New from the Midwest

[weldtoride]

Greetings.  My wife and I have been lurking here for a while and want to thank everyone who has taken their time to share their knowledge and experience.

My wife has sewn clothing and slipcovers all her life as a hobby.   I have sewn a few miscellaneous projects like backpacks, leather shotbags for metalworking, and leather sleeves for welding.

We have several new projects we want to tackle.  We have a sturdy vintage Riccar home machine that has done "ok" with the leather sleeves and shotbags, functional items that required sewing only 2 layers of couch leather.  Seams are functional, but not pretty.   

Top sleeves are mine, I need them longer than the commercially available ones below.

 

Like I said, seams are functional, but not pretty.  I realize Riccar wasn't made for this; can't crawl thru leather, needs some speed to punch thru .

 

The Riccar is not able to make the leap to our next projects.  We have two chairs that have box cushions needing reupholstering, currently covered with dead nauga hides.   These box cushions are button-tufted, quilted squares, and edged with piping.  Looking inside , there are typically 4 and up to 6 layers to sew where the piping intersects the quilted seams. This is a random web image of the same chair design, it's called a "Barcelona chair."

 

We have  a sufficient pile of nice leather to make the 4 cushions, harvested from careful and lucky thrift store couch hunts.

Down the road, I have a truck interior I would like to tackle, while my wife would like to be able to make hand bags and moccasins.

I also need to make some machinery covers from used billboard vinyl, as well as possibly some carry-bags, both would require sewing webbing.

The next part of my introduction is really a question, if better asked elsewhere on this forum, please advise and I will re-post it.  

For the new projects, we were originally targeting the Consew 226RB and its derivatives.  The more we read everywhere, the more we strayed, but after many trips down the WorldWideWabbit hole looking at other machine capacities and reputations, we have arrived back at our starting point: a used Consew 226RB, but avoid the China built -5 machines.  We are also contemplating either a used or even new Seiko STH-8BLD-3.  The new Seiko is a significant price leap, but we are told it is still made in Japan and depreciates slowly, therefore making the leap somewhat recoverable down the road.

Any and all opinions will be appreciated, Mark

 

[brmax]

Mark

Looks as though you all have been busy and enjoying some machine stiching for a good while. A lot of your choices will now likely list a servo motor on any new machines and a great thing that is. 

Seiko is the leader of Consew America if it helps and the manufacture. To admire Seiko you wont go wrong in my opinion. For another bump in your looking at them, its the seiko as their flagship. 

For what its worth they bought most if not all Singer industrial. 

Have a good day there

Floyd

[ScottHanson]

Hello, I am new member from Wisconsin, knife making and leather working have been a hobby of mine for over 25 years. I make and sell custom knives in mostly Scagel patterns and I make all of my own sheaths to go with them. I cut to size, tool, dye and sew all of my sheaths by hand, this has been a fun and rewarding hobby. 

[rleather]

Make sure it has a servo motor and a speed reducer. Welcome aboard!

Edited March 7, 2019 by rleather
omission

[weldtoride]

18 hours ago, rleather said:

Make sure it has a servo motor and a speed reducer. Welcome aboard!

Thank you, that motor combination seems the way to go. 

A good servo motor's expense is partially why I started considering a new machine.  The used machines we have seen locally have had clutch motors, I suspect they were all from commercial shops.   I realize we could learn to operate a clutch with some practice, but there is so much else to learn as well...  Adding a $200 SewQuiet 6000, for example, to a used machine purchase significantly ups the ante.   Additionally, that expenditure does little to alleviate the uncertainty of a used machine having a hidden, or future appetite for greenery.   In our local searching here we have seen used Consew 206RB machines (my original post has a typo) asking prices range from 650 for a head only to a high of 1300 at a Wisconsin dealer.  

Looking at new prices, I noticed what appeared to be an anomaly at first.  A dealer in Chicago offers a brand-new still made in Japan  for $1500 with a SewQuiet motor, table, etc., while the same dealer offers the similarly equipped but currently made in China Consew 206RB-5 higher at $1550!   I asked the salesman why, and his frank reply was: "People simply aren't familiar with the Seiko name, but they are willing to pay for the Consew name."

Since a new machine is a quantum leap for our budget, I am still hunting used machines, and old couches to skin...  However, to help settle the idea of a new machine one way or the other,  I am  trying to determine the future value of the Seiko.  I asked 2 different dealers with the hypothetical question:  "If I had a 5 year old Seiko STH-BLD today in carefully maintained condition,  what would be its approximate retail value?"   The 2 answers were so far apart they only muddied the waters of contemplation.   One was $900, the other $1300.   This morning eBay has a used Seiko STH-BLD-3 of indeterminate age, used in "small leather goods manufacturing" with servo motor for $900 obo but a national C'list search came up empty.

Anyone here have some input re: future value of a Seiko STH-BLD-3?

 

Scott, that's very nice work on the knife and sheath!

