Can a Techsew 1460 be upgraded?

[AMPwares]

I've been making bags and wallets on a domestic machines for a few years. I'm finally ready to get an industrial. But I'm still a hobbyist and have no interest in making this a serious business. So I'd like to spend as little as possible.

The short list right now is a Techsew 1460, Reliable 4210SW, Juki 1541, Titan 650BL, or a Titan 1541. Techsew keeps coming back to the top due to the price. Some of my "nice to have, but not sure I need" features are speed reducer and needle positioner (aka synchronizer). Will it sew slow enough for me without a speed reducer? I don't think I can answer that without going and seeing them in person, and I don't have a lot of options for local dealers (I think the Reliable is the only one maybe in stock in town). Can I live without a synchronizer? I don't know. My current domestic machine has one, but I still need to use the wheel to bring it up before turning a corner so I don't get skipped stitches. I sewed for decades on a machine without it. 

So I'm tempted to buy the cheapest machine and maybe add these things later if I miss them. But it's not clear if I actually can upgrade them later. 

[kgg]

You would get better advise if you gave us a better understanding as to majority of what you are planning on sewing (fabric / leather ), flat items like wallets or round items like bags and how thick. The flatbed machines you have listed maybe either to much / not enough machine or the wrong style (flatbed vs cylinder bed). Buy Once, Cry Once.

kgg

 

[AMPwares]

I thought I had a very specific question, but I didn't word it correctly. 

If I buy a Techsew 1460 and decide later that I need a speed reducer or needle positioner, can these be easily added to this machine, or swapped out? 

For conversation purposes, I work with 2-4oz leather. It's all doable on my domestic, but I occasionally have issues with too many layers where seams cross over, so I get skipped or uneven stitches. And it would be nice to be able to buy leather without stressing about whether my machine will like it. So I'm not looking for something that has serious power, or can handle super thick thread. A cylinder arm has been considered and decided against. Pro: It would be really nice for topstitching around the top of bags. Cons: It's not so nice for the other 95% of my work, a flatbed table is inconvenient to add and remove, all the setups I've seen require work to be done while standing, and they cost as much as twice as much as a flatbed. So, the cons definitely outweigh the pros for me. An argument can be made that of the 95% of my work that is better on a flatbed, I still have my domestics for about a third (fabric linings). So the actual balance of industrial flatbed to cylinder arm is more like 70-30? But still, it's a lot of extra money for very little benefit.  If money were no object, maybe it would balance out better. But then if money were no object, I wouldn't be worried about whether I could add a speed reducer to a 1460, I'd just buy a machine that had it. 

[kgg]

1 hour ago, AMPwares said:

If I buy a Techsew 1460 and decide later that I need a speed reducer or needle positioner, can these be easily added to this machine, or swapped out? 

Yes, should you need the extra torque and speed reduction gained by adding a speed reducer it is fairly easily added later to any industrial sewing machine. For what you are sewing I would take a wait and see approach. Great if you need one otherwise it is just a nice attachment. You can also add a needle positioner later should you need one but be fore warned that some people have had problems ranging anywhere from difficult to not work properly when added to a machine with certain speed reducer configurations. Some people like the needle positioner and some not so much.

I think the best machine that you listed is the Juki 1541 but I would advise you to buy a Juki DNU-1541"S" with the safety clutch. The others that you listed are various clones of various Juki machines. Another option maybe the Juki DU-1181N if you only really need a walking foot, others could advise you better on this. Some people say a needle feed machine may struggle when you have multiple layers of material in a seam, where as plain jane walking foot machine may not. There is no one machine that will cover all the bases.

I have both of these machines as well as others myself. The way I have my Juki DNU-1541"S" setup it really hates anything under 3mm thick which is approximately equal to the thickness of 7 oz of leather. The Juki DU-1181N is quite happy doing things under 3mm. As for reliability both have never given me any problems other then the typical "USER" error stuff. The Juki DU-1181N was a fair bit cheaper then the Juki DNU-1541"S".

I would advise you to look at the following videos which may help to do decide if a compound feed is your best option:

Juki DNU-1541S

 

Juki DU-1181N

 

[CowboyBob]

If your going to sew leather the Juki 1181 wouldn't be a good choice as the feed dogs can leave marks on the bottom of the leather where the 1541S with needle feed & walking foot the teeth can be polished off & as they are not needed .

[kgg]

1 hour ago, CowboyBob said:

If your going to sew leather the Juki 1181 wouldn't be a good choice as the feed dogs can leave marks on the bottom of the leather where the 1541S with needle feed & walking foot the teeth can be polished off & as they are not needed .

Excellent advice.

kgg

[AMPwares]

Thanks, kgg and CowboyBob. I had already ruled out the 1181 because of the price and the fact that it doesn't have a compound walking foot. And as per Wizcraft's advice in the pinned post, I have my heart set on a triple feed.