). This has even more auto/computer features
4. PREMIUM. Direct drive servo motor, fancy computer etc.

If you get the ECO, I would make sure you buy it with a Servo motor. It is a very good motor and will help greatly. I think for your use the ECO with servo would be a good machine.

The price for me in the EU, for the basic 669 ECO with servo motor, and edge guide and LED light is about $4700 (4050 Euro), including VAT.

Edited December 21, 2018 by arz

[dikman]

The newer 335's should handle 8mm (probably up to 10mm, maybe a bit more), the older models are limited to about 6mm (although if tweaked a bit it's possible to fit about 9mm under the foot).

[arz]

3 hours ago, dikman said:

The newer 335's should handle 8mm (probably up to 10mm, maybe a bit more), the older models are limited to about 6mm (although if tweaked a bit it's possible to fit about 9mm under the foot).

Good to know! My Adler 69 can fit about 7-8mm under the foot. I did sew 7mm with it. I didn't realize the new Pfaff 335 could sew that thick...

[Lobo]

43 years in the leather business, of which I spent nearly 30 years hand-stitching. I started with a very basic machine, which I soon learned would not hold up to production work for my products. I then purchased another machine, which did a pretty good job, but was under strain at times with heavier work. I ended up purchasing a couple of very heavy duty machines of the type commonly used by saddle makers.

Best advice I can offer is to purchase more machine than you think you will need. That way you will never strain the machine in use, each task will be handled with less time and effort, and you will probably never wear your machine out in use.