 

[TomWisc]

I have a Seiko STH-8BLD-3 machine that I purchased new about a year ago from a dealer in Janesville, WI. It has an Eagle servo motor. I have used it for belts, ladies tote bags, wallets and it works fine for those items. I have thought of adding a speed reducer and probably will at some point. Sometimes on thicker items I have to give it a little push on the wheel to get it going through thicker leather. I like the machine very well and having a local dealer to ask questions, etc. is very helpful. 

I don't know what the resale value would be a few years down the road but the dealer said there are not many good used machines on the market and expects it to be a desirable machine in the future, whatever that means.

I would have to look up the price I paid but I think it was between $1300 - $1400.

 

[weldtoride]

Tom, thanks for the reply.  That's exactly the kind of input we are seeking.

[weldtoride]

Tom, I have to thank you again.

I searched industrial sewing machine sellers in Janesville.    One currently offers a Seico STH-8BLD-3 with a Consew CS 1000 servo motor for $1320.   Trying to compare apples to apples,  I studied pictures of the 3/4 horse servo motor the Chicago seller offers, they appear to be the same motor, a motor I have seen branded many different ways. 

Assuming no great difference in tabletop or legs, the Janesville shop is asking $130 less up front, and after figuring in Chicago sales tax (10.25) vs. Janesville (5.5).  Should we choose to go new, you have potentially saved us over $200!  The difference in driving distance for us is minimal, and the Janesville drive is by far, more scenic.

By "speed reducer" are you considering the pulley type?

 

Edited March 9, 2019 by weldtoride
clarity

[TomWisc]

Yes, I am referring to the pulley type speed reducer. The dealer I purchased from, Industrial Sewing Systems, can get them for you. If that is who gave you the quote, Cody can install it for you before you pick up your machine. I think they cost about $150 but not sure of installation cost. I think you have to move the servo motor slightly to install the speed reducer. I don't know if he stocks them so if you want one you probably need to tell him ahead of pickup.

I will take a picture of my machine & table in a couple of hours so you can see what I got from him. I am very happy with the table & complete setup.

[TomWisc]

My table is 20" deep, 48" wide, 30" high. Included is the light and 2 thread spool holders. Bobbin winder is attached to machine.

I also purchased from Amazon a flexible magnetic LED light which works great when trying to see the needle. Light is not too good in the room I have the machine so this is a big help for my old eyes.

I also got a basic T shaped guide for sewing a straight line on belts.

I asked him for a 'zipper foot' for sewing zippers or close to the edge of belts or other items and I think he basically took 2 regular feet and cut the side off each one to give me a left and right 'zipper foot'.

[weldtoride]

Tom, thanks for taking the time to post pictures and dimensions of your table and machine.  The table looks very comparable to the one offered in Chicago.  Somewhere, likely here, I read that the "K" style legs are to be preferred over the "T" legs.

I will be calling Industrial Sewing Systems in Janesville tomorrow with a few questions.  If we go new, that definitely looks like the best vendor for us.  I see that he offers extensive service and repair, should we require warranty or repair down the road.  

This thread on here advises, wisely, to buy from a dealer who will offer good service:  https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/73741-sailrite-servo-motor-vs-sewquiet-6000sm/

Anecdotally, to read reviews about the various motors, among the sites I used was used Amazon.  Sadly, I read several Amazon reviews about various motors arriving DOA or damaged and very poor subsequent exchange servicing.

 

[weldtoride]

I know this is an old thread, but it's my thread, and I'd like to tie it off properly.

I am remiss in telling the end of our sewing machine hunt.  Thanks to TomWisc here, our hunt ended happily not long after my last posting in Janesville, WI, at Industrial Sewing Systems,  https://www.sewone.com/AboutUs.asp 

We bought a new Seiko sth-8bld-3 there.   We not only got a much better price than either Milwaukee or Chicago markets, but we got extensively tutored on the use of the machine.  I highly recommend this seller. We saw his repair shop, and he also has an inventory of quite a range of used industrial machines.  As I have an infinity for all things mechanical, it was a real treat to see all the different sewing machines dedicated to specific production sewing tasks.

Shortly after our purchase life seriously got in our way for a while, consequently we are still very green with this machine.  Time is ripe for getting on with things now, however.

A related aside: Shortly after our Seiko purchase, a Singer 111W155 jumped out in front of me while I was walking around a church sale, it looked well cared for but unused for a while, as oil pan was dry, and not a lot of oil to be seen, but no flash rust was evident anywhere, they plugged it in for me at the sale and in car mechanics' vernacular it "ran like stink" ( "runs like stink" is good thing).  Complete with Singer table and a drawer of odds and ends they were asking $125, which I paid. 

It sat in my basement until last week, when I got around to tinkering with it.  After oiling and re-oiling and replacing the broken thread guide nearest the needle, I can now sew with it by turning the hand wheel.  My right foot has had years of finessing a TIG welder control pedal, but that is completely different than controlling the wide open throttle of this clutch motor, which so far is beyond my skill set.  I can feather and make it crawl for maybe a half dozen stitches at best and then it's off to the races....  Once I am more sure that this machine is worth another bit of investment, a servo motor is in the picture.