Commercial sewing machines

[JHOLE]

Does anyone have any experience or information on comm. sewing machines? I am interested in getting one. I would like to use it to redo the boat interior ( center console so it's mostly cusions and covers ) and for misc. projects like upholstery, covers, webbing straps, or who knows. I am in the dark at this point as to which is the best/worst brand, just how much power etc. I am going to start educating myself w/ local distributors and all but i know you guys know something about everything. Thanks up front for any tips - info.<br /><br />P.S. sorry if this is a ntdwb post but I'm thinking about the boat project right now

 

[BillP]

Re: Commercial sewing machines

I know it is tough figuring out what to buy...it was a problem for me too and I've owned 3 commercial machines for sewing marine canvas. There are too many choices to make this a black and white purchase. A couple of suggestions:<br /><br />You do NOT need a walking foot for home boat projects like mentioned...so don't spend the xtra $$$ on that function unless you are going production or doing long runs of heavy material.<br /><br />You do NOT need a fancy handle on the machine wheel to turn it manually.<br /><br />You do NOT need zig zag...unless building sails.<br /><br />Generally, you will need to buy a "head" which is the sewing machine and the "stand" which is the table, motor, foot control, light, bobbin winder and thread spool holder. <br /><br />Get a machine that will run V92 size thread..you CAN use smaller thread but V92 will last. A machine that will handle V92 will also be a gauge of how "commercial" the machine is. <br /><br />Get a machine that will easily punch through 4(minimum)-6 layers of sumbrella fabric without thread tension problems. <br /><br />1/4 hp minimum motor size...1/3hp better. Power is the key, not speed. You will have more control with less speed so don't worry about speed until you are going into business. This will become apparent once you start sewing. <br /><br />You can find used commercial machines at good prices on ebay or garage sales. Old tailor machines (such as Singer Model 95)will work fine and come cheap. Singer parts are available, even for old ones but there are many other brands available out there that will do the job.<br /><br />The machines such as Sailrite sells are way overpriced "conversions" of basic Brother light commercial (and others)machines. You can buy these same heads though regular shops for much less. <br /><br />Do some web surfing and you can find good used machines and information. If you want to go entry level hard core commercial at low price look at the Consew 206.<br /><br />I just popped over to ebay and found this Singer...I actually own (for the last 17 yrs) this same machine and it sews marine canvas just fine.<br /><br /> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2312752984&category=300